An easy hamburger green bean casserole with mushrooms that uses all-natural ingredients and is so full of flavor, it'll instantly become a family favorite. Get a healthy one-pan skillet dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes!

You'll love this ground beef and green bean casserole!
This quick one dish green bean casserole with meat is seriously a winner and one of our favorite casserole recipes on our site. Our teen son ate half the pan in one sitting.
It gets rave reviews from readers, and many people say this tastes like beef stroganoff!
We're sneaking in lots of veggies here and using all natural ingredients, meaning this is a casserole with no cream of mushroom soup. Plus it's low carb, gluten free, high protein, and a keto friendly casserole too.
Love casseroles for dinner? Then you'll want to try our crustless taco pie, ground beef zucchini casserole, or our high protein taco casserole with cottage cheese.
Pinterest reviews
This was so good! Even my husband was surprised that it tasted so good! He went back for seconds! I’ll be making this again! ~ Susan
"It turned out great we all love it, no pics, it’s all gone. We have made this about 4 times now." ~ Sharon
Made this, and absolutely delicious!!!! ~ Destiny
Ingredient list
- ground beef- We used an 80/20 blend, you can use a lighter ground beef or even ground turkey.
- green beans- Buying a bag of pre-washed and pre-trimmed green beans will save you time, if you use garden green beans or buy them by the bundle, you'll need to trim them first. Drained canned green beans or defrosted frozen green beans are alternatives too.
- Worcestershire sauce - coconut aminos or wheat-free tamari make a good gluten free substitute
- cheese- Cheddar cheese or Colby Jack. We use a whopping 2 cups of cheese in this recipe, which makes it extra cheesy. Feel free to cut back if you want to reduce the fat a bit.
- other dairy- While we highly recommend full-fat sour cream and cream cheese for best flavor, low-fat should also work in this recipe.
How to make hamburger casserole
Step 1. In a large skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to heat. Brown the ground beef until cooked through, this will take about 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside. Reserve 1 tablespoon of grease to cook the vegetables in.
Step 2. Saute the onion until they're just starting to soften in the 1 tablespoon of grease that was left in the pan; this will take about 3-4 minutes.
Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 2 minutes more.
Add in the green beans, garlic, and chicken broth, cook for 2-3 more minutes until the green beans and the other vegetables are softened.
Step 3. Turn the heat down to medium-low and mix in the cream cheese and then sour cream.
Step 4. Add the beef back into the pan along with the salt, pepper, dried thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir gently to combine.
Step 6. Sprinkle with the cheese over the top.
Step 7. Place the entire dish in the oven and broil for 2 minutes until the cheese is browned and melted.
Or, add a lid to skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until the cheese melts. Using the stovetop, your cheddar cheese won't be crispy, but it will melt. Enjoy!
Jenni's notes
- Using a cast-iron skillet makes it easy to turn this into a one-pan meal since it can go in the oven too. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, use whatever kind you have and then transfer it to an oven proof baking dish or casserole dish.
- Instead of broiling the cheese - leave it in your skillet, turn the heat down to low, and cover the hamburger casserole, until the cheese is melted for 3-4 minutes.
- Be sure to drain off the grease after cooking the hamburger meat, but don't forget to save a little for cooking the veggies.
The photos to our reader favorite beef casserole were updated on 6/5/24, it's the same great recipe!
Can it be doubled?
To double the hamburger green bean recipe, use a larger skillet and then transfer all of the ingredients to a 9x13 baking pan before melting the cheese.
Is this a keto casserole recipe?
Yes! Our green bean ground beef casserole is keto friendly too! By using full-fat dairy products and low carb veggies like fresh green beans and mushrooms, our keto ground beef casserole has 7 net carbs per serving.
More ground beef recipes
- Ground Beef Zucchini Casserole
- Cheeseburger Casserole
- Taco Casserole
- Crustless taco pie
- Big Mac Salad
- Korean ground beef bowl
If you loved our recipe, please leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and leave us a comment too! Connect with us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube!
Recipe
Hamburger Green Bean Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 cups green beans
- 1 cup onion diced
- 1 cup mushrooms
- 3 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ cup beef or chicken broth
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoon cream cheese
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
- 2 cups Colby jack cheese shredded, cut. back to 1 cup for a less cheesy option
- ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
Instructions
- In a cast-iron skillet, cook the ground beef on medium heat until browned, about 5 minutes. Remove the ground beef and drain grease, leaving 1 tablespoon of the grease in the pan to saute the vegetables in.
- In the same skillet, cook the chopped onions over medium heat until they start to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 2 minutes more.
- Add in the green beans, garlic, and chicken broth, cook for 2-3 more minutes until the green beans and the other vegetables are softened.
- Turn the heat down to medium-low add the cream cheese and then sour cream.
- Add the beef back into the pan along with the salt, pepper, dried thyme, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir gently to combine.
