This easy cheeseburger casserole recipe is the perfect busy weeknight meal. Ground beef, spices, and cheese are topped with biscuits to create a hearty casserole that the whole family will love!
Cheeseburgers may just be our favorite dinner around here, and with our popular cheeseburgers in the oven recipe, I knew you’d love this casserole too! But if you’re a cheeseburger fan, you may also love our cheeseburger sliders and these cheeseburger subs, which are hard to beat!
Swap out the seasoning and make yourself a Big Mac Casserole for that iconic Golden Arches experience. You can also make Cheeseburger Sliders for more of a grab-and-go meal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
I would definitely call myself a cheeseburger lover – whether it’s a fast food burger, a fancy restaurant burger, or a homemade one, I love a good cheeseburger.
So of course this easy cheeseburger casserole goes right to the top of my list of favorite casseroles! (Well, along with this french onion beef casserole and this Doritos chicken casserole of course.)
Most hamburger casserole recipes have some sort of meat sauce/noodle mixture, so I was super excited when I could share a cheeseburger casserole without pasta! (Much like this walking taco casserole too!)
You’ll also love this similar hashbrown hamburger casserole, classic beef stroganoff recipe, and this chicken pot pie casserole!
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Ingredients
This recipe uses simple ingredients that even your picky eaters will be ok with!
- 2 pounds ground beef (See our other ground beef recipes.)
- ⅔ cup ketchup
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups cheddar cheese shredded and divided
- 1 can refrigerated biscuits like Pillsbury Grands
- 1 tablespoon salted butter melted
Jump to the printable recipe card right now or keep scrolling to see how you can make this easy recipe (where we basically create a cheeseburger in casserole form)!
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425° F. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish or spray it with cooking spray.
- Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat (breaking it up with a wooden spoon as you go) until no longer pink; drain off fat. If you are using extra-lean ground beef (or turkey), you can put a bit of olive oil in the pan to keep it from sticking.
- Add ketchup, onion powder, garlic powder, ½ teaspoon pepper, and 2 cups of shredded cheese. Stir well to combine.
- Scoop mix into the prepared 9×13″ baking dish and spread evenly. Top beef mixture with remaining one cup of cheese.
- Separate biscuits in half, dividing top and bottom to make them thinner. Using whole biscuits instead of halves can make it so the bottom doesn’t cook and the top over cooks, so don’t skip this step.
- Arrange biscuits on top of the casserole (should fit 12 biscuits).
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and cooked through.
- Brush melted butter on top of the biscuits and serve.
Substitutions
What substitutions can you make in this baked cheeseburger casserole? Quite a few actually!
- Beef – you can replace this with ground turkey, pork or really any other ground meat.
- Cheese – you could use other American cheese in place of cheddar, or even a soft cheese like Velveeta.
- Biscuits – if you don’t have any refrigerated biscuits on hand, you can make boxed biscuits or biscuits from scratch and drop them by the teaspoon full on top of the casserole instead.
- Spices – you could use fresh chopped onion and garlic in place of the dried spices called for in this recipe.
- Ketchup – you can use tomato sauce (or tomato paste thinned out with a bit of water) in place of the ketchup in this recipe to reduce the sugar content a bit.
Variations
If you’ve made this casserole and you loved it, try one of these variations the next time you make it!
- Spice It Up – if you like Mexican recipes or spicy food in general, try replacing the ketchup in this recipe with a spicy salsa and the cheddar cheese with a pepper jack cheese!
- Bacon cheeseburger casserole – chop some bacon and cook it at the same time as your ground beef to turn this into a bacon cheeseburger casserole. You could also add some crumbled bacon to the cheese you put on top of the meat mixture! (Some of these ingredients are similar to our tater tot casserole too!)
- Sour Cream and Onion – if you want to get really wild, try mixing some chopped green onions and crushed sour cream and onion potato chips in with the cheese. Then serve your sour cream and onion cheesy casserole with a dollop of sour cream on top!
Storage
STORAGE: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.
You can freeze this casserole, too! Assemble it in a freezer-safe container, cover it with foil and label it. When you are ready to cook it, let the casserole thaw in the fridge for 24 hours, and then cook according to the recipe instructions.
Expert Tips and FAQs
This is not only a great recipe because it’s delicious but also because it’s so flexible! You can mix in basically anything you like to make this casserole exactly how your entire family wants it to be.
– Cook up some chopped bacon with the ground beef if you like.
