The 20-Minute, One-Pan Pasta That Starts With Ground Beef, Marinara, And Cream Cheese

Given the fact that there are countless recipes that start with a box of pasta, you want the final recipe you choose to be easy to prepare, quick, and tasty. Especially if you don't want to spend the evening looking for a jumble of specialty products at the grocery store, you need to follow a recipe that requires just a few essential ingredients. Fortunately, you only need four staple foods to make a warm and hearty Italian-inspired meal in 20 minutes flat. Sure enough, for a simple, crowd-pleasing dinner, all you need is ground beef, a jar of marinara sauce, cream cheese, and a box of your favorite short-cut pasta.

While recipes like cottage cheese lasagna taste delicious, they're often a labor of love and include multiple ingredients and steps in the cooking process. However, for recipes like this simplified one-pan pasta, all you need to do is cook one pound of ground beef, and then add your preferred amount of marinara sauce along with an 8-ounce block of cream cheese right to the pan. Once the cream cheese melts and blends with your sauce and meat over low to medium heat, simply add a cup of noodles to your sauce and cook until al dente. As the pasta cooks, the tomato sauce will become richer and more concentrated. Even though this creamy and delicious dish only calls for four main ingredients, you can upgrade the flavor and texture of this noteworthy one-pan meal with just a few more flavorful additions.

A simple way to enhance the flavor of this basic meal is to season your ground beef with a blend of dried Italian spices like basil, oregano, and garlic powder, before adding your preferred jar of sauce and block of cream cheese. Better yet, add a small amount of olive oil to the pan and sauté some chopped onion and minced garlic with your beef as it cooks. These simple aromatic ingredients are sure to give your resulting sauce a homemade taste you'll enjoy.

Keep in mind, if you want to add more than one cup of noodles to the mix, feel free to upgrade your tomato sauce with some beef broth for added moisture. This prevents your sauce from becoming too thick from the starch released by your pasta. Adjust the final consistency of your sauce with a small amount of tomato paste or additional beef broth if necessary. Add more savory appeal to your pasta by adding some shredded mozzarella cheese to the top and popping the whole pan under your broiler for five extra minutes before serving. You can also change the underlying flavor of this dish by using different sauces and seasonings. For example, cowboy spaghetti is a creamy, cheesy twist on classic pasta that incorporates seasoned butter, sauteed veggies like onion and bell pepper, and bold seasonings like chili powder and smoked paprika.