- Sprinkle with the cheddar cheese over the top.
- Place the entire dish in the oven and broil for 2 minutes until the cheese is browned and melted. Or, add a lid to skillet and cook for 3-4 minutes until the cheese melts. Using the stovetop, your cheddar cheese won't be crispy, but it will melt.
Video
Notes
- Using a cast-iron skillet makes it easy to turn this into a one-pan meal since it can go in the oven too. If you don't have a cast iron skillet, use whatever kind you have and then transfer it to an oven proof baking dish or casserole dish.
- This a very cheesy recipe, feel free to cut the cheese in half to make it a touch lighter.
- Instead of broiling the cheese - leave it in your skillet, turn the heat down to low, and cover the hamburger casserole, until the cheese is melted for 3-4 minutes.
- Be sure to drain off the grease after cooking the hamburger meat, but don't forget to save a little for cooking the veggies.
- Add extra broth if you prefer a saucier casserole.
- Low carb/GF- Substitute coconut aminos or Tamari if you're following strict keto. Use full-fat dairy products since low-fat adds in fillers with hidden carbs. Likewise, be sure to shred your cheese from a block since pre-shredded cheese adds potato starch.
Mrs. D says
I wanted a recipe for something simple using ingredients I had on hand and found this. I quadrupled the recipe to feed our family of 8 (5 teenagers). My husband rarely comments much one way or the other about food. He thought this was amazing and repeatedly said so throughout the entire meal. The children loved it as well. Thank you for such a surprisingly delicious recipe that was easy to make. I've already typed it up and added it to our family cookbook. We will be making this a lot.
Christy says
How many net carbs is this please?
Donna Aiken says
We loved this! Made it with ground chicken and doubled the sauce. We like things spiced up a bit and use jalapeño cream cheese. Also, I par boil the green beans 5 min before adding them. There’s only 2 of us, so we eat half and freeze the other half. It freezes just fine.
Thanks for a great keto recipe!
WholeLottaYum says
Thank you so much, Donna! I love the idea of using jalapeno cream cheese. This is a reader favorite <3 Jen
Heather AbuSneineh says
Fresh Green beans cannot cook in 2-3 minutes as stated in the directions. Did the recipe intend to use canned green beans?
Nicole says
This is my 5th time making this dish. love that I can change up the veggies to use up on the fridge and it's hearty but healthy. Always so yummy.
Barb says
Just made it for dinner and I love it! will make this again, definitely.
Kathy Bandli says
I just made this recipe for the first time. I didnt hate it but didnt love it either. Probably wouldnt make it again.
WholeLottaYum says
Sorry to hear you didn't love it, Kathy! We recommend tweaking any recipe to make it your own since flavors can vary so much by brand being used, especially with the seasonings. I always try to taste what I'm cooking with a clean spoon before baking to check the seasonings and then adjust them to my personal tastes. Some readers have said they like this with less dairy and that's an easy ingredient to cut back on too. 🙂
Jan says
Did you use fresh, canned or frozen green beans?
WholeLottaYum says
Fresh green beans!
Renee says
added more cream cheese and sour cream Lil more thyme and garlic was delish oh a Lil more green beans too
Sue says
This was very good. I had some grape tomatoes that needed to be eaten, so I cut them in half and sautéed them for a few minutes with a lid, so they would break down and soften. . I also added half of a diced bell pepper. I sautéed everything ahead of time and then put the ingredients together, except for the cheese, in the iron skillet and baked it for 15 min at 350, then added the cheese for another 15 min. Then broiled it for 5 min. Perfect but very hot. Had to let it sit for 5 minutes.
Jancie says
Really love this recipe. Make it a lot.
Annette says
This was really good!, I didnt have any cream cheese, and replaced it with cream of chicken/mushroom soup, almost a whole can, green beans, canned carrots, garlic minced , bell peppers chopped, , very good! Thank you!
Steve says
We made this dish last night and it was delicious! We didn’t have any thyme so we left it out and no Worcestershire sauce so we subbed Dale’s low sodium. We have added to our keepers recipe box !
Diana McClellan says
Finally getting back to Keto. We really enjoyed this recipe. I cooked the onions with the hamburger because we like ours cooked through. I was out of thyme so I used Italian seasoning. We loved the use of Co-Jack cheese. I will definitely be making again!
Julie Raymond says
This recipe was delicious I must say. I have tried a different recipe in the past that I really like too. It calls for whipping cream instead of sour cream with the cream cheese. I substituted basil instead of thyme as I didn’t have any . I used 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup of marble to my dish and let it broil for a few minutes in the oven. I definitely will make this again. Thank you so much .
Julie Shelley says
If you like the onions with less crunch you may want to cook them a little longer before adding the mushrooms. Also, a little shredded cheddar within the meat mixture gives it an added bonus.