This taco pasta skillet is giving us heavy hamburger helper vibes and we are not mad about that. Sometimes I crave that stuff because it’s delicious. I grew up enjoying a good taco packet seasoning or even mac and cheese from a box with the powder cheese packet situation. So we made kind of fancy hamburger helper dish / taco mash up, and topped it all with rich dollops of sour cream. This taco pasta skillet is perfect weeknight meal to look forward to because it’s quick, easy and delicious.
Here are some other baked pasta recipes you will love:
- Creamy Baked Carbonara Mac and Cheese
- Chicken Tetrazzini
- Baked Ziti
- Baked Bucatini with Meatballs
- Baked Turkey and Marscapone Stuffed Shells
- Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Roll ups
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Taco Pasta Skillet
INGREDIENTS
taco seasoning
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoons chile powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
pasta
- 1 corn on cob
- 6 ounces dry cavatappi pasta
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ pound lean ground beef
- 1 small shallot, minced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup shredded Mexican Blend cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
toppings
- 2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- few dollops sour cream
- chopped cilantro, optional
- chopped avocado, optional
- sliced jalapeno, optional
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine all spices in a small bowl and stir together. Set aside.
- Set oven to broil and char corn under broiler on each side for 1 minute. Remove from broiler and slice kernels off cob and set aside (discard cob).
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Fill a large pot with water and place over medium-high heat.
- Once water is boiling, add a handful of salt and pasta and boil until al dente, about 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and drain pasta. Set aside.
- Place an 8” skillet over medium-high heat and add oil.
- Add ground beef and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, breaking up the beef as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add shallot and garlic and continue to saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stir in taco seasoning and stir together. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir tomato sauce into the mixture and reduce heat to medium. Simmer mixture for about 10 minutes adding 2 tablespoons water at a time to mixture, if it begins to get too thick.
- Once ground beef mixture has thickened, fold in cooked pasta and charred corn until evenly distributed.
- Top pasta skillet with shredded cheese and place in oven for 6 to 8 minutes or until cheese has melted.
- Remove from heat and top with diced tomatoes, dollops of sour cream and sliced green onions. Serve.
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How many servings?
This makes about 3 servings
I made this and it was delish. Only thing I did differently was boil the corn slightly to soften it up. Just a personal preference. Thanks for the recipe!
Made this over Christmas week. It was delicious. I used canned corn and corned it in the skillet for a few minutes as corn on the cob is not in season. It turned out great! I also used elbow pasta, the other pasta was sold out when we went to buy it, maybe next time. Can’t wait to make this again!
Oh so glad you enjoyed!
How much is 6grams of pasta?!?!?
It’s 6 ounces, not grams and that a little under 1/2 pound of pasta
Recipe sounds good, but I’ll have to crunch the sodium numbers and make a couple of other tweaks including low-sodium taco seasoning, since no nutritional info given.
A handful of salt? Surely not! Seems a bit much to me…
Yes, i always season my pasta water heavily with salt!
I thought so too. However, try it. It makes less salt needed overall.
Looks great for a quickie weeknight meal. I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve always used the taco seasoning packet. I’m looking forward to mixing my own. (P.S. Thanks for adding ‘discard cob’ – LOL) ;)