Homemade Hamburger Helper Recipe
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This is the best Homemade Hamburger Helper recipe. Easy, healthy and delicious – this is a quick meal your family will love! This post is sponsored by our friends at ButcherBox.
If you love easy one pan dinners – this Healthy Homemade Hamburger Helper is for you!
Many of us grew up eating the delicious cheesy pasta dish but I’m here to tell you it’s so much better when you make it from scratch!
Done in under a half hour, this cheesy hamburger helper is the perfect quick dinner that everyone will love! For more quick recipes, check out these Quick Healthy Dinners!
One pan, 30 minutes, simple ingredients.. there’s a lot to love about this easy hamburger helper recipe- but you might be wondering.. what’s the difference between store bought and this homemade hamburger helper recipe?
What is the difference between store bought and homemade hamburger helper recipes?
Homemade hamburger helper is so much better than store bought hamburger helper. Here’s why we love it:
- Way less sodium– 1 cup of cooked hamburger helper has over 1200 mg of sodium. Our homemade hamburger helper has under 400 mg of sodium for a 1.5 cup serving
- No preservatives- Hamburger helper is loaded with preservatives, added colors, and anti-caking agents. While these aren’t bad in small quantities, they’re totally unnecessary
- Better for you – Our homemade hamburger helper recipe is made with real ground beef, dry pasta, some spices and cheese – unlike the packaged kind that is made with dried cheese and preservatives
Ingredients
To make healthy homemade hamburger helper you’ll need:
- ButcherBox ground beef
- onions
- rotini pasta
- Worcestershire sauce
- salt, pepper
- chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika
- beef broth, water
- cheddar cheese
Substitutions
Pasta: For pasta you can use rotini, penne or medium shells (cook time is all similar). We don’t recommend gluten free pasta for this recipe. This recipe is a one pan pasta recipe and gluten free pasta can get very mushy. Use at your own risk!
Ground Beef: We highly recommend using ButcherBox ground beef in this recipe. You can use ground turkey in this recipe if you’d like, but we really recommend ground beef! (ButcherBox also has an amazing free-range ground turkey)
Worcestershire sauce: Worcestershire sauce isn’t easy to substitute. If you don’t have it, use 1/2 a tablespoon of soy sauce.
Salt: You can cut the amount of salt in half if you’d like and add to taste.
Beef Broth: We recommend using homemade bone broth in this recipe but any broth will work. Chicken or vegetable broth/stock can be used interchangeably. We recommend using a low or no salt broth.
Cheddar Cheese: You can omit the cheese from this recipe to make it dairy free if you’d like. We haven’t tried this recipe with other types of cheeses. We recommend using a block of cheddar cheese and grating it yourself as pre-shredded cheeses don’t melt as well.
ButcherBox’s grass fed, grass finished ground beef is seriously what makes this recipe so great.
Their beef is an 85/15 mix, which is in our opinion- the perfect amount of fat to give recipes flavor!
We’ve been ButcherBox customers for years and absolutely love the convenience of it, along with the super high quality meat!
Want free ground beef? Right Now when you join ButcherBox you can get free ground beef for a year and $10 off! That’s up to 24 pounds of ground beef for free!
You can learn more about ButcherBox in this ButcherBox Reviews post!
How to Make Homemade Hamburger Helper
Making hamburger helper is easy! Here’s how we made it:
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Spray the pan with cooking spray. Brown ground beef and onion in the pan until cooked through-about 10 minutes.
- Add in the seasonings, pasta, broth and water. Stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally for 12-14 minutes.
- Move the pan off the heat and add in shredded cheese.
- Once combined, serve and enjoy!
What is the best pasta to use?
Pretty much any pasta will work in homemade hamburger helper but rotini, penne or medium shells are recommended as cook time is all similar.
We don’t recommend gluten free pasta for this recipe. This recipe is a one pan pasta recipe and gluten free pasta can get very mushy. Use at your own risk!
Searching for the best pan for your one pan meals? We LOVE this pan! It’s non toxic, non stick, and cleans up in seconds with just a little soap and water (seriously, food does NOT stick to it!)
What to serve with easy Homemade Hamburger Helper?
This homemade hamburger helper is a complete meal in itself. We recommend serving it with some bread on the side and parmesan cheese on top!
If you’re looking for some veggies you can serve this recipe alongside:
What can you add to Hamburger Helper?
This hamburger helper is delicious on it’s own but you can add other things to it. Here are our suggestions:
- Pickles: Pickles are delicious when stirred into hamburger helper!
- Extra Veggies: You can add sautéed veggies to this recipe. Zucchini, mushrooms, and bell peppers are all great additions to this recipe
- Cheese: Extra cheese is always a good addition to this recipe.
Storage Options
How long can homemade hamburger helper be stored? You can store homemade hamburger helper in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
We haven’t tried freezing this recipe, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Freezing pasta can lead to a mushy mess!
Is Hamburger Helper healthy to eat?
Yes, hamburger helper is healthy to eat when you make it from scratch! Regular hamburger helper has a lot of sodium and preservatives. Making it from scratch is a much healthier option.
How to reheat hamburger helper?
Microwave: You can reheat this hamburger helper in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Stove: You can heat this hamburger helper on the stove in a sauce pan. We recommend adding a little bit of broth if you’re going to heat it over the stove as it might get dry.
Other healthy one pan recipes:
Here are some of our favorite dinners that only require one pan. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Want free ground beef? Right Now when you join ButcherBox you can get free ground beef for a year and $10 off! That’s up to 24 pounds of ground beef for free!
Homemade Hamburger Helper Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ButcherBox Ground Beef
- 1/2 onion chopped finely
- 3 cups rotini pasta sub penne or medium shells (10 oz)
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1.5 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Spray the pan with olive oil cooking spray.
- Brown ground beef and onion in the pan until cooked through- about 10 minutes.
- Add in the seasonings, Worcestershire sauce, raw uncooked pasta, broth, tomato paste and water. Stir, cover and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, remove cover and reduce to a simmer, stirring occasionally for 12-14 minutes or until pasta is done and liquid is reduced by 3/4.
- Move the pan off the heat and add in shredded cheese.
- Stir until combined, taste for salt and pepper and add more as desired.
Absolutely Delicious!! I actually used ground turkey other than that I followed your recipe. It’s our favorite. Thank you.
Just made this last night. Huuge hit. Added non dairy cream cheese at the end. Substituted tamari for the Worcestershire and ketchup for the tomato paste as what I had. This will be a regular at our house. TYSM
Thank you for a close-to, but even better than, Hamburger Helper recipe. My husband now has to watch his sodium counts, so boxed mixes are out forever. He highly recommends this recipe, and that without the cheese! Thank you for a great recipe that makes both the physical and psychological transitions to a lower sodium life much easier!