Ground Beef and Cauliflower Rice Casserole is packed with fresh spinach, beef, and cheese, then combined with cauliflower rice and baked. A low carb and Keto meal the whole family will love.
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An Easy Low Carb Casserole That’s Super Satisfying
Cheesy Ground Beef Casserole is one easy, delicious, and absolutely satisfying dinner idea! Casseroles make everyone’s lives easier and this one is a true lifesaver. It requires minimal prep and then you pop it in the oven and forget about it for the next 25-ish minutes. It’s even low Carb and Keto, too. 👍
Thinking about casseroles really brings me back to my childhood. It’s like casseroles speak family dinner, don’t they? Now that I’m a mom, I get it. They are super easy and a complete meal in one dish!
This one is especially great for meal prepping and as a freezer meal. You’re going to love its hearty flavor and ooey gooey cheesy goodness!
Casserole Ingredients
The ingredients in this casserole are super basic. It’s full of yummy goodness you’re sure to have in your fridge on any given day.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- olive oil
- onion
- garlic
- lean ground beef
- Italian Seasoning
- sweet paprika
- Salt and pepper
- spinach
- cauliflower rice
- sour cream
- Butter
- dried basil
- shredded cheese
How to Make Cauliflower Casserole
1. Preheat: Set your oven to preheat to 375˚F.
2. Saute: Heat the olive oil in a large 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add your onions and cook them for 2 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
3. Brown: Add the ground beef and season it with Italian Seasoning, salt, and pepper.
Continue to cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until beef is completely browned.
4. Add: Add in the spinach. You might have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your skillet. Stir frequently for 1 more minute or until the spinach is wilted. Remove the skillet from the heat, drain liquid from the skillet, and set it aside.
5. Combine: In a baking dish, combine cooked cauliflower rice, sour cream, butter, and dried basil. Stir and mix until everything is completely combined and creamy.
Add the prepared beef mixture to the baking dish and stir until everything is completely incorporated.
Then, top it all with shredded cheese.
6. Bake: Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until the juices are bubbly and cheese is melted.
7. Serve: Remove the dish from the oven and let stand for several minutes before cutting and serving.
Tips for the Best Cauliflower Casserole
Follow these simple tips to make your cheesy ground beef and cauliflower rice casserole even better!
- Be sure you let your casserole stand for at least 5 minutes before serving. This will allow the casserole to firm up and will make it even prettier and more yummy on your plate. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.
- Resist the urge to cover this casserole with foil before baking. I know, that’s like casserole blasphemy, but since everything is already cooked and warm, it’s really not necessary. Baking it uncovered will allow the cheese to get bubbly and melty, which I really like!
- More veggies? No problem. If you want to add more veggies to this casserole, you could throw in some diced and sauteed carrots, or some frozen peas or corn.
- Meat options. You can opt to use ground turkey, ground pork, or sweet Italian sausage in place of the ground beef, if you prefer.
Can This Recipe Be Made Vegetarian?
- Absolutely! This casserole can definitely be modified to be vegetarian. My favorite way to do that is by using mushrooms in place of the ground beef. Mushrooms have a hearty meat like flavor and I bet you won’t even miss the meat!
- Another option is to make a lentil based ground meat substitute. This is pretty commonly done as a taco meat substitute and could work easily here as well.
Can I Make Cauliflower Casserole in Advance?
So much yes! This, or any, casserole, makes for a great as a freezer meal.
I love to make it for my new mom friends or where a parent has just undergone a surgery. This is also a great freezer meal idea for meal prep and making weeknight dinners just a little easier for YOU.
This casserole will be fine in their freezer for about 3 months. All you have to do is defrost it and heat it in the oven when you are ready for it.
Want to make it ahead but not freeze it? Sometimes I will prep this casserole in the morning or the night before we are going to eat it. I’ll tightly cover it and let it hang out in my refrigerator until dinner time, then I simply pop it in the oven and it’s ready in 20-25 minutes.
The joy of casseroles! Can I get a heck ya?! 🙌
How to Store Leftovers
- Once the casserole is baked, your leftovers can be refrigerated in an airtight container for about 3-5 days.
