This Easy Homemade Hamburger Helper is a savory, one-pot meal that's better than the original! Made with tender elbow pasta, savory ground beef, cheese, tomato sauce, and veggies, it's ready in 30 minutes or less!
⅛teaspoonred pepper flakes(or more, if you like it spicy!)
¼cupfrozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry(or 1 cup fresh, chopped fine) optional
1 ¾cupmilk
1 ½cupbeef broth(low sodium)
2 ¾cupsdry uncooked macaroni(1 375g box)
1 ½cupstomato or pasta sauce
1 ½cupsshredded cheese(mozzarella or cheddar)
Instructions
To a large pot add beef, onion, and peppers and cook until vegetables are softened. Cook over medium high heat until beef is browned.
Add garlic, salt, Italian seasoning, paprika, mustard red pepper flakes, and spinach. Cook 1-2 minutes to wake up the flavors.
Add in milk, broth, macaroni and tomato sauce and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 12-15 minutes, stirring often.
Stir in 1 cup of cheese. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top, cover and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
Video
Notes
**NOTE: Nutrition information is estimated and will vary depending on exact serving size, types and brands of products used.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
Ground Beef: feel free to swap the beef for ground chicken, pork or turkey. I use lean ground beef so there is not much fat to drain, but if you are using regular ground beef you may want to drain the fat after browning.
Vegetables: you can swap the peppers and spinach for other vegetables you have hanging around: finely chopped mushrooms, shredded carrots or zucchini, finely chopped kale -- once it all cooks down the flavor melds together and you won't really notice!
Broth: I use low sodium beef broth so I can control the salt. If you have regular broth you may want to reduce the added salt and adjust as needed. Vegetable and chicken broth may also be substituted.
Milk: I use low fat milk, but any will do here! Non-dairy milk works just as well.
Macaroni: any short pasta will work here, but they may require different cook times or amounts of liquid. If you notice the liquid is mostly absorbed but the pasta is not cooked, just add a splash here and there and continue cooking until the pasta is al dente.