Cheeseburger Pasta

I think everyone can always use another easy to make yet tasty pasta recipe. A few days ago one of my kids told me about a great pasta dish they had discovered so of course I just had to check it out. At the same time the question arose regarding dill pickle relish so I will be making a batch of that later this week. So I was off to explore.

Cheeseburger Pasta

The original family-favourite cheeseburger pasta recipe can be found here. I made a few changes to the recipe. The original recipe used ¾ lb lean ground beef but I used 1 lb. I exchanged the relish and eliminated the salt. I also used Swiss cheese instead of cheddar. Well you get the idea. I basically changed the recipe.

The Cheesburger Pasta dish has a lot of room to tweak to your own tastes. My husband does not like dill so I used a homemade sweet pickle relish that he does like and garnish mine with dill. Think about all the toppings you can have on a burger then go with that. I would recommend keeping the relish, mustard and ketchup proportions the same. Your favourite steak sauce could easily be substituted for the ketchup and I do think garnishing with homemade bacon bites would be nice. The next time I make this I will also add a bit of shredded lettuce as a garnish. Overall this was a lovely dish that can easily be customized to your taste.

Cheeseburger Pasta

2 c penne pasta
1 lb extra lean ground beef
½ medium onion, chopped
2 c diced tomatoes
2 tbsp sweet pickle relish
2 tbsp prepared yellow mustard
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Montreal steak seasoning
¾ c shredded Swiss cheese

Bring about 1 quart of salted water to a boil. Stir in pasta and let cook until al dente. Drain and set aside. In the meantime, brown ground beef and the onions until beef is no longer pink. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer. Stir in the pasta. Remove from heat. Stir in the cheese. Cover and let sit 5 minutes then stir again. Serve as desired. Garnish with fresh tomato wedges, raw onions and a dill pickle slice (if desired).