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#48 – Cheeseburger Casserole

If you asked my daughter what her favourite meal is she would readily respond: Cheeseburger!! There’s something so classic about a BBQ hamburger topped with cheese (and bacon of course).  Paired with a side salad or french fries, I can’t think of anything that tastes more like summer. Don’t you agree?  During the winter months, it’s difficult to BBQ hamburgers unless I want to dig threw 5 feet of snow to get to my BBQ. So I decided to make a cheeseburger casserole instead.

You’re probably going to look at the ingredients and scratch your head over the ketchup and mustard. Yes.. you MUST include them. They provide a subtle flavour that is not overpowering.   Garnished with your favourite hamburger toppings adds to the authentic cheeseburger taste.  The original inspiration for this Cheeseburger Casserole came from Damn Delicious. Her preparation instructions are quite different as she cooks her pasta in her sauce.  I’ve never been a fan, more from my lack of being able to execute properly. Dinner stands a better chance of getting burned that way and completely ruined.  Yes, I know… turn my heat down or stop multitasking while I’m cooking dinner.  😉

I have many areas of improvement. For the time being, I’ll cook my pasta in a separate pot and make one more dish I need to wash.

I’m sure you can switch up the toppings on this Cheeseburger Casserole to include some other classic or perhaps not so classic burger toppings like hot peppers, sautéed mushrooms or even crumbled bacon. Or perhaps you’d like to swap out the ground beef and use ground turkey instead and top your casserole with goat cheese, roasted peppers or even spiced tomato chutney. So many ways to serve up this cheeseburger casserole. What kind of toppings do you put on your cheese burger?

Cheeseburger Casserole | 365 Days of Easy Recipes

Cheeseburger Casserole 365daysofeasyrecipes.com

Cheeseburger Casserole 365daysofeasyrecipes.com

 

Cheeseburger Casserole

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1 onion , diced
  • salt and black pepper , to taste
  • 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 1/4 cup ketchup
  • 2 tsp mustard
  • 1 lb rotini pasta
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 tomato , diced
  • 2 green onions , sliced
  • 3 dill pickles , diced

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
  2. Bring large pot of water to boil and cook your rotini (or any other choice) pasta. Cook according to the instructions on the package.
  3. Heat a large pan over medium. Add the olive oil and diced onion. Crumble in the ground beef. Cook until the beef is browned and cooked through. Drain off the any remaining fat.
  4. Add the can of tomato, ketchup and mustard to the cooked beef and bring to a simmer over a low heat. Season with salt and pepper. When heated through, combine with the cooked pasta.
  5. Transfer pasta to casserole dish and top with grated cheese. Heat in the oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
  6. Remove pasta from the oven and garnish with choice hamburger toppings: my choices were dill pickles, tomato and green onions.

Diana L.

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