Who doesn’t look forward to getting home after a long day and cooking dinner? Actually, I’d wager that for most people the thought of having to cook dinner is the last thing they want to do when they’d much rather just skip to the part where they can relax and eat. We all need those kinds of nights sometimes, and luckily we have just the thing, because this Halal Hamburger Helper copycat recipe is here to Hamburger Help-You spend less time in the kitchen, and more time enjoying a delicious cheesy pasta dinner for you and the whole family!
If you’ve been around long enough and seen some of our other recipes, then you know that here at the Midamar kitchen we love simple but effective recipes that respect your time and effort, and provide delicious meals that anyone can make and enjoy. With how good this recipe is, you'd think we worked tirelessly in the lab, day and night to make this the ultimate in quick and easy home cooking, with limited preparation, all done in one pot, that cooks in no time so you can get to enjoying the meal and still feel good in knowing you got to stretch your legs in the kitchen making something homemade.
Getting into this recipe, beyond dicing an onion and shredding your cheese, there’s precious little else required to get cooking. And for the best results, as always, it’s best to shred your own cheese rather than using pre-shredded, to get that perfect gooey meltiness that makes these recipes so satisfyingly delicious. After the prep, a large pot is all you need to get cooking. The first step is adding the Halal ground beef and onion to the pot and cooking the ground beef thoroughly, then that’s already most of the cooking done, look at you go! We used 93% lean ground beef for this, and it turned out great. Because broth and milk are added to this recipe, the beef doesn’t need the drippings of less lean ground beef to stay juicy, so this is also a perfect chance to reward yourself with beef that’s also a little healthier for you. When you have the option to be both Halal and healthy, then Halalthy is the way to go!
After the beef is cooked, it’s mostly a matter of adding everything else in this recipe to the pot, except the pasta and cheese, and mixing it all together and bringing it to a simmer. Once it is simmering and the pasta is added, all you need to do is let it keep simmering and stir occasionally, until the pasta is nice and tender and absorbs most but not all the liquid in the pot. That little bit of liquid left over will help the cheese melt into a perfectly gooey and smooth cheese sauce that mixes perfectly over everything else, so no bite is lacking in great flavor.
And great flavor is what this recipe delivers, and in no time flat because it’s already done! The pasta is tender and coated in a smooth and creamy sauce that takes the best flavors of the broth, milk, tomato sauce, and cheese to make a perfectly rich flavor combination in every bite, and with the lean ground beef mixed throughout, what’s not to love? This recipe does it all and is perfect for when you’ve had a busy day and want something quick and delicious. That’s it for this simple little recipe, try it for yourself and let us know what you think or what you did differently to make it even better. While you’re at it, share it with someone that would enjoy it with you, because this recipe makes plenty to keep you coming back for seconds and thirds. With that, we hope you come back next week for a new recipe and enjoy this one until then.