Cheesy Ground Beef Casserole - Cookies and Cups

By: Shelly
Posted: Oct 8, 2025

Family-friendly old fashioned ground beef casserole is easy to make and completely adaptable! Perfect for picky eaters, this is a great weeknight dinner idea.

Cheese topped rice and ground beef casserole baked in a white ceramc baking dish with a spoon serving a piece

Why Your Family Will Love This Ground Beef Casserole

This rice and hamburger casserole is a beginner-level, comfort food dinner idea that is great as-is, or can be altered to suit your own family preferences.

Quick Prep. This recipe has minimal ingredients and takes only minutes to prep. It can be prepped ahead and baked when it’s time for dinner as well, which a great option for busy nights!
Customizable Flavors. This is a fairly basic recipe, and while it’s great as I’ve written it, it’s a very easy recipe to “make your own”, which I love! I will hit on some adaptation ideas below!
Family Friendly. Having a recipe that you know you can make and everyone in your family will enjoy is handy. The flavors in this one are simple, and easy for kids to enjoy as well as adults who enjoy a simple comfort food dish.
Inexpensive. This budget friendly recipe will cost you less than $15 total to feed your whole family. I will break down the totals below!

More Ground Beef Casserole Options

If you have some ground beef to use and would like some more options, here are a few:

Ground Beef Casserole topped with melted cheese and serving it with a spoon.

Dinner On A Budget

This recipe has everyday ingredient, some (or all) that you might have in your refrigerator/pantry right now! Let’s break down the cost of the items and per serving! Of course the prices can vary based on where you shop/location, but here’s my closest estimate based on what I spent:

Ground beef: $7.50
Steak seasoning: $0.10
Carrots or mixed vegetables: $0.50
Cream of mushroom soup: $1.50
Chicken broth: $2.00
Rice: $0.30
Colby Jack cheese: $2.00

TOTAL ESTIMATE FOR DINNER = $13.90

FOR SIX SERVINGS: $2.32

Ingredients for ground beef casserole laid out and shown from above — Ingredients: Cooked ground beef, sliced carrots, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Steak Seasoning, uncooked rice, chicken broth, colby jack cheese slices

Ground Beef Casserole Ingredients Needed/Options

Simple ingredients only here! Sometimes you just want a dinner recipe that you can make with that you have in your kitchen on any given night without a special shopping trip! Make sure to scroll to the recipe card at the bottom for the full ingredient list with measurements.

Ground Beef: Use lean ground beef for this recipe.
Steak Seasoning: I like Montreal Steak Seasoning, but you can use whatever seasoning blend you prefer. If you don’t have a seasoning blend you can use a combination of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Carrots. I just slice up some baby carrots when I make this because my family loves cooked carrots, but you can use peas, a bag of mixed veggies, or corn as a few option ideas.
Cream of Mushroom Soup. Feel free to use cream of chicken here as well! OR you can use tomato sauce in place of the soup for an Italian flair.
Chicken broth. You can use any type of broth you have, or even water if you don’t have broth!
Rice. Use long grain white rice in this recipe so it cooks according to baking time and liquid added. If you adjust the type of rice you will need to adjust the amount of liquid and cooking times may vary.
Colby Jack cheese. For a shortcut I use the packaged slices that work for sandwiches. You can adjust the type of cheese of course, and if you prefer to slice it yourself just slice it thin!

Step By Step Instructions

This is an easy one to prep and a great recipe for college kids and teens to learn the basics! You don’t have to boil the rice ahead, it all cooks right in the dish!

Brown the ground beef in a large skillet and season the meat! Drain the meat if you need to.

In a large bowl combine the vegetables, soup, broth, rice, and cooked meat.

Mixture of beef casserole ingredients in a glass bowl shown from above — Mix together the cream of mushroom soup, carrots, cooked ground beef, rice, and broth in a large bowl.

Pour this into a greased 9×9 casserole dish. Cover it with foil and bake for 60 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the foil. Place back in the oven and cook for 15 more minutes until the rice is cooked and the liquid is absorbed.

Suggestions For Customization Based On Personal Preferences

Like I have said this recipe is very open to adaptation. Here are a few ideas for you:

Swap out the ground beef for ground turkey, ground pork, ground chicken, or Italian sausage!
Use whatever type of vegetable you and your family prefers!
Change the seasonings up. You can use Italian seasoning, taco seasoning, Greek or Cajun seasoning as a few options!
Add in a splash of Worcestershire sauce, soy, or coconut aminos as a flavor enhancer.
Swap out the cheese. Colby Jack is mild but if you want to use taco seasoning Pepper Jack would be great! Cheddar Cheese is an easy swap or even use grated cheese instead of slices. Think of all the possibilities!

Rice and Ground Beef Casserole baked in a 9x9 pan topped with cheese

How To Store Ground Beef Casserole

This is a great dish to reheat the next day. Simply cover and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can reheat in the microwave easily for lunch the next day!

Description

This family-friendly old fashioned ground beef casserole is easy to make and completely adaptable! Perfect for picky eaters, this is a great weeknight dinner idea.

1 pound ground beef
1 tablespoon steak seasoning
1 cup sliced carrots (or mixed vegetables)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
9 sandwich-style slices colby jack cheese
*optional – parsley to garnish (dried or fresh)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×9 pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
In a large skillet cook the ground beef until no longer pink. Add in the steak seasoning and stir to combine.
In a large bowl combine the cooked meat, carrots, cream of mushroom soup, broth, and rice. Stir to mix and pour this mixture into the prepared pan.
Cover the pan with foil and bake for 60 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and cook for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven again and top the casserole with the cheese slices. Return to the oven and bake for an addition 10 minutes until the cheese is melted.
Sprinkle with parsley to garnish if desired.