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!
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.
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
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
- 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.
- Add the aromatics. Lower the heat and stir in the onion and garlic and cook until fragrant, just a minute or so.
- 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.
- 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!
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Cheeseburger Pasta
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.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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