This delicious Keto Ground Beef Zucchini Casserole is incredibly easy to make! It's a cheesy beef and zucchini casserole that's perfect for any night of the week!
Have you ever had keto ground beef casserole? If not you sure are missing out! This is an easy keto dinner recipe to make for the whole family!
This is the best creamy zucchini and ground beef casserole I've made to date! It's a low carb delicious dish to satisfy even the pickiest of eaters.
It's made with common ingredients like ground beef, zucchini and topped off with cheddar and mozzarella cheeses. With just 11 ingredients, it's a simple yet delicious recipe for you and your family to enjoy!
Another big plus to this zucchini casserole with ground beef is if you or your family are running short on time its not a very time consuming process! The casseroles ingredients can also be slightly altered if you wanted to change things up a bit, not that you would want to.
This easy ground beef casserole is a great dish to make with a lot of different options to fit your family's taste.
Why you'll love this keto zucchini ground beef casserole
- Serves 8 - perfect for large families or to make for meal prep!
- Low Carb - only 3g total carbs, and 2 g net carbs per serving
- Budget friendly - this recipe uses basic ingredients that you can get at any grocery store
One thing I love about a zucchini meat casserole is you can make it for dinner, or bake it in advance and store it in the refrigerator until ready to be served.
You can simple reheat some of the casserole in the microwave for about a 1-2 minutes or until heated to fit your taste.
This recipe is also great if you keto meal prep! After the dish comes out of the oven, simply divide the healthy ground beef casserole into meal prep containers. Wait until the individual servings come to room temperature before transferring them to the fridge.
Ingredients for Keto ground beef zucchini casserole
- Ground beef: I use ground chuck, but you can use any kind of ground beef you like
- Zucchini: I love how zucchini holds it's texture in this casserole and that it doesn't overpower the cheesy goodness of this recipe
- Seasonings: Salt, Black pepper, Garlic powder, Onion powder, Italian seasoning
- Cream cheese: I find that full fat cream cheese makes it creamier than reduced fat cream cheese
- Shredded cheese: I used cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese, but you can use any kind you have on hand
- Parsley: Garnish with parsley if you're going for an extra presentation
How to make this cheesy zucchini hamburger casserole
Below are step by step directions for how to make this super easy zucchini casserole with ground beef.
- First off Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a casserole dish with oil and set it aside. Then, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Season the ground beef with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning.
- Cook the beef, stirring and breaking up the meat into small pieces, until the meat is no longer raw, about 5 minutes.
- In the last minute, add the chopped zucchini.
- Add the cubed cream cheese pieces.
- Then mix until the cream cheese is fully melted and incorporated.
- Once the cream cheese is melted remove from heat and add ½ cup of each cheese into the beef mixture.
- Stir the cheesy beef and zucchini casserole mixture until the cheese is completely melted.
- Next, transfer the mixture to the prepared casserole dish.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Lastly, bake for 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Garnish with parsley.
Ground Beef Casserole Recipe notes
Total carbs per serving are 3g, and there are 2 grams net carbs per serving
How to store
Store leftover hamburger and zucchini casserole in glass airtight containers for up to 5 days. If you're planning on eating this for meal prep, I recommend this glass storage containers.
How to Reheat
If you meal prepped this zucchini ground beef casserole in containers like the ones mentioned above, simply remove the lid from the container. Then place the lid on top of the container but not latched on (we need the steam to be able to escape).
Next place in the microwave and cook for 1.5-2 minutes.
If you don't have a microwave, you can also transfer desired portion to a small skillet and warm up over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Recipe tips:
- If you or someone in the family is not a big zucchini fan, then you can always substitute something like yellow squash or eggplant.
- If you want to bulk it up and add more fiber you could add bell peppers or shredded cabbage.
Ground Beef Casserole Ideas
If you're needing ideas of what to do with the leftover ground beef casserole try the follow:
- Use leftover keto ground beef casserole as low carb taco fillings. Simply fill your low carb tortilla with the leftover casserole and top with salsa/hot sauce, avocado and sour cream
- Add it to a keto salad! Simply add this to your favorite greens and top with your favorite salad dressing and sliced avocado
More delicious low carb casseroles
If you loved this ground beef zucchini casserole check out this Keto Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole, Keto Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole and this Keto Broccoli and Cheese Casserole.
They're all perfect if you looking for easy low carb casseroles to feed the entire family.
Keto Recipes with Ground Beef
Have more ground beef in the fridge or freezer and need some fresh ideas? Maybe try this Easy Keto Mexican Casserole, Keto Air Fryer Meatballs or Cast Iron Meatballs. They're all healthy low carb recipes made with ground beef.
