I wasn’t introduced to Hamburger Helper until I got married. It was part of my husband’s bachelor meal rotation which consisted of 3 meals; Hamburger Helper, spaghetti with Ragu sauce and Clusters cereal. Seriously, that was his diet. Bless his heart.
I grew up with a meal very similar to Cheeseburger Macaroni Hamburger Helper but it was homemade and called cheesy beef and macaroni. It was a quick, cheap, wholesome, weekday meal that my mother made often on PTA nights or whenever we were really pressed for time/money.
I thought I was done with boxed Hamburger Helper and then I had my son. Kids LOVE Hamburger Helper! We ended up getting a box one day when we were out of town and he loved it. I didn’t mind though. It was easy to make, made him happy and that little glove is adorable. Well one day when I was making his favorite kind, Cheeseburger Macaroni I decided to look at the ingredients and what the heck!
I’m not normally an ingredient snob but why the long list of ingredients, dyes, msg and weirdy stuff just to make a pot of macaroni, beef and cheese? I ended up throwing it away and making a pot of homemade hamburger helper . We’ve been doing it this way ever since.
This homemade Hamburger Helper uses real ingredients: macaroni, meat, milk, water, cheese and spices, THAT’S IT! It tastes fresh, comforting, cheesy, meaty, and filling, just like it should. And best of all it’s just as quick as the boxed version. I use ground turkey in place of beef simply because we don’t eat much red meat. For the cheese I use a mixture of shredded cheddars. Hamburger Helper uses ricotta as well and sometimes I’ll mix a little of that in for creaminess but only if I have some on hand which I usually don’t.
If you’re a true, die hard Hamburger Helper fan you may find that it doesn’t taste EXACTLY like hamburger helper. I think it taste waaay better and Isaac doesn’t even know the difference, but if you’re trying to ween your addicted, older kids off of it then you may want to throw in a little processed cheese for a familiar taste.
Watch me make this Homemade Hamburger Helper from start to finish!
The Recipe
Homemade Hamburger Helper
By divas can cook
Recipe type: main, dinner,
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef or ground turkey (sometimes I use only ½ lb)
- ½ cup onions, diced
- 1 tablespoon butter, optional
- 2 cups milk
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt or seasoning salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ teaspoon oregano
- ¾ teaspoon parsley
- ¾ garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Brown ground meat in a skillet over medium heat until almost done.
- Add in onions and cook until tender.
- Drain fat from pan.
- Add remaining ingredients except for the cheese.
- Stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat, cover and cook until pasta is tender, about 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- * Do not over cook pasta. I usually taste check it at 9 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in cheese. Sauce may be thin.
- Let pasta sit to thicken the sauce, meanwhile adjust seasonings if needed.
- Serve and enjoy.
Notes
Use various cheeses if desired.
Add taco seasonings for a chili-mac.
Chopped tomatoes are good in this as well.
Want veggies? Peas or broccoli works great !
Hot sauce anyone?
Just wanted to let you know that I’ve been using this recipe for years. It’s one of my family’s favorites. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!!
Exactly how much is “3/4 garlic powder”?
I doubled the recipe but it was kind of liquidy
This was better than my typical recipe. I didn’t add sugar by the way. Thank you!
This was great!! I also didn’t add sugar, but everything else was perfect.
I have made this recipe from your site for over a year. It is delicious and my kids devour it! I usually double the recipe for three boys, my hungry husband and me.
I didn’t skip any steps and did as instructed. My pasta was not done I had to add more milk and water and it still wasn’t done. Finally just turned the stove off and called it a loss. What a waste of time and food.
I like this dish.I follow a bland /soft diet because of digestive issues.I left out the spices except for a tiny bit of pepper.I don’t like store brand hamburger helper because it contains garlic which I cannot tolerate.Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I absolutely love this recipe, and so does the family! I’ve made it at least a dozen times. This is perfect for a midweek dinner when you’re strapped for time. The spices really make it! Thank you
I tend to follow new recipes by the book. This recipe by itself is a tad bit on the bland side, so you may want to adjust the seasonings as recommended at the end of the instructions. And this is just my opinion but the sauce absolutely needs some sort of thickener (such as flour for instance). Most of us practically grew up on Hamburger Helper in our youth but I’m not used to having cheese sauce that’s runny/watery, especially after letting it sit on the stove for low heat for a while. This recipe is okay for most but I think that I’ll be trying different variations of this recipe that can be found online in the future.