Homemade Beefaroni Recipe

At my husband's request last year, I tried my hand at making Beefaroni from scratch. We typically have a couple cans of the original stuff on hand for late night snacks (he often pulls all-nighters editing photos) and he challenged me to make my own version. I grew up on Beefaroni - actually, I grew up on Macaroni & Beef from Aldi - so I knew exactly what I was aiming for with this recipe. 

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My elevated Beefaroni contains San Marzano tomatoes. If you can find real Certified San Marzano tomatoes at your grocery store, by all means get them. They make such a difference in a homemade sauce. I use Cento brand and have used Alessi, both of which I believe are not actually Certified San Marzano, but they are both still much better than basic tomatoes. Go for whole tomatoes over crushed. They use the most pristine tomatoes in the whole option vs. the leftovers in the crushed.

We'll also use fresh herbs including thyme and basil. I grow mine in my backyard May-October during our frost-free season here in Northeast Ohio, and I dry a ton of it throughout that time to have on-hand throughout the fall and winter. You don't have to grow your own, of course, but you want to get fresh herbs.

Homemade Beefaroni Recipe

Serves 6

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Ingredients:

1 lb. 93% lean ground beef

3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sugar, heaping

1/4 tsp celery seed

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped

leaves from 2 sprigs fresh thyme

1 28 oz can whole San Marzano tomatoes

3 cups elbow noodles

Salt

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Brown ground beef in olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic during the last few minutes of browning. Add sugar, celery seed, and pepper and let cook until sugar begins to melt, about 1 minute, then add chicken stock. Once combined, add tomatoes and break up with wooden spoon. Add 2 tbsp salt (or more or less to taste). Bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

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Add basil and thyme to sauce. Boil noodles in a large pot of salted water until al dente, 5-6 minutes. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water. Add pasta water and cooked noodles to sauce, and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. 

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The Details

Need a little more info? Let's break down the recipe in detail. 

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Pro tip: Buy fresh herbs when they're on sale at the grocery store and dry whatever you don't use yourself. They'll be SO much better than the kind you buy off the shelf. I use stackable wood drying racks I got as a birthday gift last year, but you can also use a cooling rack. If the wire is a tight mesh design like these, place the herbs directly onto it, or line a standard cooling rack with a single layer of paper towels to prevent smaller leaves from falling through.  

Finally, use fresh onion and garlic for this recipe to take it to the next level. I've used dried minced onion and garlic powder in a pinch, but fresh just adds so much more depth of flavor. 

This is almost a one pot meal. By that I mean it's two... it's a two pot meal. But you can't cook your pasta in the sauce, otherwise you'd have a starchy, gluey mess. I promise it's still easy, though!

All you need is a good dutch oven or large pot to cook the sauce in, and another pot to cook your macaroni. I love the look of a $350 Le Creuset enameled cast-iron dutch oven casually sitting on the stove, letting the world know you're rich, but

I am cheap. So cheap. (UPDATE I found one at Burlington for $69 so look out I'm officially one of you rich girls)

So, I settled for a Lodge enameled cast-iron dutch oven at a fraction of the price. Now, I've never used the Le Creuset one to compare it, but I can tell you that my Lodge one is heirloom quality. I went for the Island Spice Red color, and it looks so similar to the classic Cerise Red version by Le Creuset with the vibrant true red that fades down to black at the base. I've never been disappointed with a meal made in it, and I've made everything from soup and chili to fried chicken for copycat Chick-fil-A chicken sandwiches. 

UPDATE Since I'm a Le Creuset owner now, I can officially tell you the difference is pretty much non-existent, I just feel cuter using the expensive one. 

The heavy cast-iron promotes even browning for the meat, and the enameled surface prevents your sauce from sticking and scorching during the simmering process. You can also use a regular stainless steel or non-stick pot, you just want to be sure it, 1. is wide enough to give the beef room to cook and, 2. is large enough to eventually hold the beef, sauce, and macaroni towards the end of cooking.

