Easy Cheesy Old Fashioned Hamburger Casserole
If you’re looking for a great meal that works for busy weeknights and that picky eaters will gobble up, this cheesy old fashioned hamburger casserole is for you! It’s one complete meal with simple ingredients mixed together in your casserole dish, a meaty and cheesy delight that makes for the perfect family dinner.
A Very Easy Dinner
Your whole family is going to love this very easy dinner. It’s similar to what you can find at different restaurants around town, but the homemade version is so much better and much more budget-friendly.
So head into the kitchen and get cookin’ this great recipe that I know will become a new family favorite.
What I Love About This Meal
It’s a comforting meal, as well as filling. I have a picky eater, and he loves this meal. You can add some vegetables to the beef casserole, and the kids will get a full meal.
Plus, this is such an easy recipe, and you most likely have the ingredients in your pantry.
Comfort Food in One Easy Meal
Just combining these simple ingredients from your pantry and fridge results in a cheesy casserole that no one can ever resist.
This is my old reliable standby when I need to feed the family.
As soon as my husband and kids see that this cheeseburger casserole is what’s for dinner, they practically topple over their chairs, gathering around the table.
It’s seriously soothing on chilly nights, but any time of year when you need that comfort food in your belly, this is the recipe to make!
Step-By-Step Instructions
Start by adding the ground beef to the skillet and cook on medium heat. You can use ground turkey, lean ground beef, or chicken if you’d like to have a lower-fat meal.
Next, add the minced garlic and onion to the skillet and cook until the meat is brown. The great thing about this meal is that you can add your favorite seasonings.
Once the meat is done cooking, drain the grease and add the sour cream to the skillet.
Pour the Worcestershire sauce into the pan and mix the ingredients.
Add the spaghetti sauce to the pan. I used a traditional sauce for this recipe. You can use your favorite sauce.
Add the cooked elbow macaroni noodles to the skillet and combine. I have discovered pre-cooked noodles, and I used those. But you can also buy uncooked pasta noodles for this recipe and cook them before adding them to the ground beef mixture.
Sprinkle 3/4 of the shredded cheese into the skillet and mix well. For this recipe, I used sharp cheddar cheese, but you can use your favorite.
Spread the ground beef mixture into a greased 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish.
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
After the casserole bakes for 30 minutes, sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top of the meat mixture and bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Optional Ingredients
The great thing about this casserole dish is that you can add different ingredients to change things a little bit. If this is your first time making it, feel free to add something different. Here are a few ideas:
- Italian seasoning
- Bell pepper
- Chili powder
- Different pasta shells
- Mozzarella cheese
- Garlic salt
- Parmesan cheese
- Green beans
- English peas
- Mixed vegetables
It sounds like a crazy combination, but I promise you, it creates spectacular flavors that will have everyone going for another helping and scraping every last bit of their plates clean.
How To Store The Cheesy Old Fashioned Hamburger Casserole
If you have any leftovers, you can enjoy them for lunch the next day. This ground beef casserole recipe keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge in an airtight container, so be sure to use it up before then. We’ve never had that problem since it’s always long gone by that time!
More Delicious Casseroles
- Comfort food doesn’t get better than this cheesy hamburger mac and cheese casserole.
- This easy Mexican ground beef casserole is packed with bold, delicious flavors.
- Easy sloppy joe tater tot casserole is a family favorite with classic flavors.
- Enjoy layers of flavor with this easy Mexican cornbread casserole with ground beef.
- This 5-ingredient ground beef casserole is the perfect quick and easy dinner.
What To Serve With Cheesy Casserole
- Crispy and golden, these oven-baked potato wedges make the perfect side.
- Roasted red potatoes are simple, flavorful, and always a crowd-pleaser.
- This moist Jiffy cornbread is soft, buttery, and easy to make.
- Southern pan-fried potatoes are crispy, tender, and full of down-home flavor.
- Easy grilled broccoli from Julia’s Simply Southern is a fresh, smoky side dish.
Easy Cheesy Old Fashioned Hamburger Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of ground beef
- 1 Tablespoon of minced onion
- 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
- 1 cup of sour cream
- Pinch of salt and ground pepper
- 2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
- 24 ounces of traditional spaghetti sauce
- 16 ounces elbow macaroni cooked
- 16 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large skillet, add the ground beef, minced onion, minced garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Cook until browned and drain the grease.
- Next, add the sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and spaghetti sauce to the meat and mix well.
- Add the cooked elbow macaroni noodles and mix.
- Next, add 3/4 of the shredded cheese and mix well.
- Pour the meat mixture into the greased casserole dish and cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and sprinkle the remainder of the cheese on top and bake another 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
I knocked this together for a quick meal because everyone was super hungry and it was too late to go out. Mind you, I really hate to say this, because I love a good Southern goulash and hoped this would work, but this was…very bland, dry and disappointing. I even used a whole onion, versus the amount stated, and doubled the amount of garlic. I also added a tablespoon of Italian seasoning, used extra sharp cheddar and I used Rao’s spaghetti sauce, which we love. The good news is, we were all so hungry we ate it anyway; the bad news is, well, I’d hoped for better.
My suggestion at the very least is to use a 32 ounce jar of sauce, not a 24 ounce jar; as it stands, you can’t taste the sauce at all. More cheese might help. Perhaps a green pepper would have helped, too, but I didn’t have one available. Mostly, though, I expected more of an Italian flavor because of the spaghetti sauce, and again, we couldn’t taste the presence of the sauce at all.
I do thank you for your time and for sharing this, and I wish I had better news to report. It definitely does beat packaged Hamburger Helper, but without significant tweaks, I’ve been asked not to make it again.
Made this casserole so easy and so good. My picky husband ate two helpings and fixed a plate for a late night snack. A winner
That so great to hear! Love it!
We made this yesterday and it was delicious, I will share this recipe with family members and friends, and I will make it often!! Thanks
That’s so wonderful to hear! Thank you for sharing that!
I haven’t made the casserole yet but I’m so excited to try it thanks for sharing.
I hope you love it!
Do you think I could put uncooked noodles in and add maybe 3 cups of water and bake for an hour?? Just curious if anyone has ever tried. Thank you!! It looks delicious!!
Hi Katie,
You can always try that. I would keep it covered with aluminum foil while it bakes so it will keep the moisture in.
How much dry macaroni produces 16 Oz. of cooked macaroni? This is very confusing.
Hi Janet,
Sorry to confuse you. I buy a 16 ounce box of dry macaroni for the recipe. It will produce about 8 cups of cooked macaroni. Hope that helps!
Tried this recipe and absolutely loved it! It is being added into my family’s rotation and I can’t wait to make it for a family carry in dinner! Thank you for sharing!
Awesome! I love to hear that!