Keto Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole (NEW & IMPROVED!)
This Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole is made low carb secretly using cauliflower as the base and no one will know! It’s low carb, keto, gluten free, nut free and grain free! My New & Improved Method makes this a much easier casserole to get on the table fast even on a busy weeknight! Just 4 grams of net carbs per serving, perfect for those on a low carb diet or keto diet!
WHAT IS A CHEESEBURGER CASSEROLE?
A cheeseburger casserole is essentially a deconstructed cheeseburger! All the flavors of a cheeseburger made into a layered casserole dish with the secret vegetable ingredient as the base! This recipe was first published in March of 2015 and has been updated with a new & improved method and video.
I do love a cheeseburger every once in a while, but I always skip the hamburger bun. I’m gluten free and keto, buns at burger joints are not. But isn’t the best thing about a cheeseburger is all the toppings? Now don’t get me wrong, I like keto rolls and keto bread like everyone, but sometimes I don’t have time to make them for a burger.
I highly doubt it’s the bun that makes the burger. So I give you the inside out burger made into a layered dish! The perfect cheesy keto bacon cheeseburger casserole!
NEW & IMPROVED CHEESEBURGER CASSEROLE
Impress your whole family or friends when you make this cheeseburger casserole recipe. This amazing recipe requires a little bit of work, but the results are well worth the effort.
Bring it to a pot luck and WOW everyone there when you tell them they just ate cauliflower! Cheese and bacon make everything right in my world. Even if you are watching your calories this dish will fill you up with one small serving so the calories will be completely worth it since this is a complete meal!!
The previous method for making this low carb cheeseburger casserole when I first published it in 2015, required steaming a fresh head of cauliflower. You see back in 2015 there were not many options as you see today for cauliflower already in rice form.
The other change I made to make this easier is to bake the bacon instead of watching it in a skillet. This way you don’t have to babysit the bacon and can get on with the rest of the recipe.
HOW TO MAKE CHEESEBURGER CASSEROLE
Ingredients- see exact amounts below
- Bacon
- Avocado oil or olive oil
- Ground Beef
- Seasonings
- Frozen Cauliflower Rice
- Coconut Flour
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Mustard
- Cheddar Cheese
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Add your bacon in an even layer on a large baking sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes or until crisp. You could fry your bacon in a skillet but baking the bacon save time to make the rest of the recipe much faster.
Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium- high heat and add ground beef. You could use any oil you prefer. You could also swap ground beef with ground turkey or chicken if you like. Cook until browned. Stir in the onion powder, parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl to keep warm and set aside.
Place frozen cauliflower rice in a microwavable bowl and cook for 5 minutes. Add the coconut flour and salt and mix well. Set aside. SEE NOTES BELOW IF USING FRESH CAULIFLOWER.
Once bacon is crisp, remove to a paper towel lined pan. Once cool chop into pieces.
Make the sauce: Add the butter to the skillet and stir in the coconut flour. Reduce to low heat and stir until the flour has absorbed the butter. Pour in the heavy cream and mustard and continue to stir until it thickens.
Assembly
- Place 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 baking dish.
- Spread the cauliflower mixture on top of the sauce as evenly as possible.
- Place 4 ounces of cheddar over the cauliflower rice.
- Spread the ground beef over the cheddar evenly.
- Pour half of the remaining sauce over the beef.
- Place the remaining cheddar over the sauce.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with chopped bacon.
- Cover and bake 30 minutes. Uncover and bake another 5 minutes.
- Allow to cool out of the oven for 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Top with fresh, chopped scallions if desired. Enjoy with a nice crispy green salad and some dill pickles.
- Store any left overs in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
CAN I USE FRESH CAULIFLOWER?
You can definitely use fresh cauliflower for this recipe, but you will have to cook it prior to using it in this keto casserole which takes a bit more time.
In 2015, I steamed 6 cups of cauliflower florets then used the food processor to turn it into rice, a lot more time involved as well as having to clean two kitchen appliances.
You could also use fresh cauliflower rice. I’ve don’t that as well, BUT you still must cook the cauliflower rice or it won’t get nice and soft in the base of this casserole.
