Ground Beef Alfredo Pasta (One Pan)

In just 30 minutes, you can have a delicious Alfredo pasta with ground beef on the dinner table, with only one dish to clean. You only need a handful of ingredients, such as ground beef, precooked elbow macaroni, Italian seasoning, heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, and a few other pantry items.

I’ve been making this budget-friendly recipe for years, and it’s perfect for those picky eaters and busy nights.

 

Prep Time	Cook Time	Servings	Prep Level
5 minutes	25 minutes	6	Beginner +

Julie’s Ingredient Notes

• Pasta Noodles – Precooked macaroni keeps this a one-pan meal because you stir it right into the sauce at the end. I like macaroni because it’s small and holds onto the creamy sauce in every little curve, but penne, rotini, or shells also work. You can cook your own noodles at home, but if you do, boil them just until al dente and drain them. It keeps cooking once it hits the hot sauce, and pasta that started out soft turns to mush.
• Ground beef – You can use ground beef, turkey, pork sausage, or chicken for this recipe.
• Parmesan cheese – I use the inexpensive cheese that you find in the pasta aisle, but you can also dress it up a bit with freshly shredded Parmesan.

I love to serve this recipe with either frozen garlic bread or some cheesy homemade Mozzarella bread because it goes so well with pasta.

Step-By-Step Instructions

You only need one large skillet for this recipe because the ground beef, sauce, and noodles all come together right in the same pan.

Start by adding the ground beef to a large skillet. Then, add the Italian seasonings, salt, pepper, minced garlic, and minced onion, and cook on low to medium heat until browned. Be sure to drain the grease when it’s brown.

Add the butter and cream cheese to the skillet and cook until melted. Adding the cream cheese before any liquid is crucial; if you add it after, it won’t melt well, and you’ll end up with lumps.

Bring the beef and cream cheese mixture to a gentle simmer over medium heat. You’ll see some small bubbles, but not a rolling boil. Low and slow heat is what keeps the Alfredo sauce from curdling. A hard boil breaks the cream cheese and turns it grainy, and it separates the butter out so the sauce looks greasy. If it starts to look grainy, pull the pan off the heat and whisk hard for a few seconds, then put it back on low.

Keep stirring and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes. You will see it come together and coat the back of your spoon. That’s when you know it’s ready for the pasta. If the liquid is still too thin, let the whole thing sit on low heat for another minute or two after the pasta goes in. The pasta will absorb some of the sauce, and it’ll thicken right up.

Add the pasta and Parmesan cheese and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the pasta is heated through.