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 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.
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
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- Beef Noodle Soup
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- Swedish Meatballs
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- Slow Cooker Beef Stew
-
- 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.
Oh my….this is everything every says it is and so easy. My kids loved it and so did I! It’s one of those recipes that you keep going back to the pot for to grab another scoop! Delicious
Thank you for sharing! An absolute keeper!
It makes me so happy to hear the kiddos loved it! I know what you mean, it’s really easy to go for “just a scoop”😂 Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
My daughter found this recipe and we can’t wait to try it! I’m considering using the crockpot. Do you have any recommendations for that? Thanks!
Hi Crystal! My experience is that pasta ends up very “gummy” when cooked in the crock pot. It should be cooked at a rapid boil per the package instructions to ensure it cooks as intended 🙂 I do have a very good Meat Sauce recipe that has slow cooker instructions outlined in the notes section!
Ooopsie I got so excited I forgot to rate 😂 this is beyond 5 stars
I made this tonight and OMGEEE it’s amazing. I just tweaked it a little because I didn’t have chicken broth, and I used a little bit more Worcestershire sauce to make my roux because I was making a bigger batch and I used evaporated milk. It’s sooo delish!! Thanks for posting this recipe. I will be back for more!!
I am soo happy that you enjoyed the recipe Jacque!! This is always a big hit in my house! 🙂 I also see your additional 5-star rating and I really appreciate that, thank you so much! 🙂 -Stephanie
Cooked this last night for a party and it was a hit. Made 3 changes. I used 1lb of ground beef and 0.5lb ground Italian sausage, used tri-color rotini, and used packaged shredded cheese instead of cheese from the block. I really think the Italian sausage gave this meal that little something extra. As for the packaged cheese, it didn’t negatively impact this meal.
I love your tweaks Gin, especially the tri-color rotini 😋. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review 💗
Yum yum yum yum. So good. Made it with cheesy garlic bread. I hope everyone else loves it too.
Sounds like such a yummy meal with the cheesy garlic bread Sonya, Nice work! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💗
My husband and son loved it! My 5 year old son said he wants this all the time and calls it tornado pasta because the pasta is a twister. Lol. Thank you!
Tornado Pasta! That is so cute 🤗 I’m so happy your husband and little one enjoyed it so much. Thank you for taking the time to leave a review Lisa!💖
Can I used ground Turkey and would it turn out the same or close to similar?
The texture/consistency will be the same, that will be fine! The taste is just a little different.
It’s a family favorite! I only substituted chicken broth for beef. Thank you for sharing and making it tonight 😋
You’re very welcome Salli, I’m so happy it’s a family favorite! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💗
Disclaimer: I’ve never had hamburger Helper. Made with vegan modifications. Didn’t have Italian seasoning or worcestershire sauce, so made my own. Used lentils instead of ground beef. Subbed 1T nutritional yeast for the cheddar. Subbed Cashew cream for the half/ half. Subbed veggie broth for chicken. Used tricolor rotini. Followed directions as written. Turned out well. May add roasted diced tomatoes to next day lunch portion.
Nice work making this Vegan! Thanks so much for sharing how you did that and for taking the time to leave a review!💗