Almost as simple a recipe you can make with ground beef, grated cheese, and premade marinara sauce. So tasty but simple; double the batch and freeze the extra.
Cheesy Beefy Macaroni can be as cheesy or as beefy as you want it. I love this recipe because it was easy to make, perfect to freeze, and yummy to eat. This is one of the freezer meals I made for Aimee and Nate while I was there helping with their new baby- cheesy beefy macaroni. I made a double batch while I was there.
I was talking with a friend recently about our LMLD blog. She expressed her love of looking through the pictures and recipes on the blog but had to confess since she doesn’t really cook she had not made anything yet from the blog. It is kind of like my addiction to pinterest, pinning all the time but rarely making anything I pin. Or my addiction to magazines like Real Simple or Martha Stewart Living, another love of dreamily looking and longing and even tearing page after page out of my favorites. I can’t blame her, I love that she was honest, and I know she really is just like me and perhaps you are too.
Sometimes perhaps our recipes are too complicated, but I don’t believe this cheesy beefy macaroni is. Especially if you use a premade marinara sauce. It is as simple as browning your ground beef, boiling your pasta, grating your cheese, and dumping them all together with marinara sauce. The other wonderful thing is this freezes so well you can make a double batch and save for use on a busy night.
Cheesy Beefy Macaroni
Ingredients
- 1 to 2 lbs ground beef*
- 2 - 15 oz (cans) tomato sauce
- 1 - 16 oz pkg macaroni
- 2 to 3 cups mozzarella (grated)
- 1 cup Parmesan (grated)
- 2 TBS Italian seasonings**
- 1 to 2 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1/2 cup onions (diced)
- 2 to 4 cloves garlic (minced)
Instructions
- Cook your ground beef in a large saucepan until browned throughout
- Along with your beef, saute your onions and garlic until they are golden
- Meanwhile in a large saucepan, bring to boil a quart of water (at least enough to cover your pasta)
- Once the water is boiling add 1 tsp of salt and your pasta, stir to prevent sticking
- Cook according to the directions on your bag/box - drain when finish
- In another medium to large saucepan, pour your tomato sauce and add your spices - Italian seasoning, garlic salt, and onion powder - salt and pepper to taste
- Let your sauce simmer
- In 2 - 8x8 foil pans spread a little seasoned tomato sauce
- Mix your sauce, ground beef, and pasta all together
- Divide your mixture evenly between your 2 pans.
- Spread all over the top 1/2 your cheese on one pan and the other half on the other pan.
- Cover with foil.
- Wrap in foil completely.
- Label and date.
- If you have a ziploc bag large enough place each pan inside their own baggie
- When it comes time to bake; defrost in your fridge, bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes covered, uncover and bake for another 10 minutes
Notes
Enjoy this delicious cheesy beefy pasta!
Missie says
Oh, one more question…
In the 3rd paragraph you said that you use marinara sauce (“Especially if you use a premade marinara sauce. It is as simple as browning your ground beef, boiling your pasta, grating your cheese, and dumping them all together with marinara sauce.”) …BUT marinara sauce is not in the recipe. I’m left wondering, should I use tomato sauce or marinara sauce?
Aimee Berrett says
You should use tomato sauce unless you want to replace the tomato sauce, garlic and herbs with a store bought marinara sauce. Then you would just mix marinara with the noodles and top with cheese.
Missie says
The photo looks as if you added cheddar cheese to the top as well. Does the type of cheese for the topping make muck of a difference?
Aimee Berrett says
Any type of cheese should work fine, you could do a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella! Let me know if you try it!
bblad says
This looks really good! I love easy dinners and anything that involves cheese! 🙂