Cheese and Hamburger Macaroni Recipe

My step son begs for hamburger helper and we don't buy a lot of processed food.... So I made this with whole wheat noodles and "homemade velveeta" ( 8 oz American cheese, 4 oz cheddar and 1 1/2 cups milk), and he LOVED it! We had leftovers and ate it the next day, and it tasted even better!

I'd rather dirty a skillet and my pasta pot and get it in half the time. Cook your pasta while you are browning your meat and seasonings. Drain the cooked pasta then add it to the meat mixture. I'm not a fan of Velveeta, so I used Asadero and cheddar (about half/half in portion). I did not add minced onion, I used french onion dip instead of sour cream at the end. Easy and quick.

I made it exactly as written, tasted, and had to do some tweaking. After 10 minutes, the macaroni had started to stick to the pan. II’ll start checking on doneness at 7 minutes if I make again. I added quite a bit of chicken broth to improve consistency and threw in a handful of frozen peas and carrots to give it a pop of color. Definitely needs another 2-3 ounces ground beef, as well as more seasoning. I added more garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper and put some sriracha on the table. After the cheese was melted, it was “gummy,” so more chicken broth and sour cream, and a garnish of some parsley. I’ve never had Hamburger Helper, so I don’t know if this recipe measures up. As written, I’d give this 3 stars, but with tweaking, it ended up 5 stars, so a 4 star rating from me. I know I made changes, but they were necessary to salvage the dinner. It really is an easy recipe, and I like the one-pot cleanup. Finally, this is 5-6 servings for us, not 4, and it is a budget-friendly comfort food meal. Apologies for the long review, but bottom line, I think it’s worth your effort to adapt to your personal taste, if necessary.

I like this recipe because it's versatile and hard to break. I made a lot of changes to fit what I like and what I had on hand. I used a pound of ground beef to start. I ended up with about 1 1/2 cups of minced sweet onion so threw it all in. I like the idea of cooking the macaroni with the sauteed onion and ground beef and seasonings because the pasta absorbs more flavor that way. I used 2 teas. dry chicken bouillon, a generous few shakes of garlic salt, McCormick Steak seasoning which has various herbs, salt and pepper. When the pasta was cooked I threw in a handful of chopped fresh parsley and 8 ounces of grated sharp cheddar cheese. I don't ever have Velveeta on hand. I forgot the sour cream and it turned out wonderful anyway. I will make again soon!

This is the best hamburger mac recipe I have found so far! I reduced the velveeta to 6 oz, added some milk (about 1/4 cup) and cheddar cheese (1 handful), and I added a dash of paprika and a dash of oregano. My picky son (and pickier husband) loved it!

I liked the idea of this recipe because I'm supposed to be gluten free. We like Hamburger Helper occasionally and this was perfect as I could use gluten free mac. I did adjust a bit just for our personal taste/cooking style. I always precook my burger when I buy it and freeze it. So, I sauteed the onions in butter, garlic and onion powder. Then I added my thawed burger and water. After the noodles were done, it looked a little dry to me, so I added about a 1/4 C milk. I added about 4 TBLS of sour cream, just because we like it, some shredded mild cheddar and another 2 oz of Velveeta (it wasn't creamy enough) We loved it! Great, easy comfort food! Would be great with crumbled bacon and/or mushrooms too!

5 stars in my book when my whole family will happily eat a meal together. (Three littles). I doubled it and used two boxes of deluxe shells and cheese instead of velveeta, along with four cups of water. So good and so fast!!

It was delicious but I made several changes. I don’t use velveeta. I made a cheese sauce from 1 cup cheddar cheese, some Cojack and whipping cream.

More beef and use real cheese rather than cheese food. Use the whole onion and omit onion and garlic powder. I would add more sour cream to the mix.

I made it w 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese not Velveeta cheese…I also added bacon bits and shake of chili powder … I also added 2 tbsp cream cheese in place of the sour cream..and a shake of parmesan cheese.

i was looking for a homemade hamburger helper and came across this recipe. i used it as a start because i did make some changes but my family loved it. I used 1 lb of ground organic turkey, 2 tsp of both garlic and onion powder, one qtr onion, 1cup milk and 1cup water and about 2.5 cups rotini since i did not have elbows. i also omitted sour cream since i did not have. i used mozzarella but not a full 8 oz. it was really good and a great alternate to the box. will def make again and would prob add a veggi like broccoli.

It was very good but I added more cheese and cream cheese alittle not alot did not have sour cream ! But very good !

Was not a fan.

I’m making this every week 😍

Perfectly balanced and satisfying.

This is an easy and delicious meal to make. I added 2 cans of chili. So yummy!

Followed directions but not a fan of Velveeta. Might try again with cheddar cheese.

Haven't made it yet. Wondering if it can be made then put in the freezer?

Tastes like it took hours, but it didn’t.

Made it today, 8-21-24. Followed the recipe to a T and it was very tasty. Much better than Hamburger helper! I came across it looking for ways to use up Velveeta cheese.