This is the famous cheesy keto bacon cheeseburger casserole that went viral last month. Why? Because all the parenting groups out there discovered it - see why!
What kid doesn't like a cheeseburger for dinner? Just don't tell them it's a healthy version!
This is the favourite recipe for my 13-year-old son. It's also his favourite recipe that he wants to cook every week on his cooking night (yes, each of my kiddos and hubby has a cooking night).
Top Tip: Start a family dinner roster PLUS print off your favourite low-carb and keto recipes into a folder so your kids can choose healthy meal options.
Keto Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
What I love about cheesy keto bacon cheeseburger casserole, is that you can prepare the quick and easy cheeseburger casserole while you are waiting for your oven to heat to the required temperature.
Sprinkle with shredded cheese, then pop the casserole in the oven.
Bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is golden and crispy.
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How To Layer Your Cheeseburger Casserole
1: Fry the beef with onion and garlic until thoroughly cooked and browned. Pour into your casserole dish.
2: Once the ground/minced beef layer is cooked, you sprinkle over the bacon.
3: Add some pickles/gherkins (pickled in vinegar, check for no added sugars)
4: Pour over the cheats cheese sauce, then add plenty of grated/shredded cheese to make a super cheesy crust.
How To Cook Cheeseburger Casserole FAST!
This recipe is so simple, it has to be seen to be believed.
But if you're running out of time, you can simply throw it all together and omitted the first step of browning and cooking the beef first.
Yes, that's right. I sometimes mix the raw beef, onion, garlic and cream cheese together, placed it in the casserole dish, continued with my cheats cheese sauce and the rest of the recipe.
If you do have time to cook the beef first, the bacon cheeseburger casserole only requires 15 minutes of cooking time for the sauce and cheese to bake and create a crunchy cheesy topping.
If you are using raw beef, cook for 40 minutes to ensure all the meat is thoroughly cooked through the centre of the casserole dish.
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What Could You Serve With A Low-Carb Cheeseburger Casserole?
In addition to the side dishes above, I love to serve this dish with a huge side salad and homemade 1-minute mayo.
Or sometimes a medley of veggies, including mustard mashed cauliflower.
Family-freindly side dish recipes above:
HFLC Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
Recipe Video (tap to play)
Calculate ingredients
Ingredients
Beef Layer
- 1 onion quartered and sliced
- 1 clove garlic crushed
- 750 g (1.65 lb) ground/mince beef
- 60 g (2 oz) cream cheese full fat
- 3 slices bacon diced
- salt/pepper to taste
Cheats Cheese Sauce
- 3 eggs - medium
- 125 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- 100 g (1 cup) shredded/grated cheese
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 2 gherkins/pickles sliced
- salt/pepper to taste
- 50 g (1/2 cup) shredded/grated cheese to sprinkle over
Equipment
Instructions
Beef Layer
- Fry the bacon pieces until cooked then remove and set aside.
- Fry the onion, garlic and beef until thoroughly cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir through the cream cheese.
- Pour the beef layer into the baking dish. Sprinkle the bacon pieces over.
Cheats Cheese Sauce
- Mix the eggs, cream, shredded/grated cheese, mustard, salt and pepper together. Pour the cheese sauce over the beef and bacon.
- Place slices of gherkins/pickles all over the top then cover with the remaining shredded/grated cheese.
- Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes until the cheese is golden and crispy. Serve with salad and 1-minute mayonnaise.
Nutrition
More recipes you may like:
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Michele
What size pan is being used? It's definitely NOT a 9x9 because the pictures clearly show a rectangular pan.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Ahh, that was for the video, but when I make it at home, I use a 9x9 pan.
BexG
Forgot to rate it.
Rubi
I actually made for the first time and it was so delicia it wasn’t greasy or anything . My husband and I are the whole casserole! Thank you for your recipe
Anna
What size casserole dish did you use?
Serena Williams
It's super nasty lol not as good as it sounds. Very greasy.