Buying frozen cauliflower rice is the quickest method since it’s already cooked and you just need to heat it up about 5 minutes. See my new video below.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CHEESEBURGER CASSEROLE
I think this keto cheeseburger casserole needs no sides, but if you wanted to these Keto Air Fryer Rolls would be easy to add or a simple salad like my Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad or my Cucumber Dill Salad.
But to enjoy this inside out burger without a bun and be completely satisfied, there is not defeat in that. It’s called winning!
MORE KETO RECIPES YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
- Low Carb Spaghetti Squash Lasagna
- Bacon Cheddar Cauliflower Bites
- Philly Cheese steak Stuffed Mushrooms
- Mini Bunless Cheeseburger Bites with Thousand Island Dip
- Chicken enchilada Cauliflower Casserole
- Beef Stroganoff Cauliflower Casserole
Low-Carb Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
This low carb bacon cheeseburger casserole has all the flavors of a bacon cheeseburger, but with only 7 total grams of carbs per serving. It’s a great option for a meal prep on a weekend, as well as adding to your freezer meals. My entire family loves all of my low carb meals, but this is one of their favorites.
Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole
Ingredients
- 6 ounces bacon
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1.5 pounds ground beef
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon parsley
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 20 ounces frozen cauliflower rice (see notes above for fresh cauliflower)
- 1/3 cup coconut flour 40 grams
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Add your bacon in an even layer on a large baking sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes or until crisp.
- Add avocado oil to a large skillet and add ground beef. Cook until browned. Stir in the onion powder, parsley, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl to keep warm and set aside.
- Place frozen cauliflower rice in a microwavable bowl and cook for 5 minutes. Add the coconut flour and salt and mix well. Set aside.
- Once bacon is crisp, remove to a paper towel lined pan. Once cool chop into pieces.
Make the Sauce
- Add the butter to the skillet and stir in the coconut flour. Reduce to low heat and stir until the flour has absorbed the butter. Pour in the heavy cream and mustard and continue to stir until it thickens.
Assembly
- Place 1/2 cup of the sauce on the bottom of a 9 by 13 baking dish.
- Spread the cauliflower mixture on top of the sauce as evenly as possible.
- Place 4 ounces of cheddar over the cauliflower rice.
- Spread the ground beef over the cheddar evenly.
- Pour half of the remaining sauce over the beef.
- Place the remaining cheddar over the sauce.
- Pour the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle with chopped bacon.
- Cover and bake 30 minutes.
- Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes.
- Allow to cool out of the oven for 15-20 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
We absolutely LOVE this dish, we’ve made it several times. We steam cauliflower pieces instead of using cauliflower rice. And the kicker, we top with chopped dill pickles! It’s a super yummy addition! Cuts through the richness of the sauce and beef. Thanks for the recipe.
Thanks Steph, love that addition!
This meal is a regular staple in our house and even kid approved! I sometimes sautee diced onions in the bacon grease to add in and always steam a whole head of fresh cauli.
Thank you!
I love this recipe , however there could be a couple changes. First of all – chop up bacon and fry that up . With cover on pan to hold the fat. Then place on paper towel to cool. Next – add hamburger to the pan in the bacon grease and cook until browned. Season it then add to the riced cauliflower and blend. Use a 8”x11pan (I have beef in 1lb packages not 1.5). Then proceed as per recipe. The hamburger cauliflower mix is a layer.
Can I substitute the heavy cream for milk?
yep
This is was so delicious..thank you so much for sharing ❤️
So happy you enjoyed it!
I was making the old recipe for my husband on a regular basis back around 2020 or even earlier. But I am divorced now and I love the new and improved recipe!
Thank you
Tina Scroggie
Made this Thursday night for dinner. My son and I loved it! Can’t wait to make it again! It was soo delicious. I did use almond flour instead of coconut flour only because anytime I have used coconut flour I feel it gives a sweeter taste to the food. Being that this was a more savory meal I opted for the almond flour.
Great thank you!
