Macaroni Casserole

This Macaroni Casserole is an easy dinner recipe that is comfort food at its best! Simple, delicious and done in under an hour!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 40

Total Time 1

Servings

Calories 496kcal

Preheat the oven to 400F degrees.
In a large oversized frying pan over medium heat, cook ½ cup diced onion with 1 Tablespoon olive oil until onions are translucent.
Add 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoons minced garlic, ½ teaspoon black pepper and ¼ teaspoon salt. Stir to mix.
Add1 pound ground beef to the frying pan and cook and crumble until browned (thoroughly cooked). Drain any excess grease.
While ground beef is cooking, cook 2 1/3 cups dry elbow macaroni in a large pot of boiling water for 5-7 minutes (until al dente). Do not overcook the macaroni or it will become too soft to hold its shape in the casserole. Strain cooked macaroni and set aside.
Add 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes and 1 cup beef broth to the cooked ground beef mixture. Stir well to mix. Cook over medium heat until it reaches a light simmer.
Add cooked macaroni to ground beef mixture and stir well to mix.
Add 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese to the ground beef mixture and stir well to mix.
Pour mixture into the 9x13-inch baking dish.
Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese over top.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove aluminum foil and let it bake for an additional 10 minutes until bubbly around the edges.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley or dried parsley then serve!

You can use any smaller pasta in this recipe.
If you use a lan ground beef (90%) you won't have any excess grease to drain after it cooks.
Easily cut this in half to serve a smaller family.
Other meats such as ground turkey, chicken and sausage can be used.
This can be frozen, see my tips above on how you can do that.