Best Creamy Crockpot Hamburger Casserole

Crockpot hamburger casserole is amazing! A dump and go slow cooker dinner packed with ground beef and cheeseburger macaroni noodles. Comfort food at it’s finest! 

Slow Cooker Hamburger Casserole

If you’re looking for a pot full of pure comfort food, you’ve come to the right spot! My kids go crazy over this Instant Pot cheeseburger macaroni style dish every time I make it. I love the fact that it is a feel good meal that is pretty darn cheap to make and feeds a crowd.

Pair it with a side salad for a bit of freshness on the side and dinner is served. You could even use leftover taco meat inside if you had some in the fridge, or spicy ground sausage is wonderful too for the protein. I’ve used small shells instead of macaroni noodles just for fun too. There are tons of tweaks you can make.

Let’s talk a little bit about slow cooking shall we?? First off I have a few different varieties and I love them all. Each one has an occasion to be used like….

1. This is my favorite 6 quart programmable one with a locking lid so it’s great for bringing to a potluck too.
2. I prefer not to use liners, but rather just spray olive oil inside before adding my food for easier cleanups.

Let me give you a peek of my pretty thang I bought recently. It goes with my kitchen so I can just leave it out on the countertop all the time. 😉

This came about like a lot of others on The Typical Mom really. I had a pound of ground beef and a few potatoes that needed to be used so I went on a pantry hunt!

You know, find a few other items that I thought would go well together and BAM, cheeseburger casserole was created. 😉 You could leave out the potatoes but diced they bulked up the dish and gave it a bit of texture since I left the skins on.

Crockpot Hamburger Casserole Recipe

Ok so let me tell you what we put into our version. Like I said, you could incorporate any sort of ground meat you preferred. With all the different variations we’ve made I would say half a roll of spicy sausage + 1/2 pound of hamburger is probably the best. Gives it a bit of heat but not too much. Use what you like or what you have in your fridge that needs to be used up is what I say.

Ingredients

1. Ground beef or spicy ground sausage will make it spicy
2. Onion diced is optional but a great add in
3. Potatoes – I slice potatoes then dice them small
4. Cream of mushroom soup – don’t use low fat version
5. Cheese – I like sharp shredded cheese personally
6. Sour cream will make it creamy
7. Elbow macaroni noodles or small shells
8. Garlic salt adds flavor
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. Beef broth is better than water

A mixture like Mexican blend is great too if you can find that variety at your local grocery store. I have even made this with a dairy free cheese so my husband could enjoy it and the kids didn’t even know the difference. 😉

A mixture of cheddar and pepper jack is pretty darn good too, I usually just use what I have on hand at the time. Do you see my trend? Using what you have at home, I hate wasting food and casseroles are great ways of using up all the things right? 😉 Similar to my slow cooker cheesy potatoes recipe, this one is great for dinner or even a potluck in the afternoon.

Can you put raw ground beef in a slow cooker?

We have! Try our Crockpot ground beef instructions if you’d like. I will also throw raw chicken or stew meat in there. With our 5 ingredient crockpot chili I usually make air fryer ground beef real quick and then throw that in.

What happens if you don’t brown meat before slow cooking?

Theoretically you could cook meat in your crockpot along with everyone else, as long as it is reaches to a safe temperature before serving. Honestly though the texture is kinda’ weird. Just take the extra 5 minutes to cook or brown it beforehand. If you really want to cook ground beef in a crockpot here are directions.

Does meat need to be submerged in a slow cooker?

It isn’t a must but I usually do to give it more flavor and so it turns out more tender too. I like it nice and coated so all the flavors can seep into the proteins so my answer is, ideally yes you should.

Biggest tip to remember when making this slow cooker beef casserole: The noodles DO need to be submerged into the liquid. If not they won’t become tender like you want them to be in a casserole. Do not add the macaroni noodles until step 3 though. They only need about 30 minutes to cook in the liquid or else they will become mush. No good.

Creamy ingredients like cheese, milk (in other recipes) and sour cream should be added at the end too to maintain it’s flavor. You also don’t want the dairy items to curdle in the long cooking crock pot recipe process.

How to Make Crockpot Ground Beef Casserole

1. First I suggest spraying non stick spray inside your pot. Some opt to use crockpot liners, but personally the thought of cooking inside plastic is a no go for me. Totally up to you.
2. Brown the ground beef on the stovetop (or however you prefer).
3. Dice potatoes. The smaller they are the more tender they will be. I chose to leave the skins on and it was great, you could remove a portion but I wouldn’t skin entirely.
4. Put these items + your cream of mushroom soup, onion and seasonings. Stir together.
5. Cook on high for 3 hours. If you needed to cook on low I would imagine 5-6 hours would be sufficient.
6. When done add your broth and stir, then pour in noodles and gently submerge into the liquid. This will take another 30 minutes to become tender.
7. The last step is to add your cheese and sour cream, stir, and cook for 20 more minutes so everything melts together. Then serve!!

Keep in mind there are 3 cook times. The initial time, 30 minutes for the noodles, and an additional 20 to melt the cheese and everything together. Just for reference it would be a total of about 4 hours on high. Normally I always recommend low setting for all recipes but this one doesn’t seem to matter.

Hamburger Crock Pot Recipes

Looking for more busy mom easy cheap crockpot recipes for you family?

1. Our crockpot hamburger helper recipe is similar but without the cheese or potatoes.
2. Slow cooker scalloped potatoes are a great holiday side dish.
3. If you’re looking for more slow cooker ground beef recipes we have those too!
   1. And casseroles like our Shepherd’s pie with ground beef are awesome
4. Lots more easy slow cooker recipes are here.

You can see a few of our favorites right here. The simpler the better I say, and comfort food is where it’s at, especially during the Fall and Wintertime.

Crockpot Hamburger Potato Casserole

What is the best slow cooker?

I say that really depends on the size of your family and how much your want to spend on a crockpot. There are 5 of us and I like my Pioneer Woman 6 quart slow cooker the best. You can see it above, it’s super pretty and the lid locks too which are pluses.

Yes I also have a few pressure cookers and they have a slow cooker function but amongst all of my 101+ Instant Pot recipes I NEVER use that function. It does NOT work well. Stick to your “old fashioned” crock for these.

Is it safe to leave a slow cooker on all day?

Well let’s forget about the This is Us episode for a minute when we answer this shall we. 😉 Yes! It is technically safe to leave your slow-cooker on and go about your day as long as you are using the appliance correctly.

Nutritional information including saturated fat and calories are calculated by the recipe card itself and not tested for exact accuracy. Print recipe and just make it my friends and enjoy!