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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!
This was great. I used 1.5 cups of macaroni and 3 cups of chicken broth and doubled spices to make it stretch a little farther. No leftovers! It’s a winner!
Fantastic! Thanks so much, Carly!
Way better than real hamburger helper. Thank you for this! So yummy!
You’re welcome, Dana!
Incredibly easy and delicious as written! I have two picky eaters at home and this was a big hit with both. Would give 10 stars if I could.
Aww thank you, Liz!!
Easy to make and absolutely delicious! Perfect for a snowy evening meal.
Thank you!!
This was amazing, I added some poblano peppers, extra chili powder, Cheyenne Pepper, used chicken broth because I had a lot of it at the house, and I smoke cheese so I used that. Definitely make it again
Love it!!
Is it possible that when this recipe was updated on 12/27/23 the amount of noodles went from 1lb to a cup? A cup isn’t enough and I swear when I made this recipe a month ago it was 1 lb. There’s too much liquid for 1 cup. Thanks
Hi Shannon! 1 cup is correct, and it’s always been 1 cup. For future reference, when you see that a post is updated, it could be for something as small as adding a link to a new recipe or fixing a typo. The recipe itself doesn’t change after being thoroughly tested. In this case, a link to our Chili Mac recipe was added on that date. If a recipe itself is changed (i.e., ingredient quantities), that would be made *very* clear in the post and isn’t something we often do and definitely not on a tried and true reader favorite like this one. The liquid-to-pasta ratio is correct, but since stoves and cookware vary, feel free to adjust the broth quantity or cook time, as with any one pot recipe. 🙂
Not really the greatest taste. Will have to try a different cheese if I make this again. The cheddar was too overpowering
Sorry you didn’t like it, Whitney. It’s a reader favorite, but I guess everyone has different tastes.
I’ve made this at least ten times now, only omitting the tomato paste (partner didn’t care for it) and also didn’t add cheese, then had to get rid of some Better than Beef bouillion stock was a great substitute for beef broth that added a lot of flavor without needing to add any salt. My partner says its better than hamburger helper even with 95% lean ground beef, trying to figure out a vegetable to add in like peas or broccoli but its super good as is so maybe steamed or roasted veggies on the side will have to do. We made the mistake of adding more than a cub of noodles one time and it was overkill on pasta so whatever pasta (bowtie, penne, etc) you use make sure to keep to a cup!
Thank you, Sandee!!
This is very good. It’s definitely a keeper in my house!! Thank you!
You’re very welcome, Gina!! 😀
I didn’t NEED a second bowl. I helped myself to a second bowl. 🤣
Hahaha love it!