Green Chile Cheeseburger Casserole

An easy main course casserole that’s tasty and a meal in itself

This Green Chile Cheeseburger Casserole is a complete meal cleverly disguised as comfort food. Personally, I always have all of these ingredients and I can pretty much throw it together in about a half hour of work. Of course it takes another hour or so to bake, but it’s really the time it takes to make that’s important.

I always have ground beef, usually in 1-lb packages, onion, shredded cheese, potatoes and lots of spices. This is just a matter of browning the beef and onion with spices while roasting the potatoes in cream of mushroom soup, and then topping the potatoes with the beef and shredded cheese. Bake another 10 minutes or so and voila! You have a 1-dish meal for the whole family. Note that I often adjusts the seasoning on the beef to taste. I might want to make it fairly mild or pretty spicy depending on the crowd I’m serving it to.

This is a combination of a balanced complete meal and comfort food. If you want to make it more robust or elegant for guests, serve it with side toppings of sour cream, sliced black olives, pinon nuts, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, or whatever your imagination can concoct. Here I chose to top the casserole with chopped lettuce and fresh tomatoes.

Note this is a great dish for a football game potluck where people serve themselves. The rectangular dish won’t fit in a microwave, but you could make it in two smaller dishes that would or you could pop it in the host’s oven for 15 minutes right before serving, put it on the serving table topped with lettuce and tomatoes. Or you could put the lettuce and tomatoes on the side so guests can add it themselves.

Hope you like it!

Green Chile Cheeseburger Casserole

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

1 hour

Total time

1 hour 10 mins

 

An easy, robust dish that can be varied to suit your family's tastes. Guaranteed bombproof.

Author: Anita

Recipe type: Main dish

Cuisine: Southwestern

Serves: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 lbs russet potatoes
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• ½ cup milk
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 medium-large onion, chopped
• ½ to ¾ cup diced green chiles, depending on heat level
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 tsp fajita seasoning
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp beef bouillon
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 2 cups shredded cheddar or jack cheese
• Chopped lettuce and chopped fresh tomatoes for topping.

Instructions

1. Note: use a large rectangular baking dish ( 11x7 or 13x9)
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Peel the potatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise, and slice into pieces about ¼ inch thick. Spread evenly in the bottom of the baking dish.
4. In a bowl, blend the cream of mushroom soup with ½ cup milk. Pour over the potatoes and spread evenly in the baking dish. Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
5. While the potatoes are baking, break up the ground beef in a medium skillet, add onions, green chiles, garlic and seasonings and brown evenly and set aside. Note: I often add seasonings to taste while the beef is cooking (more fajita seasoning, cumin or chili powder). Drain fat off and set aside when beef is browned.
6. Check the potatoes to make sure the potatoes are fully cooked by pricking with a fork.
7. Remove from oven and spread the beef mixture evenly over the top. Then sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top.
8. Bake another 10 minutes or until cheese is fully melted.
9. Top with lettuce and chopped tomatoes and serve using a large serving spoon or spatula.

3.5.3208