Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole
Today I’m sharing my recipe for Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole, which you will LOVE.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please see my disclosure page here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Here in the Midwest, we also refer to these tasty and easy meals as hot dishes.
It makes me giggle a bit because I never really hear the phrase hot dish anymore, but my mom does make a delicious rice hot dish, which I will post here eventually.
There’s something so comforting about a big scoop of steaming casserole on your plate for dinner.
I couldn’t find many casseroles when I was searching for Weight Watchers™ friendly meals.
That’s probably because they are usually held together by some full fat, cream-of-something-fatty soup, loaded with butter and cheese.
I decided to log onto the Weight Watchers™ website and use their recipe builder to see what I could create that would mimic a tomato-y, beefy, delicious casserole.
Once you’re a member of Weight Watchers™, you can use their recipe builder and make your own recipes.
It takes all of the ingredients and amounts and spits out the points value of any recipe if you know the amount of servings.
I originally started with ground turkey.
There’s something about ground turkey that just doesn’t do it for me, though.
Like I’ve posted before, I’m a beef or chicken girl.
So I decided to use extra lean ground beef.
I was surprised when the points remained low when I used beef.
See?
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be bland!
I also had some reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese in the fridge so I added that in.
It made it gooey and extra tasty. This Wisconsin girl loves cheese!
I also had some frozen cauliflower in my freezer because I’m trying to get my son to eat more veggies.
It’s not going the best, I’ll just say that. 🙂
So I used it in my recipe!
This recipe kind of reminds me of my mom’s goulash, but lightened up.
There’s no chunky tomatoes in this recipe though, only ketchup.
I’m not a fan of chunky, mushy tomatoes.
Since this recipe includes pasta, there’s a little bit of pre-cooking involved.
If you’ve ever made pasta in your instant pot, then you know you can make this Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole in there too, which would take less time and be ready for your belly a lot sooner.
I have not tried it in my pressure cooker, but it’s something to think about!
One good thing about this recipe is that you don’t have to cook the beef prior if you are using a crock pot.
If you are using an instant pot or a pressure cooker, then you’ll want to brown your meat before you put it in the cooker.
If you prefer, you can add more veggies in the recipe for zero points.
I like green pepper, so I added some.
Next time I make this, I’m going to add some baby Portobello mushrooms as well.
You really can’t screw this recipe up, and that’s the case with most casseroles!
Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups of this product, dry
1/2 pound extra lean (90-95%) ground sirloin
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
6 cups frozen cauliflower florets
1 1/2 cups Velveeta original shreds
freshly chopped parsley for garnish
salt and pepper to taste – Click here for my favorite salt…and it’s actually good for you too!
Directions
Cook the pasta lightly. You do not want it completely done when you put it in the crock pot. I cooked mine for about 4-5 minutes.
Drain the pasta and place in crock pot.
In a separate bowl, mix the ground sirloin with the onions, peppers and ketchup. Place in the crock pot.
Add the frozen cauliflower mixture to the crock pot, stir in with pasta and meat mixture.
Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or until the meat is thoroughly cooked through.
After 7-8 hours or when meat is cooked through, add the Velveeta and break up the meat with a spoon. Stir to mix all together.
Add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with parsley if preferred.
Points Value
This recipe serves about 8 people.
Each serving is one cup.
WW Personal Points™ = 4 POINTS
***For the most accurate points count, enter this recipe into your W.W. app recipe builder. WW Personal Points™ calculates points differently for each person, so your points value for this recipe may vary.***
Green Plan = 5 Points
Blue Plan = 5 Points
Purple Plan = 3 Points
I know you will love this Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole. It’s all the taste without the guilt!
Let me know how you like it and how you’ve changed it up. I’m always up to try new foods!
Enjoy!
Carissa
21 Comments
Pingback:
Stina
This might be a silly question…but the cauliflower and cheese is a frozen block how should I measure 6 cups 🤔 am I supposed to thaw and measure?
Carissa
Not silly at all! Two of the family size bags equals about 6 cups. Just throw the blocks in the crock pot and they will melt. You can also thaw them a bit in the fridge.
Stina
Great thank you so much! I’ll be making this tonight!
Kelsey
Where can I find the cauliflower with cheese sauce? I tried Safeway but no luck!
Carissa
Hi Kelsey! Thanks for stopping by!
I get mine at Walmart. I’ve also had luck with a small chain grocery store by me that carries just about anything.
My advice would be to just look around, or call before you head out to see if they have it.
I hope you find it and enjoy the recipe!
Carissa
Kathy
The cauliflower I have doesn’t have cheese sauce. Should I increase the amt of shredded cheese, or what can I institute? There doesn’t seem to be much liquid in the recipe to cook all day. Am I missing something?
Thanks
Carissa
Hi Kathy,
My advice is to possibly add some sharp shredded cheese, but be sure to count the points as they will increase. This recipe will cook well in the crock pot because the pasta is already pre-cooked and the water from the frozen cauliflower adds enough moisture to the recipe.
I hope you enjoy it!
Thank you for stopping by!
Carissa
Sharon
Can you use 99% lean ground turkey? And if you do, will that bring the point value down?
Carissa
Hi Sharon,
Yes, you can use any meat you wish. I do imagine that using that turkey would bring the points value down.
You can put the recipe using Turkey into the recipe generator on WW’s website and it will give you the points value per serving.
Thanks for stopping by!
Carissa
Natalie
Have you tried making this recipe in the oven? If so, temp and time please.
Thanks.
Carissa
Hi Natalie!
I haven’t, but I’m guessing a good starting point would be 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
Let me know how it works!
Carissa
Kristi
Hi, do you know how you would do this in the instant pot? I know you said to brown the meat, but what else would I need to do? Thanks for your help. It sounds really good.
Carissa
Hi Kristi,
I’m not an expert on the instapot, but, mine has a slow cooker setting. Maybe you could use that? Or, follow your instruction booklet for the pasta/rice setting would be my guess. Could be trial and error.
Thanks for stopping by!
Carissa
Hannah Green
Hi! Do you think I could do this without the cauliflower? And we’re you able to taste the cauliflower in it? Thanks!
Pam
Do you know if this recipe will freeze well?
Carissa
Hi Pam,
I’m not sure why it wouldn’t since the cauliflower is already frozen to begin with. Trial and error I suppose! I’ve never frozen it because we eat it all in one sitting!
Thanks for stopping by!
Carissa
Sue
Can I cool this on high (4 hours) in the crockpot? I really ant to make this recipe, but pressed for time and 4 hours would be perfect.
Carissa
Hi Sue,
I’m sure you could try it on high for 4 hours. Let me know how it works for you!
Carissa
Kathi
Could you use pre-cooked ground sirloin?
Carissa
Absolutely!