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Creamy Ground Beef Casserole recipe – A rich and nourishing bowl of comfort with a healthy twist! This beef and cauliflower rice casserole is loaded with ground beef and veggies such as cauliflower, tomato, and garlic. Ground beef recipes are relatively budget-friendly, and everyone likes them. Ready in less than 30 minutes, everyone will ask for more of this nutritious low-carb, keto, paleo main dish for dinner. Enjoy!
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Ingredients list for the Creamy Beef Cauliflower Rice Skillet
- 1 lb (450g) ground beef
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 3 ounces cream cheese
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 head cauliflower, riced
- 1/2 cup cheddar, shredded
- 1/2 cup mozzarella, shredded
- Chopped fresh parsley, for topping
- 1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes, optional
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Directions
1. To make the beef cauliflower rice casserole: In a cast-iron skillet, melt butter, add ground beef and cook over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon. Stir the minced onion into the meat and saute for one minute, until fragrant.
2. Steam the riced cauliflower in the microwave for 5 minutes, with 1/2 cup water, covered, in a microwave-safe bowl.
3. Add cream cheese and stir until melted then add beef broth, heavy whipping cream, garlic powder, tomato paste, and salt/pepper. Add cauliflower rice to the skillet and stir well to combine then cook on medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes until extra liquid is absorbed. If the mixture gets too thick to your taste, add a little more beef broth.
4. Simmer on low, covered for 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.
5. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of beef and cauliflower, cover, and simmer until cheese is melted. At this time, you can serve the ground beef casserole right away, or crisp it under the broiler for more crunch. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and chili pepper flakes and serve your ground beef and cauliflower rice casserole immediately. Enjoy!
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Tips for the ground beef and cauliflower rice casserole recipe
We love how this ground beef and cauliflower rice casserole combines mild, kid-friendly flavors with gooey cheese. Feel free to spice it up with more red chili pepper flakes, or Cayenne. Here are a few more tips to make this beef recipe even better:
- For crisper cheese on top, broil the beef casserole uncovered in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes.
- You can buy ready-made riced cauliflower or cauliflower pearls at the fresh produce section of your favorite grocery store. You can also make your own cauliflower rice by throwing rinsed cauliflower florets in your food processor a give a few pulses until you get a coarse texture. Do not process too much as you’ll end up with a soggy puree.
- You might want to drain cooked cauliflower rice in a colander before throwing it into the skillet. It will render a lot of water resulting in a longer cooking time to let it evaporate.
- You can use ground beef or ground turkey in this casserole recipe. We like to use ground turkey sometimes to keep the dish a little on the lighter side.
What to serve with the ground beef casserole?
This low-carb ground beef casserole is already a complete meal on its own, but nothing prevents you to add roasted veggies on the side such as asparagus, zucchini sticks, etc.
How and how long to keep the ground beef casserole leftovers?
You can keep the ground beef casserole leftovers for 2 days in an airtight container stored in your refrigerator. Reheat covered in a baking dish in your oven. Do not keep the beef casserole and cauliflower rice in the cast iron skillet as it will affect the taste of the food. You can also freeze the beef casserole for up to 3 months.
More beef recipes you might like
- Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Butternut, Carrot and Potatoes
- Creamy Ground Beef Pasta Recipe
- 5-Minute Instant Pot Beef Lasagna Soup
- Keto Burrito Bowl with Beef and Cauliflower Rice
Photo credit: © Eatwell101.com
Leave a Reply
MMW
2023-12-18 21:56:06
I have to admit that this really surprised me. In an effort to lighten it up a little, I subbed evaporated milk for heavy cream, 5 Lite Laughing Cow wedges for cream cheese, and velveeta shreds for the cheddar cheese, but damn, it was tasty! I cannot even imagine how delicious this would be without subbing the items! If you invented this recipe, Christina Cherrier, then you are one excellent cook!