– Add in some vegetables or cauliflower rice to give it a nutritional boost.
– Mix in some red pepper flakes or chili powder to give it a kick. – If you aren’t on a keto diet, you could boil some elbow macaroni in a large pot of salted water, drain it and add it to the meat mixture, too!
Yes, you sure can. The only change we would make is to be sure you put this in a freezer safe container. We would suggest an aluminum 9×13 pan if you are going to freeze it.
When you are ready to cook it, let the casserole thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and then cook according to the recipe instructions.
What to Serve with Cheeseburger Casserole
Wondering what to serve with cheeseburger casserole? We think it would go great with our easy side salad (there’s a secret that makes this one THE BEST one ever)!
Related Recipes
If you’re looking for more easy dinner recipes check out our other ground beef recipes like this homemade hamburger helper in the instant pot or this 30 minute taco pasta recipe! Or, similar ingredients come together to make a creamy stovetop dinner in this hamburger mac and cheese!
Recipe
Cheeseburger Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- ⅔ cup ketchup
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 cups cheddar cheese shredded and divided
- 1 can refrigerated biscuits like Pillsbury Grands
- 1 tablespoon salted butter melted
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425° F. Grease a 9×13 casserole dish or spray it with cooking spray.
- Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat (breaking it up as you go) until no longer pink; drain off fat. If you are using extra-lean ground beef (or turkey), you can put a bit of olive oil in the pan to keep it from sticking.
- Add ketchup, onion powder, garlic powder, ½ teaspoon pepper, and 2 cups of shredded cheese. Stir well to combine.
- Scoop mix into the prepared 9×13" baking dish and spread evenly. Top beef mixture with remaining one cup of cheese.
- Separate biscuits in half, dividing top and bottom to make them thinner. Using whole biscuits instead of halves can make it so the bottom doesn’t cook and the top over cooks, so don't skip this step.
- Arrange biscuits on top of the casserole (should fit 12 biscuits).
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until biscuits are golden brown and cooked through.
- Brush melted butter on top of the biscuits and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Joan says
I would love to make this, but wonder if homemade biscuits would work instead of Pillsbury Grands. I would like this to be completely homemade. If so any tips.
Thanks
Joan
Jessica says
Hi Joan! I haven’t tried that yet but I’ve often wondered about making these cheddar biscuits to put on top! I’d love to hear if you try it!
Elisa says
Very yummy! I think I’ll add pickles and maybe caramelized onions
Jessica says
So glad that you liked this cheeseburger casserole! 🙂
Megan McGuire says
Recipe is confusing what do you do with the bottom half of the biscuit in this recipe. It doesn’t say anything in the recipe what to do with the bottom portion of the biscuit. Just the top part of the biscuit.
Jessica says
Hi Megan. In step 5, it mentions splitting the biscuits in half so they cook better since they’ll be thinner. So you’ll use both the tops and bottoms of the biscuit to layer on top of the casserole. So if you buy a can of biscuits that have 7 in it, (like in our ingredient photo) you’ll only use 6 of the biscuits, split them in half, layer the tops and bottoms on the casserole, and discard or find a way to use the extra biscuit. 🙂 I hope that helps?
sandy says
I think you should figure out a way to cook half the biscuits on the bottom, load the hamburger, place the other half of the biscuit on top then cook. When it is served it would be more akin to a hamburger! I am going to try this recipe though! Thank you
Jessica says
Thank you for your feedback, Sandy!
Tamala Mannie says
Just made this tonight came out awesome! I loved the taste of the ketchup in it !
Jessica says
Thank you so much Tamala for letting us know!! So glad to hear you liked this casserole recipe and that the ketchup was an extra bonus!
BARBARA says
I follow receip the inside was cold biscuits were burnt not good what did I do wrong? I only cooked in 425 oven for 12 minutes because biscuits were burrnt
Jessica says
Hi Barbara! I’m sorry this didn’t turn out for you. Did you by chance split the biscuits in half before putting them on the top?
Laura Reese says
This was so unique and had so many of my favorite flavors in casserole form! My family loved it.
Jessica says
Oh good!! I’m so glad to hear that this casserole was a family winner! Thank you!
Betsy says
So easy! Perfect weeknight dinner! Nice & hearty & so incredibly delicious! Love the use of refrigerator biscuits here! They’re always tasty and so handy!
Valentina says
This cheeseburger casserole is delicious! Love this idea and makes for a great dinner idea.