Tom L
Honest review:. For me, this was not great. I didn't fully understand the cream and egg mixture... It kind of came out soft and custard like which didn't really go well with the ground beef in terms of texture. The cream cheese was lost and did not add much. Also, not enough cheese, and not enough bacon, which was also lost because it was buried. Don't mean to be the sour puss, but felt that the reviews here were almost entirely five star, do needed a balanced voice. I do like the concept. I may retool this. Would put the ground beef below, layer with a cream cheese/sour cream/green onion layer, maybe another ground beef layer, then melted cheese, topped with bacon. Something like that I guess, adding in some olive oil to the ground beef to make the macros keto friendly.
Xtina
Can you freeze this?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes! Freeze as individual portions so you have a healthy low-carb freezer ready meal for an emergency! It will stop the takeouts and save $$$. Yay.
Rita
But do you freeze it after you cook it in the oven? Or can you prepare it completely except for baking it, and then freeze it?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I freeze it after it is completely cooked and then cooled.
Linda schmidt
Can you cut this in half
Marsha
This came out great!! I think it's best to brown your meat ahead of time and try and get it in small crumbles vs bigger chunks. Personally I didn't notice any egg taste (like some of the reviews commented). I used Yancy's Fancy pepperoni cheese in the cheese mixture then used plain cheddar on top, only because I ran out. Will definitely make again and try other cheese versions than cheddar. On nights when I use plain cheddar I'm thinking of trying to incorporate a hot sauce. A burger chain here in the U.S. has a great one so I may try to copy. Or a version that has mushrooms and blue cheese. I didn't add the bacon as I'm not a big fan but on this I think it would be good. Didn't take more than the 15 minutes to cook, The serving is a little large for me unless you serve it with something light like a salad. So might try to cut into a little smaller pieces. And I'd say this would be great for picky eaters/children. They could probably even choose what toppings they wanted. I bet you could even make in individual serving dishes and everyone could create their own 'burger' Thanks for another great recipe Libby.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Great idea - individual cheeseburger casseroles in little ramekin dishes ... I love this!
Fuailelagi
This was a hit with my family! Thanks so much 🙂
Ian
What's the serving size for the macros above?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Recipe states "serves 6".
long may
What kind of grated cheese to use? and I am the only one in the house that is eating a Keto diet and want to be sure that I don’t waste what if fix
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I use cheddar, Edma or Colby. But any solid cheese grated/shredded will work.
Ronald Isaacs
I made one and ate it for lunch at work for a week
Wren
I used the Mexican cheese grated. It’s Colby , Monterrey jack and cheddar. Delicious!
Tammy June Combs
I made this tonight with a side salad per your recommendation 🙂 Thanks so much! My pickiest eater ate some and said it would be good to make it again! I had to substitute onion powder for the onion - I think he doesn't like the crunch.
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
YAY!!! This makes me smile when a picky kids find a new recipe here 🙂 Well done Tammy.
Jenn
I used 0 carb dill relish instead of dicing pickles. Makes it even easier!
Kendra Capalbo
I apologize if someone else already asked this question but I was wondering what ratio fat the ground beef is that you used to calculate the nutritional information. Looking forward to trying this!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I tend to use 80/20 ground/minced beef in most recipes but for this one, I think I selected 85/15 so there isn't so much fat in the casserole.
Amanda & Jerry NeSmith
My husband and me just made this recipe and couldn't determine portion until after we had already divided out our meal although this meal was very flavorful . Was a bit runny but that was from the fat grease and our cheese sauce didn't thicken any oh well the casserole was delicious!
Kelly Seybold
what is the portion size?
A
Just to make it clear because the photos of stuff that you might need is confusing.pre- Shredded cheese isn’t keto because they add cornstarch to it to stop clumping
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Check your brands, the one I buy doesn't have added cornstarch. The nutrition panel for the pre-shredded cheese I buy has 0.5g carbs per 100g. Ye-ha!