Keto Ground Beef Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ lb. ground beef
- 12 ounces zucchini cubed
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
- 4 oz cream cheese cubed
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese divided
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 2-quart casserole dish with olive oil and set it aside.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly spray with oil.
- Add the ground beef to the skillet. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning. Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat into small pieces, until the meat is no longer raw, about 5 minutes. In the last minute, add the zucchini.
- Mix cream cheese until fully melted and incorporated.
- Remove from heat and add ¼ cup of each cheese into the beef mixture.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared 2-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
- Bake 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Garnish with parsley and serve.
Notes
Recipe tips:
- If you or someone in the family is not a big zucchini fan, then you can always substitute something like yellow squash or eggplant.
- If you want to bulk it up and add more fiber you could add bell peppers or shredded cabbage.
Nutrition
Tara
OMG this came out great! The whole family loved it and leftovers were good too. Adding this to our meal rotation for sure!
Kathleen Bushey
Hi Lara,
Lucky for me, I stumbled across your recipes. I'm hoping to make this one tonight although I do have a question or two. Should the zucchini be squeezed out and if so, should I weigh it prior to squeezing the water out? Thanks so much for answering this question. i just hope I'm not the only one asking this.
Lara
Hi Kathleen, I did not squeeze my zucchini out. I hope this helps.
Lindsay
Can you freeze this? Would you freeze before the oven step? Thank you!
Lara
I haven't tried freezing this yet but if I did I would probably do it before the oven step
Julie
Is this net carbs on the nutritional information or just total carbs? If it is not net carbs do you know what the net carb count is for this?
Lara
Total carbs per serving is 3g and net carbs are 2g 🙂
Erin
How much is 1 serving?
Jessica
I found a serving to be about a cup.
Robin
When you say serving size what is the serving size for this is a ZID cup a half a cup did you let me know please
Lara
It's an 8th of the recipe. I didn't measure how big, I just divided it into that many portions.
Ann
Delicious, easy to make, and wonderful for those on a low-carb diet.
Lara
Yes and perfect if you like to meal prep!
Christine
Could frozen zucchini be used instead of fresh?
Lara
I don't see why not! Might just need to cook for a few more minutes prior to baking to make sure it's tender.
Pam
It says 1/2 cup of each cheese divided, but then you say add 1/2 cup each cheese mixture & sprinkle the left over on top?
Lara
Sorry it should have said add 1/4 cup of each cheese mixture to the beef. I've updated it. Thank you for catching that.
Tamm
I also added a can of fire roasted tomatoes to this recipe to give it some extra flavor
Lara
Good idea if you have room for extra carbs. How did it turn out?
MK
Could you sub ground Turkey for the beef?
Lara
Yes, sub 1:1 turkey for beef
Diana
Tried this dish tonight! I added corn and dice tomatoes! It was a hit! Everyone loved this dish! Thank you
Lara Clevenger, Registered Dietitian
Hi Diana, I'm so glad everyone loved it!
Denise Escola
Delicious and so easy. It was a huge hit at our house.
Lara Clevenger, Registered Dietitian
I'm so glad everyone loved it!!
Terry Stenson
I made this tonight for dinner. It was very good. I love easy recipes that actually taste good!. It was to hot today to turn the oven on so I changed the last step and left it in the pan and used a lid to melt the cheese on top. Thanks for the recipe, will be enjoying it for a long time.
Holly
The taste was good, but I knew there was no way zucchini was going to be cooked soft with 1 minute in the skillet and then just 10 minutes in the oven. Put back in oven with foil for about another 20 minutes.
susan e gullixson
I've made this a few times. Everyone loves it. Even the veggie haters!
Lara
So glad to hear that Susan!
Cathy
I loved the last recipe I tried. This sound delicious. Will try tonight and comment on the stars...but it sounds so good!
Lara
I'm so glad you loved the keto chicken bacon ranch casserole recipe and I hope you'll love this recipe too. Thank you so much for your comments - I appreciate it. It helps other readers, and helps me by helping my blog rank better on google and get shown to more people. Much love <3
Wendy
I made this today and it turned out great, which was a pleasant surprise. I have been dairy allergic (as in allergic, not lactose intolerant) for years but I can get away with limited amounts of hard cheese. Cream cheese, no way. I decided since I am eating hard dairy cheese, I would go non-dairy for cooking. I purchased all non-dairy for this dish and that is why I am pleasantly surprised. I had no doubt it would be good using dairy because it is similar to a dish I used to make my kids. They loved that dish and so did I. Thanks for a quick dish that doesn't crash the low-carb diet.
Lara
I'm so glad you and your family loved it even with all the dairy substitutes. Thanks so much for giving it a try.