Mac n Cheese with ground beef - what am I missing? (ingredients, hamburger)

[BoSox 15]

I informed the family that I was making homemade mac n cheese last night when my son requested that I add some "meat" to the recipe. He said he wanted to try it with ground beef, I had some handy so I gave it a shot.

I browned the beef with salt/pepper and garlic powder and added it to the mac n cheese prior to baking in the oven. Overall, I'd do it again with some tweaks (which brings me here).

The flavor was fine but I just felt like I was missing something in there. My first thought was to have some sort of mustard in there with the beef, or something to cut through the cheese. I Googled a handful of recipes but some had tomatoes in the recipe and that's not really the direction I wanted to go in.

If anyone adds meat to the mac and cheese, what do you add and how do you prepare it?

Thanks in advance!

[Charlie&Rose]

The lobster was missing

[Sassybluesy]

We have chili mac the day after we have chili. What if you added some chili?

[Parnassia]

Well, there's always the field camp version: brown the hamburger in a skillet over a campfire, dump the cooked contents of that blue and yellow box on top of it, stir in the powdered you-don't-really-want-to-know-the-ingredients package, and inhale. Either I have no palette or the day's 10 hours of hard hiking and freezing temperatures made it taste great.

[Dogboa]

I'd also go the chili mac direction.

[pikabike]

A little cayenne powder.

[silibran]

If it were me, I'd brown the meat with some chopped onion and garlic. If you don't like garlic, skip that.

But I think the onion sauteed with the meat adds flavor. You could also add some chopped herb or parsley to the meat mixture.

[Caligula1]

Honestly, My Grandfather liked Mac and meat.. Salt is the answer..
It's bland unless you do as above and spice it up a bit...

[Hawk4042C]

Originally Posted by BoSox 15

I informed the family that I was making homemade mac n cheese last night when my son requested that I add some "meat" to the recipe. He said he wanted to try it with ground beef, I had some handy so I gave it a shot.

You can try a blend of meat: beef/pork/lamb

[burdell]

A splash of Lea & Perrins?