Cheeseburger Mac Helper
Looking for an elevated Hamburger Helper, recipe this is the one. This is a grown-up mash up of a hamburger and mac n cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped-divided
- 1 1/2 tbsp plus 1-1/2 cups water-divided
- 1 tsp salt-divided
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 cups elbow macaroni
- 1 cup milk-I used almond
- 2 cups American cheese cubed-divided
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded-divided
- 1/2 cup dill pickle chopped plus extra for garnish
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- 2 Tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 Tbsp Worcestrshire
Instructions
- 1. In a bowl add 1-1/2 tablespoon of water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper and baking soda stir until dissolved. Add ground beef and mix well. let stand for 15 minutes.
- 2. Heat a 12" broiler safe skillet over medium heat and add most of chopped onion and cook for about 5 minutes. I like my onions really soft. Saving some raw onion for your garnish. Remove the cooked onion from the pan then add your beef to the same pan breaking it up until browned about 8 minutes.
- 3. Next add macaroni (I used large elbows), milk, and 1 1/2 cups water and bring to a simmer. Cover reduce heat to medium low and cook until al dente about 5 minutes. Stirring halfway through cooking.
- 4. Stir in cooked onion, 1-1/2 cups cubed American cheese, 1-1/2 cups cheddar, pickles, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire and rest of the salt into the macaroni. Until fully combined and cheese is melted about 2 minutes.
- 5. Take pan off the heat and sprinkle with the rest of the American and cheddar cheese over the top of the macaroni. Broil about 2 minutes until browned.
- Let cool for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with extra chopped onion and pickles. Serve.
Notes
I made this recipe earlier in the day and then put it in the fridge until I was ready to serve for dinner. After removing from the fridge I reheated it up just a little bit and then started at step 8.
We did have leftovers and it reheats well.