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Healthier Homemade Hamburger Helper

Healthier Homemade Hamburger Helper is the perfect easy one pot meal for your family!
5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe
Course dinner, lunch
Cuisine American

Equipment

  • Large Pot

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 tbsp Olive Oil or butter
  • 1 lb Lean Ground Beef I used 96/4 ground beef and trust me, you cannot tell it is lean in this dish.
  • 1 Yellow Onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
  • 1.5 cups Beef Broth low sodium
  • 2 cups Milk I used whole milk, because that is what our daughter drinks
  • 3/4 cup Sour Cream or Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 2 TBSP Ketchup I buy the organic one from Trader Joe's
  • 16 oz Pasta
  • 12 oz Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese or Cheddar
  • a few dashes of sriracha
  • water quanity will depend on what type of pasta you use
  • Diced Green Onions or Chives for Topping completely optional :)

Spices

  • 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
  • 1 TBSP Garlic Powder
  • 1 tsp Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp Cumin
  • 1 tsp Paprika
  • 1/2 tsp Oregano
  • 1/2 tsp Lawrys Seasoned Salt if using plain salt, only add 1/4 tsp and taste once it is cooked

Instructions
 

  • Heat a large pot on medium heat and add your oil
  • Once the pot is hot, add the onion and salt and cook until soft and translucent
  • Add ground Beef and Spices and cook until done.
  • Add your broth, ketchup, sriracha, and 1.5 cups of milk. Mix and bring to a boil.
  • Add your pasta, and enough water to ALMOST fully cover the pasta. Normally, I would say to cover your pasta completely, but that will make this dish more watery than you would like. Continue to stir the pasta while making sure the pasta on the top gets mixed to the bottom and the pasta on the bottom gets mixed to the top so they all get enough water. You may need to add a little bit of water later on if the water starts to evaporate too much.
  • Once pasta is fully cooked, turn off the heat, and add the cheese, rest of the milk, and your choice of sour cream or plain greek yogurt. Mix and serve! You can add a bit more milk to achieve your desired level of creaminess.

Notes

I tried this recipe with chickpea pasta and I needed to use more water during the cooking process. I added an extra cup of water anytime I noticed that the water was getting low. Once the noodles were aldente, I mixed in the cheese and a little sour cream, yogurt, or ricotta. 
Keyword cheese, meat, pasta