One-Pot Cheeseburger Macaroni
- 38 mintotal time
- $2.77£1.93a serving
- 879827calories
- 4547 gprotein
Serves 4; price is an estimate. Dinner Plan is a paid weekly plan for your household and budget. You see your week before you pay.
Beef, onion and short pasta simmered in one pot with milk, ketchup and mustard, then stirred with cheddar.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cups whole milk
- 12 oz dried pasta (penne, rotini or spaghetti), short shapes such as macaroni or penne
- 1¼ cups cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Contains: wheat (gluten), milk, mustard, celery, sulfites. Check the label: egg, soy. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Heat a large, deep frying pan or wide saucepan on medium-high heat. Cook the ground beef and yellow onion for 6–8 minutes, breaking up the meat, until browned and cooked through with no pink left (160°F). Wash your hands after handling the raw meat. Spoon off any excess fat.
- Add the garlic, smoked paprika and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute.
- Pour in the whole milk and 2½ cups (600 ml) of water, crumble in the bouillon cube and add the ketchup and Dijon mustard. Bring to the boil, stir in the pasta and simmer uncovered for 10–12 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't stick, until the pasta is tender and the sauce has thickened. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick before the pasta is cooked.
- Take off the heat, stir in the cheddar until melted and season with salt and black pepper. Leave for 2 minutes to thicken a little before serving.
Leftovers: Fridge 3 days; reheat with a splash of milk until piping hot.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 450 g beef mince (20% fat)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 30 g tomato purée
- 475 ml semi-skimmed milk
- 350 g dried pasta (penne, fusilli or spaghetti), short shapes such as macaroni or penne
- 150 g mature cheddar, grated
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Contains: gluten, milk, mustard, celery, sulphites. Check the label: egg, soya. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Heat a large, deep frying pan or wide saucepan on medium-high heat. Cook the beef mince and onion for 6–8 minutes, breaking up the meat, until browned and cooked through with no pink left (71°C). Wash your hands after handling the raw meat. Spoon off any excess fat.
- Add the garlic, smoked paprika and tomato purée and stir for 1 minute.
- Pour in the semi-skimmed milk and 600 ml of water, crumble in the stock cube and add the tomato ketchup and Dijon mustard. Bring to the boil, stir in the pasta and simmer uncovered for 10–12 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't stick, until the pasta is tender and the sauce has thickened. Add a splash of water if it gets too thick before the pasta is cooked.
- Take off the heat, stir in the cheddar until melted and season with salt and black pepper. Leave for 2 minutes to thicken a little before serving.
Leftovers: Fridge 3 days; reheat with a splash of milk until piping hot.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 879 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 45 g |
| Carbohydrate | 81 g |
| Fat | 41 g |
| Fiber | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1089 mg |
| Calories | 827 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 47 g |
| Carbohydrate | 80 g |
| Fat | 38 g |
| Fibre | 4 g |
| Sodium | 982 mg |
Worked out from the ingredients, 422 g a serving; optional extras and salt to taste aren't counted. US and UK values differ a little because each uses that country's food data and products. US values from USDA FoodData Central.UK values from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it costs
About $2.77 a serving in the US (range $2.12–$3.67) and £1.93 in the UK (range £1.48–£2.55). That's the share of each ingredient this recipe uses; basics like oil, salt and spices aren't counted.
Prices are estimates. Item prices come from public price data where available (US: Bureau of Labor Statistics and USDA; UK: Office for National Statistics). Where that data has no match, we use our own estimate. Ranges set using Open Prices data (Open Food Facts, ODbL). Prices as of October 2026. How we estimate
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