One Pot Cheeseburger Casserole
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All the flavors of a cheeseburger in cheesy pasta form made in one skillet in less than 30 minutes – even the pasta gets cooked right in the pan!
With a very cloudy day today, I decided to take the day off and unplug from everything.
I forget how refreshing it is to take a break from time to time, especially when you’re buried in your own work 24/7. The perks of being your own boss, right?
But now that my lazy day is over, I really need to share this pasta skillet. See, after I made that one pot andouille sausage skillet pasta, I’ve been somewhat addicted to these easy one pot meals. After all, I’d do anything for less dirty dishes in the sink!
Now if you’re a cheeseburger lover like me, you’ll love this pasta skillet. It’s all the flavors of a cheeseburger in pasta form with crumbled ground beef, melted cheddar cheese and fresh tomatoes. You can even go further and top these with your favorite burger toppings like pickled jalapeños or crumbled bacon – the sky’s the limit!
One Pot Cheeseburger Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 2 cups chicken broth
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 pound rotini pasta
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 Roma tomato, diced
- 2 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add ground beef and onion and cook until beef has browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Drain excess fat.
- Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, ketchup, mustard, pasta and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 13-16 minutes.
- Remove from heat and top with cheese. Cover until cheese has melted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with tomato and green onions, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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In the ingredients you list 2 cups chicken broth. In the directions you have 2c. Chicken broth AND 2 cups water. So 4 cups liquid? Haven’t started cooking this yet, so that might help me figure it out but that sounds like a lot of liquids
Can this be prepared in advance and then frozen for a future meal?
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
I read direction #2 that I add the 2 cups of chicken broth AND 2 cups of water for a total of 4 cups, is that correct?
Thank you!
Why two cups chicken broth and 2 cups water. Why not 4 cups chicken broth?
Love this recipe! I’ve probably made it about once a month since finding it a couple of years ago. I recently got an Instant Pot and decided to try it in there. The only change I made was to reduce the water to 1 1/2 cups and use corkscrew pasta (as my favorite brand has recently reduced the rotini package to 12 oz.). I used the manual high pressure setting for 10 minutes then quick pressure release. It worked perfectly! I (and my family) thank you for developing this recipe!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was so easy to make and quite delicious. As I had a 1lb package of ground beef, I added 8 oz of sliced mushrooms. We really enjoyed the addition of the mushrooms. The only change I would make next time, is to add more mustard. Thank you for a great recipe.
I made this as an instant pot recipe last night. 12 minutes. I added Worcestershire and Montreal steak seasoning. I also added 4 slices of chopped uncooked bacon to the ground beef when sauteing. I did not add the water, just the broth.
I added the cheese at the end and topped which chopped dill pickles..omg this was amazing Chungah!
My husband LOVED it as well.
This was delicious on prep night! My son has now asked for it heated in a thermos for school lunch, two days in a row! It’s a keeper!!
ah! was delicious
Made this tonight. I used 1/2 lb of penne and cut everything in half (there’s only 2 of us). We liked it! It is a simple, but tasty recipe. Used an electric skillet and added a pinch of sugar to temper the acidity. Enjoyable!! Had no issues with excess liquid or blandness. We customized toppings for serving to our tastes -Mushrooms and Swiss, or green chiles and cheddar, pickles on the side.
I loved this!!! I used ground turkey vs beef. Two fresh tomatoes instead of canned. also I added mushrooms and roasted green chilies. It came out great! My husband even loved it, and he usually doesn’t enjoy pasta at all. Highly recommended it.
Forgot to say, all the flavor is in the mince. You have to properly season your mince. After that everything can be simple and natural. Season step by step. Do not dump seasoning all at once.
Slight edit. Put 1 cup cheddar in the mix, then put the other cup on top, with the tomatoes. Gotta have cheese on top of a burger.
Thanks! I had all this stuff on hand so we ate it last night. 3 out of 4 kids approved and the other child ate a serving without drama. Great pantry meal. My picky three year old even ate her serving. It worked just fine with Tinkyada gluten free rotini, too.
Could I substitute spaghetti instead of rotini noodles?
in step 2, do you need both water and chicken broth? it seems like a LOT of liquid. please clarify, thanks!
Hi. This was tasty. I did make some modifications though. I added celery, carrots and garlic to sneak in extra veggies. I only had a pound of ground beef so I rolled with that. I used all chicken stock instead of half water half broth. The biggest factor (I think) to prevent overcooking the noodles or having too much liquid is cooking at a moderate simmer with the lid OFF for 13 min or until the pasta is cooked. Very tasty and oooked just like the picture. My family liked it and it was easy.
Basically, this is hamburger helper, but healthier. Ok.
I made this for dinner tonight – I used whole wheat pasta, which came in a 13.5 oz box. I left out the tomato sauce because I didn’t have any and to compensate for having a lower volume of pasta. Also used 2 c water instead of broth because I also didn’t have broth on hand. Came out perfectly, may family enjoyed it. Thanks for helping solve tonight’s dinner dilemma!
Made this for lunch today. Didn’t have roma tomato or green onion, and subbed beef stock for chicken because that’s what I had. We loved this! Grandkids came after lunch, commented on how good it smelled and asked for a bowl of it heated up and they loved it also! Thanks so much for an easy but great recipe!