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 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!
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Creamy Beef Pasta Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: serves 6-8 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Dinner
Description
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
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 747
- Sugar: 10.2 g
- Sodium: 1050.6 mg
- Fat: 27.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 75.2 g
- Protein: 48.9 g
- Cholesterol: 141.9 mg
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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!
Can I use half and half in substitute for heavy cream?
yep!
I used sour cream and a little cream cheese in place of cream.It was really yummy! Great recipe!
Made this tonight and it’s a hit with my family.
Made this dish tonight, it was a hit! Oh boy does it ever sit heavy! Absolutely bring your apatite to this meal!! I added about a cups worth of diced jalapeno peppers to give it a little punch. Cant wait to experiment more!
Love the idea of adding jalapenos!! I’m going to try that next time!
Is it okay to use a traditional pasta sauce instead of tomato sauce?
sure 🙂
Aloha! I just made this for dinner tonight and it was deeeelish or as they say in Hawai’i, it’s broke da mouth onolicious. I pretty much followed the recipe except I didn’t have beef broth so I used chicken broth and used mozzarella. I actually seasoned the onions with salt first and then followed the recipe. I added shiitake mushrooms and bell peppers because I was also trying to empty out my fridge of veggies that my husband used this past weekend for his grilled pizza. This is a dish that I’ll be adding into my dinner rotation. Mahalo!!
Love hearing how much you enjoyed it and great adaptations!
Aloha from Hawai’i! I agree, this dish IS ono!
I ended up using cornstarch at the end to thicken it. I thought it was fine, but my picky kids didn’t like it.
Your kids need to grow up…
Children sense of smell and taste are 1000 times stronger then adults. Remember that when fixing their meals, like a tomato made inside of my mouth sore & raw after and tasted like acid to me when young as do many children also citrus. Now I love everything due to very old warnout or dead tastebuds and much weakened sense of smell and taste. If child becomes quiet before meals it isn’t attention their after so hear them out. Pinch of sugar softens that acidy tomato in sauces or you can pick out small things you know to strong before serving them making them feel safer to eat whatever you’ve made and get to enjoy meals as everyone else. Ok off soap box for children that are picky eaters. Hope you’ll be kinder Mr. Kyle Walker. They grow up soon enough!
I was most annoying picky eater as child to all adults but only thing I’d eat my family made was recipe like this but substitute tomatoes and broth with campbells golden mushroom soup. Used sour cream instead of cream and sliced black olives Of course no one told me it was mushroom anything or I wouldn’t have However, All us kids always went back for seconds. Very skinny child but once grew up into a foodie that enjoys anything made well & with fresh ingredients. This is a comfort food from childhood.