Hamburger Hash Brown Casserole

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Hamburger Hash Brown Casserole is a family-friendly, quick to assemble dinner recipe perfect for busy weeknights. Ground beef is layered with hash browns and cheese and baked to perfection in this easy recipe.

ground beef hash brown casserole on plate

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I’m a huge fan of casseroles for dinner, they are so easy to throw together and pop in the oven on busy nights. I especially like them when they give me an easy meal to make with hamburger meat, just like my 20 minute stroganoff and Mongolian style noodles. Like my slow cooker breakfast casserole, this ground beef and hash brown casserole brings breakfast to dinner too!

Why I love this recipe

  • only 6 easy ingredients
  • 15 minutes of prep time
  • easy and forgiving to customize
  • full of flavor!

Ingredients

hash brown casserole ingredients
  • ground beef
  • frozen hash browns
  • cheddar cheese
  • milk
  • butter
  • cream of chicken soup*

*Tip: you can play with flavors of soup to make this recipe your own. Cream of mushroom, cream of onion, or even cheddar cheese soup would be good substitutions to try!

Step by step

This is seriously a super easy recipe. You can even have the kids mix up the cold ingredients while you brown the meat and then help assemble it!

  1. Brown the ground beef on the stove top.
  2. Mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
  3. Layer ground beef in a casserole dish and top with hash brown mixture.
  4. Top with additional cheese.
  5. Bake for 1 hour.

Easy-peasy, right??

cheesy hash brown casserole in baking dish

Tips for best results

  • feel free to salt & pepper your ground beef, or even add a seasoning salt such as Lawry’s if you want to amp up the flavor
  • use a BIG bowl for mixing the hash brown mixture, it’s a lot of ingredients and can make a mess if you use too small a bowl, I use my largest mixing bowl

FAQs

Can this be made ahead of time?

Yes, you can brown the meat and assemble the casserole ahead of time and keep in the refrigerator until ready to bake. Let it sit at room temperature 15 minutes before baking or extend baking time an additional 5-10 minutes if necessary.

Can this casserole be frozen?

There are two options for freezing this casserole. You can assemble it and freeze before baking or bake it and then freeze. Let it cool completely before wrapping in plastic and storing in a freezer safe container.
If baking before freezing I recommend you only bake it for 40 minutes instead of an hour so it doesn’t dry out. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake until warmed through.

Can I use a different soup/cheese?

Feel free to experiment with different soups like cream of mushroom, cream of onion, or even cheddar cheese soup…the recipe is very forgiving. You can also change up the variety of cheese you use to suit your tastes or what you have on hand.

Variations

  • change up the soup: cream of mushroom, cream of onion, cream of celery, or cheddar cheese soup are good options
  • amp up the flavor of the ground beef with seasoning salt, Worcestershire sauce, onion and garlic powder, or dry ranch dressing mix
  • add in diced onions and peppers
  • use cream of mushroom soup and add mushrooms to the hash brown mixture
  • top with fried onions for the last 10 minutes of baking
  • use diced hash browns or potatoes o’Brian instead of shredded hash browns
  • add in 1/2 cup sour cream to make it extra creamy

If you try this recipe, please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!

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hash brown casserole on plate

Ground Beef Hash Brown Casserole


5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.9 from 7 reviews

  • Author: Melissa Riker
  • Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x

Description

Hamburger Hash Brown Casserole is a family-friendly, quick to assemble dinner recipe perfect for busy weeknights. Ground beef is layered with hash browns and cheese and baked to perfection in this easy recipe.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
  • 20 ounce bag frozen shredded hash browns
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, melted
  • 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
  • salt & pepper (optional)
  • green onion for garnish (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a medium skillet, brown ground beef over medium-high heat. Drain.
  3. Layer meat in the bottom of a 9 by 13″ casserole dish.
  4. In a large bowl combine hash browns, milk, soup, butter, and 1 1/2 cups cheese. Mix well.
  5. Pour hash brown mixture over the ground beef and spread to make an even layer.
  6. Top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese.
  7. Bake for 1 hour, serve garnished with chopped green onion if desired.

Notes

  • feel free to salt & pepper your ground beef, or even add a seasoning salt such as Lawry’s if you want to amp up the flavor
  • use a BIG bowl for mixing the hash brown mixture, it’s a lot of ingredients and can make a mess if you use too small a bowl, I use my largest mixing bowl
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 minutes
  • Category: main course
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 405
  • Sugar: 2 g
  • Sodium: 468.4 mg
  • Fat: 24.4 g
  • Carbohydrates: 17.9 g
  • Protein: 28.7 g
  • Cholesterol: 111.2 mg

STRESS-FREE

AND DELICIOUS?

DO YOU WANT DINNER TO BE

Its easy! I will show you how.

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27 Comments

  1. Sounds easy and delicious. I have printed this out and have most of the ingredients on hand. I will make this soon! Thanks for sharing this. Hardworking moms (and dads!) need your inspiration.

  2. Made this tonight, with a few changes and it was very very good. Will omit the butter next time, my dish had a standing layer of grease on top – I ended up pouring off individual bowls. Not a big deal, just something to note. Added one fresh diced tomato and about a cup of frozen green peas between the beef and hash browns. Half a teaspoon of Garam Masala (and Indian spice blend) over the beef in the bottom, half a teaspoon over the hash brown mixture before baking. Very light sprinkling of garlic powder and onion powder on top. Used half Extra Sharp and half Colby. Will definitely be making this again, my wife was a huge fan.

      1. Hello Mary, everyone has their own tastes. While you may dislike something, someone else can find it delicious. To each their own!

  3. Tried this dish today just as written (I chose cream of broccoli soup).I found the recipe to be very flavorful and pretty easy. I’ll be having this many times more!!






  4. Even my super picky 6 year old loved it!!
    I used the variations offered in the recipe: added a splash of Worcestershire, lowry’s and diced white onions to meat, added 1/2c sour cream, and used cream of mushroom. (Omitted butter altogether).
    Everyone ate it, loved it, and had seconds; and my husband said he’s going to eat leftovers in the morning with over medium eggs on top.
    Served it with pickles; ketchup and mustard so it was very burger- like. And, of course, had mixed veggies and broccoli pick from for sides. Will definitely make it again. Thank you Melissa!!






  5. Made this tonight and my family loved KY! I made a few changes. Added diced onions with the ground beef while cooking it and cup the butter in half. I will be make this again and again!!

  6. Hi,
    I am going to be making this for dinner tonight but I have a couple questions/concerns if you can help me out please.
    First, does the bottom ground beef layer come out dry?
    Second, does the bottom ground beef layer get soaked in to the hash brown layer?

  7. Updated: I made the recipe for dinner tonight and it was really good! I did put in the sour cream and a small bag of frozen corn. My husband was skeptical about it but he said how good it was! Thank you for the recipe!!!!






  8. This was delicious! I had the frozen hash brown cubes. I added green pepper and onion when browning the hamburger. It came out so good. I used the French fried onions on top for the last 10 minutes. That gave it that little extra crunch that made it so good. Will keep this in rotation. Thanks for sharing!