One Pot Creamy Tomato Beef Pasta
This is a One Pot Creamy Tomato Beef Pasta cooked with Italian seasonings in a creamy tomato sauce. The epitome of easy homemade comfort food with the convenience of one-pot cooking! I’m quite selective about one-pot pasta recipes. I only use it for saucy pastas, like today’s. It just doesn’t work properly with less saucy pastas, like Puttanesca and pesto pasta, because there’s not enough liquid to cook the pasta evenly. I’ve never heard any complaints. Everybody loves sauce! It’s essentially a variation of Bolognese, with Italian seasonings plus a dash of cream. A total crowd pleaser!
Equipment
- Soup Pot / Dutch Oven (Variety of fun colors)
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 1 lb. beef mince / ground beef
- 2 tsp Italian herbs Note 1
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 14 oz can crushed tomatoes or tomato passata
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes chili flakes, optional
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking salt/kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 cups 1 L chicken stock/broth, low sodium (Note 2)
- 12 oz fusilli penne, elbow macaroni or other short pasta (Note 3)
- 3/4 cups thickened / heavy cream
- SERVING:
- Parmesan cheese finely grated
- Parsley finely chopped, optional
Instructions
- Sauté – Heat the oil on high heat in a large heavy-based pot. Cook garlic and onion for 1 1/2 minutes.
- Cook beef & seasonings – Add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go, until you can no longer see red meat. Add the Italian herbs and cook for 30 seconds, then add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute to cook out the raw flavor.
- All in – Add crushed tomato, chicken stock, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, if using. Stir, then add the pasta.
- Cook 15 min – Bring the liquid to a simmer, then cook for 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes then more frequently towards the end (ensure pasta doesn't stick to base) until the pasta is just about cooked.
- Creamy – Add cream, then simmer for a further 1 to 2 minutes. It will still be quite saucy – this is what you want! Pasta absorbs liquid quickly, so it will still be nice and oozy when you start eating.
- Serve – Remove from the stove. Give it a good stir then ladle into bowls. Serve with parmesan and parsley.
- Recipe Notes:
- Italian Herbs – Just a store-bought mix, very common at grocery stores. If you don’t have any, just use a mix of dried oregano, parsley, basil. Or sub with a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.
- Chicken stock/broth – Tastier than water! I stock up when on sale. Economical alternative – I recommend using Vegeta stock powder (info here – I use it regularly) or Chinese chicken stock powder (Knorr) plus water. I prefer the flavor of these over other Western stock powders.
- Any short pasta will work here, like macaroni, penne, etc., but not tiny ones like risoni/orzo. If using long pasta, easiest to break in half and you can cook about 14oz (a little more than short pasta).
- Leftovers will keep for 3 days in the fridge. Not suitable for freezing.
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