Homemade Hamburger Helper ~ Cheeseburger Macaroni

Look at this cheesy beefy noodle cheeseburger mac and it only took about 15 minutes to make .

I'm gonna show you exactly how welcome to the salted pepper where we cook for real life using real food and we keep it real simple .

And today we're gonna make a super easy cheeseburger macaroni .

So this is sort of after the Hamburger Helper type , there's a couple different varieties you can get .

But cheeseburger mac is one of them and I've never had it before .

But I told Jeff I want to create a recipe that is like that , but tastes exactly like a cheeseburger .

And guess what ?

I got it .

It works perfectly .

It's super easy .

You can see , I don't even have a ninja foodie here .

You really don't need one for this recipe .

We're not gonna pressure cook .

Now , you could adapt it for a pressure cooker and that would be fine .

It would work fine .

But I found that just using a skillet .

Um , and the stove works perfectly and it is super quick and easy .

What I'm using here is a non stick three quart skillet .

You're gonna want a skillet that has a lid on it that will fit on top .

Ok .

And you could use uh like a dutch oven if you wanted , you could use , you know , any kind of a pot .

So if you don't have a three quart skillet , that's , you know , large like this , you could make it in a pot , no problems at all .

All right .

So I'm gonna go ahead and get my induction burner turned on and the pan starting to heat .

So I'm using a nonstick pan .

But like I said , you can use a pot .

You could use a stainless steel pan , you could use a cast iron pan , whatever you have , just make sure it can hold all the ingredients .

Now , the , the um depth won't make a difference .

So if you wanted to make it in a pot , you certainly can .

It just might take a little bit longer because we're gonna spread out all the ingredients and they're gonna cook pretty quickly because they're spread out like that and not deep .

All right .

So we have £1 of ground beef and I'm just gonna add that in , this is 80 20 but you could use lean if you wanted to .

No problems whatsoever .

So we're gonna go ahead and uh saute the beef and I'm just gonna break it up into chunks here and you want to get it to about 75% done .

So I'm gonna go for a few minutes and then I'm gonna add in the onions .

And some seasoning .

All right .

So while that starts to brown , let me go over the seasoning blend I'm gonna use for the dry spices .

I have one teaspoon of fine grind sea salt .

A half of a teaspoon of black pepper , half of a teaspoon of garlic powder and a half of a teaspoon of onion powder .

And that's it for the dry spices .

All right .

So I'm gonna go ahead and add those in .

Gets the meat coated with the spices because that'll give tons of flavor and flavor is what we want for sure .

All right .

So we're about 50% done with the ground beef .

I'm gonna add in one Vidalia onion .

Now , you could use whatever onion you have on hand or you can omit it .

No worries there .

But I use the Vidalia and it's diced in about a quarter inch dice .

All right .

So let's let this finish up and we're gonna add in some other ingredients .

So I'm gonna add in one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce that brings a depth of flavor .

So don't skip that .

It's pretty important in the recipe .

Just gives this nice flavor to the dish .

Then I'm gonna add in one can of fire roasted tomatoes with the juice , so they're not drained .

So I'm gonna add those right in .

Those are totally optional .

You don't have to use them if you don't want to .

All right , looks good .

Now , I get the question all the time .

Do you drain your ground beef ?

I don't , I'm using 80 20 .

I leave the fat in there for flavor , but you can absolutely drain it off .

It's not gonna cause any problems in this recipe .

Just don't add in the Worcestershire sauce or the tomatoes till after you cook the meat and then drain the grease off and then keep on going with the recipe .

No problems whatsoever .

All right .

So let's get the , some of the other ingredients and I'm gonna use one tablespoon of Demora sugar .

So this is a coarser sugar .

Um It's tan in color .

It's a little less processed than white sugar .

I love the flavor that it gives .

But you could use a little bit of brown sugar .

You could use a sugar substitute , you could skip the sugar .

What the sugar does is kind of balance the acid out .

