On days when dinner feels like a chore, I often turn to two things — ground beef and pasta. There are about a million and one ways to combine them but on nights like that my main requirements are that it has to come together in under thirty minutes and in a single pot. In the case of this Easy Beef and Noodles, you need an extra pot to boil the pasta, but it’s delicious enough that I’ll let it slide. This dish checks all the other weeknight boxes — It’s tasty, it’s comforting, it’s uber quick. And the whole family will eat it. To me, it reminds a lot of the Hamburger Helper from my childhood, but you know, better. And from scratch.

In one pot, you’re going to boil your pasta. But in another you’re going to work on the beefy sauce by browning up some ground beef and onions.

Once the beef is cooked through (and you’ve added some garlic and Worcestershire), stir in some flour and let it cook just a minute or so…

… before you add some beef broth and let it simmer until thick.

You can add cream here if you’d like a creamier consistency. I pretty much always do.

And then all that’s left to do is stir those egg noodles in to coat them with sauce.

And that sauce is totally approachable. It’s velvety and savory but basic enough that you could bump things up with some other herbs or seasoning whenever you’d like. It’s all about what works best for you and your family. (But I think a 20 minute dinner works pretty well for everyone.)