This comforting Cheeseburger Casserole pasta dish features all the fixings of a delicious cheeseburger all baked in the oven. It is cheesy, easy, and the perfect meal for families who are short on time. This post contains affiliate links.
What is it?
Seasoned, browned hamburger meat is cooked in a skillet with onion, and spices while the pasta boils. Canned tomatoes, chopped pickles, and some ketchup, all flavor this meal nicely. Freshly grated cheddar is melted on top of the oven. Overall, this meal is ready from ingredients to dinner in about 30 minutes flat!
If you love cheeseburgers and are sick of the same old boring dinners, this fun meal can have you enjoying the flavors year round.
The best part is this meal is simple to make and will not cost a fortune. Chances are, you might even have the canned diced tomatoes, hamburger, and pasta on hand. If you are like us, ketchup and pickles too! We are using our homemade variety of Cold Packed Refrigerator Pickles which are a hit!
Ingredients
This meaty, cheesy casserole only requires 10 ingredients with a few of them being spices.
Ground Beef
You can use 90/10 lean or 80/20 ground beef for this recipe. Plant-based meat crumbles can also be used. Just make sure you have at least 1 lb of meat.
I recommend 2 lbs. for a hearty meal.
Ground Beef Tip
If you use a higher fat content ground beef, be sure to drain it into a glass jar or bowl to harden. You can later throw it away once it has cooled. Hot grease is not good for the drain and can cause plumbing issues.
Pasta
For the pasta ingredient, you can choose macaroni elbows, penne, or shells. Any pasta that can hold extra flavor will work well.
Tomatoes
This recipe also calls for a tomatoes. I used canned diced tomatoes. You can use fresh too if you have them on hand. Another tomato ingredient you could add in is seasoned tomatoes like RO*Tel for a zesty flavor.
Cheese
I recommend avoiding shredded cheddar that is bagged. Shredded cheese contains an ingredient additive that prevents the shreds from sticking to one another. Unfortunately, it also bakes the cheese up to a stringy, dry consistency.
Cheese Tip
Hand-grate a block of solid cheddar cheese. It’s more work, but it will melt evenly with lots of oils, creating a delicious cheese pull. Freshly grated cheese also simply tastes better. Trust me, it’s all worth it!
Spices
For spices, this area is almost up to you. I chose kosher salt (which is not as salty tasting as table salt), black ground pepper, onion, and garlic powder. You can also use Montreal Steak Seasoning which is delicious on meat. Use your preference.
How to Make
Prepare a 6-quart stockpot with water, a pinch of kosher salt, and bring the water to a roaring boil before adding your pasta. Cook pasta until al dente while doing the below steps.
Chop up one yellow onion, and add it to a large frying pan with your hamburger, and seasoning; cook until hamburger is browned, and onion is translucent.
Drain excess hamburger fat and cool in a glass jar to throw away once it is solid.
Open your tomatoes with your can opener. If you need a new can opener, I really love this KitchenAid can opener which requires little effort to open the can. Drain the excess juices from your tomatoes, and then add them and the ketchup, and mustard to your skillet; stir well over low-medium heat.
Strain pasta, and then add the hamburger tomatoes, and onion blend to the stockpot and stir.
Grate 4 ounces of cheese into the pot and mix thoroughly. I love this Oxo Good Grips Grater which is wide, and helps to quickly shred the cheese.
Add cheeseburger mixture into your oven-safe casserole dish; grate remaining cheese for the top of the casserole.
Pro Tip:
For casseroles like this one that feature a pound of pasta, I recommend using a Deep Dish Pyrex casserole dish. This pan is 50% larger than a traditional 9″ x 13″ pan, and is needed.
Place in the oven on the middle rack to bake for 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to bake this uncovered to get the cheese nice and melty.
How to Serve
Once this comes out of the oven, top with chopped pickles and serve warm. You could also top it with green onion if you prefer.
We serve this Cheeseburger Casserole with garlic bread. You can even make your own Frozen Texas Toast Style Garlic Bread at home! It stores nicely in the freezer and bakes up to a golden brown perfection.