So it , to me , it was an important ingredient , but you can certainly omit it if you like .

All right .

So now we've got to get in our macaroni .

So we're gonna add in eight ounces of dry macaroni and stir this around a little bit .

Now we've got to get in some beef stock .

So one thing I'm gonna say about the beef stock is it gives a tremendous flavor .

Absolutely wonderful flavor when you use the beef stock , but it does turn the noodles a little bit darker .

Ok .

So if you don't want that to be the case , use chicken stock or you could even use water .

But really , I would go with chicken stock or beef stock in this recipe .

All right , I've got four cups here , but I'm not gonna add it all in .

I'm gonna add in about three cups to start , turn up my heat because we can bring this up to a boil now and I'm just gonna make sure that the noodles are underneath of the liquid and now we're gonna bring it up to a boil and we're gonna simmer until the macaroni is cooked , which really just takes probably about 10 or 15 minutes .

So you can put the lid on .

Uh So I go back and forth .

Sometimes I leave it on , sometimes I leave it off , but I'm gonna go ahead and put it in , put it on right now and we're just gonna let this come to a boil and simmer until the macaroni is cooked .

We add a few more ingredients and dinner's done .

All right .

So it's been about six minutes and I went ahead and took the lid off about five minutes uh into the cooking process .

So I let it simmer with the lid on and then took the lid off just to get some of the evaporation out .

So , what we're waiting for is for the noodles to cook completely to your liking .

So that can vary .

It will also vary based on the pasta shape that you're gonna use .

That's why I really encourage just to use three cups of the beef broth .

You can even start with two if you wanted it and see how much your noodles are absorbing , then you can add more .

OK ?

Because we don't want this to be real soupy at the end .

Although it would be a great cheeseburger soup .

Oh my gosh .

It would be amazing with extra broth .

And I , I would love that , but we're gonna make it as the cheeseburger hamburger Helper .

So we want a thicker sauce .

Um So as soon as this is all done cooking , then we will add in a few other ingredients that give it the true cheeseburger taste , including some shredded cheese and we'll be ready to serve up our dinner .

Alright .

It's looking good .

The liquid is reducing , the noodles are cooking and I just gave it a nice stir .

You do want to stir this occasionally .

You don't have to babysit it but occasionally stir it and let's talk about the noodles .

I'm using elbow macaroni because that is traditional with a cheeseburger macaroni .

Um but you could use any shape you wanted .

So you could use Reggaeton .

Um I used uh so you could use far if you wanted a little bowties so you can make this however you want .

No worries and no changes to anything .

Just get the pasta cooked how you like it and it's going to be perfect , right ?

It's really , really looking good .

I'm gonna go ahead and taste a noodle .

It's been probably about 12 minutes .

Um , so I'm gonna go and give them a taste .

See if they're done yet .

I think it's gonna need another few minutes , but not too much .

Hm .

I don't know .

They're pretty good .

Hm .

They're pretty good .

So , I think we're good to go now .

So I'm gonna go ahead and reduce the heat just a little bit .

So I was boiling this or simmering this on a medium high heat .

I my functions are a little bit different on this induction burner .

But on your stove , whether it's gas or electric , you would just , you know , bring adjust your temperature so that you have a nice steady simmer and those little and you'll get everything cooked perfectly .

Now , we're gonna reduce the heat down .

We have a little bit of liquid here , but not too much .

So this is gonna work perfectly .

Now for the secret ingredients , one tablespoon of Basam vinegar .

I know it might sound a little strange but oh my gosh , this is perfect in here and I'm gonna tell you why .

And one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar .

Oh my gosh .

And you need both of them .

OK to get this flavor that we want .

And then two tablespoons of just plain old tomato paste and just stir this in .

So what we essentially did here is make our own little ketchup type of thing .

So if you didn't have tomato paste and you didn't have the balal vinegar .

You could use some ketchup , OK ?

Um maybe a quarter cup and that will bring those flavors into the dish uh for your cheeseburger macaroni .

