Cheeseburger Pasta Casserole: A Flavorful Night In
When you’re craving the best parts of a melty cheeseburger and bowl of tender pasta for a simple night in, you can’t go wrong with this deliciously melty cheeseburger pasta casserole! You can toss it together with a few ingredients you probably already have in the pantry and is ready in no time.
Toss It In A Pot and Get Cookin’
There’s almost no prep needed for this recipe, just dice an onion and boil some pasta to throw in the pot later. Then it’s as simple as cooking the onion and browning the beef in a Dutch oven along with a few seasonings and some broth.
The tomato paste and ketchup pack a lot of tanginess into this that almost make this feel like a meaty pasta sauce, which would be delicious anyway, but the secret to making this a cheeseburger casserole is in the addition of your favorite hamburger seasoning. That combination of savory and smoky flavors goes a long way towards reminding us of warmer weather and grilling out, even if you’re making this on a chilly night at home.
After the cooked pasta gets mixed in, another stand out addition for me personally is a little bit of plain cream cheese added in with the chicken broth. It’s a small ingredient that makes the pot super smooth and creamy and cuts some of the tanginess from the tomato and lets the other ingredients shine a bit. It punches way above its weight and is a crucial ingredient in making this so complex and delicious.
Who Doesn’t Love Melty Cheese?
But no cheeseburger, and certainly no pasta casserole, is complete without plenty, and I mean PLENTY, of melty cheese. It’s combination of shredded cheddar and Monterey jack mixed into the pot, and as always, if you want really melty cheese, freshly shredded is always best. Pre-shredded cheese is great for convenience, and if you’re making this to feed hungry family, especially kids, I wouldn’t begrudge you for the convenience, but freshly shredded is the way to go.
When everything has melted and simmered together, it can be tempting to just dive into the pot now and dig in, and you could! But if you want a casserole, you have one more step left and it’s laying it out in a casserole dish, topping it with more shredded cheese, and giving it a quick bake. Everything in the pot is now cooked and ready to go, it just needs to go in long enough for the cheese on top to get nice and melty, I like to let it go a little longer so it also get just a little bit crispy too, it’s as satisfying as it is tasty.
How About I Take A Slice???
When the cheese is melty, pop it out of the oven, top it with some parsley, and dig in. This takes no time to prepare but provides a ton of flavor and makes for a filling meal that will satisfy the whole family. This recipe is awesome for busy nights when you get home and need to prepare a delicious dinner that makes enough for some tasty leftovers too.
Let us know what you think of this recipe! What’d you do differently to make it even better? We’d love to hear it, and we’d love it even more if you enjoyed this recipe with hungry friends and family and checked out some of our other awesome Halal recipes.
