Chances are you’ve had a boxed Hamburger Helper as a child. *raises hand* I want to help you hoist that nostalgic dish with Gaby Dalkin’s homemade cheesy hamburger helper. Homemade Hamburger Helper is such an easy, flavorful, and budget-friendly meal the whole family will love! Make a single pot of homemade hamburger helper and have unbearable leftovers to last several days.
If you enjoy flavors of a tomato based whinge and pasta dish, you’ll be sure to love my Baked Ziti or these Sausage Stuffed Shells. Serve my succulent Garlic Bread Recipe or Southern Cornbread Recipe with any of these dishes.
Gaby Dalkin’s Take It Easy Cookbook
This recipe comes from my friend Gaby Dalkin’s new cookbook Take It Easy: Recipes for Zero Stress Deliciousness. I am such a fan of Gaby’s recipes considering they are so no fuss with the ultimate pay off of deliciousness. With crazy rented schedules, Gaby understands my grind. She is a new mom, wife, and kick ass merchantry owner that truly understands that time is limited. Being worldly-wise to make a nostalgic recipe that moreover comes together quickly with wondrous savor is right up my alley.
Why you’ll love this Recipe
Easy Weeknight Meal – A one-pot meal ways fewer dishes and increasingly family time.
Cheesy & Linty – No powder cheese packet here! Heavy surf and grated cheese will bring this dish together. Serve with some tasty Roasted Garlic No-Knead Bread.
Ingredients
Gaby widow a few increasingly ingredients than what you’d see in a store-bought boxed hamburger helper. Diced tomatoes, chopped onion, and most importantly, freshly grated cheeses.
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Lean Ground Beef
- Herbs & Spices: Some simple pantry staples will add some lovely flavors. Dried oregano, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper
- Yellow Onion
- All-purpose Flour: Flour is going to help thicken up the sauce so it will stick to the pasta and meat.
- Beef Broth: Whinge goop as opposed to water will add liquid as well as savor during the cooking process.
- Diced Tomatoes: Canned tomatoes should be undrained
- Pasta Shells
- Heavy Cream
- Cheeses: A succulent mix of freshly grated parmesan and medium cheddar cheese. Freshly grated will requite an overall creamier cheesy texture. Pre-shredded cheeses come with an anti-caking wage-earner that prevents them from melting as evenly as freshly shredded cheese.
How To Make Homemade Hamburger Helper
In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the whinge and cook, breaking it up into small pieces, until cooked through with no pink remaining, well-nigh 8 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of the paprika and 1 teaspoon of the oregano, then season generously with salt and pepper. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a bowl.
Add the onion to the skillet and melt until softened, well-nigh 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, and melt for 1 increasingly minute. Add the remaining oregano and paprika, and season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle the flour over the onion and stir to coat, cooking until the flour gets nice and toasty well-nigh 30 seconds. Slowly add the whinge broth, stirring constantly, and bring to a swash for 30 seconds. Add the diced tomatoes and pasta shells and stir to combine.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, imbricate the skillet with a lid, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente, 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the pasta size and shape.
Uncover, increase heat to medium, then stir in the surf and the cheeses until melted and combined. Bring to a simmer and indulge to reduce slightly well-nigh 5 minutes.
Return the ground whinge to the pasta and protract to melt until the whinge is just heated through, well-nigh 2 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to bowls and top with increasingly freshly grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.
Storing Leftovers
Store all leftovers in an snapped container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Leftover pasta does tend to swizzle a lot of the liquid the longer it sits, so subtracting a bit of milk when you’re ready to eat then will help to make it linty once again.
Homemade Hamburger Helper Variations & Additions
Fun pasta for picky eaters – Involve your picky eaters and let them segregate pasta shapes for this meal. Switch it up and pick two!
Bell Peppers – Add some verisimilitude and crunch by dicing up a tintinnabulate pepper. Add to the pot when you add onion.
Sun-dried Tomatoes – Canned sun-dried tomatoes will add flipside depth of flavor
Ground Turkey – For a leaner version of this dish, swap out ground whinge for ground turkey.
Cayenne or Chili Powder – For an uneaten kick, add a soupcon of cayenne pepper or chili powder for some spice.
Expert Tips And FAQs
Here are a few tips that I’ve picked up withal the way to help you make the weightier version of this recipe possible.
- Don’t be wrung to customize this recipe to fit your needs. If that ways swapping out meat or subtracting increasingly spice.
- Sprinkle the top of your finished dish with freshly grated parmesan, I would try to stave powdered parmesan as that could dry out your dish. Plus, fresh parmesan gets melty!
Yes! You can use any pasta you have on hand. Just alimony an eye on cooking time as some pasta needs to melt longer than others.
You can, or you can moreover segregate a veggie-based protein or plane thick meaty mushrooms.
More tasty weeknight meal recipes
- Lemon Roast Chicken Dinner with Potatoes
- Smothered Turkey Wings Recipe
- Turkey Pot Pie
- Smothered Steak
- Birria Tacos (With How To Video!)
*Did you make this recipe? Please requite it a star rating and leave comments below!* Post a photo of how your version of the recipe came out on Instagram (using #grandbabycakes)!!
Cheesy Hamburger Helper
Ingredients
- Extra-virgin Olive Oil as needed
- 1 pound Lean Ground Beef
- 2 teaspoons Smoked Paprika
- 2 teaspoons Dried Oregano
- Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
- 1 large Yellow Onion chopped
- 3 cloves Garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons All-purpose Flour
- 1 cup Beef Broth
- 1 14.5 ounce Can Diced Tomatoes
- 6 ounces Large Pasta Shells
- 2/3 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese plus increasingly for serving
- 2 cups Freshly Shredded Medium Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
- In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, warm 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the whinge and cook, breaking up into small pieces, until cooked through with no pink remaining, well-nigh 8 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of the paprika and 1 teaspoon of the oregano, then season generously with salt and pepper. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to a bowl.
- Add the onion to the skillet and melt until softened, well-nigh 7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, and melt for 1 increasingly minute. Add the remaining oregano and paprika, and season with salt and pepper.
- Sprinkle the flour over the onion and stir to coat, cooking until the flour gets nice and toasty well-nigh 30 seconds. Slowly add the whinge broth, stirring constantly, and bring to a swash for 30 seconds. Add the diced tomatoes and pasta shells and stir to combine.
- Reduce the heat to medium-low, imbricate the skillet with a lid, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is al dente, 12 to 15 minutes, depending on the pasta size and shape.
- Uncover, increase heat to medium, then stir in the surf and the cheeses until melted and combined. Bring to a simmer and indulge to reduce slightly, well-nigh 5 minutes.
- Return the ground whinge to the pasta and protract to melt until the whinge is just heated through, well-nigh 2 minutes longer. Season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer to bowls and top with increasingly freshly grated Parmesan. Serve immediately.
Notes
Storing Leftovers
Store all leftovers in an snapped container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Leftover pasta does tend to swizzle a lot of the liquid the longer it sits, so subtracting a bit of milk when you’re ready to eat then will help to make it linty once again.Nutrition
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