We took an out of the box classic, made a gluten-free and dairy-free hamburger helper version. Why? Because I was in need of some ultimate comfort food, to be honest.

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Has anyone else been making comfort food lately?

As a kid, I grew up on the classic hamburger helper right out of the box. It reminds me of my childhood. Hamburger helper and kraft macaroni & cheese were probably one of the first things I learned how to cook for myself. Not the healthiest of meals, but it was a start.

In my 20’s, it was my comfort the next morning and brought me back to life after drinking way too much the night before. Talk about the breakfast of champions!

At 33 years old, I went gluten-free and dairy-free, and hamburger helper was a thing of the past, until now!

How I came up with the Hamburger Helper recipe

I was looking at my Defined Dish cookbook, which is fantastic, and you should defiantly buy it. So many tasty recipes in there! But she has a recipe for “one-pot hamburger helper,” I was instantly intrigued. I need to make something like this NOW!

I got to thinking and craving some hamburger helper! So I got to cooking, inspired by the Defined Dish version, and made a spin-off of that recipe but dairy-free. I added a few different ingredients to suit what flavors I liked and what I currently had in my pantry.

Cleaned-up comfort foods

I wanted to have this gluten-free, dairy-free hamburger helper be a hearty dish, to say the least, loaded with ground beef, onions, garlic, and seasoning. It’s super creamy from the coconut milk and has that dairy-free cheesiness from the nutritional yeast.

At first bite, I looked at my husband and said “next time I’m hungover, I’m totally making this!”.

To be honest, I don’t often drink, hangovers, and I three year old don’t go well together (I don’t wish that upon anyone), and I’m such an old lady, in bed at 8:30 pm is a perfect night to me. What I’m saying it will be a while until I’m in a hungover state, but man, this shit is good.

This Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Hamburger Helper dish teleported me to my childhood

I felt like I was eating crap food, but it was cleaned up comfort food. Granted, I’m not claiming that this recipe is “healthy” just because it’s gluten-free and dairy-free. This recipe is rich, it’s delicious, and there is defiantly a time and a place for feel-good food like this.

Serve this dish with our Chopped Salad recipe and complete the meal!

Print Recipe

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Hamburger Helper

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: dairy free, gluten free, one-pot meals

Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

• 1 ½ pounds ground beef
• 1 medium onion small dice
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups beef broth I used bonafide provisions
• 2 cans of coconut milk I used 365 organic coconut milk from Whole Foods
• 16 oz organic brown rice shells I used the Thrive Market brand that I get online but Jovial is a good storebought brand too
• ½ cup of nutritional yeast for the cheese dairy-free flavor
• Optional garnish with fresh thyme or parsley

Instructions

• In a large high sided deep skillet or stockpot, cook the ground beef on medium heat breaking up the meat with your spoon.
• After a few minutes, add the onion, garlic, salt, pepper, paprika and cook until the beef is cooked through and lightly browned. About 10 minutes.
• Add the tomato paste and combine it with the beef mixture.
• Pour in the broth, coconut milk, pasta bring to a boil then simmer, stirring often until the sauce is thickened and that pasta is cooked through 10 to 13 minutes.
• Sprinkle nutritional yeast, season with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!

What to do with hamburger helper leftovers?

I say this recipe serves about six people. I have a family of three, but when I cook, I always want some leftovers, save time guys.

My son is also gluten and dairy-free, too, and doesn’t want to feel left out at the lunch table when all the kids are eating mac n’ cheese. I have to pack his lunch for daycare. So with the extra food I had, I tossed little portions of this in small glass containers and set them in the freezer. Then all I need to do for lunch is pack a frozen hamburger helper container add some broccoli, and then his lunch is complete.

And this recipe it’s nut-free, so I don’t need to worry about any other kiddos with nut allergies—a total win right there for kids.

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Hamburger Helper in the freezer

I actually might make this recipe for my son’s birthday party, covering all the allergies with children. It’s gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free and egg-free!

LET US KNOW IN THE COMMENTS IF YOU ENJOYED THIS RECIPE! AND TAG #FEDANDFULL.