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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Excellent. We didn’t have cream so blended 1/4 c raw cashews and enough water to hit the 3/4 c mark. We also used ground caribou and doubled the noodles plus added veg.
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS!
I made this tonight, and I can’t believe how amazing it is! I had some ground beef to use, and didn’t know what to do with it. I was browsing recipes for quick meals and came across this. I used 1.5 pounds of beef and a whole box of bow tie pasta. I used a whole onion and 3 cloves of sliced garlic. Instead of Italian seasoning I used quite a bit of Tony sacharez seasoning and used Spaghetti sauce instead of plain tomato sauce. I added 1/2 a cup of parmasan Cheese too. And it was OUT OF THIS WORLD DELICIOUS! Thank you SOOOO much for sharing this!
We all love it . VERY GOOD!!!
Omg SO delicious!! First time with making it tonight and I must say my 20 month old even devoured it!
After reading many reviews before attempting this, I used a whole sweet onion instead of half, also I used 2 tsp of italian seasoning instead of just 1 1/2 tsp. I added garlic powder and onion powder to the meat, and again when I mixed in garlic and seasoning to the onion. I taste-tested before adding any salt or pepper, which I found it tasted amazing as is so I didn’t add any of those, it wasnt necessary.
I didn’t think it was too runny, and whatever excess liquid that there was in the bowl we used warm French bread to soak up so, nothing was wasted!! Amazing meal that I will definitely be making again!!
Omg delish! I added Tony’s creole & pepper flakes to spice it up. Thank you!
This recipe is delicious, the family raved about it and have been begging me to make it again ever since I made it. So I’m making it again tonight even though it hasn’t been a week since the last time. Thanks!
Very good, hearty meal. It was a thinner consistency than I like but other than that it was delicious. Highly recommend for an easy meal.
I thought this was great! I used an entire onion as well as three cloves of garlic and didn’t have any canned tomato sauce so just used pasta sauce and still turned out great! Tastes even better after it sits for a bit. Every single person in my family liked it and that’s saying a lot because I have two very picky kiddos! Thank you for this 😉
A bit TOO creamy, and the beef wasnt fully cooked, also, too much cheese taste
The beef wasn’t fully cooked…. that would be your fault.
Seriously, you’re going to rate a recipe lower because you don’t know how to cook your meat until it’s done?
Best reply ever Dee Dee. For real.
right!!! and also saying it’s too creamy but it’s literally called creamy beef and shells lol!
Chill out ppl! Life is hard enough right now. Really?! Nothing better to do than crush a persons spirit in a cooking comment? What about Kindness?
Jennifer, Jennifer calm down you’re gonna hurt yourself.
Troll much
This meal is bomb. So rich, so delicious. It’s like homemade Hamburger Helper!!!
I made this for my family and roommates a couple weeks ago, and they absolutely loved it. I’ve made some other things in the past, but this (as easy as it is) is the closest to a “from scratch” type meal ive done. I usually use boxed meals and put my spin on them or what have you. This was super easy to make and came out much better than i even expected. I seasoned to my own taste, limiting it to the seasonings provided was a bit bland for my taste. I added seasoned salt, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and oregano, in no specific measurements. even with the garlic and onion within the dish i felt like it needed that extra push. Fantastic recipe though! I’m going to make it again tonight!
I made this today and it was absolutely delish…just as the reviews said it was easy to make. I had mozzarella cheese on hand so I used that, but in the future will use the cheddar. I have leftover tortellini and will try it with that. I will certainly make it again in the future! This is a keeper recipe. I am not the greatest cook so I was proud how good it came out. People try it!!!
Made this tonight and was quite impressed!!
Literally googled, “what can I make for dinner with ground beef” and this recipe was first. We thought it wasn’t going to make a lot so we decided to double the recipe. Let’s just say, we have dinners for the next week and a half, but I don’t think I will get sick of this.
I will say, do add more garlic and italian seasoning than the recipe states. When we plated, or bowled, it was a bit runny. It is kind of like a homemade hamburger helper but I highly recommend it. We added some parsley on top and sprinkled some meat rub for added flavor.
This makes a LOT! Is it freezable? Thank you.
I haven’t made it yet but can tell its a keeper! I have same question; can I freeze it, of course I can, but should I Not add the pasta? I cook for elder family & want something gramma can easily pull from freezer if I cant be there. Your thoughts & Thank You for sharing your work!!
I’m no expert, but I would say you can freeze it. I freeze pasta dishes all the time. Just make sure it’s tightly sealed when you freeze it.
Good, but use more garlic. Way more.
So good! I used fat free half and half and it came out great. Even through in a few splashes on skim milk. Still thick and creamy.
Also added 4 extra garlic cloves because you measure that will your heart
Might try it with sausage next time to try to replicate a pasta dish I had before. I thought the cheddar cheese was odd but it gave it the same flavor I have been missing.
And lastly I tasted the red sauce before adding the cream etc and it was really good! I would use that as a marinara sauce for sure!
All five kids, ranging from 19-14, loved this recipe. The only thing I changed was to add red pepper flakes. I call it a win.
I have made this at least a dozen times! My husband has even asked for it! Great recipe!
There’s better things I know that you can do with ground beef. This is pretty much a basic hamburger helper recipe. (Hamburger helper from scratch making it a lot harder than just buying the box)
That being said it’s an easy recipe and there’s not many ways to mess it up. It was good
So so good. Doubled the recipe. Very filling and the entire family approves!
No Review but was wondering what kind of tomato sauce to use?! A plain one or what?!
Thank you so much for your help and time!!
Excellent-I used the left over at jus I had in the fridge (I’m from Chicago we always have extra au jus what can I say!) I served with homemade ricotta gnocchi and this was to die for! I didn’t stir in the cheddar due to the cheese in the gnocchi but sprinkled a handful on top. Mmmmmmm….