Daniel
Obviously drain the grease before you put it all together but this dish is seriously one of the best for Keto! The one thing I did Different that I loved Is that I took It out a couple of mins before, switched the oven to broil and did that for a couple of minutes to get a nice crispy crust on the top. So good!
Sidney
I know that keto is supposed to include extra fat, but putting it all together raw would leave it in a puddle of grease, even with very lean meat.
I'd have to cook and drain the meat first.
It does sound good that way.
Barbara
What size baking dish do you use? I was not sure if it was like a lasagna pan or 8 or 9” square.
Diane
The image of the dish above shows it as a 9 x 9.
Pamela
Meh... to each their own. I do have certain casseroles that I make with raw ground beef and they can get a tad greasy but if you go with leaner beef it's still good. IMO anyway Haha. I enjoy the flavour though. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea!
Joyce
I made this a few times and it always comes out true. It's delicious. Awesome recipe.
DeAnn
How many servings is this recipe?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Serves 6. The serving for each recipe is to be found just above the ingredient list. You can also dial up how many servings you would like to make, and the ingredients will magically recalculate for you.
samantha
how much is a serving? I see where you said you can change but how much is just one serving? maybe I am missing something lol, its been that kind of day.
Marnie
Such a great dish! Absolutely love love love this! Thank you for the great site - I tell everyone I know about it!!!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Wow Marnie, what a sweetheart 🙂
Sharon
Made this for the first time tonight, excellent! I read the comments before I started so I knew to beat the eggs well and drain the beef. Thank you to everyone who commented! I didn't use pickles, instead I put a few dots of sweet relish on top of the beef/bacon layer then spread them out a bit. Not so keto friendly but there isn't much in a portion and it's much quicker than dealing with pickles. Hubby asked me what I thought of it as he went for seconds. I quite enjoyed this and he did too! I had much more beef than called for, I used all 3 eggs and beat them well before the whipping cream and yellow mustard went in.There was no eggy taste. I will definitely make this again!
Rebecca
So the comments about it turning into an omlette scare me. I dont want to notice the egg at all. Also, what about mayo in place of the cream or half cream half mayo? Won’t need egg if you just use mayo am I right? Anyone do this?
Auntie Mel
I made this last night. I used two eggs, and a half cup of half and half, and one pound of beef. The egg was not noticeable, and it was delicious.
Dana
Make sure you mix it well. The forst time i did it i beat the egg before adding the rest of the ingredients. Came out like a cheese sauce. 2nd time it was a bit eggie and i realized i half mixed. Now i know!
Jamie Mullendore
Oh my goodness!!! I just made this for the family and we are IN LOVE!!! So easy, so yummy. We really likes it with a drizzle of sugar free ketchup. Thank you so much!
Kevin H.
I'm not sure what I did wrong. I'll eat almost anything, but I thought this was awful. I love pickles but I really regret putting them in there, the top tasted more like egg than cheese. I've ate it a couple days now because i hate wasting food, but I think the main killer for me is the topping, it just does not taste good.
Regardless, thank you for the recipe, as I try more things on my Keto journey.
Nadine - Texas, USA
I've made this a few times. My husband and I are keto, but, just like other reviewers, it's a whole family favorite! Our kids love it and even ask for it. It tastes exactly like a cheeseburger. Thanks for a great recipe.
Cat Stuart
Just made a double batch for our weekly meals and they are NOT going to last! This is awesome!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
This is praise indeed! Thank you.
Valerie
I double the recipe but I dont know if its me or what but every time i make this, it takes about an hour to fully cook, do you have that same issue when you double the recipe?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Are you using a casserole dish that is too small so the casserole is too thick/tall? The beef is already cooked before you add it to the casserole dish so all you are cooking is the cheese sauce and to ensure the flavour is infused throughout the keto cheeseburger casserole. It should take no longer than 25 minutes. Let's see if we can figure out what is going wrong here.
