This easy Homemade Hamburger Helper recipe is the flavor packed, cheesy meal of your dreams! Pasta and ground beef are sautéed and covered in a creamy tomato & cheese sauce for a satisfying version of this classic dinner idea.
Easy Homemade Hamburger Helper
Hamburger Helper happens to hold a special place in my heart. It’s one of the first things I learned to make when I moved out on my own at 19. It was something we could afford and I loved finding ways to doctor it up and add more flavor to the boxed version.
These days, we make Homemade Hamburger Helper and my kiddos call it Cheeseburger Pasta! It’s so creamy, packed with flavor and filled with cheese pasta and bites of ground beef. We sometimes even add extra cheese on top and melt it under the broiler for a few minutes!
This homemade hamburger helper is one of our kids favorite weeknight dinners. It doesn’t hurt that that this recipe is budget friendly and so simple and easy to make.
Why make it homemade?
Boxed Hamburger helper is convenient on busy weeknights, but this homemade version is just as easy to make and filled with more flavor and freshness. By making it from scratch, you will also have more control over the seasonings and can skip all the extra preservatives.
Oh! And the from scratch way includes real cream and real cheese. You know that’s worth it alone! If you really want that classic hamburger helper taste with the artificial cheese, you can always add a little velveeta with the shredded cheddar cheese! I promise your secret is safe with me.
If you want to serve a comforting and delicious dinner, you might as well go all in with the real deal! My family can’t get enough of this homemade hamburger helper and I know you are going to love it too!
Recipe Ingredients
- Ground Beef: Feel free to substitute lean ground beef for another ground meat like chicken or turkey to change it up!
- Chopped Onion: I use a sweet yellow onion to balance out the savory flavors in this dish.
- Minced Garlic
- All Purpose Flour
- Beef Broth: You can also use another broth of choice.
- Tomato Sauce
- Italian Seasoning
- Seasoned Salt
- Smoked Paprika
- Garlic Powder
- Pasta Shells: This recipe works with elbow pasta as well.
- Heavy Cream
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- Salt & Pepper: At the end, season to your liking with salt and pepper.
What Kind of Pasta to Use
Shells or elbow pasta work best for this recipe. If you don’t have either or those, any small noodle will do. You could even make this hamburger helper with penne if you really wanted to. I like to use the shells because they’re good at absorbing the creamy tomato sauce.
How to Make Homemade Hamburger Helper
Cook Beef: In a large sauté pan with a lid, brown the ground beef over medium high heat. Remove cooked ground beef from the pan and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of grease in the pan.
Sauté Onion & Garlic: Cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.
Add Flour & Broth: Add the flour and stir to cook for about 1 minute. Slowly stir in the beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil.
Cook Pasta: Add the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning and pasta, stirring to combine. Cover with the lid and sauté for 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked, stirring occasionally.
Add Cream & Cheese: Add in the cream and cheese and stir until all the cheese is melted. Add the ground beef back in and cook for 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve immediately.
Tips for the Best Hamburger Helper
- Adjust Amount of Broth Used: This dish should be rich and creamy. If you need more liquid for your pasta, add a little water or beef broth. This is helpful if you’re using a larger noodle like penne.
- Use Freshly Shredded Cheddar: There are a lot of high quality shredded cheeses out there, but for the best flavor I always recommend shredding it fresh yourself.
- Season to Taste: You can add your favorite seasonings to this recipe or tweak the ones listed if you’d like! If it feels like it’s missing something, make sure it’s got enough salt. Sometimes you just need a pinch more salt to make a dish like this shine!
- Garnish: Throw some parsley, pickles (it is cheeseburger pasta after all!) or roasted red pepper flakes on your pasta as a garnish.
What to serve with it?
This cheesy homemade hamburger helper is really a one pot dish! You don’t have to serve anything on the side if you don’t want to, it’s filling enough on it’s own!
However, if you are like me, I like to have a little something green with every meal. So we often serve this recipe with a side salad or some steamed or roasted broccoli!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Store your leftover beef pasta in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days. If you want to freeze it, store it in an aluminum pan tightly covered with plastic wrap. It’ll stay fresh in the freezer for about 3 months!
You can reheat your hamburger helper on the stove or in the microwave. Add a splash or two of broth to bring back its creaminess. If you froze your leftovers, thaw them in the fridge before reheating.
Can I make this recipe ahead?
I would not recommend trying to make this homemade hamburger helper recipe ahead. This recipe is best served fresh right off the stove. When it sits and is allowed to cool, the pasta will soak up the extra liquid and it won’t be as wonderful as it is fresh. The leftovers are still good, just not AS good as they are fresh off the stove.
However, if you want to meal prep before a busy week, you can always sauté the ground beef and onion/garlic before hand. Store them in ziplock bags in the fridge and have them ready to go later in the week for an even quicker dinner!
