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.
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This recipe is DELICIOUS! My family loved it, and it had such a great flavor. I used low sodium beef broth, and when you use that along with the cheese, there is typically plenty of salt. Just monitor the flavor as you put the ingredients together at the end so you know whether or not to add any additional Kosher salt. I added SOME Kosher salt, and it was slightly on the salty side (although not bad, and still very tasty). But a wonderful dish and I will ABSOLUTELY make it again!
I made this for dinner tonight and thought it was great! Easy to make and used ingredients I already had on hand. I used Better than Bouillon for the beef stock (always my fave) and cut the cream in half since I’m sensitive to dairy. It turned out awesome!
I made this with chicken stock, rotini noodles, and ground beef, it was really good! Would recommend this recipe except add more seasonings than suggested.
Is delicious but we added sour cream instead of heavy cream and we think you should too
Made this with a few changes and it was a hit! Great recipe since I always have these items in the house! So, here is what I did. I decreased the beef stock to 1 1/2 cups and instead of tomato sauce I used a 19 oz can of Progressi Tomato Basil soup. I added only the beef stock after the flour and let that mixture thicken first. Then I added the tomato soup and let it thicken again. I used italian blend shredded cheese instead of cheddar and I also added a handful of chopped fresh basil! It was great. It is extremely rich but well worth it! This one is a keeper!
I made this and it was so simple and very tasty. Thanks for sharing!
This was tasty! I wanted leftovers, so I increased the pasta to 12 oz., added 1 Tbsp extra flour and 1 cup extra broth. It worked great!
It was pretty thin right off the stove, but continued to thicken as it cooled and was perfect after about 10min.
Based on callouts that it was bland, I doubled the Italian seasoning and added a little salt at the end. Easy mods and a great recipe.
Made this tonight and my fiance loved it. Jazzed it up with extra seasonings and will definitely make it again. Thanks for this.
Tasty. Much better than hamburger helper box dinners.
my mom loves it & evreone in our family
Pretty easy to make but not very thick and low on flavor. Very “one note”. I will make it again but will add a little more onions, bell pepper, and spices.
Excellent easy to prepare meal. Kids as well as adults love it. We have nicknamed is Adult Hamburger Helper.
My family loved this dish,
This dish is so good. There’s just a few different steps And it’s worth it. It kinda reminds me of a homemade hamburger helper.
Delicious! I added in some sausage and It was a hit. Next time I’d prob go for a different cheese (maybe Parm) but it was super good.
I needed a quick/easy meal for three of us. This was so easy and delicious! First time I ever used this website for recipes and I can’t wait to cook more.
Did everything per instructions and came out kinda soupy not as thick as it looks, and taste kind of gritty. It’s ok but I wouldn’t try again.
Probably didn’t add enough flour
You probably added the liquids too fast. You have to pour in increments and allow to thicken each time you add some
Turned out really good, but the cheese was not on the ingredient list so I took a guess and did ok. What cheese do you use?
My husband I Really enjoyed this! It was super easy!! I happen to have green peppers and put them with the onions while cooking.
Very good and EASY!! This was a great recipe because it used stuff I had in my cabinet (except I had to use ziti noodles and ground turkey). I did almond milk mixed with olive oil instead of heavy cream because I am dairy free. My family loved it, especially with the cheese (which I didn’t put on mine).