Heavenly Cheeseburger Bake

Time :35

Yield :8 servings

Recipe Background

Every time you crave this Heavenly Cheeseburger Bake, it miraculously floats down on a sun-beaming cloud from above! Okay, so maybe that's not 100% true. You do actually have to turn on your oven if you want to taste this dish full of meaty, cheesy, noddle-ly goodness. But after the first bite, you'll be so caught in a trance that you'll forget everything that happened before... and you might actually believe it appeared by divine happenstance. Either way, this tangy, tomatoey Heavenly Cheeseburger Bake is the biggest blessing to have ever landed on your plate (no matter how it got there)!

Ingredients

2 cups water
3 cubes beef bouillon
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion finely diced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic minced
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
2 cups large elbow macaroni dried
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese shredded

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
In a medium, microwave-safe bowl, add the water and the bouillon cubes and microwave on high heat until the cubes dissolve, about 4 minutes. Set it aside.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the ground beef and cook, while crumbling, until it is no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Drain the excess grease.
Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, the salt, the pepper, the minced garlic, the Italian seasoning, the garlic powder, and the chili powder to the beef.
Stir the seasonings into the beef mixture and cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes.
Add the Worcestershire sauce, the tomato paste, and the diced tomatoes with their juices to the beef mixture and stir to combine.
Add the macaroni and the beef bouillon mixture to the beef mixture and stir to combine.
Cover the skillet and simmer the beef mixture over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.
Uncover the skillet and stir the beef mixture.
Cover the skillet and simmer the beef mixture until the pasta is tender and cooked through, about 5 minutes.
Uncover the pasta mixture and stir in the sour cream and the milk.
Pour 1/2 of the pasta mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Sprinkle the pasta mixture with 1/2 of the mozzarella and 1/2 of the cheddar cheese.
Pour the remaining pasta mixture over the cheese and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and the remaining cheddar.
Bake the casserole until the sides are bubbling, about 10 minutes.
Serve.