Gluten Free Ground Beef Casserole

A very tasty ground beef casserole that is also healthy, keto and low carb. A super easy recipe, perfect for a weeknight dinner. Leftovers are great too!

This ground beef casserole is so easy. You quickly brown the ground beef with a few spices, mix in cream cheese and shredded cheddar, then bake until the cheese is melted.

I intentionally don’t include chopped onion in this recipe, because it’s very tasty with the onion powder and it’s so much easier not to deal with chopping an onion. Of course, you can add a medium chopped onion when browning the beef! Maybe you’re not as lazy as I am.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil spray for pan
• 2 lb. extra lean ground beef (93% lean)
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 4 oz reduced fat cream cheese, cubed
• 1 cup shredded cheddar, divided
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 2-quart casserole dish with olive oil and set it aside.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly spray it with olive oil.
3. Add the ground beef to the skillet. Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat into small pieces, until meat is no longer raw, about 5 minutes. Drain the beef if you wish (I sometimes skip this step) and return to the skillet.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Mix the salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and cayenne into the beef, then slowly and patiently mix in the cream cheese until fully melted and incorporated.
5. Turn the heat off, and mix 1/2 cup of the shredded cheddar into the beef mixture.
6. Transfer the mixture to the prepared 2-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheddar on top.
7. Bake the ground beef casserole until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Garnish with parsley and serve.