Creamy Beef Pasta Recipe is an easy pasta dish made in 30 minutes and loaded with flavor! Your whole family will love this quick, cheesy, everyday dinner idea!
And make sure to try out my sausage spin on this recipe… Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta!
This Creamy Beef Pasta Recipe is one of those classic pasta dinners that is comforting and nostalgic.
Today’s recipe is a grown up version of Hamburger Helper, but SO much better! We eat a decent amount of pasta in our house….my husband is Italian, and his mom served pasta in some form almost every night of the week, so while we don’t eat it THAT often, I do incorporate pasta into a lot of our meals. With 4 boys sometimes it’s about quantity and pasta is great for filling bellies. My One Pot Shrimp Pasta and my Mushroom and Garlic Butter Pasta are also on regular rotation because they’re family favorites!
This pasta dish is a creamy, cheesy tomato sauce, with ground beef and rotini! You can add a little more crushed red pepper to make it a little spicier, or leave it out all together. You can even substitute a jar of pre-made pasta sauce instead of the plain tomato sauce and the seasonings if you have a jarred sauce you really love!
Tips For Making Creamy Beef Pasta
- You can use any short pasta in this beef pasta recipe. I prefer rotini because it holds a lot of the sauce. Cavatappi is another great option!
- Make sure you’re using a deep skillet for this because it makes a large batch!
- This recipe calls for cheddar cheese at the end to mix into the pasta. You could use a cheese blend if you prefer, but I wouldn’t recommend using mozzarella because the cheese could get a little stringy mixed in and a cheddar or cheddar blend melts in better. BUT you could use cream cheese if you are wanting an extra creamy pasta!
- You could easily sub in ground turkey or chicken for the lean ground beef.
- You could even sauté some diced bell pepper or carrots with the onion to add a little more flavor.
- You can replace the seasonings in this recipe for Italian seasoning to save time.
- You could even add mushrooms to this pasta recipe instead of meat to create a vegetarian version of this dish!
- This recipe can easily be cut in half to make a smaller portion!
Can You Freeze This Creamy Beef Pasta?
Sure, BUT I have a few tips for you so your pasta doesn’t get mushy!
- Just freeze the sauce and add the rotini the day you’re planning on serving this Creamy Beef Pasta.
- If you make the whole recipe and have leftover to freeze, allow it to come up to room temperature before heating back up. You don’t want to over stir the pasta or try and break it up in a saucepan if it’s frozen, as the pasta will all break into bits.
- If you’re meal prepping and planning ahead and you plan on freezing this dish, or giving it to a family to reheat I recommend undercooking the pasta a bit so it’s just al dente. This way as you warm it up on the stove top the pasta won’t get too mushy!
Looking for More Pasta Recipes? Try these:
PrintCreamy Beef Pasta Recipe
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Prep Time: 10 minutes -
Cook Time: 20 minutes
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Total Time: 30 minutes
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Yield: serves 6-8 1x
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Category: Pasta
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Method: Stove Top
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Cuisine: Dinner
Prep Time:
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Print Recipe
PinDescription:
An easy, creamy beef pasta recipe that is loaded with flavor and cheese!
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced (about a cup)
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 (28- ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1 pound Rotini pasta
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
- optional – garnish with parsley (fresh or dried)
Instructions
- In a large, deep skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add in the diced onions and sauté for 5-6 minutes, until they begin to soften. Add in the ground beef to the skillet and break the meat apart. Cook until no pink remains. Drain excess grease and return the to heat.
- With the heat still on medium, add in the garlic, basil, oregano, salt, red pepper, and flour. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly to coat.
- Add in the tomato sauce and broth and stir to combine. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
- While sauce is simmering, boil Rotini according to pasta directions. Drain.
- Add the cream and pasta to the sauce, stirring to combine. Add in the cheese and stir until melted.
- Garnish with parsley if desired and serve immediately.
Notes:
Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 3 days
Nutrition Information:
Keywords: pasta recipe, cookies and cups, beef recipe, beef pasta, dinner recipe
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Can i use kraft spread cheese?
Just made this mostly following the recipe (I don’t use raw onions, so cooked beef together with spices, minced dried onion, and garlic powder) and it is FABULOUS!
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Just a small (maybe silly question) when you say Tomato Sauce, it is not tomato pasta sauce bought from the store, but if i am understanding correctly its either Tomato Pulp or Tomato Puree or Passata ?
Thanks , i will be trying this 🙂
Plain tomato sauce like Hunts for example in the can. unflavored, plain tomato sauce. Here’s what I mean: https://amzn.to/3F0pwfV
Abigail, I wondered this too the first time I made it. I am in Australia and here, there is no type of tomato sauce available in a can. I went with a bottle of passata and it’s delicious
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Thinking of making but using Golden mushroom soup instead of tomatoes and broth. Aunt use to make spag using golden mushroom soup when I scrawny extremely picky kid and was only thing as a child I was happy to eat, I devoured it! 1970s lol also add sliced olives a little sour cream think it will be fantastic do you think I’m crazy? Can’t find any recipes using this soup in spag sauce? Thank you for your recipe!
I literally made this under 30mins and added in the carrots and red peppers for the flavor. My kids loved it! Nothing like a flavorful pasta where the entire family can enjoy! I made this using rigatoni pasta and topped it off with fresh basil. Thank you for sharing!
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Love hearing this and so glad you enjoyed!
LITERALLY losing my mind this is so good I threw in some extra crushed red pepper and it’s fantastic
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So glad you liked it!! AND I just published an all new Italian Sausage version of this to try!
https://cookiesandcups.com/creamy-italian-sausage-pasta/
My brother, who’s a bit of a gym junkie, came home from college this weekend and found himself appalled with the state of the food in the house. My dad is pretty deep into his dementia and only buys cereal, while my mom leads a busy life and only has time for rice and beans. I told my brother I wasn’t happy with the food in the house either, and he told me I should start cooking things for myself. So I made this. The whole family loved it, and the leftovers are going to last us a while –… Read more »
So glad you enjoyed it! Hope you continue to cook for your family!
To lighten this dish for a more dairy sensitive stomach and lower calories, I left out the flour, reduced the cheese, subbed heavy cream for almond milk, and added a pinch of xantham gum to thicken the sauce. It came out delicious. Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
This is great. I made this last week for my family and I am going to make it again tonight. It’s my new favourite pasta staple. Instead of heavy cream I used a combination of sour cream and cream cheese. Fantastic!
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Made it vegetarian by using one Impossible meat package and one pack of mushrooms. Less flour and more garlic. Added more chilli spice and did half mozzarella half cheddar. Soooo delicious! Next time I’ll try half cream, half sour cream. Thanks for the inspiration! Perfect comfort food / filling dinner ♥️
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Had to substitute beef for chicken broth but it was delicious. Can’t imagine it tasting much better with beef broth. Thanks for this recipe!
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Such a delicious recipe if you like meat and cheese (I do!!). Sometimes I have it on chips instead of with pasta and that’s also delicious, but keep in mind this is a very heavy meal. Luckily the leftovers and still delicious the next day!
★★★★★
Made this tonight exactly as written and it was sooooo declicious – thank you!!!
★★★★★
Is the flour really necessary? I feel like the sauce will thicken with the heavy cream and parmesan cheese.
You can leave it out if you prefer, it doesn’t help thicken it, but if you would like to omit it it will just be a little thinner, but it will taste fine!
I need to use up some ricotta, am I crazy for considering throwing it in somewhere?
Nope, it would work great, along with the cream or even in place of!