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This 15 Minute Beef and Noodles Skillet recipe is perfect for those busy nights when you need dinner quickly. Ground beef and noodles with a creamy, cheesy sauce.

Featured with this Recipe
15-Minute Beef and Noodles Skillet is a fresher, faster, and cheaper alternative to Hamburger Helper. Actually, Hamburger Helper gives me flashbacks to early days in my marriage when that and a can of green beans was considered a balanced meal. Luckily, I remembered this delicious recipe and it soon took the place of the boxed dinner stuff. This is a recipe that our grandma made when her kids were growing up. She called it “Congooliami” (kon-goo-lee-ah-mee … in case you were wondering the pronunciation). I think she gave it a funny name so her kids would eat it. Really, we can call it whatever we want and our kids would still eat it and love it.
Ingredients in Creamy Ground Beef and Noodles Skillet
- Macaroni Noodles
- Ground Beef
- Onion
- Condensed Tomato Soup
- Cream of Mushroom Soup
- Cheddar Cheese
- Salt and Pepper

Suggestions for Beef and Noodles Skillet
- If you are wary of using canned condensed cream of mushroom soup, try our delicious (and easy!) homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe!
- You can use macaroni, rotini, bowtie, penne, or any kind of pasta for this recipe. You can use whole wheat pasta to make it healthier, or even Gluten Free pasta.
- Sometimes, if we are looking to add more to this Beef and Noodles Skillet, we will stir in corn, peas, a can of diced tomatoes (drained), extra sautéed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, or spinach.
- Many times when we make this, we try to hide in extra veggies, so we add shredded zucchini and carrots to the ground beef mixture. Really, our kids never know there are any added vegetables. We use a lot too. We have used 2-3 of EACH vegetable added in and they don’t ever catch on.

Frequently Asked Questions
They are similar, but beef stroganoff has a sour cream based sauce and is made with beef chunks, not ground beef. This recipe has a tomato based sauce.
You can add a little bit of flour mixed with water to thicken the sauce.
Yes, most “cream of” soups will work as a substitute in this recipe.

Read More:35+ Quick and Easy To Follow Dinner Ideas Your Family Will Surely Love
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If you love this Creamy Ground Beef and Noodles Skillet, then check out some of our other favorite easy dinners using ground beef.
How to Make Creamy Ground Beef and Noodles Skillet

Creamy Ground Beef and Noodles Skillet (15 minute recipe)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 pound macaroni noodles or similar, like Cavatappi or Cellentani
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 10.5 ounces tomato soup condensed , not prepared
- 10.5 ounces cream of mushroom soup condensed, not prepared (see note above for substitutes)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Prepare noodles according to package directions.
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef and onion together until beef is browned and onions are clear.
- Add condensed soups and salt and pepper.
- When noodles are done, drain well and add to skillet.
- Gently stir in cheese and serve!
Notes
-
- If you are wary of using canned condensed cream of mushroom soup, try our delicious (and easy!) homemade Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe!
-
- You can use macaroni, rotini, bowtie, penne, or any kind of pasta for this recipe. You can use whole wheat pasta to make it healthier, or even Gluten Free pasta.
-
- Sometimes, if we are looking to add more to this Beef and Noodles Skillet, we will stir in corn, peas, a can of diced tomatoes (drained), extra sautéed mushrooms, steamed broccoli, cauliflower, or spinach.
-
- Many times when we make this, we try to hide in extra veggies, so we add shredded zucchini and carrots to the ground beef mixture. Really, our kids NEVER know there are any added vegetables. We use a LOT too. We have used 2-3 of EACH vegetable added in and they don’t ever catch on.
- Monterey Jack or Mozzarella cheese can be used in place of, or in combination with, the cheddar cheese.
Si need to try this and use it in my cooking class.
My boyfriend and I really enjoyed this recipe! I added some fresh shredded yellow squash (which I had on hand and wanted to use up) to the ground beef mixture. Plus I added red pepper flakes, oregano, and a bit of garlic powder to add some flavor and it turned out great! Thank you for this recipe!
This was delicious!! My husband is quite a picky eater so I hade to switch up the cream of mushroom with cream of potato. It did seem a bit dry for our taste so I threw in a can of diced tomatoes.
I made this last night. My husband and I loved it. My 8-yr. old. granddaughter didn’t finish it because it had the “brown stuff” in it. She doesn’t like ground hamburger. She did like the rest of the dish, however. She actually picked around the “brown stuff” and ate the other. Kids… I did omit the tomato soup because I didn’t have any AND granddaughter will not eat red sauce. Again…kids… It still turned out well. I will serve it up again! I do want to try it with all the ingredients though. I added mushrooms because we simply love mushrooms.
Very tasty
All I have is cream of celery. I don’t have cream of mushroom. Will that work?
It will definitely change the flavor profile, but it should work consistency-wise.
Could I cook it without the tomato sauce and just use cream of mushroom??
I haven’t tried it that way before so I can’t say, but let us know how it turns out if you do try it!
Quick, easy and delicious!
SO GUD!
Thank you so much for this easy yet oh so yummy recipe! My whole family enjoyed it. The only thing I did was added minced garlic and seasoned the ground beef!. This recipe is a win.
Hi Jacki! So glad you like this dish! Thanks so much for the 5 stars!
Can I use cream of chicken or cream of celery? I’m out of cream of mushroom:(
You can probably use cream of chicken and it will be fine. Hope this helps!
Kids loved it! Super fast to make. I added minced garlic to the ground beef. Thank you for sharing!
Made this last night and it tasted really good! My husband liked it a lot too. I used Monterey Jack cheese.