Hearty Potato, Ground Beef, and Spinach Casserole: Your New Favorite Comfort Food Dinner
Prepare to delight your taste buds with this incredibly satisfying Potato, Ground Beef, and Spinach Casserole. Crafted from scratch and crowned with a luscious layer of creamy mashed potatoes and cream cheese, this dish is a true celebration of comfort food. It’s the perfect solution for a hearty weeknight dinner that comes together with surprising ease, and you’ll find it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser for everyone at your table. Get ready to enjoy a delicious and wholesome meal!
Why You’ll Love This Potato, Ground Beef, and Spinach Casserole
Casseroles are undeniably convenient, especially when you need a simple yet fulfilling meal during a busy week. What makes this particular dish stand out is its incredible versatility and the rich, comforting flavors it delivers with minimal effort. Imagine a savory filling of seasoned ground beef and vibrant spinach, nestled beneath a generous blanket of fluffy mashed potatoes. But we don’t stop there – a delightful layer of cream cheese and a sprinkle of golden breadcrumbs create an irresistible crispy and creamy crust that elevates every bite.
This recipe is designed for flexibility, allowing you to easily adapt it to your preferences or what you have on hand. Don’t let leftover vegetables go to waste; simply chop them up and incorporate them into the flavorful beef and spinach filling. A handful of sliced mushrooms or a cup of sweet corn can add extra texture and a burst of flavor, transforming this casserole into a unique culinary creation every time. The result is always a hearty, wholesome meal that truly satisfies.
Top Tips for a Perfect Casserole
- Enhance the Filling: For an even richer flavor and added texture, consider sautéing sliced mushrooms with the onions or mixing in some sweet corn kernels with the spinach. These additions are not only delicious but also boost the nutritional value of your casserole.
- Drain Spinach Thoroughly: This is a crucial step! Whether you’re using fresh or frozen spinach, ensure it’s squeezed thoroughly to remove excess water. A watery filling can make your casserole soggy and diminish its flavor. For fresh spinach, wilt it first and then drain it well. For frozen, thaw completely and then squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
- Make Ahead Magic: This casserole is an excellent make-ahead meal. Prepare the entire dish up to the point of baking, cover it tightly, and store it in the refrigerator for up to a day. When you’re ready to bake, simply add an extra 5 minutes to the baking time (for a total of 35 minutes) to ensure it heats through evenly. This preparation strategy is a lifesaver for busy evenings.
- Perfectly Cooked Potatoes: To achieve that ideal mashed potato consistency, ensure your potatoes are cooked until they are fork-tender. This means you should be able to easily pierce them with a fork without any resistance. Overcooked potatoes can become gluey, while undercooked ones will result in lumpy mash.
- Extra Creamy Mash: For an exceptionally smooth and creamy mashed potato topping, always use warm milk when mixing. Heating the milk gently before adding it to the mashed potatoes helps them absorb better, creating a silkier texture without over-mashing.
- Softened Cream Cheese: For effortless spreading, remember to take your cream cheese out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes before you plan to use it. Softened cream cheese will spread smoothly and evenly over the mashed potatoes, ensuring a consistent creamy layer that bakes beautifully.
- Season Generously: Don’t be shy with your seasonings! Taste the ground beef and spinach filling before assembling the casserole and adjust salt, pepper, and any other desired spices to your liking. Well-seasoned layers make for a truly memorable dish.
- Achieving a Golden Crust: For that irresistible golden-brown and crispy topping, ensure your oven is adequately preheated. If you find the top isn’t browning as much as you’d like in the last few minutes, you can briefly switch to the broiler (keep a close eye on it to prevent burning!).
Ingredients Spotlight: The Goodness in Your Dish
Each component of this Potato, Ground Beef, and Spinach Casserole plays a crucial role in creating its balanced flavor and nutritional profile. Let’s take a closer look at the stars of the show:
Spinach: A Powerhouse Vegetable
The original reference to Popeye eating spinach cans highlights its well-known health benefits, and for good reason! Spinach is a nutritional powerhouse, packed with essential vitamins and minerals. It’s an excellent source of Vitamin K, vital for bone health, and Vitamin A, important for vision and immune function. Furthermore, spinach is rich in iron, which helps in oxygen transport, and Vitamin C, a powerful antioxidant that supports overall immunity. Incorporating spinach into this casserole not only adds a vibrant color and fresh taste but also significantly boosts the health quotient of your meal, making it both delicious and incredibly good for you.
Ground Beef: The Hearty Foundation
Ground beef forms the savory and satisfying base of this casserole, providing a robust flavor and a significant protein punch. Protein is essential for muscle repair and growth, keeping you feeling full and energized. You can choose between leaner ground beef options for a lighter meal or a slightly higher fat content for an extra succulent and flavorful dish. Its versatility makes it a perfect complement to the fresh spinach and creamy potatoes, absorbing the spices and aromatics to create a deeply satisfying filling.
Potatoes: The Ultimate Comforting Topping
Mashed potatoes are the quintessential comfort food topping, and in this casserole, they provide a creamy, fluffy contrast to the rich meat and spinach filling. Potatoes are a great source of complex carbohydrates, offering sustained energy, and they also provide dietary fiber, Vitamin C, and potassium. Using floury potatoes is key for achieving that light and airy mash that easily whips up into a smooth consistency. When baked, the potato topping with its cream cheese and breadcrumb crust becomes golden and slightly crisp, adding an irresistible textural element to the dish.
