Get ready to dive into this creamy, beefy, cheesy Cheeseburger Pasta! The ultimate comfort food dinner that’s ready in under 30 minutes. No need for sides, we’ve got everything you need wrapped in one cozy skillet meal.
Why We’re Obsessed With This Cheeseburger Pasta Recipe!
We’re here to help with the age old question of “what’s for dinner?”. This Cheeseburger Pasta is what’s for dinner tonight, and I’m telling you, you’re going to love it. Talk about a hearty, satisfying, delicious dinner that the whole family will love – and it’s not going to break the bank.
- Affordable: Yes…we feel it too. Groceries are so expensive these days. This ground beef and pasta dinner will feed a crowd for just a couple of dollars per serving.
- Satisfying: Not only is this recipe super delicious, but with hearty ingredients like ground beef and pasta, you’re not going to walk away hungry.
- Easy To Make: This entire recipe is ready to go in about 20 minutes. You can brown the ground beef and start the skillet going while the pasta is cooking.
Ingredients You Need
You’ll need just a few ingredients to get this cheeseburger pasta going! For a complete list of ingredients and amounts, head to the recipe card at the end of the post.
- Ground Beef: We like using an 85% lean ground beef.
- Onion: Yellow onion is the sweetest, but you can also use white or even red onion.
- Garlic powder: For flavor, can also substitute fresh garlic or use both.
- Cheddar cheese: Shredded cheddar cheese, we like to shred our own but you can grab pre-shredded to make it easy.
- Tomato Sauce: To bring all the ingredients together, kind of like the ketchup in your favorite cheeseburger.
- Short Tube Pasta: Anything you like, we love using pipette (show in this recipe) elbows or rigatoni.
Variations
This is the kind of recipe that you can swap out whatever you have in the fridge. Try it the way we have it first and then add-in or swap out your favorite ingredients.
- Ground turkey, pork or chicken instead of ground beef
- Crushed tomatoes or a some of your favorite homemade or jarred marinara sauce
- Any type of short tube pasta will do. Even if a long noodle like spaghetti is all you have, you can use it. The pasta cooks separately in this recipe so you can really add whatever you have on hand.
- Any good melting cheese will work, mozzarella, American, Swiss or provolone. Try to use what you have in your kitchen and what you know your family likes!
Stuff To Add In
- Frozen peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, chopped spinach, peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes
- Beans
- Diced avocado
- Shredded Lettuce
- Chopped Pickles
- Sour Cream
- Bacon
Is This A Make Ahead Meal?
Yes! You can definitely make this cheeseburger pasta ahead of time and have it ready to go. It’s one of those recipes that even tastes better after it sits a bit in the refrigerator.
This pasta can be easily warmed up in the microwave for a quick lunch, dinner or after school snack. We often double this recipe so we have a coupe of dinners on hand during the week. The cheese will harden up in the fridge but no worries, once you heat it back up it will go back to being nice and gooey.
Can I Freeze Pasta?
We don’t love freezing pasta recipes, but you absolutely can. If you’re looking to meal prep with this pasta or just make it and freeze it for a later meal, you can freeze it for up to three months.
Let the pasta defrost in the refrigerator and then let it sit on the counter for about 15 minutes to bring it to room temperature before reheating. Doing this will take the chill off of the pasta first so that you can heat it for less time in the microwave.
Looking For More Easy Dinner Recipes?
- Beefy Tomato Soup
- Easy Penne Vodka
- Chicken Francese
- Easy, Juicy Turkey Burgers
- Chinese BBQ Pork Tenderloin
Cheeseburger Pasta
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 6 Servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeGet ready to dive into this creamy, beefy, cheesy Cheeseburger Pasta! The ultimate comfort food dinner that’s ready in under 30 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (we used 1 1 /2 pounds but if you only have 1 pound that will work)
- 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt (depending on taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 ounce block cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 cups)
- 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 8 ounces cooked short tube pasta like pipette, elbows or rigatoni
Instructions
- Add the olive oil to a large, 12″ (or larger) skillet. Cook the diced onion until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ground beef and brown until no pink remains, then drain any drippings from the skillet.
- Season the beef and onions with salt, pepper, garlic powder and stir to combine.
- Add the cooked pasta and 1 cup of the cheese to the beef, mixing together to start the cheese melting into the beef filling. Stir in the tomato sauce and then top with the remaining cheese.
- Turn the heat to low and cover the skillet until the cheese is melted and the ground beef and pasta are warmed though.
Recipe Notes
Store: Store leftover cheeseburger pasta in an air tight container in the refrigerator. This pasta will keep for up to 3 days.
Reheat: Reheat leftover pasta in the microwave.
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
The recipe mentions preheating the oven but reads like everything is done on the stove top. Did I miss something?
OK I fixed that. There was another line that got cut off in the recipe card. Just that alternately, you can place the skillet in the oven to melt the cheese. But it really works fine on the stove!
We enjoyed this. Tasty and simple. Added diced garlic and mushrooms.