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 used venison instead of beef. Think next time I’d use more shells than just 8 oz. Sauce was runny…but more flour and shells would help that.
Would you consider adding a slide bar with the recipe increasing in incremental serving sizes, i.e. 10, 14, 20 people? Other websites have this feature and I find it very handy. Thanks!
So this sauce was excellent but a bit runny. I am thinking less beef broth…..thought?
So delicious, will make it many more times , thanks
Delicious
This is so delicious and I make it as a “one pot meal.” I brown the beef and onions together, then add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Then I add the beef stock (I used broth), tomato sauce, heavy cream, Italian seasoning (1 Tbsp), garlic powder, salt and pepper. I brought that to a boil then added the pasta and covered with a lid and stirred 2-3 times until the pasta was done (about 15 minutes). I removed the pan from the heat and stirred in the cheese until melted! I like to minimize the amount of dishes I have to do! 🙂
Thank you for sharing! I made mine with your one pot directions and it came out great! Not only did it keep me from having extra dishes, but it also prevented the runny sauce others mentioned since the pasta absorbs it.
so you didn’t use any flour?
This recipe is s delicious!! I substitute ground beef for ground chicken and use chicken stock instead. My entire family loves it!!
Yummy! Kid approved. Definitely a good weeknight dinner.
This is in our regular dinner rotation! I love yummy, fast meals like this. Making it in my cast iron skillet just adds another depth of flavor. Yum!
I made creamy beef and shells tonight and it took about 30 minutes. I liked that it was creamy. This recipe is really good! Very creamy and very tasty. I will make again
I just made this. I substituted Tagliatelle for shells. It what I already had. I also substituted cream cheese for the heavy cream. It turned just fine no change in texture. Also added Cheddar as recipe indicates.
I will make it again !
My partner and I have MANY saved recipes from your website that are all a part of our regular rotation. We love this one for a simple comfort meal! We’ve had it with several different shapes of pasta and all of them were great. Usually use rotini.
The only adjustment I make is to mix in the shredded cheese into the sauce mixture before adding the pasta and beef back in to prevent lumping and over mixing the pasta.
I made this tonight (May 22, 2023) and it was quite tasty. I can’t have straight tomato sauce so the cream toned the tomato sauce to more like a rose sauce. I think I would add a bit more italian seasoning but other than that I would keep it as it is. As I made it just for my husband and myself we have leftovers for another supper.
Fantastic! Damn delicious is right! I did make just 3 minor but meaningful alterations. I used a full box of pasta to make it go farther, feeding 6 you know. I added a tsp. of worcestershire. I add it to just about every beef recipe, just gives it that extra something. And lastly added about 2 inches of a block of velveeta to make it extra creamy. I know I got a winner when the wife says “make sure you keep that recipe.” So, so good!
Forgot to add the stars to the original review, so here they are! 5 STARS!
This is one of my families favorite recipes!! Absolutely perfect! It’s creamy, rich, comfy, and satisfying!
This was a hit! I did use 16 oz. pasta so I added an extra can of stock and about 1/2-3/4 cup extra heavy cream. I also added extra shredded cheese at the end to thicken it up! It was delicious!
So Good! I will make this again.
Delicious! My picky-eating husband even said it was GOOD. Thank you!
I change it a tad bit but one of my favorite recipes.
Pretty solid recipe. Would definitely make it again.
It will work out fine. I’ve done it, half & half and all. Adjust broth/ boullion to the amount of jarred marinara so it’s not too much liquid ( 24 oz jar of marinara to about a cup of boullion).