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
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.
All that cream sauce. All that pasta, just collecting that creaminess. And the perfectly crumbled ground beef, again, soaking up every last drop of that creamy, heavenly goodness.
Ugh, I can’t even talk about this anymore because now I need to make this for dinner. Again. For the 14th time.
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.
Did you make this recipe?
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I had everything on hand, and the kids loved it. It always makes me happy when they go for seconds.
I just made this tonight. I didn’t even use all of the tomato sauce it called for and the tomato sauce is very overpowering. My husband will be disappointed, and I’m sure he’ll make a comment about why don’t I stick with what I know. It looked so delicious. I’m glad a lot of people found success in the dish. I’m sure it really is great.
Your husband sounds lovely….
^^lol
Lol!!
Couldn’t help but feel the same way.. lol. If my hubs said something like that after trying my best to make a different meal, I’d throw it at him
Has anyone ever tried using marinara instead of tomatoes? Curious as to how that would turn out.
I used Cento marinara sauce and it turned out great.
Looks wonderful. Can’t wait to make.
Anxious to read comments for their variations.
We have a freezer full of ground beef (I’m talking 30 pounds lol) so I wanted to find some easy ground beef recipes to use it up. I came across this and decided to try it because my hubby loves beef and shells. This was a big hit for him, he went back for seconds!!! Will definitely keep these ingredients on hand so I can make it again in the future. Thanks!
Amazing! I used butter and milk as a substitute for the heavy cream and garlic salt instead of fresh garlic. I was out of shell pasta so I used egg noodles. I stressed a bit for no reason. This dish fed my family of six twice! We absolutely loved it! I will be making this again and again.
I only have mild cheddar cheese and mozzarella, which would be a better substitute for the sharp cheddar?
i would go with the mild cheddar….i have subbed mozzarella for cheddar in the past, & it doesnt add much flavor, unless you add some grated cheese to it
Deliciously Creamy & Filling!
Made this tonight, though I seen your recipe 2 days ago.. Drove to the supermarket for two required ingredients: Heavy Cream and Tomato Sauce.
Easy to prepare and make…. Served with Grilled Brussels Sprouts.
Definitely would cook again!! But for now, I’m going to enjoy for the next few days (did I mention this meal is Plentiful).
Thanks for sharing your Recipe!
This was real crowd pleaser! My family loved this meal! 4 Kids from 7 down to 18 months raved about it and my husband wanted seconds! I substituted buttermilk for the cream bc I didnt have any and it was great.
Thank you for the wonderful recipe!!
Kids loved it! Very easy and economical especially being stuck in the house! I basically quadrupled the recipe as there are 5 in our family and we love leftovers. The only changes made is that I used half&half and added frozen corn 🙂 Very good!
Also, I didn’t take the ground beef out of the pan when making the sauce. Most ground beef is made of tough meat and I find it tastes really chewy sometimes, so lately I have been simmering it for a minimum of 30 mins in all my recipes – taco meat, sauces, etc and It has made a huge difference in the flavor and texture! I brought the beef and sauce to a boil, reduced heat and simmered for 30 min and added the cheese at the end. So good! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Made this last night! It’s currently 11:32 am and to say I can’t wait to heat up my leftovers for lunch would be an understatement. I added paprika, 1/2 green pepper and mushrooms, subbed chicken broth and fusilli brown rice noodles. Omg. So good. I also omitted the cream because I didn’t have it, so I planned on using A bit of cream cheese, but found once I added the cheese (I didn’t measure – I feel like I used a lot lol) that it was creamy enough. My boyfriend took a bite and said, “this is good” lol. I cook mostly healthy, whole real foods and he said it reminded him of hamburger helper but in a totally yummy way. And strangely, that is what I was craving when I found this recipe.
It reminded our family of hamburger helper but yummy and homemade. Everyone went in for seconds in our family of 6! I doubled the recipe.
The whole family enjoyed this!!
So good!!!
I made this allergy friendly by subbing in gluten free noodles, nutritional yeast for the cheese, and canned coconut cream for the heavy cream. And instead of thickening the sauce with flour, I simply added extra broth to the pan and cooked the noodles in the broth mixture, which also thickened the sauce. It turned out amazing!
So good! I used an Italian cheese blend and rigatoni instead of shells:)
Made it last night!! Super yummy and creamy!! Definitely making this again.
This meal was just ok. I must say that the recipe is poorly written which is why some people may end up with a runny meal. No where on the recipe does it tell you to take the meat out of the pan and then, work on your sauce. Also, it doesn’t tell you when to put the cheese in. Unless you watch the video, there is no way you will be able to follow the recipe.
Hi Frances!
So the recipe indicates to set the meat aside in step 2:
2. Heat olive oil in a large 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.
The recipe indicates to add the cheese in step 6:
6. 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.
I find it very helpful to read through a recipe at least twice prior to cooking. 🙂
This is yummy! Looked a little like “hamburger helper” at first, but tastes like high-end Italian! I added a half cup of chopped green olives, which gives it a little extra tang. It was a big hit with my family! Thank you! 🙂
This is something my whole family enjoys. I make it quite often!
I make this all time and we live it! But with cornonavirus spreading we are looking to save anywhere we can. So is this dish freezer friendly if we hav leftovers? Anybody have experience freezing it? If so how long does it last in freezer.
Thanks for any responses you have.
Anything like this will freeze fine, especially with a thick sauce that will keep things covered and prevent freezer burn. No worries. I had Turkey Soup that was 2.5 years old yesterday, just to see, and it was fine!