Growing up my mom wanted to make sure my brother and I ate well. We didn’t have box mac and cheese, frozen chicken nuggets, or hamburger helper to name just a few. Of course at the time I didn’t like it but now, as a parent, I understand why my mom did it. My boyfriend on the other hand grew up eating all the things my mom didn’t allow.
As an adult making my own money but still living in my parents house they didn’t care what I ate. My mom knew that she raised me to know how to eat right but still enjoy the occasional junk food. Now that I have my own house and my own family I get to choose how we eat. I used to have a cabinet full of hamburger helper boxes until I discovered this recipe and adapted to make it my own. this is the perfect recipe to add hidden veggies into it either with the frozen riced veggies that I add or by steaming veggies and blending it into the beef broth. Knowing every ingredient that goes into my food is important to me. If I could can my own tomato sauce and beef broth I would.
Homemade Hamburger Helper
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 onion finely chopped
- Add cooked or frozen veggies if desired
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne powder or more if you want it spicy
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 C milk
- 1 1/2 C Beef stock
- 2 C Elbow pasta
- 3 Tbs powered cheddar cheese
- 2 C sharp cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Brown the ground beef. Drain the beef, if there is liquid, add the onion, spices and any desired cooked or frozen veggies. Cook until onion is translucent.
- Stir in tomato sauce, milk, beef stock. Mix, then add elbow pasta. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, or until pasta is tender.
- Stir in cheddar cheese powder and cheddar cheese until melted.
- Enjoy!
Authors notes:
- In the video on my TikTok I am using ground deer that we processed ourselves. We don’t add much fat to it. There’s not a lot of liquid and barely any fat that comes out of the meat as it cooks. That’s why there’s no liquid to drain and I am able to cook the onions with the meat. If you’re using a meat that has very little fat in it you can cook it this way too.
- I usually use frozen riced cauliflower for this recipe. I keep it on hand just for this recipe. I’ve also used fresh mushrooms. I do suggest to use either frozen vegetables or cooked vegetables in this recipe since doesn’t cook long enough to cook most vegetables.