Description
A simple, hearty Hamburger Rice Casserole made with ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, diced tomatoes, rice, and melted mozzarella cheese. This budget-friendly one-pot meal comes together in under 45 minutes and is perfect for feeding hungry families on busy weeknights.
Ingredients
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1 pound ground beef
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1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
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1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes (with juice)
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½ cup long-grain white rice (uncooked)
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¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
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Salt, to taste
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Black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Get your skillet going on medium-high and toss the beef in. I just break it up with my spoon while it cooks, smashing it around until there’s no pink left. Takes maybe 6 or 7 minutes, maybe 8 if your stove’s being weird. Some of it’ll get really brown and stick to the pan—that’s actually good so don’t stress about it. When it’s done, drain that grease off. I just tilt the pan and spoon it into whatever jar I’ve got.
Right there in the same pan without washing it or anything, dump in your soup, throw in the whole can of tomatoes with all the juice, add the rice. Stir it around til everything’s mixed. It’s gonna look really liquidy and kinda unappetizing at this point but that’s fine, trust the process.
Slap a lid on top, turn your heat way down to low, and set a timer for 15 minutes because I swear I will forget otherwise. I usually stir it every 5 minutes or so, scrape the bottom a bit so nothing’s sticking. The rice is gonna absorb all that liquid and get soft. By the end it shouldn’t be soupy anymore.
Don’t try to rush this. I did once and had crunchy rice and three angry children at my dinner table.
Turn on your broiler now. Dump all that beef rice mixture into your casserole dish, smooth it around so it’s kinda even. Now cover the whole top with cheese. I go right to the edges because those crusty cheese corner pieces are the best and my kids literally fight over them.
Stick it under the broiler and I’m not kidding, stand there and watch it. Don’t go check your phone, don’t go throw laundry in, just stand there. It only takes like 4 minutes for the cheese to melt and get those perfect golden spots. But if you walk away even for a minute you’ll come back to smoke and burnt cheese and your smoke detector screaming at you. Ask me how I know.
Grab a spoonful from the middle and taste it, see if it needs salt or pepper. Those canned soups are pretty salty already so you might not need any. Dish it out while it’s hot but maybe let it sit for like 30 seconds so you don’t burn your whole mouth on molten cheese. I’ve done that way too many times.
Notes
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If your tomatoes have a ton of liquid when you open the can—like you pop it open and it’s mostly juice—dump some of that out first or you’ll end up with soup
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Throw some garlic powder in while the beef’s cooking, maybe a teaspoon. Not required but makes it better
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No broiler or yours is broken? Just put it in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, cheese’ll melt fine
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Break the meat up small as it cooks, not big chunks
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Whatever you do, don’t use instant rice or minute rice. Did this once when I ran out of regular rice and it turned into complete disgusting mush
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If you buy the really lean beef like 93/7 because you’re being healthy or whatever, throw in a tablespoon of butter because otherwise it’s kinda dry
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stovetop and Broiling
- Cuisine: American