Creamy Beef and Shells
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A quick/easy ground beef recipe, this is a pasta dish that will be on your dinner table all week long! So creamy and so comforting!
Featured Comment
why i love this recipe
- All that cream sauce
- All that pasta, just collecting that creaminess
- The perfectly crumbled ground beef, again, soaking up every last drop of that creamy, heavenly goodness
- Made in 30-40 min, a true weeknight superhero
I cannot even begin to tell you how much of this pasta I ate on probably 13 different occasions. Well, first, I should tell you that no plating of any kind was involved here. Nope. This is clearly a straight-out-of-the-skillet type dinner. Just grab your fork and dig right in. Ugh, I can’t even talk about this anymore because now I need to make this for dinner again for the 14th time.
tips and tricks for success
- Use your favorite meat. Ground beef, chicken or turkey will all work very well here.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Add the cream slowly. Always add the heavy cream at the very end, pouring very slowly to prevent curdling.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!
- Freeze as needed. Let cool completely; portion into plastic freezer bags in individual servings, squeezing out any excess air before sealing. Lay the bags flat in a single layer in the freezer (this will help them freeze quickly). To reheat, thaw overnight in the fridge, reheating over low heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
what to serve with creamy beef and shells
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Creamy Beef and Shells: Frequently Asked Questions
Not at all! Ground pork or ground turkey can be used instead of ground beef.
Tomato sauce, in the US, is tomato puree typically cooked down for a thick, smooth consistency with a relatively sweet flavor. Passata is simply uncooked tomato purée. You can use passata in place of tomato sauce, but it is not a completely equal substitute.
Heavy cream (or heavy whipping cream) has one of the highest fat contents with about 36-40% fat. Half and half or whole milk are suitable substitutes, but will yield a lighter result.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop.
Creamy Beef and Shells
Ingredients
- 8 ounces medium pasta shells
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ medium sweet onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups beef stock
- 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 6 ounces shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese, about 1 1/2 cups
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; drain well.
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Set aside.
- Add onion to the skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and Italian seasoning until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Gradually whisk in beef stock and tomato sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced and slightly thickened, about 6-8 minutes.
- Stir in pasta, beef and heavy cream until heated through, about 1-2 minutes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cheese until melted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Video
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Absolutely delicious and super easy!
Yummo! I didnt have beef broth so I had to use chicken broth. I didnt have heavy cream so I used Ricotta. And I only had 1/2 of the cheddar cheese on hand. Gee…I didnt even have Italian seasoning so I threw in dried oregano, thyme, parsly, and crushed red pepper. This “as close as I could get” concoction still came out delish! Can wait to try again and follow the recipe exactly!
Excellent recipe. Everyone enjoyed it. Will definitely do it again.
If I needed 8 servings, should I double all ingredients? Even the oil and flour?
Just made this and it was super easy and tasty. Will definitely make again.
Excellent. Super easy. Will definately make again.
Very yummy. Made it last night.
i don’t know if i was hungry or it was just that good or both – but HOLY!!!! used white sharp cheddar and garlic salt at the end, since i thought it needed a bit more flavor. but perhaps it’s because i used a 90/10 ground beef. i want friends/fam to try what i made to see if what i made turned out as delicious, and it certainly makes enough. yes a little soupy but no problem with that, and can’t wait to try the melding flavors of the next next. i think shells are important to encompass the sauce too.
Really delicious. Highly recommend. Even my super picky 7 yo enjoyed this. ❤️
I used this as a guideline, I didn’t have beef broth so I used chicken. I minced five garlic cloves and doubled on the Italian spice (hint – sautee garlic, onion, and Italian spices with the ground beef). I didn’t have heavy cream so I just used a half a cup of cereal cream – I used Parmasean and Cheddar … I hope this helps you people, children will love this recipe. Thank for sharing 🙂
A hit with my family, especially with the finicky preschoolers. Easy to make and a nice depth of flavor in the creamy sauce from the beef stock. This will be a dinner favorite!
I’ve made this 5 or 6 times now. It’s a saved recipe I go to frequently….we all LOVE it.
I too am big on Lotsa favour so I add extra spices, like oregano, basil, parsley, onion powder, garlic powder, a touch of flaked chili’s for some heat and of course extra pink Himalayan salt and pepper, as my organic pasta sauce isn’t super flavorful and my beef stock is low sodium. With all that said…. It always comes out like bang busters! So damn delicious!
DELICIOUS! My picky 17yr old loved, LOVED IT! Easy to make as well.
Great Sunday afternoon comfort food – homemade hamburger helper ;). I would recommend using more seasoning (but my store bought, canned tomato sauce could have also been bland). I used about 1.5 teaspoon of corn starch to thicken up the sauce. Otherwise, followed the recipe exact and it was delicious! Thank you for sharing.
I absolutely love this dish!! I had to improvise a little. Substituting Beef broth for Chicken (I was out of beef), I had to make my own heavy whipping cream. My family loved it!
This is a great change up on comfort food. Will definitely put in rotation. Thank you.
This is one of the best meals we have had from Damn Delicious And it is Damn good!
This thing is delicious and deserves ALLLLL it’s good praise. Thank you so much for putting this recipe out there. It’s a staple at our house now being made at least twice a month. I’ve also made it for several friends and it’s a hit! An easy hit to boot.
I had to use chicken broth instead and i only had one can of 8oz tomatoe sauce but it still came out super yummy !!
Delicious! I used 1/2 cup of cream vs. 3/4 cup and it was great! This recipe is a crowd pleaser for sure!
I made my pasta with ground turkey and added fresh parsley and fresh basil it turned so good my kids loved
Ohheemmmmmgeee!! Soooo soo good!! Such a versatile recipe. My fiancé loooves this! Every mouthful, he said “mmmmmmmm!”
I’ll definitely be making this again!
This was a great base recipe! It was thick and creamy, with good flavor after a few additions. I added garlic and onion powder, a bit of steak and chop seasoning, along with extra italian seasoning. In addition, I used evaporated milk instead of cream and pasta sauce instead of plain tomato sauce. Overall, a solid family meal that is easily adaptable to your family’s taste and preferences.