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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SOOOO delicious!! Made this for my mom for Mother’s Day yesterday. It was a BIG hit with everyone. So creamy and cheesy and flavorful. My husband insists we put this in our meal rotation — I agree. The ONLY thing I did different (after reading some of the reviews) was to reduce slightly the amount of beef stock. The consistency was perfect. What else can I say buy YUM!
I want to make this tonight, but my daughter is dairy free! Do you think almond milk or canned coconut milk would work? Would a vegan cream cheese or cheddar substitute work? Thank you!
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! 🙂
Made the recipe as listed – except for the heavy cream as I didn’t have any. I added mik and sour cream instead. Definitely makes more than 4 servings. It was easy and tasty. Thanks for sharing.
A big hit even in 90 degree weather! I want to try this again with a blend of cheeses since my husband is a cheese addict! I don’t think it turned out watery but then I did reduce the beef stock before I added the tomato sauce and then reduced them together. I will be making this again for sure!
What can I use instead of Italian seasoning as I don’t have it
Zita, you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon each of basil, thyme, rosemary and oregano for each teaspoon of Italian seasoning called for in a recipe.
I don’t have heavy cream, only milk. Will this work or should I try to add some sour cream?
I would add the sour cream as you go, if needed, simply for texture reasons. But as always, please use your best judgement when making substitutions and modifications.
This is so freaking good!! I’m slightly embarrassed by how much I pigged out on this! 😀 I followed the recipe exactly and it turned out perfect! I made it a few weeks ago and I’m going to make it again tonight! Also, it’d be great if you could get the calorie/nutrition info on this at some point! 🙂
There’s absolutely no shame in digging into this one!
Nutritional information is provided only for select recipes at this time. However, if it is not available for a specific recipe, we recommend using free online resources at your discretion (you can Google “nutritional calculator”). Hope that helps, Soo-Jung!
Anyone else ever just get a craving for Hamburger Helper? My husband does! And this recipe is a winner in our book. Made it exactly as written and it was delicious. Total comfort food. Loved it.
First of all, I want to say that I love your blog and have yet to try a recipe that’s disappointed! This was no exception.
I always like to follow a recipe to the “T” the first time that I make it, and I loved it just the way it was! My daughter just got her second helping, so that definitely means this dish will be on at least a monthly rotation.
Thank you for posting this! It’s easy, cheesy, and budget-friendly!!!
I made this recipe exactly as writen and it was delicious!
Made it for my family last weekend – it was the perfect serving size and I even had just enough to take to work the next day as a lunch snack! Creamy, cheesy, and satisfying – this is what any hamburger helper wishes it could be! I’ll be keeping this recipe on-hand for sure.
I followed the recipe exactly, except for the addition of some crushed red pepper to taste. Omg this is so freaking good. Like hamburger helper, only so much better. And it makes a LOT. It’s really rich and filling, so it’s going to take a good while to finish the pot. But a big bowl of caesar salad and a scoop of this…. Heaven.
What should I make for a side dish? What kind of veggie? Salad? I am trying this tonight.
My absolute favorite side dish is the garlic parmesan roasted potatoes. But please feel free to check out all of my side dish recipes here.
This was a great recipe! Easy and delicious-so comforting! I added red pepper flakes to give it a bit of a kick!
It was delicious I just added more cheese and will add more onions next time but I love onions.
I made this yesterday, when my dinner guests said they were going to be late I put it in the oven with extra cheese on top, and it baked up into an awesome casserole. Everyone enjoyed it! Made per ingredients and added worcestershire and cayenne for extra seasoning. No leftovers! Thank you for your recipes, you make this newbie cook feel like I’m cheffin it!
Great idea. Thanks for sharing.
Loved it used 1/2 & 1/2 instead of cream and added half a can of sliced black olives. Looking forward to leftovers tomorrow night. Thanks
I lovE this recipe! I add a bit of cayenne for heat cause my family likes to sweat a bit
I have made this recipe 3 times and love it, about to make it for the 4th time this week. It is a hearty meal that my fiance and I both love. Super filling and goes a LONG way! When both of us eat (he is a good eater), I still have plenty left over for myself to eat maybe another 2-3 times. I make this for myself and eat it basically all week (college student here!). It’s even better heated up as leftovers. Super creamy. A tip I have is to make sure to drain your meat well or get a leaner cut. If you don’t want to spend more on leaner meat then just drain it well to get all the fat out. Otherwise sometimes it can be a touch greasy, but taste is still great. I personally leave out the diced onion and garlic when I make this and have never tried it with it. I do however use garlic powder, italian seasoning, and a touch of Lawry’s salt and some pepper in the meat to taste. I also put the garlic salt, italian seasoning, and a dash of pepper in the sauce. So good. Have considered adding spinach leaves but haven’t tried yet. Tried this recipe with penne pasta which was fine but shells are best. Definitely season your meat well and it gives a more robust flavor. This recipe dirties lots of pots and pans to make but is worth it. One recommendation- the instructions are not clear in steps 3, 4, and 5 what you are adding the stuff to. The meat is set aside so what are you supposed to “add” the onions and stuff to? Winging it for myself, I put the beef stock, tomato sauce, and flour all together in a bowl and whisk to prevent clumps. Then I put it on the stove in a pan and add seasonings. Then I pour the reduced sauce over the pasta that has been drained and put in a big pot. I then add in the heavy cream, meat, and shredded cheese last. In case anyone else was confused when making this.
This is more delicious than anticipated and easy to prepare. Tastes even better the next day if something that is already delicious could be better!
Its delicious!!! Way better than hamburger helper!!!
We used bison instead of cow!!!