How ‘The Bear’ Upgrades Hamburger Helper

Spoilers ahead for “The Bear” Season 4.

Sometimes, even the most skilled chefs in the world need a little helper — of the hamburger variety — in the kitchen.

On June 25, all 10 episodes of “The Bear” Season 4 dropped on Hulu/FX. And, by the time we’ve sat through the trials and tribulations of Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and the rest of the crew, there’s often a dish or two that inspire us to head to our own kitchen to capture some of that chaotic culinary magic.

Like previous seasons’ standout dishes — cola-braised short ribs and French omelettes with Boursin and Ruffles potato chips — this one combines haute cuisine with accessible ingredients.

On Episode 4, “Worms,” Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) prepares a riff on Hamburger Helper, adding a few ingredients to take it to the next level.

That’s why I had to try it.

How to Make Sydney’s Hamburger Helper from ‘The Bear’

While there’s no official recipe for the dish, it’s shopped for and made throughout the episode, so a recap of those scenes can serve as our recipe.

The capsule episode focuses on Sydney who is over at her cousin Chantel’s (Danielle Deadweiller) house getting her braids done — a several hour-to-daylong process. Syd is unwittingly made babysitter to Chantel’s daughter TJ (Arion King), who is hungry.

The fridge and pantry are empty, and Sydney says offhand that she thought the house would at least have Hamburger Helper. TJ balks at the product name.

“What’s that? It sounds nasty,” TJ says.

“You serious?” Sydney replies, and you can see her chef brain activate as they head out to prove TJ wrong about the pantry staple.

They chat about TJ’s friend troubles as they head to a bodega where they get Hamburger Helper’s Cheeseburger Macaroni. After, they go to a grocery store where they pick up ground beef (which is on the back of the box), as well as tomato paste and panko breadcrumbs.

After the pair return to the kitchen, Syd tells a now-curious TJ how she’s changing things.

“I’m about to add some tomato paste to deepen the flavors and make it taste like it didn’t come out of a box,” she says over a pan of browned beef.

“So just like chili then?” TJ asks.

Impressed, Syd says, “Yeah, kinda, actually.”

We see some other additions Syd presumably bought scattered throughout the scene as well: onion, heavy cream, a block of cheese and a bunch of herbs. While we didn’t see her prepare all of these, the creamy sauce and flecks of green in the finished dish meant they were going in mine, too.

The Hamburger Helper box only contains three instructions: First, cook ground meat in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, breaking up and stirring until browned. After draining, return the cooked meat to the skillet.

This is where I added the chopped onion and tomato paste to caramelize a little bit while I gathered the other items.

The box also says to then stir in water, milk, the sauce mix and pasta and heat. The box asks for two cups of milk, so I switched out a cup of milk for a cup of heavy cream, like I imagined Syd would have.

After bringing that to a boil and reducing the heat to simmer, I melted a half stick of butter in a second pan and dumped one and a half cups of panko in, stirring constantly until they were golden brown.

By that point, the smell in my kitchen was delightful. There’s a beautiful moment on the show where TJ smells what Syd is cooking and you can see her brain shift, and I experienced the exact same sensation.

Syd then helps TJ safely use a grater on a block of cheddar cheese — something even adults get wrong — and the pile is stirred into the pan in stages until melted.

Finally, the chopped herbs — I used a combo of fresh parsley, oregano and basil, and stirred most of it into the pan until incorporated. Transferring the rosy orange mix into a bowl, I sprinkled on the toasted panko and more chopped herbs to finish the dish.

Fun fact: This is the very first time in my 42 years of life that I have eaten Hamburger Helper — and I am officially a convert.

Each spoonful was rich, but not not too rich. The herbs gave it a fresh bite and the panko added a buttery crunch. Two thumbs up. (Perhaps not a Michelin star, but what can you do?)

Plus, the dish is attractive. You could make this for a dinner party and get compliments from people who would have no idea that a glove with eyes was involved in its creation.

Like Chantal at the end of the episode, my mother — a staunch culinary figure who usually doesn’t like anything I cook — walked into the kitchen as I was finishing and asked for a bowl. That’s already amazing in itself, but then she ate the entire thing in front of me and didn’t have any notes.

Chef Sydney, you wizard, you.