Description
Homemade Hamburger Helper is an easy one-pot pasta dinner with seasoned ground beef, tender elbow macaroni, and a creamy cheddar cheese sauce. This family-friendly comfort food recipe is budget-friendly, ready in 30 minutes, and tastes so much better than the boxed version!
Ingredients
Main Ingredients:
- 1 pound lean ground beef (80/20 or 93% lean recommended)
- ½ cup finely chopped yellow onion
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt (or to taste)
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups elbow macaroni pasta (uncooked)
- 2-3 cups beef broth
- ¾-1 cup milk (2% or whole milk)
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (freshly grated recommended)
Optional:
- 1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- Fresh parsley for garnish
- Red chili flakes for heat
Instructions
Put your big skillet on medium-high heat. Throw in the beef and onion, dump in all the spices, and start breaking up the meat with your spoon. This takes maybe 5-8 minutes until the beef isn’t pink anymore. If you’ve got a bunch of grease in there, drain most of it but leave a little bit because fat equals flavor.
Dump in the tomato paste and mix it around till the beef’s all coated. Add the Worcestershire if you’re using it. Let this cook for a minute or two without stirring too much. The paste will start sticking to the pan a little and that’s fine, that’s where the flavor is.
Pour in the broth and milk, stir it up. Turn the heat to high and wait for it to boil. When it’s bubbling, add your dry pasta and stir so everything’s covered.
Once it’s boiling, turn it down to medium-low and stick a lid on it. Let it go for 12-15 minutes till the pasta’s soft and most of the liquid’s soaked up. Stir this every 3-4 minutes or the pasta will stick to the bottom and you’ll be scraping for days. The pasta should be cooked but not mushy, and yeah it’ll look kinda soupy still. That’s normal.
Take it off the heat. Dump in all the cheese and stir till it’s melted and everything looks creamy. Let it sit for a few minutes before you eat it because the sauce will thicken up and taste better. Taste it and add more salt if you need to.
Notes
- Grate your cheese. Yeah it’s extra work but pre-shredded has that coating stuff that keeps it from melting smooth. Your sauce will be grainy if you use the bagged stuff.
- Don’t drain all the fat if you’re using 80/20 beef. Leave like 2 tablespoons in there. Makes it taste better.
- It looks watery when you first take it off the heat. Wait 5 minutes and it’ll thicken right up.
- If it’s too thick add more milk. Too thin, let it cook another minute without the lid.
- Taste it before you serve it. The cheese has salt in it so you might not need as much as you think.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: One Pot
- Cuisine: American