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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.
© Salt & Lavender Inc. Content and photographs are copyrighted. Sharing this blog post is much appreciated, but copying and pasting full recipes without authorization to social media is strictly prohibited.
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!
I don’t usually comment on recipes, or even rate them on blogs – but we keep coming back to this one! I’ve made it lots and have tweaked it for our family’s preference. For the pasta – we like more, so I do 1.5 cups or even a bit more, it also means there’s 2 portions for lunch the next day for both me and husband. I also like to cook the pasta on the side! I use gas, and have found it’s harder to get all pasta uniformly cooked and not stuck to the bottom. 6 minutes and then u combine and let simmer for a few minutes all together.
Last time I made this I realized I was out of tomato paste – I simply halved the beef broth to accommodate and added a tsp of dry beef stock for the flavour. Sometimes I add cream to this recipe tk use it up, and I’ve added shredded carrots without anyone detecting it
Thanks, Kelsea! Appreciate your 5-star review! It definitely helps my small business out. 😀
So freaking good. I made a few small changes according to what I had/what was available at the store:
-grounds beef/pork
-garlic powder swapped for diced garlic
-bow tie pasta
Author is correct that I needed *slightly* more broth for bow tie pasta, I just kept adding small amounts until it looked good. This truly did take not much prep and cook time, and only used one pot. Great recipe, thank you!
You are very welcome, Victoria! 😀 Glad it worked out!
Love this recipe!
Thanks, Laura!!
I like this!! The kids KILLED it lol. And the garlic bread was a wonderful touch! I would have never thought to add that with it! Thank you!
Yay!! You’re very welcome, Sharon!
I followed this delicious recipe as my base. I used my homemade (leftover turkey meatballs) and smashed them down. I added 1oz. Of orichetti pasta because that is what I had on hand. 1 handful of fresh arugala, a few spoonfuls of Ro-tel and seasoned it with scallions, fresh dill, Parsley and cilantro as well as onion and garlic powder, salt, black and white pepper and a sprinkle of ghost seasoning! Omg! Delicious!
Sounds good to me!
I swear I will never buy the box stuff again. This dish has always been a childhood favorite comfort food but I love that I can recreate an adult and tastier version of it without a bunch of additives. Meanwhile, I’ve even made this with a cup of reduced fat cheddar/colby and 1/3 cup of non fat yogurt with 2 slices of reduced fat american cheese (low cholesterol low fat diet) vs the 2 cups of cheddar and it still tastes amazing every time!! I’ve also substitued ketchup for the tomatoe paste, when i needed to a couple of times, and it was not even noticeable. Thank you so much for this great find! Highly recommend adding this to anyone’s recipe collection and is an easy dish for kids/teens.
You are very welcome!! 😀 Appreciate your review!
This is a totally solid recipe! I did add a few things (more pasta and garlic powder, red pepper flakes) however, the base recipe started it all. My large family loved it. Thanks so much for this! Looking forward to the deep dive into this website ☀️
Thank you, Paige! 😀 Glad you found me! Let me know what else you try.
Great crowd pleaser and a stroll down memory lane. So flavorful and easy . Thank you, Natasha,
Carolyn
You’re very welcome, Carolyn!
Highly recommend this recipe! I added in some canned diced tomatoes and a little bit of frozen spinach. I actually used broken up lasagna noodles because that’s all I had on hand. Tastes like hamburger helper but better!
Thank you, Kisha!
I would like to try the hamburger helper! Do you think that I would like it? Sounds good to me!
I hope you’ll love it! 😉 Let me know if you try it! 😀