Creamy Beef and Shells
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
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?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
I made this once as written. The second time I decreased heavy cream to 1/2 cup and cheese to 4 ounces and baked 15 min at 375. It was thicker and super creamy! Amazing recipe.
A friend of mine suggested I take a look at your website because she has LOVED your Crock Pot recipes. I stumbled upon this one though, and knew I HAD to make it that day.
I am not a queen of the kitchen, and it may have been first-time-making-trial-and-error, but….my dish was a bit too soupy. Any suggestions on how to firm this dish up. Or should it be soupy? Either way, it was delicious out of the pan, and it was delicious reheated for lunch today with some broccoli!
I’m so glad you tried this! It’s one of my all-time faves.
Now this is meant to be more creamy rather than “soupy” – but if it is too much sauce, you can always add more pasta, as needed. 🙂
Just made this tonight and my family loved it! My 2 young sons (who can be picky) were skeptical at first, but they scarfed the whole bowl. Thanks for this tasty recipe! It is sure to be in my regular dinner rotation.
I was looking for something different from all the holiday leftovers. Made this tonight for my husband and I. We loved it! I will definitely make this again!
I made this last night and it turned out good, but I added salt and pepper and cumin and chili powder to the ground beef while cooking and then added it to the mixture as well. I think it definitely needed that boost. This was easy and good and I would definitely make again. I think it would also be good with seasoning the meat with taco seasoning as well. I only added about half the cream and then added more cilantro. Thank you for the recipe!
This was delicious and I will be making it often! I see that so many people keep asking if they can substitute some other liquid for the heavy cream. It’s a very basic recipe and you can put whatever liquid you (within reason), BUT just know that it is NOT going to taste the same. It doesn’t mean its going to be bad, but not the same either. I only had medium cheddar on hand so that’s what I used, and when I tasted my finished dish I knew exactly what I was missing. That sharpness from the cheese. I threw in a palmful of grated parm and problem solved. It didn’t add an obvious parm flavor, but just the sharpness it needed.
‘
Where is the recipe? I made this before and it was so tasty but I can’t see the recipe now.
My apologies. The website is undergoing a system update. The recipes will be available very soon! Thank you so much for your patience.
I’ve made this before and it was amazing! I’d like to make it this week but the recipe has disappeared? Would you mind sharing it again? Thank you!
My apologies. The website is undergoing a system update. The recipes will be available very soon! Thank you so much for your patience.
i really liked this. i thought it was a little too tomatoey tho. I wonder if i cut the tomato sauce in half and added more cream or broth would it make a difference? other than that it was great! i have eaten hamburger helper for years, im growing int o loving to cook now, away from box dinners. thanks!
That would probably do the trick. Thanks for sharing!
What can I substitute for the tomato sauce, I cant stand tomatoes
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
This meal was delicious but as an inexperienced cook I wasn’t sure what I was adding the onion to. I set aside the meat and added the onion to the skillet. My skillet was burning on the base so there wasn’t any liquid to add the flower to. I added a little beef stock as liquid but flour got clumpy. I’m sure I missed a step. This fish turned out good nonetheless but would like to know how to do that properly for future reference
This really is #damndelicious!
The only problem came when my 14”
pan was not big enough, & I almost had a major overflow. It was close, with a few drips!
My family loved this! Easy and delicious – will make again & again!. Any suggestions for making ahead and freezing / reheating?
Thanks, Sarah! Unfortunately, we cannot answer this with certainty as we have never tried freezing this ourselves. Please use your best judgment for freezing and reheating.
I’ve made this twice now but vegetarian! I use “meatless” crumbles and veggie broth. It was a huge hit!
I made this last night after realizing I had all of the ingredients on hand (well, I had to swap mini penne for the shells). It is soo good and easy to put together. Thanks so much for creating this recipe.
My cup of tea Chungah ! Thank you !
This looks great! What kind of sides would you recommend with this?
Hi Holly! 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.
Have only made once but was a huge hit with my wife and I. Will make it often (exactly per recipe). Others compare with hamburger helper??? No way… this is MUCH better.
GREAT. Good bit more liquid than depicted in the post, but that didn’t hurt at all. Adding it to the rotation.
Total comfort/bum food….you can leave out the heavy cream for a dish you can have more often and it’s still delish