Oh yes, my friends. It’s all here. Cheeseburger. Pasta. One Pot. 30 minutes. What’s not to love?! This is a super easy but lip-smackingly good dinner (and the kids will love you forever for this one). You know I love a one pan recipe (I’ve even written a book full of them!), and seeing as my one pan pastas like Fajita Pasta and Peri Peri Pasta have gone down so well, along with the hit that is my Big Mac Tacos recipe, I fancied trying out a hybrid of the two. That’s where Cheeseburger Pasta comes in. Oh yes. Mince beef recipes are always a bit of a saviour during the week thanks to their versatility, low cost and high flavour, so I’ve always got my thinking cap on as to how we can use this trusty cut differently so we don’t get bored (check out this page for more inspiration).
Why you’ll love this Cheeseburger Pasta recipe
⭐️ Tastes like a treat but healthier than a takeaway ⭐️ Easy one pot with simple ingredients ⭐️ All ready in about 30 minutes And I should know because it’s been tested enough times! In the first testing phase we used tinned tomatoes, as most of my other one pan pastas have this base. However, we felt the beef should be the main flavour here. So for the next version, we tried without tomatoes but it was a little bland, so we decided to UP the hamburger flavours in other ways… so we stepped up the ketchup, mustard, paprika and Worcestershire sauce! It worked a dream. Finally, we added pickles, because what is a burger without a gherkin, I ask you?! (Obviously these are optional and you can leave out if you’re a hater.) I hope you love this as much as we do!
Cheeseburger Pasta Ingredients
Oil – Sunflower or olive oil, not extra virgin olive oil though as it will burn Beef mince – I use 5% fat but use whichever one you usually buy to your own taste or budget Onion – Fresh or frozen is fine Garlic – Fresh or frozen, jarred or paste is OK Green peppers Beef stock Ketchup Mustard – The yellow American kind Paprika Worcester sauce – You could also use Henderson’s Relish instead Pasta – Any kind of dry pasta is fine Chopped pickles – AKA gherkins (drained) Cream cheese Red Leicester
Substitutions
Peppers – You could swap the green peppers in this recipe for another veg of your choice if you prefer. Mustard – If you don’t have any American mustard and you can substitute it for Dijon. I’d recommend using around half of the recommended quantity if you do. Pickles – Leave the gherkins out if you really hate them but they do add that burger essence! Cheese – I use Red Leicester to get the similar colour to ‘burger cheese’, but you can use any other kind of cheese too.
If you don’t serve this as soon as it’s cooked, you’ll find that the sauce absorbs into the pasta and there’s not a lot left. It won’t affect the taste, you may just want to add a splash more stock when you warm it through. Can you freeze Cheeseburger Pasta? I’m not a big fan of freezing pasta as it can go quite mushy when defrosted and reheated. All that said, there’s nothing wrong with freezing for lunch if you have leftovers, it’s just not quite as good as fresh or reheated from the fridge. If you like very ‘wet’ saucy pasta, go ahead and add it all at the start. Also I’d LOVE to see your cooking creations. If you’d like to share yours with me, you can tag me on Instagram (@tamingtwins).
