This easy dinner idea comes with everything love about the classic sandwich, in casserole form, topped with crispy tater tots — YUM!
★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
If you love Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches then you’ll love this easy, layered casserole!
It’s great for family dinners. It doesn’t take long to make so it works for busy weeknights or to enjoy as a weekend meal without being stuck in the kitchen all day.
You can make this with shaved steak, ground beef, or any kind of beef, really. It’s very versatile so you can go with what works for your budget or use what you have on hand.
This recipe makes a big batch so you can feed a hungry family or save leftovers for a yummy yet thrifty lunch the next day.
★ Ingredients You’ll Need ★
You don’t need a long list of ingredients to make this tasty meal. In fact, you just need just 5 ingredients, 6 if you want to include mushrooms:
- Ground beef. Lean ground beef is ideal. An 80/20 or less fat ratio. You can drain away excess fat though as needed after cooking. You can also use uncooked shaved steak in place of ground beef.
- Green bell pepper. You can also use red, yellow or orange bell peppers. They are a hint sweeter than green bell peppers.
- Onion. White, yellow or sweet vidalia onions all work great!
- Mushrooms. These are optional but highly recommend! You can use baby portabella or sliced white mushrooms. Your choice.
- Provolone cheese. You can also use mozzarella or Havarti cheese.
- Tater tots. Choose your favorite frozen brand.
That’s it, other than some salt and pepper to season things or additional spices if you want to flavor your meat.
★ How to Make this Cheesesteak Casserole ★
There’s not a lot to this recipe. Just cook, layer and bake! Yes, this is as easy at it sounds to prep!
You can cook the beef, peppers, onion and mushrooms all together in a large skillet to save time. Then layer those ingredients into an 8×8 baking dish, and top with provolone cheese and tater tots. Bake in the oven until tots are nice and crispy, about 30 minutes.
You can also reverse the layering for more of a pizza look. I think this makes a prettier presentation. Start with a grease pie pan, layer tots, add cheese, add an outside ring of tots, circle side up, and then fill in the middle with cooked steak, bell peppers and onions. Bake until tots are crispy and cheese is melted.
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Watch how to make this casserole.
Check out this step-by-step video showing how easy this casserole is to prep, assemble and bake.
★ Tips & FAQs ★
Lower the Fat
Here’s a little tip for lowering the fat in this dish: drain your ground beef after cooking. Also, choose a lean blend of beef or steak to start with. If you find this leaves your dish lacking flavor, add in a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce to your lean meat.
Extra Seasoning for Your Meat
Want to add more flavor?
I love steak and ground beef with just salt and pepper but if you’re craving something a little more here are some ideas to spice things up.
Trying adding garlic or onion powder to your ground beef (or steak) when you cook it. Or you can opt to use pre-seasoned and pre-cooked shaved steak. You can actually find this at most grocery stores.
Some herbs that go well to enhance to flavor of Philly cheesesteak beef are: paprika, chili powder, thyme, marjoram and basil. Any or all of these would be great additions to your meat; adding them in as you cook or heat your meat.
★ More Recipes You’ll Love ★
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This easy 5-ingredient recipe for Philly Cheesesteak Casserole was featured on Menu Plan Monday and South Your Mouth!
Philly Cheesesteak Casserole (5 Ingredients)
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef or shaved steak
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- ½ large onion sliced
- 8 oz sliced mushrooms optional
- 4 slices Provolone cheese
- 16 oz frozen tater tots About 48 tater tots
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large skillet cook chopped peppers, sliced onion and mushrooms for about 5 minutes. Add ground beef and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes or until beef is browned, peppers are soft, onions are translucent and mushrooms are glossy,
- Drain away any excess fat, reserving some for greasing the pie pan if you want (or you can use butter or oil). Leave meat and veggies in the pan, removed from heat, while you prep the tots.
- Grease a deep dish pie pan. You can use leftover grease from cooking the beef or use butter or cooking oil. Add a flat layer of tots. Top tots with slices of provolone cheese.
- Next add a ring of tots, round side facing up, just along the outer edge to form a "crust."
- Spoon beef, onions, peppers and mushrooms into the center, leaving the circle of tots around the outside so it looks a little like a pizza.
- Bake at 450˚for 25-30 minutes or until tots are golden brown and crispy.
Anne Sanders
Sunday 19th of December 2021
I made this for supper 12/19/2021. I added Garlic, onion powder, and Worcestershire sauce and Lowry's season salt. It was easy to get put together and put it in the oven. I enjoyed it. Next time I'm going to put mushrooms in it. I'm glad I could use the ingredients I had on hand. My husband liked the casserole too! I will be making this again.
Angela G.
Sunday 19th of December 2021
Hi Anne, I'm glad you and your husband liked it. You additions sounds yummy. I really like it with mushrooms. Let me know what you think when you add them in.