Natalie
I made these with pickled jalapeños and it turned out amazing! Definitely going to be part of my meal prep option.
Kyle
I know it seems obvious to long time cooks, but if you need to drain beef after cooking, you need to put it in the recipe.Never take for granted what people may or may not know about cooking when writing out a recipe.
Jules L
my daughter has been doing keto for some time now. She had a procedure done yesterday and I wanted to fix dinner for her so I made this and I gave some to my dad and to my son and to my granddaughter who do not do keto and we all loved it!! I'm making it for my daughter again this week?
Rachel
If freezing this would you bake it first and then freeze or just cook the meat and put everything in the pan and freeze that way? I’ve made this multiple times but I’m stocking my freezer now with a new baby coming 😉
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
I would bake it first then freeze. Slice into individual portions too, for an easy quick meal. All the best for your new arrival 🙂 xxx
Jill
Just put this in oven to bake but noticed when I put the cheat sauce on top it just sunk into beef mix I couldn't spread it like the video? Anyone else done this? Did I do something wrong? Thanks
Theresa Starr
I don't have any gherkins on hand... do you think pickle relish would taste the same?
Auntie Mel
do the pickles however you liked. I used sliced bread and butter pickles
Linn-Mare
I want to make this now and I've run out of mustard 🙁 will that make a huge difference if I don't add it?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
You can probably omit it without a hugely detrimental effect.
Emma
Just made this for my non keto cheeseburger loving partner and he loved it!! 10/10, so delish. Thank you for this recipe 🙂
Vicki
I made this today and I cooked off about 1/2 lb of riced cauliflower and right before I added the cream cheese to the pan, I added the cauliflower in and mixed all the beef ingredients together with it and the cream cheese. This gave a nice added veggie for those who want a "one pot" meal!
Nikki
Oh awesome, thanks for a great idea!!
Mandi
That's what I thought about doing, glad to know it worked!
Jennifer Travis
Oh and btw, our favorite toppers are classic burger toppings ie; tomato, extra pickles, shredded lettuce, mustard, yet also so awesome with salsa and sour cream!
Jennifer Travis
OMG! I have a household of 9. 3 of us are Keto. EVERYONE in the house asks for this recipe on the regular! I add a little heavy cream into the ground beef with the cream cheese and make the recipe for 16 servings (have dad, hubby and 18 yo son in the house.) I like to carmalize the onion and garlic in bacon grease as well. This recipe is an easy "go to" that pleases anyone in the house as well as a great idea when we have extra company. This is probably our favorite keto recipe to date!
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
WOW - this is the best recipe review for this recipe - ever!!!
Jennifer Travis
Thanks lol! We are greatful for the recipe! It is absolutely amazing!
Tess Kimble
As I got very excited on this recipe, I soon realized that this is only 1.6 lbs of beef and it serves 6 people? is this correct or is my calculations off?
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
Yes, that is correct. Serve with plenty of non-starchy vegetables, leafy greens or a side salad. If you are from the US you may be used to larger serving sizes that are the norm. Once you live low-carb or keto for a while, your appetite will drop back and the healthy fats keep you sustained for longer.
gen
Tried this and it tasted great. I think the mustard in the cheats cheese sauce gives the dish that cheeseburger punch. Has anyone else tried cooking it without the first step as Libby described?
Kara
Fantastic! I love it. I would add extra bacon next time, and jalapeños instead of pickles (or maybe a little of both). I also love the idea of adding mushrooms!
Jennifer Travis
Jalapenos are SO good with this! But what are jalapenos NOT good with?! Lol ?
Barbara McLennan
Cream cheese is listed in the ingredients for the beef layer, but not in the directions. What do you do with it?
Barbara McLennan
Sorry, I found it after I reread the recipe 🙂
Libby www.ditchthecarbs.com
In the beef layer instructions, it reads "stir through the cream cheese". Simply stir it through to make the beef a little creamy and lush!