This recipe went around at work, and I had to try it in a Dutch Oven. Turns out, this is pretty easy to make when you’re camping. You have meat, some wet ingredients, some dry seasoning, and pasta. Oh, and cheese, do not forget the cheese!
Depending on how much you want to speed this up for camping, you can brown the meat at home and then freeze it, or just do this all at your campsite. You will not need to heat your oven from the top, only from the bottom. You may just need to take a few coals out from under it after your meal starts to boil.
There are some optional veggies, depending on your own personal taste. This is similar to what you might get out of a box of hamburger helper. But you won’t have all the salt and the preservatives of a box mix, and you can change it up. This might also be good with some chili powder and cumin! If you try that, let me know in the comments.
The cooking instructions only have you heating this from the bottom of your oven. You may need it a little hotter to get it to boil, and then remove a few coals. I would probably start with enough coals to cover the whole bottom, then take 1/3 of them away after it starts to boil. Leave the lid off when cooking, and put it on when you melt the cheese at the end. Enjoy!
Homemade Dutch Oven Hamburger Helper
Equipment
- Dutch Oven
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground hamburger, turkey, or chicken If using beef, a leaner ground beef will work better. Otherwise you may want to remove some of the grease after browning the meat.
- ½ medium onion, diced
- ½ tsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp Lowry's brand seasoned salt
- 1 ½ cup milk Use low fat if you want to keep it healthy
- 1 ½ cup beef broth A 14.5-ounce can is a little over 1 1/2 cups but close enough. I used just a little less milk to compensate, but I don't think it's necessary.
- 2 ½ cup uncooked macaroni
- 1 ½ cup pasta sauce or tomato sauce of your choice
- 1 ½ cup shredded cheese Use low-fat cheese to keep it healthy. I used a Colby Jack mixture.
Optional Ingredients
- ½ red pepper, diced
- 1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
Instructions
- Add the meat, onion, garlic, seasonings, and any of your optional ingredients to your dutch oven, and cook over a medium heat to brown the meat.
- Add the milk, broth, macaroni, and tomato sauce to the dutch oven, and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce the heat, and cook for 12-15 minutes with the lid removed from your dutch oven, or until you reach the desired texture.
- Remove your Dutch Oven from the heat, and stir in the cheese. Put the lid on and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.