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Ground Beef Casserole

Ground Beef Casserole with cheesy pasta is just like the one your mum made when you were growing up. Easy and delicious this is a family favourite recipe. 
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Australia, International
Keyword: beef, casserole, pasta
Servings: 6
Calories: 568kcal
Author: Adrianne

Equipment

  • Casserole Dish

Ingredients

Ground Beef Casserole

  • 500 grams ground beef (beef mince) Note 1
  • 2 cups uncooked macaroni pasta Note 2
  • 400 grams red kidney beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • ½ bunch celery (leafs and stems trimmed)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • 600 grams tomato passata
  • 400 grams crushed tomatoes (plain, no herbs)
  • 400 ml condensed tomato soup
  • 1 tablespoon Italian herbs Note 3
  • ½ cup mozzarella cheese
  • 1 tbs parsley Note 6

Instructions

Ground Beef Casserole

  • Preheat oven to 200°c/400°F,gas 6
  • Spray a casserole dish with cooking oil (Note 5)
  • Bring a medium saucepan to the boil, add a dash of olive oil, the macaroni (pasta) and cook to packet instructions (usually 8 mins) Then drain and set aside.
  • At the same time add a splash of olive oil to a frying pan, bring to a medium heat, add the ground beef, season with salt and pepper, Italian herbs and cook until browned, reduce heat.
  • Add the red kidney beans and the celery to the beef mixture, stir all ingredients until well combined.
  • Slice celery into thin pieces
  • Pour the tomato passata, condensed tomato soup, crushed tomatoes onto the browned ground beef.
  • Sprinkled grated cheese over the dish sparingly and oven bake the pasta dish until the cheese melts (approximately 10-15 mins) Note 7, 8
  • Garnish with parsley Note 6

Notes

  • Note 1 Ground Beef and Beef mince are the same thing. 
  • Note 2: There is room for error in over cooking the pasta. If in doubt, have it be a little under not over. ie Also cooking it to the packet directions will help. It will then cook further in the oven. (Have a few little taste testers of it along the way to get it to your liking). 
  • Note 3: An Australian tablespoon is 20 ml (0.68 US fl oz), an American one measures 14.8 ml (0.50 US fl oz)). So add an American tablespoon if in the USA, taste and add a little bit more if desired. 
  • Note 4: One thing I have changed slightly in the recipe is that I no longer slab over a great wad of cheese like we did growing up. These days, I lower the amount I use and spread it out more (it's good for the hips) 
  • Note 5: Don't worry about lining the dish with alfoil or baking paper. They would break apart and you would have mouthfuls of it each spoon you took of the dish. The oil is plenty to stop the sticking (trust me, I hate cleaning at the best of times. Well, to be honest, I hate cleaning always, haha, but TRUE!). 
  • Note 6: I use mozzarella cheese as it is stringy and melts well. Any regular grated cheese will do fine though as it more cost effective for the family budget. 
  • Note 7: I can never manage to grow parsley for too long before it frazzles, so I use dried herbs which work perfectly well! 
  • Note 8: This makes a large size meal. I am being conservative in saying 6, it could well feed 8 adults.  I used 2 small casserole dishes, you can also use 1 large one. The sizes I use are: Small casserole dish: 28 x 17.5 x 5 cm (shown in the photos) or Large casserole  dish: 33 x 22.5 x 5 cm. 

Nutrition

Calories: 568kcal | Carbohydrates: 66g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 67mg | Sodium: 876mg | Potassium: 1607mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 15g | Vitamin A: 1007IU | Vitamin C: 26mg | Calcium: 151mg | Iron: 7mg