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This easy homemade Hamburger Helper recipe has ground beef, macaroni, and a flavorful cheesy cheddar sauce! It’s total comfort food that’s inexpensive and ready in about 30 minutes.
Try my Simple Ground Beef Casserole or One Pot Cheesy Beef and Shells next.
Why you’ll love it
When I was little, my mom made everything from scratch. I do fondly remember a few boxed meals from visiting friends’ houses in the ’90s, though. One was Hamburger Helper, and that brings up all the nostalgia. Naturally, I had to recreate an even better Hamburger Helper from scratch! I like mine because you have total control over the seasonings and know exactly what goes into it.
This ground beef recipe is super simple to make with affordable pantry ingredients, doesn’t take much longer than the packaged kind, and it’s cooked all in one pot for fewer dishes. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with eating packaged foods every now and then, but a LOT of people crave homemade Hamburger Helper, so I am here to bring you the best version.
What you’ll need
- Ground beef – I like to use extra lean ground beef, at least 90%
- Onion – our kitchen prefers Vidalia (sweet) onions
- Tomato paste – it’s an easy, economical way to get concentrated tomato flavor
- Garlic powder and chili powder – our simple seasoning blend to infuse savory flavor, and they’re ingredients I always keep in my pantry
- Elbow macaroni – the classic pasta shape for this
- Beef broth – for a deeper, richer flavor to the sauce
- Sharp cheddar cheese – my version of Hamburger Helper has no milk to make it that much easier, and the cheddar makes the dish creamy enough all on its own!
Pro tip
One pot recipes can vary depending on your particular stove and ingredients, so if you seem to be running out of liquid with a lot of time still left, feel free to add in a bit more. Try 1/2 cup at a time.
How to make Hamburger Helper
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Start by browning the beef and onion in a large pot and draining any excess fat, then stir in the tomato paste, garlic powder, and chili powder. Add in the beef broth, and bring the mixture to a boil. Once it’s boiling, stir in the uncooked macaroni.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid is soaked up. Grate the cheddar while it’s simmering away. Stir in the cheese, and season to taste with salt & pepper.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- Always grate your cheese own for best taste and texture. I use this cheese grater.
- I like this Dutch oven for my one pot meals.
- These are the angled measuring cups I use.
Substitutions and variations
- Feel free to tweak seasonings to your tastes. You can always increase the chili powder, add some hot sauce or crushed red pepper flakes, more garlic, and so on to make it perfect for your taste buds!
- Some readers like to sneak in a bit of spinach. Just add it in near the end of the cooking time until it wilts. Finely chopped bell peppers would work great as well.
- If you want to jazz it up, change up the cheese variety. Monterey Jack, smoked cheddar, etc. make some fun variations.
- You can use ground turkey or ground chicken instead if that’s more your thing.
- If you want to use another pasta shape (e.g. shells), you may need to adjust liquid measurements and/or cooking time (this has only been tested with macaroni).
What to serve with Hamburger Helper
- It’s definitely a meal in and of itself, but it would go great with a salad on the side. Try one with my Simple Homemade Ranch Dressing or Copycat Olive Garden Salad Dressing.
- Making Extra Cheesy Garlic Bread at home is another fantastic pairing everyone will devour.
- Want to serve it with some veggies? These Easy Roasted Green Beans are a cinch to make and caramelized to perfection.
Leftovers and storage
- Leftovers of this Hamburger Helper will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container, but keep in mind that the pasta will continue to absorb the broth over time. It’ll still be tasty, though.
- Reheat in a small saucepan over a low heat for best results, giving it the occasional stir, and warm it through. Add in a splash of beef broth to thin it if desired.
- I don’t recommend freezing leftovers. Cooked pasta doesn’t have the same texture once thawed.
More family friendly recipes
Let me know if you give this cheesy Hamburger Helper recipe a go! Questions? Made it? As always, I love it when you leave me comments.
