This casserole brought me back.
My mom used to make some sort of variation of this casserole all the time when I was a little kid. She's made it several different ways; with sliced potatoes as you'll see here, tater tots, mashed potatoes, you name it. It's delicious and creamy, perfect for a chilly night, and a great option for kiddos, or a meat and potatoes loving man for that matter!
The mixture of meat, peppers and onions, and potatoes swimming in an creamy sauce is just the right blend of comfort.
Give it a shot one of these weeknights!
To make this casserole, you'll need:
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Sweet Onion
- Baby Red Potatoes
- 1 Can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup (or your favorite "cream of" soup)
- ¾ Cup of Milk
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- A Nice Spice Blend - Onion Flakes, Garlic Powder, Beef Bouillon, Parsley, Smoked Paprika, Celery Salt (see exact measurements in the recipe below)
- Salt/Pepper (to taste)
What should I have prepped before I get started?
With casserole recipes, I find that they move rather quickly as long as you have all of the different parts prepared. So I recommend prepping as much as you can before you get started to help cut down on time.
Dice your pepper and onion, slice your potatoes into quarter inch slices (a mandoline works great for this), mix your spice blend in a small bowl, and lay out the remaining ingredients.
Once you're all prepped you're ready to roll!
Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly spray a 2 ½ quart casserole dish with cooking spray.
Start by cooking the ground beef, seasoning lightly with salt and pepper, and draining any grease.
Remove the ground beef from the pan, keeping a little bit of the fat in the pan, place it in a bowl and keep it warm.
Add the diced peppers and onions, and pour half of the spice blend over them. Sautee lightly for a couple of minutes, just to soften them up a bit.
Add the peppers and onions to the ground beef and give it a gentle stir. I like to cook my peppers and onions for this separately from the ground beef because I like them to still have a little bit of a bite. You can absolutely cook them with the ground beef in the pan, they may just soften up a bit more as the meat cooks.
While the peppers cook down a tad, add the milk and cream of mushroom soup to a saucepan. Pour in the remaining spice blend and simmer for about 2 minutes. You just want everything to combine well and heat up just a little bit for a better consistency. Once the sauce is ready, move everything over to your prepping station.
Start layering the casserole by adding a thin spread of the mushroom sauce, then a layer of potato slices, the ground beef and peppers, and a handful of shredded cheddar cheese.
Repeat this process again, then top the casserole with the last layer of potato slices. I like to make mine fancy by laying them in a winding fashion, but it's not absolutely necessary!
Cover the casserole with aluminum foil, and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
Remove the aluminum foil and bake uncovered for another 15 minutes. If you don't get the perfect golden color on top of the potatoes that you want in this amount of time, you can turn the broiler on and allow the casserole to broil for 2 -3 minutes prior to serving.
Top with fresh chives and serve!
Some delicious condiment suggestions for this casserole, a dollop of sour cream and a drizzle of Frank's Red Hot!
My husband ate nearly the entire casserole, this did NOT disappoint! Happy cooking!
If you try this recipe out, don’t forget to post a rating and comment!
I’d love to see your pictures on Instagram too! Tag @a_toastedcrumb!
Ground Beef and Potato Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb Ground Beef
- 1 Red Bell Pepper diced
- 1 Sweet Onion diced
- 1 lb Baby Red Potatoes sliced ¼u0026quot; thick
- 1 can 10.5oz Campbellu0026#039;s Cream of Mushroom Soup
- 6 oz Shredded Cheddar Cheese
- ¾ cup Milk
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Onion Flakes
- ½ teaspoon Beef Bouillon Cube crumbled
- ½ teaspoon Dried Parsley
- ¼ teaspoon Celery Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
- Salt/Pepper to taste
Optional Condiments
- Fresh Chives
- Sour Cream
- Franku0026#039;s Red Hot Sauce
Instructions
Prep Ingredients
- Dice red bell pepper and onion.
- Skin and slice potatoes by hand or using a mandoline slicer.
- Mix spice blend by combining garlic powder, paprika, onion flake, beef bouillon, parsley, celery salt, and pepper in a small bowl - set aside.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Make the Beef Mixture
- Cook ground beef over medium-high heat seasoning lightly with salt and pepper.
- Drain grease from ground beef, remove from pan (leaving a few teaspoon of fat in the pan), and set aside. Keep warm.
- Add peppers, onions, and half of the spice blend to the pan - sauté lightly for 2 - 3 minutes.
- Add cooked peppers and onions to ground beef and stir.
Make the Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, add cream of mushroom soup, ¾ cup of milk, and the remaining spice blend.
- Simmer for 1 - 2 minutes, allowing the sauce to warm up a little bit.
Build Casserole
- Spray a 2 ½ quart casserole dish with cooking spray and spread a thin layer of sauce in the bottom.
- Add a layer of sliced potatoes, then a layer of the beef mixture, and shredded cheddar cheese.
- Repeat the process with a sauce layer, potato layer, beef mixture. and cheese.
- Pour any remaining sauce you have over the cheese and add the last layer of potatoes in a spiral.
- Season lightly with salt and pepper (if desired), cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350° for 45 minutes.
- Remove aluminum foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
- If a golden crisp crust on top of the potatoes is desired, broil for a few minutes until desired color is achieved.
- Serve with fresh chives, sour cream, and Franku0026#039;s Red Hot Sauce.
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