Customizing Your Casserole: Delicious Variations
One of the best aspects of this Potato, Ground Beef, and Spinach Casserole is how easily it can be adapted to suit different tastes and dietary needs. Feel free to experiment with these variations to make it your own:
- Add More Vegetables: Beyond mushrooms and corn, consider stirring in finely diced carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, or even a handful of peas into the ground beef and spinach mixture. This is an excellent way to use up leftover veggies and add more nutrients and color.
- Cheese Please! While cream cheese provides a unique creamy texture, you can also add other cheeses. Mix shredded cheddar or mozzarella into the mashed potatoes for extra gooeyness, or sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top with the breadcrumbs for a sharper, saltier crust.
- Spice it Up: For a kick, add a pinch of red pepper flakes, a dash of cayenne pepper, or a teaspoon of smoked paprika to the ground beef mixture. A touch of garlic powder or Italian seasoning can also deepen the savory notes.
- Herbaceous Twist: Fresh herbs like parsley, chives, or thyme, finely chopped and mixed into the mashed potatoes or the beef filling, can add a wonderful aromatic dimension.
- Meat Alternatives: If you’re looking for different protein options, ground turkey or chicken can be used in place of ground beef for a lighter version. Minced lamb would offer a richer, more traditional shepherd’s pie flavor. For a vegetarian or vegan option, a plant-based ground meat substitute would work beautifully, just ensure to season it well.
- Different Toppings: Instead of breadcrumbs, you could use crushed crackers, crispy fried onions, or even a layer of grated cheese alone for the topping. For a lower-carb option, skip the potatoes and use mashed cauliflower instead, or a mix of both.
Serving Suggestions and Pairings
This Potato, Ground Beef, and Spinach Casserole is a complete meal in itself, offering protein, vegetables, and carbohydrates. However, if you’re looking to round out your dinner, here are a few serving suggestions:
- Fresh Green Salad: A crisp, light green salad with a vinaigrette dressing provides a refreshing contrast to the rich casserole.
- Crusty Bread: A warm loaf of crusty bread is perfect for soaking up any delicious juices from the filling.
- Steamed Vegetables: If you want to boost your vegetable intake further, a side of steamed green beans, asparagus, or broccoli would complement the dish beautifully.
More Easy Casseroles to Enjoy
If you’re a fan of the comforting ease of casseroles, you’re in for a treat! We have an array of other simple and satisfying recipes that are perfect for any occasion. For instance, this potato zucchini casserole with fishoffers a delightful seafood twist. Or dive into the rich flavors of a traditional Dutch cream potato casserole with ground beef, known as Aardappel Anders. And for something wonderfully unique, this Italian Lasagna with Kale and Sausage is sure to surprise and impress.
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📖 Recipe
RECIPE CARD
Andréa
Pin Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.2 lb potatoes, floury
- ½ cups milk
- 2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
- 1 tablespoon sunflower oil
- 1 onion, sliced finely
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb spinach, fresh or frozen
- 1 oz. tomato paste
- 4 oz. cream cheese
- ½ cups breadcrumbs
All my recipes are written both in Metric (gram / ml) and US Customary (cups / pounds). Here you can select which type of amount you would like to see.
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 390 °F or 350 °F.
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Peel the potatoes and cook them in a layer of water for 20 minutes, until done.2.2 lb potatoes
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Meanwhile, heat the milk and butter.½ cups milk, 2 tablespoons butter
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Mash the potatoes and stir in the hot milk and butter mix.
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Heat oil in a skillet and fry the onion until translucent (about three minutes).1 tablespoon sunflower oil, 1 onion
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Add in the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes.1 oz. tomato paste
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Put the ground beef in the skillet and bake it until it is nicely browned.1 lb ground beef
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Add the spinach with the beef mixture and stir well, until it withers. If it is still a bit wet, bake a while until it gets drier.1 lb spinach
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Spoon the ground beef and spinach mixture onto the bottom of a baking dish (9 × 13 inch).
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Add the mashed potatoes on top of it and smoothen the top.
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Spread the cream cheese over the potatoes and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.4 oz. cream cheese, ½ cups breadcrumbs
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Bake for 30 minutes in the oven.
Notes
2. Ground Beef: Our recipe uses ground beef for a delicious taste and hearty bite. For variations, you can also opt for ground pork, turkey, chicken, or minced lamb to suit your dietary preferences or to explore different flavor profiles.
3. Spinach: This recipe works well with both fresh and frozen spinach. If using fresh, sauté it briefly in a wok or frying pan until wilted, then ensure to drain any excess water. For frozen spinach, thaw it completely and squeeze out as much liquid as possible before incorporating it into the filling to avoid a watery casserole.
4. Storage & Make-Ahead Tips: Once baked, the spinach casserole should not be reheated due to the general advice against reheating spinach. However, you can easily prepare the entire casserole a day in advance. Store it covered in the refrigerator before baking. The next day, simply add it to the oven and extend the baking time by five minutes (so 35 minutes total) to ensure it’s heated through and bubbling beautifully.
Nutrition
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