One Pot Creamy Beef Pasta

This one pot creamy beef pasta is the perfect no-fuss hearty dinner!

This is one of those dinners that you can always rely on for a simple midweek dinner. It uses a simple selection of ingredients but it’s truly delicious! Follow me…

Minced Beef Pasta

A pack of beef mince (aka ground beef) is always on my weekly shopping list, purely down to how versatile it is! I typically go for 12% for this recipe; just so you get some nice fatty flavour, but without it being too greasy.

I would say this is a nod to a bolognese, but in no way am I even trying to replicate or do a twist on it. I’m already offending the Italians with the recipe, so let’s not push our luck by linking it to a bolognese.

One Pot Pasta

The awesome thing about this recipe is that it’s all cooked in one pot – pasta and all! Not only does this reduce washing up, not only will the pasta then soak in all the gorgeous flavours, but the excess starch also helps the sauce go nice and glossy/creamy.

We’ll start with some onion and garlic, then go in with the beef and fry until browned. I tend to leave a few chunks here and there, just to keep some texture in the pasta. If you crumble it into infinity it kind of gets lost in the sauce.

Process shots: fry onion (photo 1), fry garlic (photo 2), add beef (photo 3), fry (photo 4).

Creamy Beef Shells

The sauce is creamy, tomatoey and beefy. It’s rich and offers such a gorgeous flavour.

Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce

The tomato aspect comes from using tomato passata and tomato puree. I originally gave this recipe a go with chopped tomatoes, but I much prefer the thicker texture that passata offers. The tomato puree (tomato paste in the US) is essential for deepening the flavour.

The creamy aspect of course comes from double/heavy cream. When I originally tested this recipe I stirred it through at the end. After a couple more rounds of testing, I actually settled with stirring the cream through with everything else to cook the pasta. I found the flavours much more homogenous. Just make sure the cream is at room temp so it doesn’t curdle.

What kind of pasta should I use?

I love using shells (aka Conchiglie). As it cooks it captures little bits of beef! In reality though you can use other short-cut types of pasta (penne, fusilli etc).

Process shots: season beef (photo 5), stir in tomato puree (photo 6), add liquids (photo 7), stir in pasta and cook (photo 8).

Serving Creamy Beef Pasta

There should be enough liquid to cook the pasta through, but you can easily just add in more hot water to cook it through if needed.

Funnily enough, I prefer this without parmesan (I know who am I!?). Although you can definitely add it if you fancy. A lot of similar recipes stir through Cheddar, which I’ll leave to your discretion, given I’ve already offended the Italians enough with this recipe already.

Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this creamy beef pasta shall we?!

How to make Creamy Beef Pasta (Full Recipe & Video)

5 from 4 votes

One Pot Creamy Beef Pasta

By: Chris Collins

This one pot creamy beef pasta is the perfect no-fuss hearty dinner!

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

Servings: 4

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Equipment

• Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
• Large Pot & Wooden Spoon
• Jug (for stock)
• Serving Spoon

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

Seasoning Mix

• ▢ 1 tsp Salt
• ▢ 3/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
• ▢ 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• ▢ 1/4 - 1/2 tsp Chilli Flakes
• ▢ 1/4 tsp Dried Thyme

Pasta

• ▢ 1 medium White Onion, finely diced
• ▢ 3 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
• ▢ 500g / 1lb Minced/Ground Beef (12% works great)
• ▢ 2 tbsp Tomato Puree (Tomato Paste in US)
• ▢ 600ml / 2 1/2 cups Beef Stock, warm but not boiling hot
• ▢ 500g / 2 cups Tomato Passata
• ▢ 180ml / 3/4 cup Double/Heavy Cream, at room temp
• ▢ 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• ▢ 300g / 10.5oz uncooked Conchiglie Pasta (see notes)
• ▢ finely diced Fresh Parsley, to serve (optional)
• ▢ Olive Oil, as needed

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Instructions 

• Add a drizzle of oil to a large pot over medium heat and fry the onion until it begins to soften and turn golden. Add the garlic and fry for a minute longer, then add in the beef. Break it up with your wooden spoon until browned.
• Stir in the seasoning mix, then stir in the tomato puree and fry for a minute or so. Stir in the stock, passata (swill out with a splash of water), cream and Worcestershire sauce, then stir in the uncooked pasta.
• Bring to a boil and cook until the sauce has thickened and the pasta is al dente, stirring fairly frequently. If the sauce reduces and thickens up before the pasta is cooked through, just add in a splash of hot water as needed to cook the pasta through.
• Check for seasoning and adjust with salt, pepper and chilli flakes, then serve up with fresh parsley and enjoy!

Video

Notes

a) Beef - 12% gives you a good amount of flavour without turning the pasta too fatty/greasy. If your beef is very fatty you can tip out some before you stir in the seasoning/tomato puree.

b) Pasta - Conchiglie works great because the beef nestles its way into the shell. You can use any other short-cut pasta though!

c) Consistency - The amount of liquid should leave you with perfectly al dente pasta and a thick, but still oozy sauce. Depending on how thick the pasta is, it might need a little more liquid to cook it through. In which case you can add in more stock or water as needed to cook it through. It's better to have not quite enough than too much because you can easily add more in.

d) Serving - Funnily enough I prefer this without parmesan (I know who am I!?). Although you can definitely add it if you fancy. A lot of similar recipes stir through Cheddar, which I'll leave to your discretion, given I've already offended the Italians enough with this recipe already.

e) Calories - Whole recipe divided by 4 assuming 1 tbsp olive oil is used.

Your Private Notes:

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Nutrition

Calories: 768kcal | Carbohydrates: 71.55g | Protein: 31.82g | Fat: 40.63g | Saturated Fat: 18.173g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2.369g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15.788g | Trans Fat: 1.077g | Cholesterol: 146mg | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 1087mg | Fiber: 10.8g | Sugar: 7.32g | Vitamin A: 1456IU | Vitamin C: 13.9mg | Calcium: 83mg | Iron: 4.89mg

Looking for more?

You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’

For another creamy tomato pasta recipe check out my One Pot Spicy Sausage Tortellini and Creamy Tomato Sausage Pasta!

For more similar recipes check out these beauties:

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