Substitutions
Cheese
If you do not like cheddar cheese, you could use a creamy deli American cheese hand grated. Just order your cheese in a half-pound block from the deli and grate as you would the cheddar. If you prefer Swiss, jack, or white cheddar you can also use those–it is all about preference.
Meat
You can use lean hamburger, 80/20 hamburger, ground turkey, or meatless meat crumbles.
Pasta
You can use any variety that will hold the flavor like shells, macaroni elbows, penne, or rigatoni.
How to store this casserole
If you have any leftovers, store them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an airtight container.
Frozen Meal
To make this a “freezer meal”, do all the steps above besides baking the pasta. You will mix the ingredients and top with cheese. However, you will not bake the cheese. Once the casserole is cooled, top with cheese, and add it to a freezer-safe aluminum pan and cover tightly.
Baking from Frozen
To bake from frozen, you will need to bake it for about 60 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Top with pickles before serving.
Other casserole dishes
- Cheesy Crab Casserole
- Tater To Breakfast Casserole with Sausage
- Fish Sticks Casserole
- Chorizo Green Bean Casserole
Recipe
Follow the recipe below to make this delicious and hearty Cheeseburger Casserole. This recipe makes 8 servings, but it can be adjusted as needed in the recipe card.
Cheeseburger Casserole
Equipment
- grater
- can opener
- 6-quart stockpot
- large casserole dish
- large skillet
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. hamburger meat *you can use up to 2 lbs
- 1 lb. elbow macaroni
- 28 oz diced canned tomatoes
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 2 tsps. Montreal steak seasoning *you can also use salt, pepper, onion, and garlic powder.
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup mustard
- 8 ounces yellow cheddar block grated, and divided
- 1/4 cup chopped pickles
Instructions
- Prepare a 6-quart stock pot with water, a pinch of kosher salt, and bring the water to a roaring boil before adding your pasta. Cook pasta until al dente while doing the below steps.
- Chop up one yellow onion, and add it to a large frying pan with your hamburger, and seasoning; cook until hamburger is browned, and onion is translucent.
- Drain excess hamburger fat and cool in a glass jar to throw away once it is solid.
- Open your tomatoes with your can opener. Drain the excess juices from your tomatoes, and then add them and the ketchup, and mustard to your skillet; stir well over low-medium heat.
- Strain pasta, and then add the hamburger tomatoes, and onion blend to the stockpot and stir.
- Grate 4 ounces of cheese into the pot and mix thoroughly.
- Add cheeseburger mixture into your oven-safe casserole dish.
- Grate remaining 4 ounces of cheese for the top of the casserole.
- Place in the oven on the middle rack to bake for 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You want to bake this uncovered to get the cheese nice and melty; about 15 minutes.
- Add chopped pickles to the casserole once it is removed from the oven.
- Enjoy warm!
I really needed some high quality comfort food, and your cheeseburger casserole really fit the bill! It was easy to make and tasted amazing. YUM!
This was SO tasty!! We have a new favourite family meal :) Thanks for such a great dinner!
This looks like such a fuss-free and tasty meal! So comforting and filling, saving for sure!
What a perfect weeknight meal, especially after a long day! Such an awesome comforting meal!
this looks amazing! I am going to try make a plant based version.
What a great, easy, comfort food! Love it!
When do you add the pickles?
After it has baked! I will fix the recipe. Thank you!
I don’t like mustard or ketchup on my hamburgers or cheeseburgers, how much do you taste these two ingredients? Or does it just add favor??
Hello, These are for flavor but noticeable. If you don’t like them you can just add in 1/2 cup of marinara sauce, but then you are kinda turning this into a pasta and meat bake.
I made this tonight. I’m never sure how to measure pasta. It says 1 lb of elbow pasta. I cooked the entire box (1 lb), but it seemed like way too much, so I didn’t add all of it. Even keeping out quite a bit of the cooked amount, I could barely fit the hamburger, pasta, seasonings, etc in a 9×13 pan. Am I measuring the pasta wrong? Flavor was good – kids liked it.
Hello, thank you, for stopping by! I responded via email as well. For casseroles that use one pound of pasta, I recommend using a Pyrex Deep Dish pan. Affiliate link: https://bit.ly/3rUPjAa This pan is amazing for recipes like this and will create plenty of baking room.