I was a little anxious about the coconut flour, but this was really good! I made it with 2 lbs ground beef and 16 ounces of cauliflower rice, because that’s what I had, and reduced the flour to 1/4 cup. It worked well. We served it with salad. The sauce is the unsung hero of the dish!
followed the recipe to the letter and didn’t care for it. The coconut flour in the cauliflower rice made it too sweet.
What kind of mustard can you use?
yellow
There is a baking temp. for the bacon but none for the whole dish.
Because while the bacon is baking you prepare the rest of the dish and by the time the bacon comes out of the oven you then out the dish in the oven, same temp, as you don’t have to turn the oven off after baking the bacon.
Is there a link to the old method of making this? I don’t remember it being made like this before from a few years back.
The only change from the older method was that I use a head of cauliflower, steamed it then turned it into riced cauliflower to use as the base.
I just made this..it’s delicious
.can you freeze this
Yep, it freezes great!
Can this be frozen? I am recovering from 30+ day hospital stay & major surgery and my daughter wants to make meals to freeze. Thanks
Yes this freezes well.
Hello! Thanks for a great recipe- I can’t wait to enjoy. I have gestational diabetes and it’s really important I know exactly how many carbs are going into my system – I see the serving size says 1 piece- how big is that piece? I tried to find how many servings abs apologize if I missed it – but couldn’t figure it out.
Thanks!
Sarah
Ope – just saw – 10 servings!! Sorry for overlooking. Thanks!
This is my second time making this and my whole non-keto eating family love it!! Win! Win!! I tried another recipe by mistake that had ketchup in it. YUCK!!! Your version is by far the BEST!!! Thanks!! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you!
Delicious! I did not have coconut flour, so I used almond flour and I used olive oil. Fantastic!
I see the cheese listed for the sauce but I don’t see the amounts listed separately for the cheddar cheese.
I made this with almond flour and it was fantastic, one of the best meals I’ve made in a while. Good balance of textures and flavour, honestly preferred this over a cheeseburger!
How much almond flour did you use?
Get over it
What cha vws did you make? I liked the original version. I don’t remember coconut flour being used before.
Very disappointed to that this has been made keto . I like the previous version. Is there a way to get the original version? This way i can print it out and not have to come back to the keto version? Thank in advance
It was always keto, the original and the one now. All I changed was instead of using a fresh cauliflower that you need to grate and process, you save time by using cauliflower rice that you can purchase at any market. That is the only difference.
I like your recipes a lot…..but in a lot of them you use coconut….and I realy hate coconut, the smell the taste!
Can you make a suggestion whith what I could replase it?
Lily,
The Netherlands
Have you tried making this as a freezer meal? Curious how it would hold up and taste if made, frozen and then reheated.
Yep. Cooked. Cooled. Frozen in individual servings for easy thawing.
Almond flour.
In Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole (with cauliflower rice) can I use almond flour in place of the coconut flour?
yes
This was so delicious. I was afraid there would be leftovers, but the kids are already asking me to make it again. Thank you for a yummy new meal to add to our list.
Made this for my husband and I this evening. It was wonderful. One of the best low carb dishes I have made. Made a half recipe. We have leftovers for the weekend.
This recipe is, definitely, a keeper.
Hi! I tried making this tonight but had a bit of a problem when it came to the sauce… I know i messed up somewhere but I’m not sure what happened but i followed the instructions :S The sauce looked thick and i mixed it like you would a regular sauce but when i transferred it to a bowl so it would be easier to separate in half, the sauce became super liquidy with oil and kinda meaty looking and separated? It didnt look like i put cream in it or anything else! Does anyone know where I went wrong?
Hi, love your recipes and have purchased your ‘Naturally Keto’ book from Amazon, Can’t wait to start cooking!
I’m just wondering what cup size you use? I’m trying to work out how much cream to buy on my next shop!
Thanks 🙂
This recipe is AMAZING! I used regular flour (because I don’t eat low carb or have gluten issues) but shared it with a friend because it’s Keto-friendly. Everyone in my family loved it and I have a feeling I will be asked to make it regularly!!