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Hamburger Casserole is honest to goodness comfort food. With ground beef, pasta, and a creamy, cheesy tomato based sauce, this dinner is one that everyone will come running for!
Make it a complete meal with a Wedge Salad and some homemade Garlic Bread.
Table of Contents
Easy Hamburger Casserole
In the winter when the days are short and the nights are long, you need soul satisfying, belly-warming meals to get you through. Something creamy, cheesy, and totally comforting.
This Hamburger Casserole recipe has got it all. It’s budget friendly, easy to whip up, and can even be made a day in advance. It freezes beautifully and can be doubled to feed an even bigger crowd.
While I usually prefer to cook from scratch, once in a while a shortcut just gets you through. This recipe uses condensed tomato soup; you can pick up the healthy choice variety to make it a little healthier.
How To Make Hamburger Casserole
Hamburger Casserole is quite simple and uncomplicated, which is what I love about it. It can be whipped up quickly and takes about 20 minutes to bake, which gives you enough time to prepare some tasty sides. You will find the full, printable instructions at the bottom of this page, but here are the basic steps plus a few handy tips.
- Prep: Chop up a small onion and a cup of mushrooms. Stir tomato soup and a cup of sour cream together in a bowl. Prepping things ahead of time helps the recipe to come together faster.
- Cook: Cook onions, mushrooms, and minced garlic until soft, then transfer to a plate. Cook the ground beef in the same pan then add the veggies back in. While the meat is cooking, boil some pasta (small noodles, like rotini, shells or macaroni). Make sure to salt the meat well, and the water for the pasta.
- Assemble: Stir the tomato/sour cream mixture into the ground beef mixture. Add some dried oregano and add a cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese. At this point you can transfer the hamburger casserole into a baking dish, but I like to bake in the same skillet because less dishes (as long as it’s oven safe). Finish it off with more shredded mozzarella on top.
- Bake: Bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes. It should be slightly browned on top and bubbly around the sides. Sprinkle on some fresh minced parsley for a little color.
- Storage: Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days. Reheat individual portions in the microwave or the whole pan in the oven.
Serving Suggestions & Variations
Since it’s a very simple, rustic type dish, I like to keep the sides simple, too. A copycat Olive Garden Salad and some fresh bread is all you really need to make this a complete meal.
If you want some more options, try adding something green like Roasted Broccoli, Garlic Green Beans, or Oven Roasted Asparagus. If you want to fancy up your bread choices, One Hour Dinner Rolls (From Scratch!) are super tasty and easy.
You could also add some frozen veggies right into the casserole for a complete meal in one pan.
How To Freeze Hamburger Casserole
There are a couple of methods you can use when freezing hamburger casserole.
- If you know that you are planning to make this casserole and freeze it whole, I recommend using a foil baking pan to keep it simple. Assemble the casserole in the foil pan, cover with a layer of plastic wrap pressed over it, then cover with foil.
- If you don’t want to purchase disposable pan, line your casserole dish with foil, then freeze. Remove from the baking dish by lifting out the foil, seal in a freezer bag or container for up to 4 months.
- To freeze after baking, allow casserole to cool completely then transfer to a freezer safe container or plastic bag. This can be done with a whole casserole or with portions. Freeze for up to 4 months.
More Casserole recipes
More Ground Beef Recipes
- 27 Simple Ground Beef Recipes
- Ground Beef & Noodles Stir Fry
- One Pot Beef Stroganoff
- Air Fryer Hamburgers
Hamburger Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 small onion diced
- 8 ounces mushrooms roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 ounces small pasta cooked to al dente (like rotini or farfalle)
- 10 ounce condensed tomato soup
- 1 cup sour cream
- 6 ounces Mozzarella cheese freshly grated (about 2 cups)
- Fresh minced parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Heat a large, oven safe skillet on the stove over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of olive oil, onion and mushrooms. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables have softened; about 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and stir and cook one minute more. Transfer vegetables and garlic to a plate.
- Add ground beef to the skillet and season with a bit of salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up large chunks with a spatula or wooden spoon, until meat is no longer pink. Drain any excess grease from the pan. Remove pan from heat. About 6-7 minutes.
- Return onions, mushrooms and garlic to the skillet and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, stir together tomato soup and sour cream, then add that to the skillet along with 1 cup of the grated Mozzarella and cooked pasta. Top with remaining shredded Mozzarella.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until top is golden and sauce is bubbly.
- Let stand for 5 minutes, then garnish with fresh minced parsley.
Notes
- Feel free to add frozen veggies to the mix or use ground turkey in place of ground beef.
Hi! I LOVE this recipe. I’d like to make it for my husband, but he does not like pasta. Do you have any ideas on how I might incorporate rice into this recipe instead of noodles? Thank you!
This is delicious! I doubled the recipe for 2 casseroles, used slightly more pasta (650g) and changed the cheese to old cheddar. It was a hit with my family!
Love the feedback Scarlett! Thank you so much for stopping by.
This one looks so good. I can’t wait to try it.