This Homemade Beefaroni Recipe is a nostalgic childhood pasta recipe made with straight-cut macaroni and beef cooked in a seasoned tomato paste and beef stock sauce. A one-pot dinner made in under 30 minutes, our version uses Romano cheese and is served in a can as a nod to the original Chef Boyardee beefaroni recipe.
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Canned foods often get a bad rap. From canned fish to canned vegetables, it’s a popular food format that seems to be rising in popularity again. Growing up my favorite canned food was beefaroni – beef and macaroni pasta in a can, as the name alludes. And while it’s not something I’m proud of based on its ingredients, it’s a super nostalgic childhood recipe as an adult.
A unique dinner recipe that’s kid-friendly too, our homemade beefaroni recipe uses real, pronounceable ingredients, kind of like the original Chef Boyardee version from the 1960s. Made with tomatoes, pasta, beef broth, and Romano cheese, we pulled inspiration from the classic (not today’s canned version).
Our version uses traditional straight-cut macaroni, beef cooked in a tomato paste, and beef stock tomato sauce with mirepoix and grated Romano cheese. The result is even better than the original – hearty, beefy, and creamy. Made in one pot it's an easy pasta recipe perfect for weeknight meals and comfort food that will remind you of your childhood.
Serve this Homemade Beefaroni Recipe with our House Salad, Brussels Sprout Caesar Salad, or our Burrata Caprese Salad.
Ingredient List
- Olive oil: Extra virgin, your favorite brand to cook with.
- Ground beef: Get the best quality ground beef available. Avoid lean or extra lean for the best flavor.
- Onions: One of the main components of mirepoix. Provides key aromatics to the dish.
- Carrots: Another component of mirepoix, plus it adds vegetables without compromising flavor.
- Celery: As with the carrots, the final component of mirepoix adds vegetables to the recipe.
- Garlic: Key flavor builder, use fresh garlic.
- Tomato paste: Provides intense tomato flavor and is extremely cost-effective for making tomato sauces.
- Beef stock: Provides richness and meaty flavor to the sauce.
- Cheese: Use Romano if you’re going for the original beefaroni recipe, otherwise, Parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano) works wonderfully.
- Straight-cut macaroni: May be hard to find, so elbow macaroni or ziti also work.
- Salt: Sea salt or kosher salt.
- Pepper: Freshly ground black pepper.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Recipe Steps: How to Make Homemade Beefaroni
1. Brown the beef.
Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and add the ground beef in small pieces. Cook for 2 minutes to caramelize, then stir and break up the beef into very fine pieces. Season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until browned. Transfer the meat to a bowl and set aside.
2. Cook the mirepoix.
Return the pot to medium-high heat and drizzle with the oil. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and cook, stirring often, until lightly softened then stir in the garlic, season, and cook for a couple more minutes.
3. Cook the tomato paste.
Add the tomato paste and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often until it begins to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. Finish the beefaroni sauce.
Pour in the beef stock and water, and stir to combine.
5. Blend the sauce.
Blend with an immersion blender until completely smooth (it will be very watery). This step is optional but highly recommended to stay true to the beefaroni consistency.
6. Add the beef and noodles.
Bring to a boil, then add the noodles and cooked ground beef, and immediately stir to ensure the noodles don’t stick together. Cook until the noodles are al dente (or as per the package instructions).
7. Add the cheese.
Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve family-style, plated, or out of a can (if you’re going for the true beefaroni vibe).
Chef's Tips
Building flavor: After browning the meat, leave the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. This is called the fawn, which enhances the flavor of the dish. The same applies to the tomato paste; allowing it to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan adds flavor, just be careful not to burn it.
Pot: We prefer to use enameled cast iron pots for cooking sauces, especially when they have meat and vegetables. This allows them to brown and develop fawn with less risk of burning versus a stainless steel pot, which can get hot quickly.
Blending: Using the immersion blender in step 4 is an optional step. We do this for a smooth sauce (like the original beefaroni), but if you don’t have an immersion blender, leaving the vegetables diced will minimally affect the flavor of the sauce.
Reheating: When warming leftover pasta, we add a splash of water or chicken stock to loosen the sauce, which keeps the consistency the same as when freshly made.
Recipe FAQs
Store-bought canned beefaroni tastes like basic processed pasta with meat sauce. Its main flavor is canned condensed tomato soup and processed beef. It’s also slightly sweet with a cheesy undertone. These flavor profiles are mostly due to the processed ingredients and fillers which stray far from the original beefaroni ingredients.
While it is difficult to find the original beefaroni recipe, a throwback version of beefaroni was introduced in limited quantities several years ago which contains real ingredients like olive oil, Romano cheese, garlic, and onion. When developing our recipe for beefaroni, we came across a review of the throwback version which compares the current ingredients of beefaroni to the past.
Yes. To batch-cook our beefaroni recipe, follow steps 1 through 4 exactly as per our recipe. In step 5, stir in the noodles, beef, and Romano cheese, all at the same time. Add 1 cup of cold water, then immediately remove from the heat (this prevents the noodles from cooking too much and getting mushy when reheating). Once cool, divide the beefaroni into freezer-safe containers of your choice and freeze for up to 6 months. When ready to eat, run the container under warm water to loosen it, then heat the beefaroni on the stove.
Other Pasta Recipes to Consider
If you tried this Beefaroni Recipe or any other recipe on our website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Recipe Card
Homemade Beefaroni Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin, divided
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 small carrot diced
- 1 celery stalk diced
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 can tomato paste 5.25 oz
- 1 qt beef stock
- 1 cup water
- 1 lb straight-cut macaroni or ziti
- 1 cup Romano cheese grated
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef in small pieces. Cook for 2 minutes to caramelize, then stir and break up the beef into very fine pieces. Season with ¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until browned, and most of the liquid of the liquid is evaporated. Transfer the meat to a bowl and set aside. Ensure to leave the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Return the pot to medium-high heat and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of oil. Add the onion, carrots, and celery, and cook, stirring often, until lightly softened. Stir in the garlic, ¼ teaspoon of salt and pepper, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often until it begins to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan.
- Pour in the beef stock and water, stir to combine.
- Blend with an immersion blender until completely smooth (it will be very watery).
- Bring to a boil, then add the noodles and cooked ground beef, and immediately stir to ensure the noodles don’t stick together. Cook for 7-8 minutes, or until the noodles are al dente.
- Stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste (we usually add ½ teaspoon of each). Serve family-style, plated, or out of a can (if you’re going for the true beefaroni vibe).
Deena says
I have made this a few times now and it is simply delish! Hubby loves it, kids love it, its a winner!
Philip Lago and Mystique Mattai says
Always glad to hear when a recipe is a hit with the whole family! Thanks for commenting 🙂