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Rachael Ray has nothing on my mother. As far as this family is concerned, my mom invented healthful, delicious comfort food that one can cook in 30 minutes or less.
This hamburger and macaroni dish is one of my mother’s recipes that has been served in our house at least once a month for the last 45 years. We even have a special name for it—HMO (Hamburger Macaroni Onions). I’ve also heard it called “goulash” or “American chop suey” or “Hamburger Noodle Casserole.”
My father gets a song in his voice when he announces that we’re having HMO for dinner. You make brown the meat and make the sauce while the water is coming to a boil and the macaroni is cooking. So it takes less than half an hour to make. So easy!
Hamburger and Macaroni Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked macaroni (use rice pasta or gluten-free pasta for gluten-free version)
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, chopped (or mixed chopped green onion greens and yellow onion)
- 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
- Pinch chili pepper flakes
- 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 large can (28 oz) of diced tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Method
1 Start cooking the pasta: Get a large pot of salted hot water (1 tablespoon of salt for 2 quarts of water) heating and begin cooking the macaroni as per the directions on the macaroni package.
2 Brown the beef and onions: While the water is heating and macaroni cooking, prepare the sauce. In a skillet, brown the ground beef in a tablespoon of olive oil on high heat. Stir only infrequently so that the ground beef has an opportunity to brown.
When the beef has mostly browned, add the onions to the pan and toss to combine. Cook until the onions are soft, about 4-6 minutes.
3 Add seasonings, tomatoes: Add the celery seed, a dash of crushed red pepper and seasoned salt. Pour in canned tomatoes, add the Worcestershire sauce and stir to combine. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4 Add cooked pasta: Reserve a half cup of the pasta cooking water. Mix in the drained and cooked macaroni and the parsley. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add in some of the pasta water if the dish is too dry.
Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste.
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Links:
Rhode Island 'Chop Suey,' from The Perfect Pantry
Creamy Taco Mac, from Annie's Eats
Cheeseburger Mac, from Ezra Poundcake
Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Hamburger and Macaroni
This is so good, and I don’t hear any complaints when I make this for supper (which is really saying something as I have 3 kids under 5!) I did make 2 changes because of said picky eaters: I subbed in tomato sauce for the diced tomatoes and omitted the parsley. Also, I don’t have seasoning salt so I just used regular salt. Additionally, I threw the skillet into a 350 oven with some cheese on the top for about 15 minutes. Just the best kind of comforting home-cooked meal!
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Can you please, pretty pretty please, suggest how much salt and pepper to use. “to taste” doesn’t help, and it seems that a few people are finding this recipe bland. I don’t know what “to taste” is, some guidance would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi David, I would start with a half teaspoon of salt and an eight of a teaspoon of pepper and increase from there. Everybody’s preference and tolerance to salt is different, which why I often deliberately under-salt to my taste and instruct to increase the amount to taste. In the case of this dish from my mother, she sprinkles with salt as she goes along, and she tastes as she goes along, which truly is the best way to do it. Also, it’s important to properly salt the pasta cooking water – a full tablespoon of salt for every 2 quarts of water.
Simple and flavorful for weeknights. My guys are it all. Another Simply Recipes hit.
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Great Stacey! I’m so glad you liked it.
This was amazing! Topped with cheese and sour cream. Make it again, please!
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My Mom made this when we were growing up. She called it American Chop Suey! She always used spaghetti noodles & no cheese! Delish!
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