This skillet macaroni and beef recipe is packed with flavor! An easy weeknight meal, it is made with tomato sauce, ground beef, green pepper and onion.
When searching through our family recipes I stumbled onto this macaroni and beef recipe that brought back memories of my mom cooking on her electric skillet. Like macaroni casserole, The flavors were immediately in my brain and I knew I had to make it right away for my family. My boys love anything with tomato sauce – seriously. Anything.
And while I don’t own an electric skillet, our cast iron did just the trick, as well as our regular ol’ cooking pan. Nothing fancy in the kitchen utensils department is needed to make this simple and hearty weeknight meal. It reminds me of my stovetop meatballs recipe.
How To Make Macaroni and Beef
Like my favorite stuffed peppers recipe, this recipe is full of simple ingredients that you most likely already have on hand. To make this recipe you will need:
- ground beef
- onion
- green pepper
- elbow macaroni
- tomato sauce
- water
- Worcestershire sauce (the key ingredient!)
- pepper
How To Cook Macaroni and Beef
Step 1 – Fully Cook the Ground Beef, Onion and Green Pepper
Brown the ground beef, onion and green pepper together in a large skillet. Anything that starts out with onion in the pan always turns out amazing. Am I right?
The best part about making this recipe is that the elbow macaroni cooks in the recipe soaking up all those flavors as it bubbles away. I think it’s one of the reasons I love this recipe so much and why it packs so much deliciousness.
Step 2 – Add all the remaining ingredients into the skillet and simmer.
Mix it well and cover to simmer for approximately 25 minutes or until the macaroni is tender. Don’t be afraid to take a bit to test – yum! You will want to stir it occasionally and make sure your skillet is simmering gently and not too hot, so as to avoid burning.
What results is a hearty meal of goodness that, as anticipated, was a huge hit with my boys! I hope you enjoy this timeless macaroni and beef recipe with tomato sauce as much as we did!
Other Easy Weeknight Meal Recipes
Recipe For Macaroni and Beef
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Skillet Macaroni and Beef Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 green pepper diced
- 2 Cups elbow macaroni
- 2 Cups tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 Cups water
- 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Brown beef with onion and green pepper. Drain fat once fully cooked.
- Add uncooked macaroni and remaining ingredients to the ground beef mixture. Mix well.
- Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until the macaroni is tender. Stir occasionally.
- Serve immediately and enjoy.
This is my go to skillet, I finish it with a covering of cheese and about 20 min in a hot oven.
So glad you enjoyed it! Cheese makes everything even better!
never again will I cook the macaroni separately! another pot to wash AND I always seemed to overcook it and by the time it was all together, the mac would be in shreds! THANK YOU. Way better than Mom’s “goulash.”
Versatile and forgiving recipe too. I used a 28oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, a couple tsp of beef bouillon, a fresh tomato, some clamato juice, some red bell pepper. a jalapeño, red pepper flakes, garam Masala, cloves, bay leaf, anise and half tsp sugar. lol. pretty much what I had on hand.
now I have a great recipe to rely only. Thanks again!
Thanks so much for your comment! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I added 2 Tab diced tomato and green Chile’s instead of green peppers. Added a little kick. I thought this might be bland but I really enjoyed it. Hubby went back for seconds!
My parents also made this when I was a child. Going to give it a try tonight but substituting the water with beef broth and adding a dash of Crushed Red Pepper for a little kick!
I remember my mom making this as a child. The recipe had been on a match book cover, I think advertising Hunts sauce. Loved it. Mmm
I love the simplicity and versatility of this recipe. My whole family loves it. I’ve made it several times. Sometimes I make it exactly as stated in the recipe and other times I improvise due to what I have on hand. Tonight I made it with eggplant and no bell pepper. I only had one small can of tomato sauce so I added fresh tomatoes and some tomato paste. Added a little extra macaroni because I didn’t want it to go unused. Came out great. Thank you!
Awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!!
My mom use to make this recipe for us when we were little, I’m assuming she got this recipe from her mom. It’s easy to make and taste great!! I haven’t made this in a very long time so tonight it’s whats for dinner. Thanks for sharing this recipe, its one of the recipes I didn’t have in my folder but now I do and it will be a regular meal to go too.
Awesome! I always love it when you can reconnect with great recipes from the past. 🙂