This hearty hamburger casserole starts with buttermilk biscuits, has a scrumptious Sloppy Joe like filling, and is smothered with gooey cheese. Nothing could be better when you’re looking for a hearty casserole to feed a crowd. Easy to make ahead and then bake for just 15 minutes.
A Hearty Hamburger Casserole Made with Biscuits
There’s nothing better than biscuits with any Southern meal, so when you have a dish that incorporates them into the recipe itself, you have a win win all around. With this ground beef casserole, you get a little biscuit in every bite.
You’re going to love the sweet and tangy ground beef filling. With brown sugar and balsamic vinegar, it reminds me of a Sloppy Joe that you can eat with a fork. Biscuits and Sloppy Joes make this super kid friendly, but also a dish that adults will love.
It makes enough to feed a crowd and it makes great leftovers, just warm it in the toaster oven. If you love the flavor of sloppy Joes, try a cornbread topped Sloppy Joe for something different next time.
This recipe has a couple of steps but you can make it in advance and wait to bake it until dinner time. It only takes 15 minute to bake. You’ll start out with a basic buttermilk biscuit dough that is baked in a casserole dish. While that’s baking, you make the hamburger filling and then add it on top of the biscuits. Cover the casserole with cheese and you’ve got an amazing dinner.
What really makes this stand out are the biscuits. Similar to how biscuits steal the show in chicken pot pie, and guiness beef pie, a crust of flaky biscuit dough is fantastic. Biscuits are kind of my thing, with 20 different types of biscuit recipes on my site, I’m pretty comfortable making biscuits and love to incorporate these magical creatures any way I can.
Top Tips for Biscuits
1. Use cold butter
Using cold butter is the way to achieve the perfect flaky texture that all good biscuits have. Working cold butter into the flour makes little pockets of fat in the biscuit dough. When cold butter cooks in a hot oven, it creates steam, resulting in those flaky layers.
2. Use buttermilk
Buttermilk contributes to a biscuits tenderness and rise. The acidity in buttermilk reacts with the baking soda, creating bubbles that result in a light and airy texture. It’s a critical ingredient that helps the biscuits rise.
3. Don’t handle the dough
The more you handle the dough the more likely your biscuits will be tough and flat.
What I Love About this Ground Beef Casserole
- It uses ingredients I have in my kitchen. Most of the ingredients for this casserole are things I always have in my kitchen, like onions, flour, butter, and buttermilk. With a couple of fresh ingredients, I can transform what I already have at home into a satisfying dinner.
- It’s comforting and warm. If you grew up eating Sloppy Joes, this casserole will taste familiar to you. It’s a comforting and hearty dish that is a true Southern stick-to-your-ribs meal. It’s my favorite to make as it gets colder outside.
- It’s easy to make. Though you’ll need to set some time aside to make it, this recipe really is easy to put together. Using a food processor to make the biscuits makes quick work of the dough, and the filling uses just one pan. There’s nothing fancy about this recipe, and that’s just the way I like it.
Hamburger Casserole Recipe Ingredients
- Cheese: You’ll add this to the biscuit dough, I like cheddar for this recipe but it is optional, you can leave it out.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk makes baked goods tender and flavorful. If you find yourself without buttermilk, learn how to make buttermilk with pantry items.
- Onion, green pepper and garlic: These three ingredients make everything taste better.
- Ground chuck: You can use any ground beef that you prefer. You can also use ground turkey or chicken.
- Ketchup: Another traditional Sloppy Joe ingredient, it adds sweetness, tang, and savoriness from the tomatoes.
- BBQ Sauce: Like the ketchup, it adds sweetness along with lots of flavor from the spices in it.
- Balsamic Vinegar: Balsamic vinegar adds a subtle tang to the filling that balances out the sweetness of the ketchup and BBQ sauce. It has a deep flavor that really works well with the other ingredients in the sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce: Worcestershire sauce compliments beef really well, and I put it in lots of dishes that I make with ground beef.
- Pantry ingredients: Butter, flour, baking powder, baking soda, oil, sugar, chili powder, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, hot sauce.
Simple Directions for a Hamburger Casserole with Biscuits
Step 1: Make the biscuit dough.
Add the flour, baking powder, soda, sugar, and salt to a food processor and pulse to combine. Add cold butter and pulse until the butter is mixed throughout the flour in pea-sized bits.
Add in the cheese and pulse to combine. Add the buttermilk (make sure it’s cold!) and process until the dough just comes together. You can also do this with a pastry cutter.
Step 2: Roll and bake the biscuit layer.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and form it into a rectangle. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to the size of your baking dish.
Place the dough into the baking dish, and push the dough up the sides of the pan about an inch to form the edge of the crust. Bake the biscuit layer until it’s slightly golden brown.
Step 3: Make the filling.
Heat some oil in a large skillet and add the onions and green pepper. Cook until the onions have softened, then add the beef, chili powder, and garlic powder. Once the beef is fully cooked, drain any excess fat.
Add the fresh garlic and cook until just fragrant, about a minute. Finally, add the ketchup, barbecue sauce, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, and red pepper flakes.
Reduce the heat to low and cook until the sauce has thickened.
Step 4: Assemble and bake the casserole.
Pour the ground beef casserole filling on top of the baked biscuit layer and cover with cheese.
Bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly, and remove the casserole from the oven.
A Few Recipe Notes
- Be sure to use cold butter when making the biscuit dough.
- Allow the biscuit layer to brown slightly before adding the filling for the best results.
- Drain any excess fat after the beef is cooked to avoid a greasy casserole.
How to Store a Hamburger Casserole
In the fridge: Store any leftover casserole in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3-4 days, after that the biscuit layer will get soggy.
In the freezer: To freeze, let it cool then place in an airtight container. Let it thaw before reheating.
To reheat: Place the casserole in a preheated oven at 350ºF for about 10 minutes or until heated through.
While this casserole is a meal in itself, it’s great with a creamy macaroni salad or red cabbage coleslaw. End the meal with a chocolate cobbler, you probably have all the ingredients, and it can bake while you’re eating dinner.
More Ground Beef Casseroles you’ll Love
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Hamburger Casserole with Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons butter cold, cut into pieces
- 4 ounces cheddar cheese grated, 1 cup
- ¾ cup buttermilk cold
Filling
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion small, diced, about 1 cup
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 ½ lbs ground chuck
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- Salt and pepper
- ¾ cup ketchup
- ¾ cup BBQ sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450º. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with cooking spray.
To make the biscuits:
- Add flour, baking powder, soda, sugar and salt to a food processor and pulse. Add cold butter and process until the butter is in pea size chunks. Add cheese and pulse to combine. Add cold buttermilk and process until it just comes together.
- Transfer to a lightly floured surface and form into a rectangle. Use a rolling pin to roll into the size of your baking dish Place in baking dish, pushing the dough up the sides of the pan about an inch,
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until just slightly brown and remove from the oven. Turn the oven down to 350º.
To make the filling:
- Heat oil in a large skillet and add onions and green pepper, cook until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add beef and chili powder and garlic powder and cook until the beef has cooked through. Drain any excess grease and add garlic, cook an additional minute.
- Add ketchup, bbq sauce, Worcestershire, vinegar, hot sauce and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 20 minutes until it has thickened, stirring occasionally.
- Pour filling on top of the baked biscuit layer and cover with cheese. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- Be sure to use cold butter when making the biscuit dough.
- Allow the biscuit layer to brown slightly before adding the filling for the best results.
- Drain any excess fat after the beef is cooked to avoid a greasy casserole.
- You can use ground chicken instead of beef.
Nutrition
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