Before I got into healthy eating, one of my very favorite processed foods was Chef Boyardee beefaroni.Â
No kidding.
And don’t even get me started on Stouffer’s Macaroni and Beef frozen dinner. I just loved that stuff.
Canned or frozen dinners were quick and easy after a long, hard day at work when I was exhausted and way too whipped to even think about cooking a healthy dinner for my single self. What’s really sad is I actually once thought that these dinners were healthy simply because I cooked them myself at home in the microwave!
My oh my, how far we have come, haven’t we?
I haven’t had either of these processed foods for well over 20 years, but I still love that beefaroni recipe mix of pasta and ground beef with tomato sauce. That much hasn’t changed.
As you begin your transition to Real Food, it is very important to be able to create healthy versions of the garbage foods that were once your favorites. This makes your transition much more likely to succeed and stick for the long haul.
Homemade Beefaroni
That’s exactly what I did with my beefaroni habit so that I could satisfy that desire for a mix of flavors I enjoyed but improve the quality of the ingredients, eliminate the additives, anti-nutrients, and very importantly, lose that microwave and induction stove!
While I don’t advocate pasta as a healthfood by any means, an occasional bowl of rice pasta is not a problem if one is healthy and not on the SCD, GAPS or AIP diet. We eat rice or sprouted pasta once or twice a month in our home, generally as rice mac and cheese or this beefaroni recipe dish I share below.
Do your kids like Chef Boyardee canned ravioli or frozen mac and beef? Try this Real Food beefaroni recipe alternative instead and see how they come back for more!
Homemade Beefaroni Recipe
Healthy beefaroni recipe made with sprouted pasta and easy no cook tomato sauce that will get your kids off Chef Boyardee for good. With grain free options!
Ingredients
- 2 cups sprouted pasta
- 1 pound grassfed ground beef
- 1/2 - 1 cup ketchup preferably organic
- onion powder preferably organic
- 2 cloves garlic minced, preferably organic
- 1 cup tomato sauce
Instructions
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Prepare sprouted pasta as directed.
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Drain cooked pasta and stir in 1 cup of homemade tomato sauce. Set aside.
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Cook grassfed ground beef in a large frypan. While cooking sprinkle in a generous amount of onion powder and the 2 minced cloves of garlic.
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When grassfed ground beef is thoroughly browned, remove from heat (do not drain the beef fat, it's good for you!). Stir in the organic ketchup. Mix ground beef/ketchup mixture with the pasta and tomato sauce and serve.
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Be sure to refrigerate any leftovers. Great reheated for quick lunches or a thermos in the lunchbox.
Recipe Notes
Grain Free Option
If you wish to make this dish grain free, I recommend red lentil pasta. I've tried all the various types of grain free pasta, and I feel that this brand of red lentil pasta tastes best and has excellent ingredients with no hidden additives.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
So do you cook the sauce at all? There were no cooiking directions listed in the pizza sauce.
Lisa, I bet Z would love this!
Scrumptious! thank you.
I had NO idea you could soak rice pasta like that. I will have to try it!
I am so confused :/ Why is soaked brown rice pasta better than soaked whole wheat pasta?
We tried this last night and it was really good! It was actually really filling; I ate a few bites and was quickly satisfied. I didn’t have dulse flakes for the homemade tomato sauce so we just went without, and I didn’t use a whole cup of ketchup but 1/2 cup of ketchup + some tomato paste and it was good, not too sticky but not overly mushy. It kind of did look like beefaroni, just a LOT more natural! Thanks!
Hahhaha, I love this 🙂 Thankfully my kids have only had Boyardee at a friends and hated it! But this is similar to the goulash I make at home. Thanks for the instructions to soak the noodles, I will be adding that to my proccess. Is the brown rice pasta the best GF option? What brand is recommended? I have been using the sprouted wheat noodles and those are awesome but only treat ourselves when on sale. I use all tomatoe sauce and diced tomatoes, then add parmesan. Usually add half an onion to hamburger and chopped/ minced up kale or spinach. Sometimes a dallop of sopur cream mixed in too….then it turns into skillet lasagna. Very good 🙂
“As you begin your transition to Real Food, it is very important to be able to create healthy versions of the garbage foods that were once your favorites.” This stuck out to me….especially since I am doing just that..transitioning to REAL food. I am having some trouble with raw milk…lol not a fan of the aftertaste! I just really need my family well fed, It seems like my toddler is malnourished (especially since he is SUPER picky) I need to do whatever I can to fix our gut and our bodies. It’s so difficult when your family makes you feel like your crazy! This is a good way to show REAL healthy foods can taste yummy!
Mmm. I used to like ravioli straight from the can.
Thanks for sharing your recipe. It can be very easily made grain-free and GAPS-friendly by substituting zucchini noodles for the rice pasta. (http://nourishedandnurtured.blogspot.com/2011/06/zucchini-spaghetti-noodles-gaps-legal.html)
We actually prefer the taste of the zucchini noodles to the rice pasta we used to eat anyway. The pasta now seems so bland and flavorless.
I would’ve never thought to soak pasta. I don’t know why. It just would’ve crossed my mind. I’ve just cut pasta completely out of my families diet.