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Beef and Noodles
Ingredients
- 12 ounces egg noodles
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 ½ cups beef broth
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (or ¾ teaspoon table salt)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the egg noodles according to package directions and drain.
- While water is heating, brown hamburger, salt and dried minced onion in a large skillet.
- Sprinkle flour over the beef mixture and stir until flour coats the beef. Cook for 1 minute.
- Pour in beef broth and stir. Stir in thyme and parsley.
- Simmer until gravy thickens, about 5 minutes. If it's thicker than you'd like, add in a bit of pasta water to thin.
- Add egg noodles to gravy and stir to cover. Serve.
Notes
Obligatory Fictional Backstory
My niece called me up one day to ask if she and the “squad” could come over for dinner that weekend. I said sure, why not! I always enjoy seeing her, and the two other girls who make up her “squad” of friends are fun people.
I figured I would make hamburgers – teenagers love hamburgers, I mean who doesn’t? So I defrosted enough beef for burgers for the four of us. Well…
Come to find out, when she said “squad”, she did not mean herself and her two best friends. She, in fact, meant her ENTIRE CHEERLEADING SQUAD. I know cheerleaders are stereotyped to barely eat, but let me tell you, that is not the case. Teeny tiny burgers would not do.
I had to come up with something fast – the girls were on their way, and I couldn’t make my go-to “feed a crowd” meal of ziti and meat sauce because one of them had a tomato allergy.
Scouring my cabinets, I came up with some egg noodles and a carton of beef broth. And thus, Beef and Noodles was born. The girls all loved it and my niece said I was, and I quote, “The coolest Aunt ever!!!!”
Real Talk
Would it shock you to hear that I have never once in my life had Hamburger Helper?
My mom made this for me growing up, and my mother-in-law made it for my husband growing up except she would use leftover pot roast. When hubs tried the ground beef version, he said it was similar to homemade hamburger helper. I wouldn’t know, but try it and let me know what you think in the comments!
This is one of the few things that ALL of my children will eat without complaint (and sometimes even with compliment!). Add to that the fact that it’s so quick to put together, it’s become one of my go-to meals. Especially when I’ve forgotten to defrost meat…which happens more often than I would like to admit.
I buy my ground beef in bulk when it’s on sale and portion it out into 1 pound packages (zipper freezer bags) and stash it in the freezer. Usually I’ll defrost it in the microwave until it’s about halfway thawed, then finish it in the pan if I’ve forgotten to pull it out the night before, but you can also defrost it in a bowl of cold water or directly in the pan.
I just got a new set of Cuisinart pots and pans and I’m super excited to use them to make beef and noodles! They’re heavy duty and super shiny (yes I’m essentially a ferret, I love shiny things). Surprisingly, I’ve found that stainless steel pans are actually easier to get clean than non-stick pans. I only use my non-stick for eggs, anymore. This is the set I got if you’re interested – Treat Yo Self!