Homemade Hamburger Helper Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 2 heaping tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 3 cups beef broth
- 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
- 2 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the beef and onions to a soup pot. Cook over medium-high heat until the beef has browned (about 7-10 minutes), breaking the meat up with your spoon as you go along. If there's a lot of excess fat, spoon most of it out.
- Stir in the tomato paste, garlic powder, and chili powder.
- Add in the beef broth and increase the heat to high. Once it starts boiling, add in the macaroni.
- Reduce the heat so it's not furiously boiling (a rapid simmer is good). I ended up cooking mine over medium heat. Let it cook uncovered until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 13-15 minutes). I stir it every couple of minutes.
- While it's cooking, grate the cheese (this saves prep time at the start of the recipe).
- Take the pot off the heat and stir in the cheese. Season with salt & pepper as needed. I let it sit for a couple minutes prior to serving (soaks up the sauce and flavors more), but you can serve it right away.
Notes
- Serves 4-6 depending on the portion size.
- As with any one pot meal, ingredients and stoves vary. If you’re running out of liquid (like it’s in danger of sticking and burning) when you still have a while to go before the pasta is done, feel free to add in more liquid, 1/2 cup at a time.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This recipe was originally published on January 17, 2020. It’s been updated with new photos and better instructions but is the same great recipe!
Can you freeze this? Thanks!
Hi Anna! See “leftovers and storage” section of the blog post.
I added a few more spices, but this was delicious. & My kids DEVOURED it. Thank you so much for this recipe! 💜
I’m thrilled it was a hit, Felicia!
We love this recipe! I’m wondering if you can make just the meat without the pasta and freeze?
Hi! I’ve only tested this as a one pot method, so you’d have to do some tweaking with the liquid measurements. I am also not sure how well the cheese would do in the freezer, so I’d probably add that after. I have a similar sauce that I will link… it isn’t quite the same as HH, but it could give you a starting point: https://bit.ly/3pHqvQh
I added 1/2 tsp of mustard powder to this and it made it taste pretty darn close to the real deal
Excellent!! Glad you enjoyed it!
My picky 10 year old LOVES this recipe. He normally leaves half of his dinner on his plate. Even the dinners he supposedly “likes.” This, he eats every last drop of! The only changes I made were upping the pasta to a cup and a half and adding 1 tspn of Penzey’s Sandwich Sprinkle- there’s something about that flavor combo that’s reminiscent of the boxed version. Thank you for putting this out into the world and into my kid’s very happy mouth! 🙂
Wow that’s awesome!!
I decided to just make and serve fresh not make ahead and put into the crockpot. I doubled the noodles and used orecchiette, absolutely delicious! Another amazing Salt and Lavender Dinner 🙂
So happy you enjoyed it, Lindsay!! 😀 Thanks for your kind review! I appreciate you coming back and trying more recipes.
Could you make this ahead of time and put in a crockpot to keep warm?
Hi! I think a little bit ahead of time would be ok, but the pasta will soak up the liquid quite quickly.
Pretty tasty! Our house felt it was lacking in a little flavor – so we boosted the chili & garlic powder & seasoned the ground beef while it was browning. Sub’d out macaroni for shells. Definitely hit the spot, looks like it’s going to set up beautifully for leftovers. HIGHLY recommend taking the extra time to grate fresh cheddar!
Glad you liked it! Yup, you can definitely tweak it to your tastes quite easily. Thanks, Tim!
I’ve made this countless times always a crowd hit with the entire family ! I’ve recommended this recipe to friends and family so good and easy
I’m thrilled it’s a favorite, Toni!! 🙂 I appreciate the recommendations!
Delicious!! We loved this recipe so much, it hit the spot to a T. My husband even went “mmmmm” after his first couple bites! (the same way our one year old talks as he eats spaghetti hahaha.) I substituted crushed tomato for tomato paste, doubling the measurement and it worked great! I made sure to write the recipe in my cookbook! Thank you, Natasha, for a great recipe that’s simple and flavourful! 🙂
– Avery
Haha I love that!! 😀 Thanks so much for your review!!