This Keto Cheeseburger Casserole Skillet is a delicious and easy comfort food style low-carb dinner the entire family will love! Ready in under 30 minutes!
So many times on a Keto, Paleo, or even gluten-free diet burgers don’t live up to expectations. Gluten-free buns are sometimes dry and the texture is off - although an easy hack is to steam them to make them super soft! Lettuce-wrapped burgers always end up falling apart. Sometimes that may be worth it like with our Keto Burger - In-N-Out Style 😉. That's where this delicious Keto Cheeseburger Casserole Skillet comes in. Keto recipes for the win!
This recipe has all the flavors of your favorite burger in one convenient dish. Instead of dealing with subpar "burgers", pull up a seat and grab this tasty casserole.
At first, we were afraid this recipe was going to turn out too similar to hamburger helper. I'm sure we all have fond or not fond memories of hamburger helper as a kid, ours are...not so fond 😉
Fortunately, the taste of this Keto Cheeseburger Casserole is so far superior to any boxed meal. The only real resemblance was the presence of ground beef.
Ingredients in Cheeseburger Casserole
This easy keto-friendly recipe uses super simple ingredients that you probably already have on hand. We see a lot of recipes call for Worcestershire sauce but to us, this is just weird. No burger has Worcestershire sauce in it so why would the casserole?
We don't use riced cauliflower, heavy cream, or cream cheese since we're trying to recreate that classic burger flavor. These ingredients may make a great casserole but not the classic flavor we're going for here. If you want to make this more veggie heavy feel free to add in some riced cauliflower with a bit of cream cheese to make it creamy.
That's the great thing about easy skillet recipes, they're often perfect for tweaking and making your own. We love taking a base recipe and spinning it into something entirely different.
Never be afraid to play around in the kitchen, just don't complain when you don't follow a recipe and it doesn't come out well 😉 Really though, we encourage you to make all of the swaps you want, the comment section is a great place to see what others have tried and gain some additional inspiration. Sometimes we even think "why didn't we think of that!", you guys are smart 😊 .... Ok, let's get to the ingredients in this Keto Cheeseburger Casserole!
You'll need:
- avocado oil (olive oil will burn at high temperatures so be sure to use high heat safe oil for cooking, butter is also great here)
- ground beef - you can also use bison
- diced onion
- garlic + onion powder
- salt + pepper
- shredded cheddar cheese
- tomato paste
Toppings:
- dill pickle chips
- diced onion (red, yellow, or white will all work)
- diced fresh tomato (Roma tomatoes are our go-to)
- shredded iceberg lettuce
- yellow mustard
Such a super easy ingredient list! You can also use ketchup, mustard, and mayo as the topping if you wish.
We clearly went a little overboard with the pickles on our casserole but we're huge pickle fans.
Plant-based Options
As most of our recipes on CIK, this cheeseburger casserole is easily made plant-based! Follow these swaps:
- Ground beef -> a plant-based substitute like Beyond Meat
- Cheddar cheese -> a dairy-free option, our favorite brand is Violife
Easy as that! We want our recipes to be super inclusive for any eating style.
Want to make this a Low-Carb BACON Cheeseburger Casserole??
It's super simple to add bacon to this recipe! You can either:
- Add in cooked chopped bacon to the toppings
- Cook a few slices of chopped bacon in the skillet first. Remove the crispy bacon then add in the beef to brown in the bacon fat. YUM!
How to make Keto Cheeseburger Casserole
- Heat the oil in a 10” or larger cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef, onion and garlic, and spices. Brown the meat while stirring occasionally, about 6-7 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and half of the cheese until well combined and the cheese is melty.
- Top with pickles, red onion, tomatoes, as well as the remaining cheese. Drizzle yellow mustard over the casserole and serve over a bed of shredded lettuce.
How to store cheeseburger casserole
Making this easy Keto Cheeseburger Casserole as a meal-prep option? That's a great idea for meal planning!
To store we like to portion out individual portions into these glass meal-prep containers. It makes it an easy grab and go option during the week! You can also use a baking dish or casserole dish and just scoop out what you need when you need it.
This casserole will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 days.
To reheat you can microwave it or dump it into a skillet to reheat.
Can you use a different meat option?
You can! Ground bison, chicken, or ground turkey can replace the ground beef here if you wish. See the notes for plant-based options above.
Why use grass-fed beef?
It's very important to us to choose grass-fed and pasture raised beef over their conventionally raised counterparts.
Grass-fed beef is higher in omega 3’s, has a better fat profile than standard beef, and a higher concentration of nutrients and antioxidants. Plus, grass-fed beef typically has a much more humane lifestyle than factory farmed beef.
- Is grass-fed beef really better for you, the animal and the planet? - Washington Post
- Grass-fed vs. Conventional Meat: It’s Not Black or White - Chris Kresser
- Eatwild's Directory of Farms and Ranches
What is the nutritional information?
As always, you can find the full nutritional breakdown including the carb count (total carbs and net carbs) at the bottom of the recipe card. You can find the serving size/yield at the top of the recipe card. You should always double-check your specific ingredients as different brands may have different values.
To get a specific serving size for this Keto Cheeseburger Casserole you’ll want to weigh the final dish then divide by the number of servings. We can’t provide this information as your cooking style will vary from ours and your ingredients may be a different brand.
Looking for more Keto casserole recipes? Check these out!
- Keto Chicken Pizza Casserole
- Cheesy Keto Broccoli Casserole with Bacon (Low Carb + EASY)
- Buffalo Chicken Casserole
- Keto Breakfast Casserole
- Keto Italian Sub Sandwich Casserole
- Cheesy Hashbrown Casserole
Keto Cheeseburger Casserole Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or butter (dairy-free if desired)
- 1 lb ground beef for plant-based swap in Beyond Meat
- ½ medium red onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 5 oz cheddar cheese divided, dairy-free if desired
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
Toppings:
- ½ cup sliced dill pickles
- ¼ medium red onion chopped
- 1 Roma tomato diced
- 4 cups shredded lettuce
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a 10” or larger cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef, onion, and spices. Brown the meat while stirring occasionally, about 6-7 minutes.
- Stir in the tomato paste and half of the cheese until well combined and the cheese is melty.
- Top with pickles, red onion, tomatoes, as well as the remaining cheese. Drizzle yellow mustard over the casserole and serve over a bed of shredded lettuce.
Ernest Sewell says
It would be good to tell people what size skillet to use. Seems minor. A pound of cooked down ground beef or turkey would not be as hearty looking nor fill a space in a 12" skillet as it would in a 10" skillet.
Also, you should drain any fat before adding spices and tomato paste. If you cook spices too long, they lose their power. I would drain any fat first, add spice & tomato paste, then proceed - all in 10" skillet.
Might also be fun and interesting to lightly caramelize some onions beforehand, then cook the meat in the same skillet, and top it with both raw and caramelized onions. A little ground celery seed in the meat, and a pinch of red pepper flakes if desired, add a great subtle layer of flavor to the meat.
Mike Ipsen says
Made this tonight, it is basically like a cheeseburger flavored taco salad. Tasty and perfectly keto. I did add low sugar ketchup to mine to top off the flavor profile.
Lorna Higgs says
6/18/19
What is the serving size for the Hamburger Casserole. Are the fat, protein, net carbs, calorie, counts for the whole batch or for each serving?
Thank you
Alex Lester says
The nutritional info is for one serving, the serving sizes for each recipe can be found at the top of each recipe card. Hope this helps!
Lisa says
That looks delicious!
Leslie says
Great! Just like a loaded cheeseburger minus the carbs!