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Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole

Today I’m sharing my recipe for Skinny Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Casserole, which you will LOVE.

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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.

Weight Watchers Cheeseburger Mac

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.

Weight Watchers Slow Cooker Cheeseburger Mac

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

Weight Watchers Freestyle Cheeseburger Casserole

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

Kathi

Thursday 2nd of July 2020

Could you use pre-cooked ground sirloin?

Carissa

Monday 5th of October 2020

Absolutely!

Sue

Sunday 16th of February 2020

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

Thursday 9th of April 2020

Hi Sue, I'm sure you could try it on high for 4 hours. Let me know how it works for you! Carissa

Pam

Tuesday 1st of October 2019

Do you know if this recipe will freeze well?

Carissa

Sunday 6th of October 2019

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

Hannah Green

Tuesday 6th of November 2018

Hi! Do you think I could do this without the cauliflower? And we’re you able to taste the cauliflower in it? Thanks!

Kristi

Monday 15th of October 2018

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

Thursday 18th of October 2018

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