But I like it with the vinegar and the tomato paste because the tomato paste will also help thicken everything up .

Um As well as the cheese , the cheese will help too .

OK .

So just stir this in really well .

And now we're gonna start to add in our cheese .

Now , you want your sauce to be a little bit uh reduced in heat .

So you don't want it boiling when you add in your cheese so that it will start to melt in .

And what I'm using is just two cups of predated Sharp Cheddar .

I recommend Sharp Cheddar in this recipe .

Um just because it really gives that flavor .

But if you weren't a fan , you wanted to , to do a mild cheddar or a combination or you know , if you want it spicy , add in some pepper jack .

So you can get really creative with this and add whatever cheese you want .

Or if you're not a cheese person , you don't want any dairy in here , then just omit that completely .

It's still gonna be absolutely delicious .

You might need to add a touch of salt though because the cheese is gonna bring in the salt flavor .

All right .

So I've got two and a quarter cups here .

OK ?

Of this shredded cheese , I'm gonna put in a full two cups now , but I'm gonna leave a little bit and I'll tell you why .

All right .

So that's maybe a half of a cup , not a quarter cup that I left .

That's perfect .

All right .

So we're gonna get this mixed in here and get everything nicely melted .

If you need to turn up your heat a little bit , you certainly can .

And this is gonna finish thickening everything up .

But if it's too thick , add in a little bit of the beef stock that we have there , I also recommend keeping that little bit of beef stock handy for when you reheat this .

Because if you're gonna have leftovers , which unless you have a really large family , you probably will have leftovers .

Um , this will feed between six and eight people easily .

Um , it's nice to put it into a little pot with a little bit of the beef stock to reheat and it just kind of brings it all together into this .

Like cheesy goodness here of this cheeseburger macaroni .

Look at this .

Isn't this gorgeous ?

So just keep stirring .

This is perfect .

I don't need to add any more beef stock to mine .

I'm just gonna get this .

It's totally mixed in because there's some areas here that need some more cheese .

Look at that .

So we are all done .

So we timed it .

So we're gonna , I'm gonna tell you in just a minute how long it took from pretty much start to finish .

From starting to boil the noodles until now because you could certainly plate right now if you want it .

All right .

So it took 14 minutes from the time the noodles started boiling until now to make dinner .

So honestly , I don't even think that you'd save much time if you did a pressure cooking uh instead of the skillet .

So this is one of those meals that's just so super fast , can be made a ton of ways , but using a skillet and a stove works perfectly .

Um You also can really figure out how the consistency is going , you know , in a pressure cooker , you'd probably go down to two cups of beef stock and you might need to thicken it a little bit more because there's not the evaporation in pressure cooking that there is in using a skillet on the stove .

All right , it looks absolutely perfect .

Now , what I like to do just before serving is just sort of throw the extra cheese on top here and then just sort of mix it in so that I can see the cheese going through the um through the dish .

So it's not all melted .

I just love the way that looks totally optional , totally optional .

So then I just kinda move this around you .

The other thing you could do is put a layer of cheese on top and pop .

If your skillet can go into the oven , just pop the whole thing in the oven .

And you could get like you could put a breading on top , a cheesy breading or anything you want and then bake it in the oven .

That would be delicious too .

All right .

So let's go ahead and serve it up and the reason why I didn't use the rest of this cheese because I would ordinarily , but I'm gonna take a picture of this and I wanna make sure that uh I have some of the cheese unmelted going through it for the picture .

All right .

So let's , oh my gosh , this is like so amazingly good .

And um I was just blown away .

I told Jeff was , this is like one of the best things ever .

So here we go .

A bowl of cheeseburger macaroni .

Hm .

It literally tastes like you're eating a cheeseburger and a really good one .

Mm mm .

Mm .

Mm .

Absolutely perfect .

The textures of everything are perfect .

The flavors are perfect .

Oh , you're gonna love this one .

I can't wait for you to try it and let me know in the comments how it turns out for you .