An easy and delicious Creamy Beef Pasta recipe. This hearty comfort food is loaded with marinara sauce, cream, spinach and mushrooms. Tender beef in savory cream sauce that comes together in under 30 minutes. Family-approved and weeknight cozy!
Love Easy Pasta Dinners with Beef? Try Creamy Meatballs and Pasta and Beef Ramen Stir Fry next.
Ditch packaged pasta meals, boxed beef dishes as well as hamburger helpers in favor of this quick and hearty homemade beef and shells recipe! Replace them with this easy and very flexible recipe along with our amazing Ricotta Stuffed Shells.
Ingredients for Creamy Beef Pasta
- Pasta shells. I highly recommend using medium pasta shells as they add the perfect texture and nuance to creamy beef and shells dish.
- Ground beef. I used lean ground beef in order to avoid too much saturated fat. If you buy regular ground beef, you can always drain the fat after cooking it. Just keep in mind that by draining cooking fat, you will also be getting rid of lots of juiciness.
- Seasonings. You will need salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. That's it! I used Sicilian seasoning in my recipe.
- Creamy sauce. The ingredient list for the creamy beef and shells sauce consists of reduced chicken stock, marinara sauce and heavy cream. I bought tomato basil pasta sauce in a glass container and it was amazingly delicious in this recipe.
- Olive oil and butter. I cooked with both olive oil and butter, but you can certainly choose either one of them as well and adjust accordingly.
- Veggies. I love chopped onion and garlic as a base for any sauce and adding spinach and mushrooms made our beef and shells even more tantalizing to our taste buds.
What can I use instead of ground beef?
- Ground turkey is perfect substitute if you are avoiding red meat. You can buy really lean turkey and cook it to perfection!
- Ground chicken is another one of my favorites to make these creamy shells. Just like the turkey, the color of the dish will be lighter than what is pictured but the flavor and texture will remain outstanding.
What can I use instead of Marinara sauce?
- Tomato Basil or Basil Garlic pasta sauce that had additional seasonings and herbs such as basil, oregano, red pepper flakes.
- You can also use spicy Arrabbiata sauce.
Can I use more sauce?
Quantity wise, you can add more depending on your personal preference. You can even double up on the pasta sauce!
Storage instructions
- Refrigerate! Refrigerate creamy past and shells up to 4 days in order to avoid the recipe getting too watery and losing its texture.
- Freeze. Freeze the shells up to 1 month (but do not add heavy cream if preparing for the freezer).
More ground beef pasta recipes and more
- Healthy Ramen Noodles Stir Fry with Beef
- Traditional Mexican Skillet of Beef and Rice
- The Easiest Beef Burrito I've ever made
- Creamy Meatballs and Pasta
Creamy Beef and Shells with Spinach and Mushrooms
Amazing quick night comfort food dinner with beef, cheese and pasta shells!
CLICK on STARS to REVIEW the RECIPE, then CLICK OK
Servings: 4 people
Equipment
- 1 cast iron skillet (12 inch deep skillet or dutch oven)
- 1 saucepan (for cooking pasta)
- 2 spatulas
- 1 knife
- 1 cutting board
Ingredients
- 10 ounces medium pasta shells
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 cup mushrooms sliced
- 1.5 lb ground beef
- ½ cup chicken stock
- 1 cup marinara sauce
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup baby spinach
- 1 cup cheddar cheese
- parsley chopped
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Pasta
- Heat water in a large saucepan, add salt (to your taste), pasta shells and cook al dente, when the shells are softer but not completely soft. Drain and set aside.
Beef Sauce
- Heat olive oil and butter in a large deep skillet over medium-high until butter is melted. Add sliced onions and cook until translucent and slightly brown, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and add garlic with mushrooms and cook for additional 5 minutes. Remove onions, garlic and mushrooms onto a plate in order to cook beef in the same pan.
- Add ground beef and cook, turning the beef and breaking it apart, until no longer pink. Season slightly with salt. Now add chicken stock and cook on semi-high heat in order to reduce the stock by about half.
- Next add heavy cream and marinara sauce next and bring to a gentle boil. Add spinach leaves into the beef marinara sauce and allow them to melt. Return onions, garlic, mushrooms to the pan and mix them well to incorporate into the sauce.
- Add shells and make sure the sauce is bubbling.
- Add shredded Cheddar cheese into the sauce and allow it to melt.
- Serve hot.
Calories: 1042kcal
Nutrition Facts
Creamy Beef and Shells with Spinach and Mushrooms
Amount per Serving
Calories
1042
% Daily Value*
Fat
66
g
102
%
Saturated Fat
28
g
175
%
Trans Fat
2
g
Polyunsaturated Fat
3
g
Monounsaturated Fat
26
g
Cholesterol
191
mg
64
%
Sodium
675
mg
29
%
Potassium
1037
mg
30
%
Carbohydrates
62
g
21
%
Fiber
4
g
17
%
Sugar
7
g
8
%
Protein
49
g
98
%
Vitamin A
1778
IU
36
%
Vitamin C
9
mg
11
%
Calcium
293
mg
29
%
Iron
5
mg
28
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Tried this recipe? I would love to see your creation!Let me know on Instagram @whatsinthepanblog
Kassandra says
This recipe was so delicious! We really enjoyed it for dinner tonight. I love spinach, mushrooms, pasta and beef and I Googled the Internet to find a recipe with it all. Thanks for putting this out on the Internet!
Olya says
Thank you Kassandra! great review and very kind of you!
Sandee says
When do you add the noodles? And what else would you add to make it a bit spicier?
Olya says
Sandee - you will add them after mushrooms and spinach, but before cheese. I updated the instructions - thank you.
Kris says
I didn't change much of the recipe except I used sundried tomato marinara, added some chili flakes for some heat, and added more fresh basil. Yum! 😋
Olya says
Thank you Kris!!!
Maureen says
What can I put in instead of mushrooms?
Olya says
You can use sun-dried tomatoes
Arum says
I added a bit more spices and kept everything the same. Came out great!
Amanda says
We used mozzarella instead of cheddar. It came out delicious!
Olya says
As someone who loves both, I approve!
Lily says
Looks yummy. However, your recipe states "Remove the garlic onion & mushroom"
prior to cooking the meat. It didnt say when to put it back or should it be just on the side like a side dish. What about the parsley?
Olya says
I just updated the instructions - garlic onion and mushrooms go back in to the sauce towards the very end.