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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 Simple Chili Mac 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
- 1 cup uncooked elbow macaroni
- 3 cups beef broth
- 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!
Wanted to try hamburger helper as I saw it on an American Facebook Post and it looked yummy and different. However being in the UK couldn’t get the box, I was surprised Betty Crocker did anything other than cake mix!
I tried your recipe after converting the cups to grams! It was amazing, I use your recipe almost weekly! Kids love it, its one of their favourites now! Thank you 😁
That’s fantastic!!! I’m so pleased that you gave it a try and your kids love it. 🙂 Thanks for letting me know!
This was really good! I tried it after a very busy day of traveling, so I was exhausted. I had to use bagged shreds of sharp cheddar and ground turkey, because I had it on hand. I also used some seasoned salt, and hot and black combo pepper, because turkey tends to be a bit bland. I’ll be making it again, for sure! Thanks for a recipe as easy to prepare as a mix!
I’m so glad it hit the spot, Carol!
I have a lot of food sensitivities and allergies so I was pleased to see something I haven’t had in such a long time. I substituted gluten free macaroni and I use A2 cheese. This was even better than I remembered it. Thank you so much – it’s nice to eat like everyone else every once in a while.
Well that’s so good to hear, Tina! Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
This recipe is so easy. I’m a teacher and this year has been tough, so this is a super easy dish to make when i’m exhausted. We eat it at least once a week. So good!
I’m so happy that this recipe helps make dinnertime easier for you, Sydney! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to write me a review.
SO EASY! And so so good! I’m really happy to have found another “go to” meal for my family on the busy days.
I’m so pleased you enjoyed it, Janelle! 🙂 Thank you!
I saw this today on Instagram and happened to have everything I needed to make it, so we had it for dinner. It was DELICIOUS! I was afraid it was going to be too soupy, but after adding the cheese, it all came together perfectly! I did use packaged shredded cheddar and I’m not sure it made a difference. This is definitely going into the rotation! Thanks for posting 😋
Fantastic!! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Elise!
Hi! Do you have any ideas for how to make this a little more leftover friendly? I love the recipe but I don’t cook for a lot of people and notice when I do one pot meals with pasta that the pasta becomes mushy the next day after sitting in the sauce in the fridge. Is it possible to make the noodles in a separate pot and then just mix in enough of the sauce with enough noodles in an additional bowl for that night- and save the rest separately? Or does the sauce need to cook with the noodles to get the pasta starch, etc.?
Thanks!!
Hi! I’m so glad you like this recipe! 🙂 That’s the problem with one pot pasta recipes, unfortunately. The starch in this one does work to thicken the sauce, so cooking it separately wouldn’t result in the exact same texture, and you’d have to play around with liquid measurements. Perhaps try halving the recipe and making it in a smaller pot? It may need some tweaks with timing, but that would at least give you fewer leftovers to worry about. With all that said, you definitely could try making the sauce separately, but yeah, you’d definitely need to tweak the measurements a fair bit to account for there not being any pasta to soak up the liquid as it cooks. I wonder if perhaps my creamy ground beef pasta could be a base if you want to experiment. You could add some chili powder and cheddar and it would taste very similar. Here’s the link: https://bit.ly/3xfwmM8
Can this be frozen. I make my own frozen dinners. Always looking for a new recipe to try.
Hi! I haven’t tested freezing it, but this type of meal isn’t always great frozen/reheated, in my opinion. Leftover pasta in general gets a bit soggy, and reheating it might make it a bit gloopy. I mean it should still taste ok, but not sure about the texture. Let me know if you try, though!
Making it now looks good 😋
Hope you enjoy it, Marg! 🙂 Let me know!
Very easy to make and we were surprised by how closely it tasted like boxed Hamburger Helper. Of course this is way more delicious 😋 Making it for a second time tonight!
Thrilled to hear that, Melissa! 😀 Thanks for reviewing the recipe.
Great hearty meal, kids loved it too. I love the one pot cooking! Super easy.
Excellent! So glad it was a hit, Dina!