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.
Video
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This turned out AWESOME! I did add spinach as a few people mentioned, but otherwise the recipe was easy to follow. Thank you for sharing. I’ll definitely be making this one again soon. 🙂
Very yummy. I’ve made it a few times. Quick week night dinner.
Very delicious. I will definitely make this again. Adding to my list of comfort foods. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve made this dish 3 times till know. I’M IN LOVE WITH THIS CREAMY PASTA.A 10/10 for me ♥️
Wow it was delicious! I didn’t have heavy cream so i did milk instead, and went with chicken stock because i didn’t have beef. Was absolutely DELICIOUS! My family loved it adult and kid friendly!
I have an IP in our camper. Do you happen to know how to convert this to an IP recipe?
Wanted to add that next time, I may add some spinach. Or swiss chard for some greens, as another rater mentioned. Also I browned the beef and onion and my added mushrooms all together…just my thing.
Umm. Yes. As I suspected. TREMENDOUS. I used tomato paste and added 2 parts beef broth to one part paste, mixed up. Added some flour from a shaker I use just to make sure it thickened up, which it did. Added mushrooms with the onions. Point is this is an incredibly versatile recipe…just keep an eye on it The sauce WILL thicken. I made 1/4 of this as I am single, but even seemed like enough for two. No matter. Quite incredible. Thank you!
Made this and its was so delicious! My husband who isnt a big pasta guy loved it.
Personally I thought it was better before I put the cream in! (Both excellent though). I’ll be making again tomorrow night without the cream and see which we prefer!
With or without the cream it was indulgent and tasty!
This is really good, but swapping out the Italian seasoning for taco seasoning is also damn delicious. It’s a great, easy weeknight meal. Super simple to make, but also super tasty. (re-commented because I forgot to give this any stars the first time. Sorry!)
Did you use teaspoon measurement of taco seasoning or whole packet with the beef?
This WAS damn delicious! I just made it for lunch and it’s so good! The only adjustment I made was add more Italian seasoning.
I’ll definitely be making it again.
You said it. Damn Delicious! My husband loves it.
My family loved this! I added 1/2 jar of marinara because I wanted a bit more color & flavor. Next time I will use marinara to substitute tomato sauce. Use freshly grated cheddar, never the pre shredded. It melts so dreamy in the cream. The sauce is thick & velvety. I ate way too much garlic bread because it’s so good dipped in the sauce!
One of our family favorites!
The whole family loved it!
So delicious! Probably going to make it again!!!!
So good
I plan to make this for dinner tonight… Anyone’s thoughts on using alfredo sauce instead of the heavy cream??? Might be yummy? LOL
That’s basically how Olive Garden makes their ziti!
Added a lot of different spices (Rosemary, basil, oregano, extra garlic and instead of cheddar cheese I used shredded Parmesan cheese). Huge hit!! Will be making again.
Can you make this in the crock pot?
This was pretty good. I’ll definitely make it again. But, depending on your palate, it may be a little too “robust” as-is. To tone down the flavor, you may want to use only 1 tsp of italian seasoning, and swap the extra sharp cheddar for a sharp cheddar instead.
Delicious! No cream on hand, so used 2% milk that I had. Even with that, it was a hit with my husband and myself!
I prepared as directed.I would give this 3 out of 5 stars. It seems pretty average to me. A little on the bland side, but I can see why it would appeal to families with children. I was surprised at the quantity. The recipe said 4 servings. There was WAY more than 4. I filled a 9×13 pan with it. Even though I let mine reduce, it seemed to have more liquid than it should. Not really an issue for me as I prepared it ahead the night before and will reheat on the day of serving. The pasta will absorb some of that.
I was disappointed because of all the rave reviews, I thought it would be better than it was.