Ground Beef Orzo with Tomato Cream Sauce

• servings: 4 servings
• active time: 10 minutes
• total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 medium onion (chopped)

3-4 cloves garlic (minced)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 cup uncooked orzo pasta

1 (14 fluid ounce) can tomato sauce

3/4 cup beef broth

1 cup heavy/whipping cream

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 cups (packed) fresh baby spinach

Salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions

Add the ground beef to a soup pot/Dutch oven and break it up a little bit with your spoon. Let it cook, without stirring, over medium-high heat for 5-6 minutes.

Add the onion to the pot and stir/break the beef up into small pieces. Let it cook for another 5 minutes or so. If there's a lot of excess fat (like if you didn't use lean beef), spoon some of it out. Otherwise, leave it in the pot.

Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and orzo. Cook for about a minute.

Stir in the tomato sauce, beef broth, cream, and Worcestershire sauce. Once it starts to bubble, continue cooking for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring fairly often (so the orzo doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot). You will likely need to turn the heat down a bit (to medium or even medium-low). It should gently bubble vs. boil (you don't want the liquid to reduce too much before the pasta has cooked).

Take the pot off the heat, stir in the parmesan and spinach, and cover the pot for about 3-5 minutes or until it has thickened up to your liking. Season with salt & pepper as needed and serve immediately. See more troubleshooting tips in the blog post and notes below.

Nutrition

• Calories: 595 kcal
• Total Fat: 32 g
• Saturated Fat: 19 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 12 g
• Trans Fat: 1 g
• Cholesterol: 163 mg
• Sodium: 1010 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 39 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3 g
• Total Sugars: 6 g
• Protein: 38 g