Do you like Hamburger Helper?
Did you know you can make it yourself at home just as quickly with much cleaner ingredients?
Try this homemade mix for hamburger helper next time instead of grabbing the boxed stuff.
You won’t be disappointed!
Tips for Making Hamburger Helper at Home
The seasoning blend provided in the recipe card below is a bulk size—enough to make a quart jar.
Think of this mix as your base that you can then customize as you like. Some toppings we’ve used and loved include:
- Sliced avocado
- Sour cream
- Fresh Cilantro
- Chopped tomatoes
- Shredded cheese
- Bacon bits
You can even swap the ground beef for shredded chicken. We actually use our dehydrated ground venison!
If you’re interested in seeing how we rehydrate and use ground venison, be sure to check out the video linked below. Enjoy!
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Homemade Hamburger Helper Mix
This DIY hamburger helper mix helps you get dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes.
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 1 Quart Jar of Mix 1x
Ingredients
- 1 cup paprika
- 2/3 cup arrowroot powder (or flour)
- 2/3 cup onion powder
- 2/3 cup garlic powder
- 2/3 cup salt
- 2/3 cup sugar
Instructions
- Mix all seasonings together, and store in a glass jar.
To Make Hamburger Helper
- Brown a pound of ground beef, and drain.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of your homemade mix.
- Add 1 cup water.
- Add 2 cups milk.
- Mix in 1 1/2 cups of elbow macaroni (or pasta of choice).
- Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.
- Place lid on, and cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. Enjoy!
Notes
Use this homemade mix as your base blend for hamburger helper. Add whatever extras you'd like to customize your dish.
- Want a bacon cheeseburger helper? Add bacon bits and shredded cheese.
- Want a taco helper? Add 1/2 tablespoon of taco seasoning with chopped bell peppers, and top with fresh avocado and sour cream.
- Love the ranch helper? Swap ground beef for shredded chicken, and mix a 1/4 cup of ranch dressing into the pasta when done.
As you can see, the possibilities are endless!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Additional Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
This is incredibly helpful as my husband tends to only want hamburger helper for a meal or two, but since he’s the only one eating it, the store-bought version gets wasted. Now he can make a smaller amount instead. Thank you!
I’m so glad it was helpful!
where is the cheese?
Cheese would need to be sprinkled on when serving the meal.
If you wanted to, you could add freeze-dried cheese powder to this mix, but we don’t.
This is amazing! My youngest daughter is highly allergic to dairy and we are constantly looking for packaged food alternatives since we cannot use the store bought packaged foods like hamburger helper because they contain dairy or a dairy derivative that makes her sick too. This allows us to have it hamburger helper and it is safe for her!
A cup of paprika seems to be a lot for one dish. Is that the right amount?
This isn’t for one recipe. This is for a whole pint jar of seasoning.
Then, when you make hamburger helper, you would use 2-3 Tablespoons of the seasoning mix. 🙂