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Cheeseburger Pasta

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A cheap, quick, and easy cheeseburger pasta recipe that cooks in under 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings to easily feed the whole family for dinner – or yourself for a week!

A bowl of cheeseburger pasta.

Cheeseburger pasta was a go-to dinner for us in college. It was cheap, easy, and made tons of leftovers for us to easily reheat after a long day of class. Not to mention, the nostalgic flavor really hit the spot whenever we were missing home!

This cheeseburger pasta recipe is a reimagination of the recipe we made back in college, using ingredients we often have available in our fridge or pantry. It’s a quick and easy meal you can throw together in under 30 minutes – our favorite kind of recipe! – and just as comforting as we remember.

Make it for your week’s meal prep when you’re low on fresh ingredients, share it with the whole family (kids will love it), or cut the recipe in half for a trip down memory lane with your partner. No matter the occasion, the nostalgia of this dish will fill you with feel-good vibes as soon as you take a bite.

Looking for more recipes that’ll leave you with lunches for the week? Check out our easy baked penne and our spicy butter chicken.

What This Recipe Entails

You can easily make the cheesy ground beef sauce while the pasta boils, so this entire dish comes together in about 25 minutes.

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
Cheeseburger pasta in a bowl.

Ingredients

  • Pasta – We like to use rigatoni, but any other short noodle works well for this recipe. Try penne, ziti, or even rotini!
  • Ground beef – A necessary ingredient for cheeseburger texture and flavor.
  • Aromatics – Red onion and garlic give tons of flavor to the cheeseburger sauce!
  • Seasonings – We like to use Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and salt to bring out the cheeseburger flavor in this pasta.
  • Tomato sauce – You’ll need crushed tomatoes, heavy cream, and water to make the creamy tomato sauce.
  • Cheese – It’s not cheeseburger pasta without cheese! Use shredded sharp cheddar for classic cheeseburger flavor.

How To Make Cheeseburger Pasta

  1. Brown the beef. Cook in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until there’s no pink left, then drain excess grease if there’s too much in the pan.
  2. Add the aromatics. Lower the heat and stir in the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant, just a minute or so.
  3. Build the sauce. Add the crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire, ketchup, heavy cream, water, and salt. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and stir in the shredded cheese until it’s melted.
  4. Combine and serve. Stir in the pasta with a splash of pasta water to help the sauce cling, then adjust salt to taste. Serve hot!
Cheeseburger pasta.

FAQs

If the sauce is too thin, make sure to bring it to a simmer before adding the cheese. This means it should be just barely bubbling at the surface. Let it simmer for a minute or so before lowering the heat, or a few minutes longer than that if you prefer a slightly thicker sauce.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Reheat single servings in the microwave for about 1.5 to 2 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Expert Tips

  • Draining the beef – If the ground beef is super greasy after browning, carefully drain some of the excess. Make sure you don’t drain all the grease out, though – you’ll want some grease to cook the aromatics in before building the sauce.
  • Simmering the sauce – This sauce doesn’t need much time to simmer down, so we like to bring it to a simmer and then immediately lower the heat to stir in the cheese. If you find the sauce is too thin for your liking, simmer for a bit longer before adding the cheese.
  • Meal prep – This pasta is one of those dishes that almost tastes better reheated than it does fresh! Prep the whole batch at the beginning of the week, then portion it out into individual containers for easy lunches or dinners throughout the week.

Love this recipe? You may enjoy these comforting pasta recipes, too:

Tell us what you think!

We hope you enjoy this recipe! When you try it out, please leave a review and a star rating in the comments below. Happy cooking! – Nicole and Alex

A bowl of cheeseburger pasta.

Cheeseburger Pasta

Nicole & Alex Langdon
A cheap, quick, and easy cheeseburger pasta recipe that cooks in under 30 minutes. Makes 6 servings to easily feed the whole family for dinner – or yourself for a week!
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine American, Fusion
Servings 6 servings
Calories 685 kcal

Equipment

  • Large sauté pan at least 14 inch

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 pound rigatoni
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • ½ small red onion diced
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 14 ounces canned crushed tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon ketchup
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ¼ cup water
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 1½ cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 tablespoon pasta water

Instructions
 

  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta until al dente, according to package directions.
  • In the meantime, brown the beef in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until there’s no pink left, about 6 to 8 minutes, then drain excess grease if there’s too much in the pan.
  • Lower the heat to medium-low and stir in the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant, just a minute or so.
    Then, add the crushed tomatoes, Worcestershire, ketchup, heavy cream, water, and salt. Bring to a simmer, then lower the heat and stir in the shredded cheese until it’s melted.
  • Reserve some pasta water before draining the cooked pasta. Add the pasta to the sauté pan with about 1 tablespoon of pasta water, then stir to combine. Adjust salt to taste and serve hot.
One last step:Please consider leaving a review to let us know how it was!

Notes

Draining the beef: If the ground beef is super greasy after browning, carefully drain some of the excess. Make sure you don’t drain all the grease out, though – you’ll want some grease to cook the aromatics in before building the sauce.
Simmering the sauce: This sauce doesn’t need much time to simmer down, so we like to bring it to a simmer and then immediately lower the heat to stir in the cheese. If you find the sauce is too thin for your liking, simmer for a bit longer before adding the cheese.
Meal prep: This pasta is one of those dishes that almost tastes better reheated than it does fresh! Prep the whole batch at the beginning of the week, then portion it out into individual containers for easy lunches or dinners throughout the week.
Storing and reheating: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat single servings in the microwave for about 1.5 to 2 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Nutrition

Serving: 1servingCalories: 685kcalCarbohydrates: 65gProtein: 31gFat: 33gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 104mgSodium: 522mgPotassium: 652mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 732IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 272mgIron: 4mg
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90% of Nicole’s thoughts are about food. She’s had a passion for cooking (and eating) for as long as she can remember! Growing up, she started cooking with her mom at a young age, learned family recipes from her Italian grandmother, took every opportunity to make cookies (so many bake sales), and always loved going out to restaurants to try new foods.

Nicole currently works part-time as a marketing professional for OmieLife while also working nonstop on The Candid Cooks. As a former mechanical engineer, Nicole has consistently found herself at the intersection of creativity and logical reasoning. She credits not only her passion for photography, design, and writing, but also her problem-solving nature and desire to learn, as the foundation on which The Candid Cooks was built.

Nicole’s hobbies include anything that gets her moving - mainly hiking, skiing, ice skating, and dancing - as well as reading fantasy novels and scrapbooking. Her favorite food is a big plate of nachos, as long as they’re cheesy enough!

5 from 1 vote

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One Comment

  1. 5 stars
    This pasta really does taste like enjoying a cheeseburger. I may have to add some bacon next time to make it bacon cheeseburger pasta!

    Reply