Katie
2022-10-20 12:47:56
This has been my regular go to meal every week because my kids love it and it is so healthy
Kim
2022-07-25 22:25:19
To begin - it was a tasty recipe, to be sure. Kids will probably love this! I just feel like it's missing something. But... then.. that something could be the cream cheese I didn't have (ha) - and that I substituted with Mexican Queso Fresco that I really needed to use before it expired. 🥴 I knew I would need to thicken it up so I added more cheese. But it was still quite soupy. I'm not sure that cream cheese would have helped after seeing how thin the sauce was. I used heavy cream - but - next time will use cream cheese instead and see if it's a little thicker. My recommendation: Do not use so much water to steam the cauliflower - maybe 1-2 tbsp! That didn't help the thin sauce situation. Next time - I will also add bacon pieces - I really feel like that might be the "something", flavor wise, that's lacking. It's a bit bland (even with hot pepper flakes) - but still satisfying. It's comfort food - and it's KETO - so I'm "in" and will make it again. **Tip - I used fresh cauliflower and riced it myself with a knife... no grater... no food processor... we wanted a bit thicker bits of cauliflower - and it really worked well with this recipe. Too "riced" and I think it will just disappear in the sauce.
![Creamy Ground Beef and Cauliflower Rice Casserole]()
Lori
2022-06-06 12:08:01
This is one of my go-to meals now. As-is it is great. However, I do prepare the cauliflower differently. I just take 1/2 a head, chop it to florets, put them in a microwave bowl with a cover, and microwave them for 5 minutes. Do not add water to this. I then take a masher and mash them. The other thing I do to mix up the recipe a little is that I substitute chorizo or spicy Italian sausage for the meat and I'll throw in frozen broccoli florets or frozen spinach at the end to add more vegetables and color. I love this recipe! It's comfort food.
Deana
2022-04-06 19:42:50
If I want to substitute frozen cauliflower rice for the 1/2 head fresh cauliflower rice, how much frozen should I use?
Lara
2022-02-25 15:43:39
My husband and I loved this! Made it last night! I am vegetarian so I used Impossible ground “meat” and 2 Beyond Meat hot sausages! It was delicious, quick and easy! Thank you!
Jennifer
2022-02-05 23:47:03
Love how versatile this is! Subbed frozen cauli rice, browned in the skillet, then added ground beef and everything else. Super easy to add veggies and change the flavors! Thanks for sharing!
Angie
2022-01-31 11:23:20
This recipe came together very easily. It was a hit! Will definitely make again.
Shawna
2022-01-21 09:51:14
This recipe is really good, even my anti-cauliflower husband liked it! I've also tried it with smoked sausage which is also very good!
Dca
2022-01-17 17:21:58
I was out of tomato paste so used salsa. I add about 1/3 cup. It ended up talking like a Spanish rice which was fine by me.
TerryandSharon
2021-12-24 20:32:50
My Husband And I loved it❤️Easy and Delicious 😋
Amy
2021-11-18 21:59:46
BOMB. My husband is obsessed. I add mushrooms and sub tomato paste for curry paste and a little hot sauce. What a creation.
Pamela
2021-09-14 21:36:59
This was really good. I added red bell pepper and mushrooms. Everyone loves it. I'll be putting it in my meal rotation.
Brandie
2021-09-08 20:03:48
This was wonderful and very easy to make I used frozen riced cauliflower and microwaved it used triple cheddar and mozzarella cheese added some minced garlic we really liked it I will definitely be making it again
lori connor
2021-04-17 09:06:54
This was fantastic! I used about half of a large bag of frozen riced cauliflower and cooked it in the micro until hot. I was actually a little skeptical about the recipe, but had all the ingredients. It was really great and my husband loved it, too! I added in some baby spinach at the end, too. Easy and quick!
Andrea
2021-02-12 20:01:42
Very delicious recipe! I didn't have ground beef or beef broth so I used ground chicken and chicken broth and a bag of steam in bag frozen cailiflower rice to cut down on the time it takes to rice a head of cauliflower. It turned out AMAZING! Everyone wanted seconds.
Shannon
2021-01-26 13:35:22
Delicious! Wanted to add more veggies so I added a chopped red bell pepper. This recipe is a great base to add whatever you want! Thanks so much!!!
arlene
2021-01-07 13:24:02
Delicious. I didn't rice the veggies and I didn't have tomato paste so used sun dried tomatoes. Surprising mixes of flavors. I will save this one! thank you.
