Philly Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper will make you forget all about the boxed type you had as a kid, you’ll love this creamy, cheesy cheesesteak pasta.
Philly Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper, it wasn’t a recipe I had planned on posting so soon. In fact, looking at my calendared posts, it was meant to go up in August for back to school meals.
Then this happened. This being Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes.
On June 12th, eight days ago, I posted those Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes because they are one of our favorite new quick dinners based on a grilled cheese sandwich we love and it has caught on like wildfire. In the post I mentioned how you can turn the sloppy joes mixture into a hamburger helper meal as a second option. 
The emails! I got over 20 emails this week asking me for more details about that recipe, so, without further ado I moved up the post to today.
So, some things to know about this Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper recipe:
- If you want something more tomato-ey you can add additional ketchup or 2 tablespoons tomato paste.
- If you don’t like bell peppers or mushrooms you can leave them out, just double up on the onions.
- Any shape pasta will work, I like the elbow shape for nostalgia and because they can hold a lot of sauce.
- If you want a saucier pasta, add an additional cup of beef broth and cornstarch.
- I keep the beef chunkier and brown it well because it makes the flavor and texture more like a “steak” and less like taco meat.
Looking for more Cheese Steak recipes? Look no further!
- Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
- Ground Philly Cheesesteak Grilled Cheese
- Slow Cooker Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches
- Philly Cheese Steak Burgers
- Pat’s Philly Cheese Steak (Copycat)
- Cheesesteak Egg Rolls
- Chicken Madness Philly Sub Sandwich
Tools Used in the making of these Philly Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper:
Cast Iron Skillet: This is my most used pan in my kitchen, heavy, keeps heat well and gives the BEST sear ever.
Chef’s Knife: This knife is one of the three most used tools in my kitchen (tongs and my pig tail flipper are the other two). I love it, I’ve had it for almost 10 years and it is as sharp today as the day I got it. (left column, second from the top). Mind you I love it this much even though I have a ridiculously expense knife set as well.
Worcestershire Sauce: Do not leave this out or sub it for anything else, this is a main flavor component and this brand is my absolute go-to.
Ingredients
- 1 pound large elbow macaroni
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 small green bell pepper diced
- 8 ounces brown mushrooms minced
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 cups beef broth
- 8 ounces Provolone Cheese Slices chopped
- 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Cook the large elbow macaroni according to the directions on the bag and drain (do not rinse).
- Add the ground beef to a large cast iron skillet (this browns very well) and brown until a deep brown crust appears before breaking the beef apart.
- Stir the ground beef and brown until a deep crust appears on about 50 or so percent of the beef.
- Remove the beef (you can leave the fat) and add the butter and the onions and bell peppers and mushrooms.
- Let brown for 1-2 minutes before stirring, then let brown for another 1-2 minutes before stirring again.
- Add the beef back into the pan.
- In a small cup mix the beef broth and cornstarch together
- Add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper, beef broth/cornstarch mixture into the pan.
- Cook until the mixture is only slightly liquidy (about 75% of the mixture is above liquid), 3-5 minutes.
- Add the pasta back to the pan and mix together gently.
- Turn off the heat, add in the provolone cheese.
- Top with mozzarella cheese before serving.
Nutrition
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Hey Sabrina:
Can this dish be prepared ahead and then reheated in an oven. If yes, what temp and for how long would you reheat? This sounds delicious!!
Yes! I would recommend covering the dish with foil and baking at 350 degrees for 8 – 20 minutes or until you see the liquids bubbling whichever comes first! Every oven is so different so watch your dish to make sure it doesn’t over bake and get dry. You can also freeze this pasta for a later date. I’d skip adding the cheese when you defrost it, use a cup of chicken or beef stock. Then once warmed through add the cheese, mix and serve. Let us now how it turned out! Enjoy!
Made this tonight with steak instead of hamburger and OMG everyone loved it even my picky eaters.
Great recipe just made it for supper. Was a hit.