Fair warning: you will want to eat the entire pot. When I was creating the title for this blog, I Googled if there was a single word for 'can't stop eating.' I found this in an article from Mental Floss: 

1. Shemomedjamo (Georgian)You know when you’re really full, but your meal is just so delicious, you can’t stop eating it? The Georgians feel your pain. This word means, “I accidentally ate the whole thing."

Hi... Shemomedjamo was actually created to describe this recipe. Every time I make it, Sam and I both say we could eat the whole pot. Now you have to try it for yourself!

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The Details

Need a little more info than just the condensed recipe? Let's break down the details.

Step 1: Brown the Beef

I use anywhere from 1-1.25 lbs of ground beef for this recipe. I've used 80% lean ground chuck and 93% lean ground beef, and the result is about the same. The fattier meat doesn't have as nice of a texture in my opinion, but you miss out on some of the flavor from the fat when using a leaner beef. It will still be delicious either way, I would suggest adding an extra tbsp of butter or oil when browning your beef if you go for a leaner cut and want to pump up the flavor.

SALT! One of the best cooking tips I can give you is to salt your food always in all ways. Adding salt only at the end of the recipe will yield an entirely different result from salting each component of the dish as you go. Salt both pulls moisture in and pushes moisture out, so it's constantly marrying flavors. That's why salty Italian food tastes even better as it sits in the fridge overnight; it gets the entire night to sit and marinate itself, constantly developing flavor. 

Put down a tablespoon or so of olive oil and let it heat up over medium-high heat. Add the meat, squishing as much of surface of meat onto the hot pan as possible, then let it sit until it develops a nice brown crust (5-7 minutes). 

If you've ever watched a Food Network show with Anne Burrell, you know brown food tastes good. 

Once you have that brown crust (the meat should lift easily once it's browned, letting you know it's ready to flip), use a fish turner spatula to flip the red part onto the pan to let the other side brown. 

Step 2: Chop Garlic and Onion

Use as much or as little garlic as you like. I love garlic, so I use 3 cloves for the sauce.

Bonus Tip: Chop 2 additional cloves of garlic at the same time and add it to a bowl with 3 tbsp butter and a good pinch of fresh or dried parsley, and then leave it on the counter while you cook to soften the butter to room temperature for garlic bread (recipe below!).

Mix the garlic and onion into the ground beef during the last few minutes of browning. 

If you don't have any fresh onions, feel free substitute a tablespoon of dried onion flakes. Add them when you add the tomatoes in the next step.

Step 3: Build the Sauce 

Add a heaping tablespoon of sugar to your beef mixture along with 1/4 tsp celery seed. Let it all cook together for a minute until the sugar begins to melt, then add a cup of chicken stock and increase the heat to medium.

Add a 28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes with all the juice from the can. Use a wooden spoon to break up the whole tomatoes (just pop them open, they'll break down all the way as they cook). Salt to taste (I use about 2 tbsp). 

Once the sauce begins to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally, then add 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil and the leaves from 2 sprigs of fresh thyme. If you only have dried herbs, add them when you add the tomato paste so they have a chance to rehydrate in the sauce. 

Step 4: Boil the Noodles

Boil 3 cups macaroni noodles in a pot of salted water for 5-6 minutes until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water. The starch that the noodles release into the water as they cook will help to thicken the sauce, and the salted water adds another layer of salt. 

Add the pasta water and cooked noodles into the meat sauce and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Serve with garlic bread. Enjoy!

Bonus: Easy Garlic Bread

Use whatever leftover bread you have for this. I usually use hamburger buns, but hot dog buns or regular sandwich bread work great as well. 

Mix together the 3 tbsp butter and 2 cloves chopped garlic from earlier with 1 tsp or so of fresh parsley (can use 1/2 tsp dried parsley if fresh is unavailable). Spread half a tablespoon of garlic butter mixture on 3 split buns (6 total pieces) or 6 pieces of sandwich bread, then add a generous pinch of shredded mozzarella and/or provolone. Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes.