This creamy beef pasta recipe is an easy one-pan dinner you can have ready in 30 minutes on a weeknight! It’s packed with juicy ground beef, melted cheese, and tender rotini pasta in a rich, creamy tomato sauce.
As a mom to four boys with an Italian husband, I have a roster of one-pot pasta recipes on regular rotation. My crock pot beef stroganoff, baked mostaccioli, and cheeseburger pasta are also family favorites, and often make an appearance as cozy wintertime dinners. For those who grew up eating Hamburger Helper, this one-pot, creamy beef pasta recipe is a homemade version you can make tonight in about 30 minutes, without the box.
It’s one of my favorite creamy pasta recipes, loaded with cheesy, savory flavor and a great way to use up ground beef.
Like Homemade Hamburger Helper, Only Better
- It’s ready in 30 minutes, making it a quick, easy weeknight dinner recipe.
- This is a one-pan wonder. No pile of dishes to clean afterward!
- The flavors are creamy, cheesy, and savory with simple ingredients.
- Family-friendly comfort food with lots of room for customizing. Make it with ground beef, sausage, or cooked shredded chicken.
- This beef pasta recipe refrigerates and reheats well for delicious leftovers.
Ingredients Needed
Here’s what you’ll need to make this cheesy, creamy ground beef pasta recipe. See the recipe card for the exact measurements.
- Olive Oil – Or any cooking oil you prefer.
- Onion and Garlic – One small yellow onion or shallot, finely diced. I use fresh garlic, but if you don’t have it, substitute ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder for each fresh clove.
- Ground Beef – I recommend lean ground beef as it doesn’t make the dish too oily. You can easily swap the ground meat in this pasta recipe with pork, chicken, or turkey. I even have a version with ground sausage in my creamy Italian sausage pasta.
- Seasonings – Dried basil, oregano, salt, and crushed red pepper flakes. You can substitute Italian seasoning instead of individual dried herbs. Add more crushed red pepper for a spicier dish, or omit the chilli if you’re sensitive to spice.
- Flour – To thicken the creamy tomato sauce. You could use cornstarch instead; use half of the amount in this case.
- Canned Tomato Sauce – Or a can of tomato purée or crushed tomatoes will also work. You can replace plain canned tomatoes and the spices listed above with a pre-seasoned pasta sauce if you’d like.
- Beef Broth – I like to use bone broth. Store-bought or homemade chicken stock is a good substitute, though it won’t have quite the same depth of flavor as beef. You can substitute half of the broth or stock with a dry red wine, like Cabernet Sauvignon, if you’d like.
- Pasta – This can be rotini pasta (great for gripping the meaty sauce), or any sturdy short pasta.
- Heavy Cream – For a lighter dish, swap heavy cream with half-and-half. You could also use sour cream.
- Grated Cheese – Freshly grated cheese melts more smoothly than pre-grated, packaged cheese. Instead of grated cheddar cheese, you can use Monterey Jack, Gouda, or a meltable cheese blend. The only cheese I don’t recommend for this recipe is mozzarella, as it gets a bit stringy.
How to Make This Creamy Beef Pasta Recipe
The rich, creamy meat sauce comes together quickly. I toss it with rotini, but you can use any pasta you have in the pantry.
- Cook the beef and onions. Start by sautéing the diced onions in olive oil over medium heat. Once softened, add the ground beef. Break it up using a wooden spoon while the beef cooks and browns. When there’s no pink remaining, drain the excess grease and return the pan to the heat.
- Add seasonings. Next, stir in the garlic, basil, oregano, salt, red pepper, and flour. Let the flour cook off for a minute, stirring to coat the beef.
- Make the sauce. Add the tomato sauce and beef broth to the pan. Bring the sauce to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, cook the pasta. In a pot of salted, boiling water, cook the pasta al dente according to the package directions.
- Put it all together. Drain the pasta and add it to the meat sauce along with the heavy cream. Stir, then add the grated cheese. Once that’s melted, you’re ready to dig in. Garnish with fresh or dried parsley and grate over fresh Parmesan if you’d like. Enjoy!
Cooking Tips
- Any short pasta works in this beef pasta recipe. I prefer rotini because the sauce can cling to all those ridges. Cavatappi, rigatoni, penne, and ziti are also great choices. If you wanted, you could also use long pasta or homemade egg noodles.
- Use a deep skillet or a large saucepot for this recipe. It makes a large batch!
- Drain the grease. If there’s a lot of excess oil in the pan after you’ve cooked the ground beef, drain it before proceeding. This avoids an overly greasy pasta sauce.
- If you don’t have grated cheese, substitute cream cheese instead for an extra-creamy pasta.
- Add more veggies. Sauté diced bell pepper, celery, mushrooms, or carrots with the onion for more flavor. Adding more vegetables is also a great way to make this pasta vegetarian, if needed.
- Scale the recipe. I love leftovers, but if you’re feeding a smaller crowd, you can reduce the recipe by half.
What to Serve With Creamy Beef Pasta
- Bread: Serve with thick slices of homemade French bread, air fryer biscuits, or hot water cornbread for sopping up the creamy leftovers.
- Vegetable sides: Enjoy this beef pasta with a fresh green salad or a side of air fryer green beans, broccoli, or asparagus.
- Dessert: I’ve been loving these Biscoff cookies lately, or try a scoop of cozy apple brown betty with vanilla ice cream.
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
- Refrigerate. Store any leftover beef pasta in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
- Reheat. Warm up the pasta in a skillet on the stovetop, or in the microwave. If needed, add a splash of broth to help loosen up the meat sauce if it’s thickened during storage.
- Freeze the meat sauce. Do this separately from the pasta whenever possible. Before serving, thaw the sauce in the fridge, reheat it, then cook a fresh batch of pasta to toss with the sauce.
- Freeze the pasta so it doesn’t get mushy. If you’re planning to freeze the finished beef pasta, I suggest leaving the pasta slightly undercooked. Before reheating, thaw the pasta completely in the fridge. This keeps the pasta from overcooking when it’s reheated.
More Weeknight Pasta Dinner Recipes
Creamy Beef Pasta Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stove
- Cuisine: Dinner
Description
An easy, creamy beef pasta recipe loaded with juicy ground beef, melty cheese, and rotini pasta in a creamy homemade tomato sauce. Ready in one pan in 30 minutes!
Ingredients
Scale
- 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 to the heat.
- With the heat still on medium, add 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 the sauce is simmering, boil Rotini according to the package directions. Drain.
- Add the cream and pasta to the sauce, stirring to combine. Add 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
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 560
- Sugar: 7.6 g
- Sodium: 788 mg
- Fat: 20.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 56.4 g
- Protein: 36.7 g
- Cholesterol: 106.4 mg
I forgot the beef broth. Can i use chicken broth instead??
yes sure!
Thankyou so much for posting this recipe I used to make a very similar dish years ago, and had forgotten about it. Now I’ve remarried have 2 foster sons, and am so thrilled to be reminded of this recipe. Mine was a little different but so similar its not an issue. So I’m going to surprise them all with this dish, hubby and the boys will love it. I used to sometimes serve it with Garlic bread just for something help mop uptake wonderful gravy juices etc. So I’m all set to serve in the weekend when we often eat our meal on trays in front of Tv the boys love the treat and will LOVE this dish as will hubby. So I so can’t thank you enough for reminding me of this wonderful dish that will be just as much a hit as my other children and former hubby were with it. I’ll let you know how it goes, and encourage everyone who look at this recipe to give it a go, it will be such a hit. Sorry for the sermon. lol
Hope you love it as much as your original recipe!
You think you could add pasta sauce instead of tomato sauce?
yes, it will just already be seasoned, so you might just want to alter or omit the additional seasoning 🙂
Can you substitute chicken broth and for the beef broth?
sure 🙂
Could you use macaroni or penne noodles??
Sure, yes!!
Just made this last night for dinner and the whole family was a fan! Made a LOT of food so there was plenty left for lunches. I followed the recipe to a T (using rotini noodles) and it was perfect. Wouldn’t change a thing!
So glad you liked it!!
Just made this tonight and love it! I halved the recipe since I’m cooking for one. Delicious and I have plenty of leftovers. A perfect meal with a side veggie or salad.
So glad you liked it!!
How would you suggest making it a one pot dish? Could you cook the noodles at the same time in the same pot?
You could you would just have a to add 2- 2 1/2 cups more broth, so that pasta had enough liquid to absorb 🙂
hi shelly,
made this dish for dinner last night and it was a big hit!
we grew up on hamburger helper :0) and it ‘s great to have a “grown up” version that not only is healthier, but tastes WAY better (of course).
it went together so easily, and the leftovers heated up perfectly for lunch today.
thanks for a great recipe.
So glad you liked it!!
Hi Shelly when you serve this dish to your kids how else do you incorporate something “healthy”? Are they good about eating salad or veggies? I can’t get my kids to eat anything healthy besides the main dish.
I almost always have something green on the side. My kids aren’t huge salad eaters, but they love green beans and broccoli, so I try to have that on hand at all times. They really love roasted veggies, and if I have time I do that. If not, I stock my freezer with the Steam in the Bag veggies that I can just pop in the microwave so I have those in a pinch. But of course sometimes I stick a side of baby carrots on their plate and feel like it’s a win 🙂
My boys all loved this dish tonight!
So glad! This is one of my kids favorite easy dinner recipes!
You could try making the sauce ‘hidden vegetable’ style by blending some carrot and bell pepper in with the canned tomato sauce prior to making this. How much you add will affect the flavour but considering how creamy this recipe is I doubt it would be a problem anyway. Just don’t go adding greens to your hidden veggie sauce(as I learned the hard way experimenting with other recipes it makes it very greeny tasting and throws off the colour big time).
Pasta with a creamy sauce should be, yes, creamy. But pasta on its own? Nope. If your naked pasta is creamy you may want to take a look at how long you are cooking it for and what kind of pasta it is. Thanks for lovely recipe.