Tastes delicious. I changed it up a bit by changing cheese(cheddar and Parmesan is what I had on hand)but was delicious. Will make again
5 star for sure! We so loved the Philly cheese steak sloppy joes that I had to try this. Three big eaters plus myself for dinner and not a drop left over. I had to substitute for Provolone with what cheese I had and still, it was extremely good. I will cut back on pasta next time for just the two of us. Thank you again for another great recipe!
It’s the same or similar recipe for your Philly sloppy Joes – we prefer the bun instead of the pasta – 1 pound of pasta was too much! I’m glad to find your website and have made several recipes with great raves! Thank you!
This is an excellent recipe. Our 6 year old triplets had seconds and I got to sneak in vegetables. Be careful though, Add ingredients slowly. 16 oz. of pasta is too much for 2 cups of broth as well as 8 oz. of mozzarella cheese. A great, great recipe tweaked to your liking.
This recipe instantly became a family favorite!
?? we love Philly Cheesesteaks. But shock of shocks! “It is disgusting!” said my husband!! Which means it was good ??
Made the recipe as is, but will add more worchestire sauce, a little more S/P and 1/2 the amount of noodles. This made a lot – so I will share with my single friends!!
Made this tonight…my husband and I both had seconds. ??
??????????
Very good! I upped the broth and cornstarch by a half (using 3 C broth and 1.5 T cornstarch) and I’m glad I did. The noodles totally soaked up all that liquid! Very tasty! I did have to simmer it longer than recipe stated, maybe almost twice as long. And I had to dump it all into the noodle pot since my cast iron was not big enough to accommodate the noodles.
Made this tonight and it was a big hit. I would probably cook in a deeper pot next time
Made this last night mostly exactly as recipe called for and the family loved it! I had to simmer it twice as long as the instructions state. I used my own homemade large macaroni pasta and that put it over the top, according the hubby. Between me and my three boys, there was nothing left.
I enjoyed it. Maybe could use a little more seasoning. Maybe double the ketcup and Worcestershire sauce. Not sure. I used less than a pound of noodles. A pound dry was about 2 cups and I couldn’t use them all. I’d try 1 1/2 to 1/34 cup dry macaroni noodles. Hubby hasn’t tried it yet. I made it for our lunches at work for next week. If I don’t cook meals for either leftovers or just for lunch, we end up eating out most of the week.
Awesome recipe, loved it, but I would use a little less pasta next time.
This was a home run last night! So easy to make and plenty left for work lunch today.
We used rotini noodles and I mixed the mozzarella into the pasta before I placed my pan (with provolone on top) under the broiler for 5 min to get the provolone bubbly and slightly browned.
Sounds amazing!
I love this! However, after combining all the ingredients at the end, I decided to create a casserole. I put half the mixture in a greased casserole dish, added a layer of 6 slices of provolone, added the remaining half of pasta mixture, and finally added 6 more slices of provolone to the top. I baked it in the oven covered because I was afraid it would dry out, but it would have been better to bake uncovered for about 20-30 minutes. Thanks for the great idea!
Sounds delicious!
Made this tonight fir dinner. After one bite, my husband said “this is a keeper”!! Since I was making it for two, I cut everything in half. Could have made even less noodles. I didn’t have provolone but I did have havarti cheese. So I substituted that. Also, instead of the mozzarella I used an Italian blend. It tasted delicious! So happy I found this recipe and you! Thanks very much!!
Yay!! So glad you both enjoyed it, Josephine!
HOMERUN! Thank you! My boys loved it and so did I. I made it exactly as directed but made 2 adjustments. I used flour instead of cornstarch and I added crumbled seasoned croutons to the mozzarella cheese and baked it just long enough to brown the topping. Beautiful and yummy!
Awesome, Angie!! Thanks for the 5 stars!
Delicious, fast & easy! Chopped provolone rolled & melted into beef/pasta so nicely a little at a time.
