Southwest Ground Beef Casserole

This easy southwest casserole made with ground beef is a great option for a weeknight dinner or recipe for meal prep to make lunches for the week! This ground beef casserole can also be easily made gluten-free. It’s filling, comforting, and made with diced tomatoes, beans, onions and a flavorful mix of spices.

Southwest Ground Beef Casserole Ingredients

This recipe calls for quite a few canned pantry staples, which makes it really simple to both meal plan for and to make! You’ll need canned diced tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, black olives, kidney beans and green chiles.

The other ingredients you’ll need for this casserole include elbow macaroni noodles, ground beef, an onion, Monterey jack shredded cheese and then some spices such as chili powder, garlic and salt.

The beef is browned with the onion, and everything is combined into a casserole dish, making this a really quick recipe that mostly requires dumping cans and mixing!

Make This Ground Beef Casserole Gluten-Free

This is a very easy and straightforward recipe to make if you’d like to make it into a gluten-free casserole. All you have to do is to choose a elbow macaroni pasta that is gluten free, and cook it according to the directions on the package.

The noodles will then be drained and added into the casserole dish and the rest of the directions can be followed as written. Many popular brands have their own gluten-free options, and there are many brown rice pasta noodle options at major grocery stores, too.

How to Prepare This Ground Beef Casserole

The first step for preparing the casserole for baking is to brown the ground beef with the onion. You’ll break it apart to crumble while browning, and once it’s done, drain the excess grease from the ground beef.

While the beef is browning, you’ll also want to cook your pasta according to the package and drain. Doing this while you brown the beef is the best use of time so you can knock out two steps at the same time.

Everything will get combined together in a large 6-quart casserole dish, or two 4-quart casserole dishes if you’d like to freeze half. Casseroles make a lot of food, and this one freezes really well so it’s a great candidate for freezing leftovers!

Once the noodles and beef have been drained, dump them into the casserole dish, and add in the canned items, except for the olives. Add the spices as well, and then use two spoons to mix everything together until the spices, vegetables and noodles are well incorporated with the ground beef.

Flatten everything into an even layer, and then sprinkle the olives and shredded cheese over the top. You’ll then cover the casserole dish with foil or the lid, and bake for 30 minutes on 400 degrees F. After the 30 minutes are up, remove the cover and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling.

Storing and Freezing Instructions

This recipe stores well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, and reheats great as leftovers for lunches. Additionally, this recipe is freezer friendly in individual portions, or frozen as one casserole. It’s a great recipe to bring to friends or family because of this!

My Favorite Glass Storage Containers:

• Ello Glass Container Set
• Prep Naturals Container Set
• Pyrex Simply Store Set

To freeze, bake the casserole as instructed, and then let cool completely. Either bake in a casserole dish with a freezer-friendly lid, or transfer to a freezer-safe container with a cover. This is great in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To reheat the frozen casserole, thaw in the fridge overnight and then bake on 400 degrees F., covered, for 35 minutes or until it’s heated through.

You can also divide this recipe into two casserole dishes, and bake at the same time. Then let one of them cool and you can freeze one whole casserole dish for later, or to gift to a friend, new mom or family member.

Other Casserole Recipes You’ll Love:

Chicken Wild Rice Casserole

Stuffed Pepper Casserole

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Greek Orzo Chicken Bake

Chicken and Bacon Alfredo Casserole

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