- You can also freeze your leftovers. Let the casserole cool completely first. Then, place the leftovers in an airtight, freezer safe container for about 3 months.
How to Reheat Cauliflower Casserole
- Reheating your cheesy ground beef and cauliflower rice casserole is simple! All you have to do is bring it to room temperature, then pop it in your 375˚F oven and bake it until it is heated through. Then, serve it up and watch your family enjoy!
- If you are not reheating an entire casserole, just scoop what you want to eat into a bowl and microwave until heated through. I usually pause halfway through the microwaving time to stir the contents of my bowl.
More Casseroles
ENJOY!
Tools Used in this Recipe
Cheesy Ground Beef and Cauliflower Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 6 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 1 package (10 ounces) frozen cauliflower rice, cooked according to the directions on the package
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 2 to 3 tablespoons milk, if needed*
- 8 ounces shredded Italian blend cheese, or any other shredded cheese that you have/prefer
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Heat olive oil in a large 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add onions and cook for 2 minutes.
- Stir in garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
- Add ground beef; season with Italian Seasoning, paprika, salt, and pepper.
- Continue to cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, and cook until beef is completely browned.
- Add in spinach - you might have to do this in batches, depending on the size of your skillet - cook, stirring frequently, for 1 more minute or until spinach is wilted.
- Remove from heat, drain liquid from the skillet, and set aside.
- In a 9x13-inch baking dish combine cooked cauliflower rice, sour cream, butter, and dried basil; stir and mix until completely combined and creamy. If sour cream and butter aren’t melting completely, stir in some milk. (The cauliflower rice should be warm enough to melt the butter.)
- Add prepared beef mixture to the baking dish; stir until everything is completely incorporated.
- Top with shredded cheese.
- Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until bubbly and cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and let stand several minutes before cutting and serving.
Notes
NET CARBS: 10 g
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Can I use yogurt in stead of sour cream
Yes, others have commented that they used yogurt and it tasted great. 😊
Made several alterations for calorie deficit…..trying to do both low carb and low fat. This was fantastic! I used ground Turkey breast, non-fat sun Greek yogurt, low fat Mozzarella about 6 oz but then 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan. I also added red pepper flakes. All else was the same. This was so good and satisfying and absolutely going into family rotation. Easy to adapt for dietary needs! Yummmm!!
I’ve made this several times!! I have leftover chili colorado I made last night and will try and bake a Mexican version!! Thanks for the awesome recipe 🥰
That’s wonderful! I’m very happy you loved it! Thank YOU! 😊
Great tasting. Will make again. Thanks for sharing
Thank YOU! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I’ve made this twice now. The first time I didn’t have sour cream so I used a 50/50 mix of cream cheese and ricotta. I also only had frozen spinach. It turned out great! My coworkers loved the smell of the leftovers the next day at lunch! I made it again last night and used mostly sour cream with a little cream cheese and fresh spinach. I think I’ll try with Italian sausage sometime too. The idea some have suggested with feta and fresh tomato on top sounds good too. Thank you the recipe!
That’s great! I’m very glad you enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Just made this for a quick easy dinner and used Steamer Cauliflower Rice. Definitely a keeper recipe! My kids loved it as well! Thank you
That’s great! I’m very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank YOU! 🙂
Love this combination. I am a huge cheese lover so I add in a variety of cheeses in the mix and on the top.
I also add about a cup of cooked orzo into the cauliflower rice mixture to make it go further and to entice my son into eating it since he’s not a huge fan of cauliflower plus it increases the size of the portions. My husband, son and I love this dish.thank you for sharing.
I’m very glad you and your family enjoyed it! Thank you so much! 🙂
Can you make this on the stovetop ?
I’m also confused as to whether I should precook the cauliflower rice? I see this has been asked several times with no clarification =(
If you scroll down to the recipe card, under the Ingredients Section, it states, “1 package (10 ounces) frozen cauliflower rice, cooked according to the directions on the package“.
Yes!