Just made it for first time in the afternoon to re-heat tonight for kids. Taste test was great!!!
Love it!! Thanks for the 5 stars, Kevin!
Good but half the noodles!!
Could you use the Steakum steaks for this recipe?
I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure but if you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
Oh this is going to be tonight’s dinner! Have Egg Noodles so that’s going in for Elbow Pasta. Right now don’t have the Cremin Mushrooms (sad cause we like Mushrooms). So this is gonna be good either way! Thank You Ever So Much!!
Definitely need more meat than one pound! For me, it was basically all noodles.
We love it. One of his favorite foods is a Philly cheesesteak so I had to try it.
For people reading the comments before they make it (which everyone should do with online recipes!), the key to making this recipe truly taste like a cheesesteak is to follow the instructions exactly – caramelize but do not overcook the veggies, and darkly brown the ground beef. It is delicious as written, which is good for stretching a pound of meat a long way. When I wasn’t trying to stretch so far, it was better (for company) using 1.5 lb. of beef, and twice as much peppers and onions, with 1.5X the sauce and a bit more cheese.
I also have put it together in two different casserole dishes ahead of time and baked in the oven with the cheese on top (the other casserole I froze, uncooked, for future dinner). It works great!! Thank you for a delicious recipe.
I’m so glad you all love it! Thanks for all the feedback!
very tasty! we didn’t have enough provolone, so I subbed in 4 ounces of smoked gouda-wow, what a game changer! the smokey flavor was a perfect compliment to the recipe.
That sounds amazing!
Just made this!!!! Cannot wait for hubby to try it!! I already have and it is yummy!
Yay!! So glad you love it Tanja!
Love this but modified to please my Philly cheese steak guy. I followed the recipe the first time, using ground beef but my husband wanted steak! Since then, I watch for steak on sale, which can we cheaper than ground beef. To thinly slice the steak, freeze the steak and partially thaw, befor slicing. Also reduced the provolone to 4 ounces because (gasp), it was too cheesy.
Haha, love it!!
Very tasty, but we DIDN’T make it into a sandwich, since the buns would increase the carbs & the calories in this dish. I served it in bowls (as we ate it many years ago), and I also made a large green salad, with green beans on the side. I gotta say that the “Cheesesteak Hamburger Helper” was exceptionally tasty, and I’ll definitely make it again.
Perfect way to customize it to your liking! Thanks for letting me know how much you enjoyed it!
This one wasn’t intended to be a sandwich!
That would be her “Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes”.
So… you served it as it was intended!!!
Holy moly. Amazing. I used half of the pasta because we are trying to cut back on carbs and this may need to be my new go to Mac dish! Yummmmm
Oh and I forgot to rate it FIVE STARS!!
Awesome!! So glad you all enjoyed it!
Very good recipe –
Can this recipe be done in a pressure cooker?
I’ve never tried it so I’m not comfortable giving recommendations but I’m sure you can find an online recipe with similar ingredients that might be helpful. Sorry.
I made this for dinner, and it is the ultimate comfort food! I’ve been looking forward to coming home to the leftovers every night 😀
I used a LOT of substitutions as I had no patience to shop (soy sauce & ketchup blend instead of Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock instead of beef stock, Monterey Jack-style cheese instead of provolone and mozzarella) but it turned out amazingly delicious — highly recommended. I also didn’t use cornstarch, and it seemed the starch of the un-rinsed pasta took on this role, as the dish was not watery at all.
Now I’m onto your next Hamburger Helper-style recipe 😀
I love that you were able to just use what you had on hand!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Just made this! It has an amazing flavor but I can’t figure out where I went wrong. I added only 6oz of provolone and man this stuff was incredibly cheesy! I didn’t even add the mozzarella. Not a bad thing, cheese is always good but it did not look similar to your picture and I think the cheese overpowered the delicious flavor of the “sauce.” I also felt like 1lb of pasta was a bit much in comparison to the amount of meat/sauce so I only added about 3/4th of that. Any idea where I went wrong?
