Who remembers hamburger helper? I know I do! I also remember that it wasn’t that healthy but it sure did taste good. One thing I love about hamburger helper is that you know it’ll make enough for you to have dinner for at least two days. Whenever life gets busy and I need a meal that will yield leftovers to give this mama one day out of the kitchen, I’m all for it!

This recipe is guaranteed to bring you back to when hamburger helper hit the spot for a hearty and filling dinner. It’s going to the one meal you can make when you have guests over and didn’t plan to make anything for a crowd. It’s the one you reach for when you worked late and are behind on household chores and are just too tired to do and think of anything else for dinner. This is definitely going to please and this time it’s going to be healthier and honestly way better than the box stuff we all used to enjoy.

How to make Dee’s HEALTHY hamburger helper

It’s time to hit up your pantry and food storage for the stuff you always have on hand as your holy grails like canned goods and pasta. You knew one day you’d need them and now it’s their time to shine.

Ingredients

I tend to buy organic ingredients when I can so feel free to replace organic with a similar item that you have on hand. After all, it’s your kitchen and you’re the head chef of your home.

By the way, I’m using an Instant Pot for this recipe however you can also make this in a pot over the stove. Here’s what you need to make hamburger helper from scratch.

• 3 cups of uncooked macaroni noodles
• 450g grass-fed lean ground beef
• 1/2 tsp of pink salt
• 1/2 tsp of black pepper
• 1/2 tsp of oregano
• 1 tbsp organic cane sugar
• 1 tbsp of organic beef better than bouillon
• 1 can of organic diced tomatoes (796 mL)
• 1 can of organic tomato sauce (398 mL)
• 1 small block of cheddar cheese (about 450g)
• 800 mL of water (about 3.5 cups)
• 1 tbsp of avocado oil (or any cooking oil of your choice)

Instructions

1. Set your Instant pot to sauté on a medium heat
2. Add your cooking oil to the pan
3. Add your ground beef and let cook until most of the pink in gone
4. Add your dry seasonings and mix together well
5. Add your better than bouillon and mix with the meat
6. Add your canned ingredients
7. Add water to your cans to use up all the leftover tomato juices in the cans and then pour in the Instant Pot
8. Mix everything together really well
9. Then pour in your dry noodles and mix well
10. Cover your Instant Pot and set on the pressure cook “Pasta” setting on high for 2 minutes
11. Release the pressure when the setting finishes
12. Open the pot and mix everything together
13. Crumble or shred your cheddar cheese and add to the pasta
14. Mix together well and cover to let the pasta thicken and allow the cheese to melt
15. After 5mins, open your Instant Pot and plate your hamburger helper

This recipe will take under 30 minutes to make from start to finish. I like to serve this with a leafy green veggie like sautéed spinach because we are healthy like that haha. Of course, no pasta dish is complete without a slice of garlic bread to carb it up even more. What I love about this recipe is that I no longer have to boil noodles separately and it reduces the amount of dishes I need to make the meal.

I do have to warn you that anyone you serve this to will ask for seconds and sometimes thirds. It’s just that dang good! The starch from the pasta really does a good job at adding body to this dish and the fact that all our ingredients are clean makes this something you can have a large amount of without feeling crappy afterwards.

This meal makes enough food for my family of four to have seconds on night one and one serving per person for night two. It costs very little to make and I like that I’m in and out of the kitchen in under 30 minutes with little effort.

I hope you give this recipe a try and add it to your bi-weekly rotation all year long. For my family, we do some sort of pasta dish each week and I love that this one hits the spot every single time. This is a keeper, trust me. I hope you enjoy it! Watch the cook with me here.

-Dee