Creamy Beef & Shells

Hamburger Helper Copycat Recipe

I grew up a vegetarian but at the age of 13 my mother gave me the option to eat meat so I chose to do so. Since I’d grown up most of my life eating vegetarian dishes and fish, I often cooked “Tuna Helper”. They had a few different choices that I would make for family dinner.

Now that I had the opportunity to eat meat I expanded my box food library (don’t judge me I was young) to “Hamburger Helper” dishes. Imagine my surprise when I found this Creamy Beef and Shells dish on Pinterest that reminded me of the good ole’ days. It’s soooo delicious and takes me back to my early 20’s. Oh and the best part is it’s easy to make!

The Tweak!

I tweaked this recipe by adding two types of shredded cheese (Sargento Extra-Sharp Cheddar & Sargento 4-Cheese Mexican) to the pot while cooking. I also add seasoned Panko bread crumbs to the top then put it in the oven for 10 minutes to add crunch.

To convert this recipe to a vegetarian dish, I’ve used meatless crumbles in place of the ground beef. My family loves and eats both versions.

Give it a shot! Take a picture and tag @cookcraftandsass on Instagram. Use hashtag #cookcraftandsass to be a part of our online community.