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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Great recipe! I made it gluten free and dairy free. I exchanged milk with almond milk and used almond flour with a bit of starch to thicken it. It turned out great! Family loved it!
This was really good! The only thing I may do different next time would be to use a low sodium or no sodium beef broth. (Side note it could have just been the brand of broth I had that made it a little too salty).
I made this and thought the sauce needed something more. So as others have said, add some of your own seasoning to flavor it up. Definitely the crushed red pepper flakes on top was great. I definitely would make again. This was comfort food all the way.
Pretty simple recipe, not a fan though. Maybe I thought I liked Italian seasoning, and ended up not liking it? Lol. To me it taste like a spaghetti.. but was quite easy to make
I really love this dish. I’m shocked by one of the comments that likens it to Hamburger Helper as I think it’s fantastic! I use extra sharp cheddar and to me that comes through with a perfect tang.
Made this tonight, SO GOOD! I made 3 changes, one on accident. I used elbow noodles instead of shells. And left out onions as I don’t like. And I somehow missed the “set aside beef” part so simmered the sauce and beef for the 6-8 minutes. Oops! But I would do it again in a heartbeat. I wonder if more people did it this way, if their sauce would be thicker? Because mine was SUPER thick. This dish had amazing flavor, I could taste the garlic and italian seasoning. Rich, easy to make and comforting. Thanks!
Delicious! I added some mushrooms and cut down the beef stock as suggested by other readers. I also sautéed the onion first then added the beef and mushroom and seasoned as I cooked. I was lazy so I let the beef simmered in the stock and tomato sauce. It was easy and yummy!
Absolutely delicious and easy to make!
I followed the directions exactly, creamy and succulent
The only change I would make next time would be adding
4-8 ounces of sliced mushrooms.
This recipe is…damn delicious! My husband and I really enjoyed it. We will definitely make it again. The sauce was a little thin but I will play with it a little next time, maybe add more meat. I saw a lot of reviews saying this was bland. I always add extra seasoning to recipes. I thought it was always implied that you season to your personal tastes. Don’t be afraid to add extra seasoning! It turned out really flavorful for me.
To all the comments that states it was bland and/or watery – I added some crushed red pepper, about a half teaspoon, about a teaspoon of the sauce in a can of chipotle in adobo, cut out the flour completely and added a spoonful of tomato paste as my thickener. Added the depth of flavor many of you may have been missing and wasn’t too spicy. If you don’t like spice omit the pepper flakes. This is a more healthy version of hamburger helper!
I made it just as directed and it was a success with my picky eaters. My child was already cringing at the sight of it and then changed his mind after trying it! Score for mom!
It was good but the effort was not worth the outcome. It tasted very similar to a Hamburger Helped for triple the effort.
I’m not entirely sure if I can make it any easier than this recipe, Mackenzie! But thanks for giving it a try! 🙂
I agree with one of the other posters. It was okay. Definitely missing something, very bland. I was hoping the garlic would ad to the flavor a little more than it did.
Delicious even my pickiest eater loved it…Thanks!
Was very good! Hubby loved it. Definitely will make this more often!
I made this tonight exactly like the recipe and it was delicious!! I’ll most definitely be making this again.
I’m feeling absolutely drained today and my dad is coming over for dinner.
Yeah I was gonna make steak, but I’m just not feeling up to it so I sort through my go-to recipes… AH HA! This is an easy meal that everyone loves and I always come back to as a comfort food. Thanks again for this gem!
Easy to make, family loved it!
Made this for dinner the night before last and had it for two meals yesterday! I left out the onion and added a can of fire roasted tomatoes. It’s a great base recipe. You could add almost anything to it. I’m planning to make it again without the meat and adding some corn, black beans and salsa.
I loved this recipe! I can’t wait to make it again & experiment with different cheese & protein options. The only modification I made was adding a small shake of red pepper flakes to my bowl — the heat just adds a little something.
So good! Can the sauce be frozen and reheated at a later date or not the best idea since it has heavy cream in it?
I have frozen and reheated with no issues at all! 🙂
It looks delicious. I will be trying it soon. I dont have any tomatoe sauce. Do you think Rotel will work?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. But if you get a chance to try it, please let me know how it turns out! 🙂
Im going to make it again when my kids are gone and puree a couple cans of rotel to use in place of the tomato sauce and I’m pretty positive it will be amazing lol.