It is a cheesy dish so if you’re looking to cut back to your tastes, I would recommend halving the amount of provolone and mozzarella.
Yummy don’t have provolone cheese used cheddard and mozzarella. Will make again.
So glad you enjoyed it! All cheese is good cheese, haha.
All I can say is wow. Everybody loved it even my dog.
I did have elbow pasta so I used penne and couldn’t find Provolone at my neighborhood supermarket so I used smoked Asiago I had. The smokiness in the cheese added another dimension to an already great dish.
I soooo gonna do it again..and again… and again..
Thanks for sharing
Hady
Smoked Asiago does sounds fantastic! Thank you so much for the 5 stars. I’m so happy everyone loved it!
We enjoyed this a lot! I added 93/7 ground chicken (what we had) and light swiss cheese instead of provolone. Unless you are feeding little kids, there is no way this makes 8 servings. I served with salad and garlic bread and only got 4 decent sized portions. The 14 yr old was looking for more to eat after an hour or so.
The serving size is based on the pasta packaging recommendations but it’s really subjective. I know my husband eats more than his fair share as well 🙂 Glad you all really enjoyed it!
What do you mean by brown mushrooms?
If you’re referring to the ingredient list, I just mean to use brown mushrooms (cremini) for this recipe and not white mushrooms. Hope this answers your question.
I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this recipe was and more importantly how delightful it tasted. My teenage told me to make sure I add this to the rotation of meals that I make. It even freezes well too.
So glad everyone enjoyed it! It can be hard at times to please everyone at dinnertime, especially teenagers, so I take it as a huge compliment when the whole family loves it!
Hi I am thinking of making this tonight but I have no cheese on hand. Do you think it will turn out ok ? Also I only have a bag of frozen peppers and onions that I will use.
So sorry I missed this comment until today. You can definitely make this without having cheese and using frozen peppers/onion. I would just suggest adding a bit of cornstarch/water mixture (slurry) to thicken it.
This looks amazing. Can any of this be prepared ahead of time, besides besides dicing the vegetables? And the mushrooms, I minced mushrooms and got 8 ozs. Or should I mince all 8 ozs which will probably be about two cups. Will mozzarella work instead of provolone? That is what I have on hand.
You could make everything ahead of time up until the point of adding the slurry (beef broth/cornstarch). After that point, it really all comes together quite quickly and you’ll still get the stretchy cheesy goodness. Feel free to substitute or limit the vegetables or cheese that fits your needs. It will change the flavor up a bit, but would still be fantastic!
Have not made it yet, plan to this weekend. Quick question, the wife has a tomato allergy so the ketchup is a no go. Any ideas for a decent substitute for this or should I just leave it out all together?
Just leave it out altogether. 🙂
Love how you made this philly cheesesteak style!
Thank you! It just works so well 🙂
So creamy and and so cheesy! And we are talking about pasta! 🙂 Can’t say no to it!
Thanks Catalina! Never say no to pasta!!
When my kids were little, they used to love when I made hamburger helper for dinner. I appreciate this homemade version. I’m excited to try it.
It gives such a nostalgic feeling but oh, so much better!
My boys would love this!! Definitely a must try for us!
Definitely! I’m sure it will be kid approved!
My mouth is watering! Any substitutes for the beef broth? I live abroad where beef broth & bouillon are scarce. Thank you!
My suggestion would be to use a french onion consommé. You could use chicken stock, though I would add a bit more Worcestershire sauce. I hope you enjoy!!
This is the epitome of comfort food!
Isn’t it the best?!
I love meals like this one. They remind me of my childhood and are pure comfort!
It’s so funny how it just brings it all right back!!
Love this! I’ve been thinking about trying to make my own hamburger helper meal lately! Pinned and sharing.
Thanks for the pin!
you will love it. whole lot better than boxed.. can’t go that
Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes? Oh my gawsh yes
I know, right?!