Try this Cheesy Beef Casserole recipe, or contribute your own.
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ingredients:
- olive oil cooking spray
- 1 small russet potato
- 1 lb extra lean ground beef (5% fat)
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 can (14-1/2 ounces) unsalted diced tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon chili powder or to taste
- 16 ounces shredded cabbage
- pinch salt optional
- pinch freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoons taco sauce to taste, optional
- 1 ounces sliced jalapeno peppers optional
- Carbohydrate 49.304045963886 g
- Cholesterol 70.82666672654 mg
- Fat 21.3874927610468 g
- Fiber 14.1295959200119 g
- Protein 34.6280342487591 g
- Saturated Fat 11.8304047861145 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Recipe (1214g)
- Sodium 1317.70878867486 mg
- Sugar 35.174450043874 g
- Trans Fat 1.2365429099622 g
- Calories 506 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly coat 2-quart casserole with cooking spray.
- Peel and grate potato into bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup of mozzarella. Spread evenly over the bottom of the prepared casserole.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes, until potato is browned and crispy.
- Meanwhile, brown ground sirloin, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet, breaking up the beef with a wooden spoon as it browns. Drain any excess fat.
- Add tomatoes with their juice, chili powder, and the cabbage. Season with pepper to taste. Saute and stir for about a minute.
- If mixture seems too dry, add 1 tablespoon bottled taco sauce, adding up to 2 tablespoons more, if needed.
- When potatoes are done, spoon beef mixture on top of potatoes. Top with remaining cheese and jalapeno slices (if using).
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until casserole is hot and bubbly. Serve at once.
Browned cheese meets bubbling tomatoes along the edges of a seasoned ceramic dish, creating a contrast between crisp starches and tender meat. Achieving this texture requires letting the grated russet potato cook undisturbed for fifteen to twenty minutes until the starches dehydrate and brown thoroughly. Grating the potato directly into a bowl before mixing it with a quarter cup of mozzarella creates a binding agent that holds the base layer together without requiring added flour or starches. Using a nonstick skillet for the beef ensures the meat browns properly rather than steaming in its own moisture, which is vital when rendering extra lean ground beef that lacks natural lubricating fats. Breaking the meat apart with a wooden spoon continuously exposes fresh surface areas to the hot metal pan.
Fresh yellow onions and minced garlic release raw, sulfurous aromatics that soften rapidly when introduced to the hot skillet, contrasting sharply with the preserved acidity of canned unsalted diced tomatoes. Introducing canned tomatoes adds concentrated liquid and glutamates that deglaze the pan, pulling browned fond from the surface to coat the shredded cabbage. While fresh cabbage retains a crisp bite during brief sautés, it releases significant water content as it bakes under the final layer of cheese. Controlling this moisture prevents the lower potato crust from becoming soggy, making the inclusion of bottled taco sauce optional depending on how much liquid the tomatoes and cabbage yield during the initial stovetop reduction phase.
Baking the assembled layers at three hundred seventy-five degrees Fahrenheit for twenty-five to thirty minutes allows the heat to penetrate the dense internal matrix of meat and vegetables until the internal temperature reaches safety standards and the top mozzarella turns golden. Sliced jalapeños placed on the upper surface before baking undergo partial dehydration, softening their raw bite while infusing the neighboring dairy fats with capsaicin oils. Utilizing extra lean beef rated at five percent fat prevents grease from pooling on the surface during this final baking phase, eliminating the need to blot excess oils before serving the dish directly from the oven.
Assembled casseroles can be covered tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to twenty-four hours before baking, though the raw grated potatoes may oxidize slightly and turn gray without altering the final flavor. Freezing the unbaked casserole is not recommended because the high water content in the shredded cabbage and canned tomatoes ruptures cell walls during ice crystal formation, resulting in a watery consistency upon thawing. Reheating leftover baked portions in a three hundred fifty-degree oven for fifteen minutes restores the crispy edges of the mozzarella far better than microwave heating, which tends to make the potato layer rubbery.
