If you’re looking for a simple, delicious meal that’s made with only 5 ingredients, this is the recipe for you. One Pot Hamburger Helper is rich, creamy, and so easy to make!

A simple, delicious 5 ingredients pasta that's ready in under 30 minutes. One Pot Hamburger Helper can be made with ground beef or plant based veggie ground. Either way you make it, this dish is rich, creamy and always delicious. | 30 minute meal | easy pasta recipe | #easydinner #healthypasta thishappymommy.com

It’s time for a new way to enjoy pasta!

This One Pot Hamburger Helper is rich, creamy and delicious.

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It’s also super easy to make because it uses only five ingredients. And it all cooks one pot, making clean up afterwards even easier.

This is a great recipe for those nights when you don’t have much time to cook but still want something that tastes good and fills everyone up. Best of all, it takes under 30 minutes to make this delicious dish! Perfect, right!

A Healthy & Easy Dinner

One Pot Hamburger Helper is inspired by my one of my childhood favorites. I used to love Hamburger Helper as a kid, but knowing how bad it was for me made me stop eating it once I got older. The truth is, it can be better for you when you skip the boxed mixes and make it from scratch.

Sure, making it from scratch can sound like a lot of work, but One Pot Hamburger Helper has only 5 ingredients, takes less than 30 minutes to make, and like the name suggests, only uses one pot. Sometimes, from scratch can be just as easy as the boxed alternatives. It’s just healthier.

The truth is, boxed mixes are often highly processed and contain a lot of sodium and preservatives that you don’t want to eat on a regular basis. Making this meal from scratch means there’s no mystery ingredients!

And if you want to add any veggies or anything else, you always can. You can add mushrooms, peppers, onions, and even spinach. Just cook your veggies and place them on the side before cooking your meat or plant based veggie ground. And then you can add them before adding in the cheese.

CAN Hamburger Helper BE MADE VEGETARIAN AND MEATLESS?

In one word – YES! You can enjoy One Pot Hamburger Helper with lean ground beef or plant based veggie ground.

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We’ve made it both ways, many times, and it’s always delicious. In fact, you can hardly taste the difference between the meat or plant based versions. And sometimes my family finds that it’s hard to taste which is which.

Whether you cook One Pot Hamburger Helper with beef or using plant based ground, this delicious meal is sure to please. Especially when it’s ready in under 30 minutes.

One Pot Hamburger Helper is a perfect meal to make when you are short on time and want something that tastes amazing but doesn’t take much effort!

Can you Cook Pasta in the Sauce?

Absolutely! Cooking everything in one pot is a real time saver. You don’t need to boil the pasta separately—you just use one pot and cook everything together. So, you have a tasty meal and only one cooking dish to clean. That’s a real win-win!

When you cook that pasta in the sauce, you need a little extra sauce. You want to make sure that the pasta has enough room to move around and cook evenly. And since the noodles absorb the sauce while it cooks, you want to have enough left over for the dish.

One Pot Hamburger Helper uses two different sauces/liquids – tomato sauce and vegetable broth. Together they make a really tasty sauce. The vegetable broth adds the flavors of herbs and spices to the tomato sauce. And when the noodles cook, they make the sauce even better.

As the noodles cook, they release some starch into the sauce, which makes the sauce richer, creamier and even more delicious. Yum!

How to Make One Pot Hamburger Helper

This tasty comfort food dish is as easy as it is delicious. And it’s made in only 3 simple steps. You have to love a quick, easy and made in only one pot!

STEP 1: COOK THE BEEF Or Plant Based Veggie Ground

In a large pan, you’ll want to brown the beef. This means that you want to cook the beef until it turns brown and it is no longer a pink color. It will take about 4 to 6 minutes for the beef to cook throughly.

Even if you are using lean or extra lean beef, you’ll notice some liquid will form at the bottom of the pan. A lot of the liquid is fat. You’ll want to remove as much of it as you can.

An easy way to discard this extra liquid is with a spoon. Gentle tilt the pan to one side. (Not towards you, because you don’t want it to spill on you). Using a spoon, carefully remove excess fat and discard it into a bowl.

If you are making this meatless and using plant based veggie ground, simply follow the directions on the package. Break apart the veggie ground, if needed. And cook it until it is heated through.

Step 2: Prepare the Sauce and Cook the Noodles

The best thing about one pot meals is everything cooks together. This is perfect for the flavor and of course the connivence of it all. When it comes to taste, pasta always tastes better when it cooks in the sauce.

As the noodles cook, they absorb the flavors of the sauce, making it taste even better. Plus, as the noodles cook, the sauce thickens. The starch from the noodles are released into the sauce, making it thicker and even more delicious. It’s a real win-win!

This sauce is made with two ingredients – marinara/tomato sauce and vegetable broth. It is so easy to customize this dish by choosing your favorite tomato sauce. You can pick a creamier sauce, one packed with veggies, or rich with garlic. Whatever you choose, you can really customize it to your taste.

And the vegetable broth really amps up the flavor. It gives you the essence of adding herbs and spices with little to no effort. All you need to do is add some broth. Easy peasy! Plus, adding the vegetable broth adds some extra liquid, which helps the noodles cook properly.

So, in this step, all you need to do is add the sauce, veggie both, and noodles to the pot. Once it all starts to boil, cover it, and reduce the heat to simmer. And let it all cook together.

Step 3: Add the Cheese

Once the noodles are cooked, it’s time for the cheese. Simply add the cheese and mix until the cheese is melted and evenly mixed into the sauce.

You won’t see the cheese in the sauce, it simply adds to the flavor. When you serve the One Pot Hamburger Helper, you can always add a little extra cheese on top. My kids always love it with a little extra cheese. But it really doesn’t need it.

All that’s left is serve it and enjoy! One Pot Hamburger Helper is rich, creamy, and so easy to love.

Now that you know how easy it is to make One Pot Hamburger Helper, what are you making for dinner?

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