The Cozy Cookbook is here! 
This Ground Beef Pasta recipe is an easy 30 minute meal that you can make with any kind of pasta. Your family will love the creamy, cheesy, Italian sauce!
Be sure to serve this with a side of Garlic Bread with Cheese!
Ground Beef Pasta
You know the Italian-style version of Hamburger Helper? This is about 60 times better than that, and literally takes the same amount of time to make.
Hamburger Helper looks tasty to me, but always comes up short. I promise, this ground beef pasta recipe does not disappoint. Once you try it, you’ll be making it all the time. I think my family eats it about once a week.
Easy ground beef recipes are the best. The ingredients in this one are super simple, so let’s start there:
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cook and crumble the ground beef and onions. Drain grease. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, and flour. Stir to combine and cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken broth, tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. Bring a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Cook for 15 minutes while you start boiling water for the pasta. Boil the pasta for 7 minutes or per package instructions.
Slowly stir in the half and half to the sauce. Reduce heat to low and sprinkle in the cheese. Stir to combine.
Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with garlic bread with cheese.
Pro Tips
- Shred the cheese first and set it aside along with the half and half, they shouldn’t be cold when added to the sauce.
- If possible, shred your cheese from a block, it melts and tastes better than packaged shredded cheese. I like to use Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Yellow.
- Penne, Rigatoni, Ziti, Bowtie, or Cavatappi are good pastas with this meal as well.
- Optional ingredient additions include drained diced tomatoes, frozen peas, carrots, and/or corn.
- Milk can be used instead of half and half, but the sauce won’t be quite as thick and creamy. Reduce the heat to low prior to adding to avoid curdling it, whole milk works best.
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 136!
Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Try These Next
-
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
-
- Chicken Scallopini
-
- Swedish Meatballs
-
- Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
-
- Chicken Parmesan
-
- Stuffed Bell Peppers
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Tried This Recipe?
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Ground Beef Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 + ½ lbs. ground beef, 85% lean
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 Tablespoons flour, optional-helps thicken the sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 16 oz tomato sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- ½ cup half and half, (half cream, half milk)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ pound Rotini pasta
Instructions
- Shred the cheese and set it aside along with the half and half. We don’t want those to be cold when we add them to the sauce.
- Cook and crumble the ground beef over medium heat. Add the onions halfway through and cook until softened.
- Drain grease. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add salt, Worcestershire sauce, and flour. Stir to combine and cook for 3 minutes to remove raw flour taste.
- Add chicken broth and use a silicone spatula to clean the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato sauce and Italian seasoning. Bring a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes while you start boiling water for the pasta. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook for 7 minutes or per package instructions.
- Slowly add in the half and half to the sauce, stirring as you go.
- Reduce heat to low and slowly sprinkle in the cheese. Stir to combine. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with garlic bread with cheese.
Notes
- If possible, shred your cheese from a block, it melts and tastes better than packaged shredded cheese. I like to use Cracker Barrel Extra Sharp Yellow.
- Penne, Rigatoni, Ziti, Bowtie, or Cavatappi are good pastas with this meal as well.
- Optional ingredient additions: Drained diced tomatoes, frozen peas, carrots, and/or corn.
- Milk can be used instead of half and half, but the sauce won’t be quite as thick and creamy. Reduce the heat to low prior to adding to avoid curdling it, whole milk works best. Conversely, heavy cream may also be used.
- This recipe is in The Cozy Cookbook on page 136!
Storage: Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-4 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Made this for my family tonight and it was a hit. Very very delicious. Will be making this again.
I’m so happy this was such a hit Maricela! Definitely one of my most popular family meals, thanks so much for the great review!😃
Make this on the regular my entire family loves it!
Excellent! I love hearing the whole family is enjoying it Jaclyn, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!😃
It was really good, both my wife and I enjoyed it (especially her since I cooked!) Directions were easy to follow. About the only thing I would change would be to give it a little kick, so next time I make this, I’m going to add probably around 1-2 tsp red pepper flake and maybe sub the beef with Italian sweet sausage. But again, it was very good as is. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Happy to hear you and your wife enjoyed it Bryan. My husband enjoys adding some hot sauce to this for a little kick too. Thanks so much for the great comments and for taking the time to leave a review!😃
This was excellent. Really great flavor.
Wahoooo! Thanks so much for the great review Elsa! I’m so happy you liked that ground beef pasta!😀
Perfect and easy – my whole family of very picky eaters love this meal and ask for it about once a week.
I’m so happy the picky eaters are enjoying this one too Kelley! This one is definitely a great one for the kiddos. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!😃
Been having a version of this since I was a kid (now in my 60’s) that my dad found a recipe for on a tomato soup can. It was just ground beef, diced onion, pasta, s&p, and condensed tomato soup. Simple, comfort food that brings me back to simpler times. A recipe I have never tried to change or enhance. I still make it now and it’s a family favorite!
Simple comfort food for simpler times, Amen to that Kathy!❤️
I don’t normally do reviews so sorry if I rant a bit but oh my god I love this recipe! My roommate and I are pretty much polar opposites in what we like to eat. We can never agree on a dish! I just made this for fun today and I’m already going back to the store tomorrow for ingredients to make it again! It was SUPER creamy and wasn’t too cheesy! I used macaroni pasta because that’s all we had and it actually worked really well! 10/10 on this! Even my incompetent self was able to make it which was a huge ego boost when my roommate asked for more!
Sorry I forgot to do the stars!
Thanks so much Nico!💕
Yayyy, sounds like you nailed it Nico, nice work!🙌 I’m so happy you and your roommate enjoyed this one, thanks so much for the great comments!
Excellent recipe. I used homemade chicken stock + 1 chicken bouillon cube, which I think was the key. This one’s a keeper- thank you!
I’m so happy this is a keeper! I try to use homemade chicken stock whenever I can, it definitely makes such a big difference. Thanks so much for the great review!❤️
Mixed reviews in our house, but overall a winner! Needed a quick option on a night I thought we were ordering pizza 🙂 and this recipe fit the bill. Hubby was on the fence but anything like a casserole/“goulash” is not his favorite; daughter likewise was not super enthused but still cleaned her plate. Son and I gobbled it up plus seconds, since we both love comfort food and he gave it a 10. 🙂 I had to make a few substitutions for what we had on hand and for dairy sensitivities (sheep cheese, nondairy sour cream/milk combo) but the result was still delicious!
Well I’m happy to hear there were some fans. Thanks for taking the time to comment and review!❤️
This is the second time I’ve made this for my husband’s lunches and it’s really good! I added 2 extra cups of chicken broth and boiled the noodles in the same pan to make this a one pot recipe and I used Kraft triple cheddar cheese and it was delightful. Thank you!!
I’m so happy your husband is enjoying this recipe for lunch Melanie!😋 That’s great to hear you were able to cook it in one pot!🙌 Thanks so much for taking the time to comment and leave a review!