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American Chop Suey

A warm hearty comfort food of ground beef and pasta
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: American, Chop Suey
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 12 oz. Elbow Macaroni precooked
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter or other Neutral Oil
  • 3/4-1 cup Onion chopped
  • 1.5 lbs Ground Beef
  • 16 oz. Can of Tomato Sauce
  • 1 Red Bell Pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
  • 1/3 cup Water
  • *The original recipe calls for a green bell pepper but I think green pepper takes over the taste in most recipes. I switched it to red, but yellow or orange would work well too.

Instructions

  • Cook 12 oz. of elbow macaroni. Drain and reserve macaroni.
  • Using a large saute pan, heat butter or oil until hot. Add chopped onion. Saute until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
    Sauté onion
  • Add the ground beef to the onion and brown the ground beef.
    Brown ground beef
  • Add the macaroni, tomato sauce, red bell pepper. Mix the Worcestershire sauce in with the water and add to the pan. Stir and cover.
    Add in macaroni, tomato sauce, red bell pepper and Worcestershire sauce
  • Simmer on very low heat for 15-20 minutes. (If necessary add a few more tablespoons of water during cooking)
    Ready to simmer

Modifications

I used my food processor for the onion and cut the red bell pepper by hand . I believe the food processor would work for the bell pepper as well. It really doesn’t have to be all that uniform.
The water doesn’t need to be exact. I often put about 1/3 of a can of water into the tomato sauce cans and then measure the Worcestershire sauce into it with a coffee measure (2 Tablespoons).
I bought a special tool that makes browning the ground beef easier. It did help break it up more easily and evenly. I think the tool could use a little more weight to it so I wouldn’t have to push down as hard, but it seems like it is helpful so I’ll keep it.
Ground Beef Browning Tool
Ground Beef Browning Tool.
The hardest part of this recipe for me is cooking the pasta. The microwave pasta cooker I bought saved the day. It did boil over in the microwave so I added a little more hot water part way through the cooking. I probably overfilled it with pasta. I need to use it a little more to get the hang of it. In the end, it did its job and I didn’t have to think of a way to get a large pot of hot water and pasta from the stove to the sink. I can’t really manage a pasta pot with an insert so this gadget is working for me right now.