I am excited for you to try this extra cheesy and flavorful Homemade Hamburger Helper and to hear your reviews! It’s a favorite easy weeknight dinner of ours and I am happy to finally be sharing it with all of you.
Looking for more quick and easy dinner ideas? Check out these other reader favorites:
- Easy Swedish Meatballs
- Easy Chicken and Dumplings
- Crockpot French Onion Chicken
- Instant Pot Beef Tips
- Best Baked Chicken Recipe
Homemade Hamburger Helper
Make the cheesy pasta dish of your cravings with this easy Homemade Hamburger Helper recipe! Pasta and ground beef are sautéed and covered in a creamy tomato & cheese sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups low sodium beef broth
- 1 8oz can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups pasta shells (can also use elbow pasta)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large sauté pan with a lid, brown the ground beef over medium high heat. Remove cooked ground beef from pan and set aside, reserving 2 tablespoons of grease in the pan.
- Cook the onion until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic for the last 30 seconds.
- Add the flour and stir to cook for about 1 minute, slowly stir in the beef broth and bring the mixture to a boil.
- Pour in the tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, seasoned salt, smoked paprika, garlic powder and pasta, stirring to combine. Cover with lid and sauté for 12 to 15 minutes or until pasta is cooked, stirring occasionally.
- Add in the cream and cheese and stir until all the cheese melted. Add back in ground beef, cook for 2 to 3 minutes more to re-heat ground beef and serve immediately!
Notes
This dish is rich. If you need more liquid for your pasta you can add a little water or beef broth. You could substitute another type of pasta but try to use a similar size for the liquid ratio to work out.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
5Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 590Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 18gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 152mgSodium: 870mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 2gSugar: 4gProtein: 42g
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This is an awesome recipe. I used home made chicken bone broth and added 3 -4 extra cups of broth. White cheddar and a little extra season salt and fresh black pepper. The seasonings in the recipe are great! Next time I may add a green pepper for some extra color and flavor but it is just fine without it. Thank you!
I have made this recipe MANY times exactly as written and it come out perfect and delicious every single time! Thank you!
Came out great! Thanks.
Spot on recipe — taste better than the real thing! I was little skeptical after seeing the tomato sauce but definitely taste where it fits. My only adjustment was adding 1/4 cup more beef stock to fully cook the pasta. I don’t know how I’m going to stop making this!
This dish is delicious. We were using a different recipe to make hamburger helper with basically the same ingredients but cooked in a much different order. This recipe is sooo much better. We used gluten free elbows so we needed to add more liquid (almost double) and the texture is great. We also used 1/2 ground Italian sausage + 1/2 ground beef because we had leftovers from making spaghetti last night. I would definitely recommend this recipe.
I precooked the pasta ( parboiled) before adding. Increased the water, and used a chicken bouillon cube (instead of beef broth) that I immersed into the water before adding. FYI: Use a wooden spoon to smash up the bouillon cube in the water so it isn’t in one big clump when you add it in. Also substituted 1% milk for the heavy cream. Less salt was used also.
I agree with Leanne, I too will cut the salt. Other than that… my picky eater husband enjoyed it! Thanks for the wonderful addition to my meal planning!
My family n friends loves it I make it often and its always a hit .. It was perfect as always .. I wish I could attach a photo..
Our family has made this dish about 4 times. We really enjoy it. Each time the ingredients changed slightly due to available ingredients in the house, i.e. no smoked paprika so I used a dash of liquid smoke. Different varieties of cheddar cheese change the flavor. We always add fresh mushrooms. We always use egg noodles cooked in a separate pan and added at the very end. 2 cups of beef stock works well when cooking pasta or noodles separate. This time we had home spaghetti sauce on hand.
DELISH ! !
We loved this dinner! it was definitely not enough liquid to cook the noodles, you will have to add more broth/ water or I will probably try cooking the noodles separately first. But we loved it.
We really enjoyed this! I second a previous commenter. It needs a lot more broth! Added between 1/2-1cup more of broth to get a good consistency and cook the pasta all the way through! I will also half the salt next time. The shredded cheese makes it salty.
This recipe is GREAT!!!! Absolutely recommend insert *chef kiss*
Made this tonight and I must admit I like the boxed stuff better. This was way too gummy. I wound up using an entire box of broth. May be better to add in the cooked pasta but I wasn’t a fan at all. But, you never know until you try. The bad part is there is a lot left and I don’t think I can stomach eating it again.
I was craving Hamburger Helper, so I made this for my hubby and kids. They have already requested this to be a regular menu item. SO GOOD!! The only change I made was using ground turkey that I seasoned while cooking. Thanks for the delicious recipe!!