Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Easy Keto Friendly Hamburger Casserole

It's almost New Year's Day! That means lots of people will be starting a new diet plan or maybe restarting a diet plan that didn't go so well in 2020. I'm more of a calorie counter, eat less, move more kind of person but my husband likes the keto friendly lifestyle. I'm not a nutritionist (not even close) but I do like to find or create keto friendly recipes for my husband's benefit. We have 4 adults living here so when I cook, I like to cook a lot at one time so we have plenty to go around and then I can freeze the leftovers. Earlier tonight, we enjoyed an easy hamburger casserole. I made this hamburger casserole in a 9X13 inch casserole dish like this one. I don't know the exact protein or carb numbers but the ingredients are all keto friendly.

Easy Keto Friendly Hamburger Casserole

*Before we get started, you should know that neither Oster, Hormel, or any other brand mentioned in this post contacted me about writing a review of their products or mentioning their products in a post. This is not a sponsored post.

Easy Keto Friendly Hamburger Casserole

First, you'll need these ingredients:

2.5 Pounds of Ground Beef

1 Medium/Large Onion, Chopped

2 Tablespoons of Garlic Powder

4 Ounces of Cream Cheese

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

Hamburger Seasoning to Taste

Salt and Pepper to Taste

One Package of Bacon

4 Eggs

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

2 Tablespoons Mustard

2 8oz. Packages of Triple Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Pickles - Whatever You Like

Now for cooking instructions with photos:

First, pre-heat your oven to 350.

Then, place ground beef and onions in a skillet. I LOVE my new tabletop electric skillet. I'll tell you about that shortly. Cook the ground beef and chopped onions until the ground beef is cooked thoroughly and the onions are soft.

Cook ground beef until the meat is cooked thoroughly and the onions are soft.

If your meat is not 90% lean, you will probably need to drain the excess grease after the meat and onions are cooked.

After draining your excess grease (if needed), add in the hamburger seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic, cream cheese, and Worcestershire sauce. Cook a little longer until the cream cheese is melted.

Once the cream cheese is melted and all the ingredients are well blended (this smells soooo good), spray a 9X13 inch casserole dish with Pam cooking spray. Then, spread the meat mixture into the bottom of the casserole dish and set aside.

Cook the bacon in a microwave (or fry it if you don't like the precooked kind) according to the package instructions. I used the whole package.

Let the bacon cool enough so that you can handle it. Tear it into pieces and sprinkle over the meat mixture in your casserole dish.

You can opt to layer your favorite hamburger pickles over the bacon. I saved ours for later.

Set aside.

Sprinkle cooked bacon over the cooked hamburger meat mixture.

In a separate large mixing bowl, combine eggs, heavy whipping cream, mustard, and one 8 oz. package of triple shredded cheddar cheese. Mix thoroughly. Then, pour the mixture over the meat/bacon in the casserole dish.

Mix together the eggs, heavy whipping cream, mustard, and cheese.

Spread egg, cheese mixture over the meat mixture in the casserole dish.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Then, remove from oven. Sprinkle the second 8oz. package of triple shredded cheddar cheese mixture over the top.

Sprinkle the second package of triple shredded cheese mixture over the dish.

*Side note about the triple shredded cheddar cheese: You don't have to have the blended cheeses. In fact, I usually add them separately (4 ounces of sharp shredded cheddar and 4 ounces of white shredded cheddar), but just today, I found a package of blended white cheddar, sharp cheddar, and mild cheddar cheeses. I thought this would be better so I used it instead. I like it because the cheeses are already blended. You just poor the whole thing in.

Easy Keto Friendly Hamburger Casserole Triple Cheese Mixture

Finely Shredded Triple Cheddar Cheese from Kraft

After sprinkling the second package of triple cheddar cheese on top of your dish, place it back in the oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the shredded cheddar cheese topping is bubbling and turning light brown around the edges.


Doesn't this look delicious?

Allow the dish to cool for about 5 minutes. Then, you should be able to cut it into servings.

You should be able to cut a minimum of 15 servings in a 9 X 13 inch casserole dish.

So yummy!

I hope you like cheese! This dish tastes so good.

I chose to leave our pickles out of the main dish because not everyone here likes them and those who do prefer different kinds. My husband likes spicy dill pickles. I prefer sweet pickle relish which isn't really all that keto friendly so we enjoyed our pickles off to the side.

This recipe was a big hit so we'll be making it often. As I enjoyed my serving, I thought of another ingredient that would make this even better - tomatoes. I think it needs fresh cut tomatoes or perhaps I'll add a can of Rotel next time. I'll do that soon so stay tuned. I'll let you know how that goes. By the way, you can use less cheese if you want. We have no shame. We love our cheese. LOL

Now, about that skillet!

For the 30 years that I've been married and cooking for my family, I have gone through several electric skillets. Every few years, when the one I'm using has seen its last days, my mother will give me a new one as a Christmas gift. This year was a year to get a new electric skillet. I was with my mother, enjoying a day of Christmas shopping, when I picked this one out. I liked it because it has a pour spout on one corner. Today, when using it for the first time, I realized how helpful that pour spout is. The lid is awesome! On two corners of the lid, there are little holes that fit in that pour spout corner so when you pour out excess liquids, you don't lose any food particles.

This pour spout feature on this Oster electric skillet is awesome!

The skillet has wider hand grips than my previous skillets. Gripping the skillet to pour out liquids is much easier with the wider handles. The lid has two black "pad-like" knobs on two sides. These are called thumb pads. You can grip the skillet while holding your thumbs on the thumb pads. This holds the lid on securely without burning your thumbs while you handle the skillet and pour out excess liquids.

You can more securely grip this skillet while holding your thumbs on the thumb pads. This prevents burns.

The inside of the skillet has a non-stick finish that is much better quality than my previous skillets. I just love it.

*Reminder: Oster did not contact me about reviewing this skillet. This skillet is a Christmas gift and I love it so much that I had to include a few good words about it. If you think you might enjoy one of these skillets, you can get the Oster non stick electric like the one I have below. I think you'll love it as much as I do.