This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Cheeseburger Pie has a delicious savory filling made with ground beef, bacon, cheese, mushrooms, and onions under a buttery dumpling crust. Your family will love it!
Easy & Delicious Weeknight Dinner
This fantastic Cheeseburger Pie is an easy and super delicious casserole that deserves a place in your go-to weeknight dinner recipe collection. The prep takes just fifteen minutes – then your oven does the rest of the work!
As you can tell by the name – it’s essentially a cheeseburger in ‘pie form’ – with ground beef, bacon, onions, mushrooms, seasonings, and cheddar cheese as the filling. The ‘hamburger buns’ are soft and tender buttery cheddar dumplings on top of the filling.
The aromas coming out of the oven as this beef and cheese pie bakes will have your family clamoring to eat dinner!
Why You’ll Love Cheeseburger Pie
- The combination of savory beef, smoky bacon, earthy mushrooms, and a cheddar cheese biscuit are pure and delicious comfort food.
- It takes just fifteen minutes of hands-on preparation before it goes into the oven to bake – leaving you with time to make the rest of dinner or other weeknight tasks.
- This recipe is sized for four portions, but you can easily double it to feed a larger family.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Bacon – This is cooked and crumbled on top of the filling, and some of the rendered fat is also used to sauté the vegetables.
- Yellow Onions
- White Button Mushrooms
- Fresh Garlic
- Ground Beef – We used an 80/20 ground beef for the best flavor but drained off some of the fat before baking in the oven. You can swap in a leaner ground beef mix if you prefer.
- Beef Stock – Canned or homemade.
- Heavy Cream
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Ketchup
- Seasonings –Including salt and pepper, dry mustard, and gravy browning/seasoning sauce (such as Kitchen Bouquet or Gravy Master).
- All-Purpose Flour – Used to thicken the filling and also added to the dumplings.
- Cheese –Sharp cheddar cheese tops the pie filling and is also added to the dumplings.
- Additional Dumpling Ingredients – Baking powder, granulated sugar, salt, cold unsalted butter, whole milk.
Special Tools Needed
- Cutting Board and Sharp Knife
- Slotted Spoon
- Various Measuring Cups and Spoons
- Skillet or High-Sided Sauté Pan
- Wooden Spoon
- Rubber Spatula
- 8×8 or 9×9-inch Round Casserole Dish (or other oven-safe baking dish that holds 7 to 8 cups)
- Small Bowl – To mix the dumpling batter.
- Ice Cream Scoop – Used to portion the dumplings over the top of the filling. You can make four large dumplings, or multiple smaller dumplings over the top.
- Parchment Paper
- Aluminum Foil
How do I make Cheeseburger Pie?
- Chop bacon finely, then sauté to crisp. Drain but reserve two tablespoons of the bacon fat.
- Sauté sliced onion and mushrooms in the bacon fat. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes more.
- Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Drain and discard most of the fat, leaving a little in the bottom of the pan.
- Add beef stock, heavy cream, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, kosher salt, black pepper, ketchup, dry mustard, and gravy flavor color to the beef and vegetable mixture. Simmer for 20 minutes.
- Mix flour and cold water to form a slurry, then add to the mixture in the skillet. Stir and cook for one minute to thicken.
- Pour into a baking dish and sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and cooked bacon pieces.
- Mix dumpling batter. Use a scoop to divide the batter into portions and place over the mixture.
- Cover with parchment and foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove parchment and foil and bake for ten more minutes to brown the top.
- Let the pie set up for ten minutes, then serve.
Cooking Tips
- We suggest chopping the bacon before cooking. This will cook the pieces more evenly and also render out the fat more quickly and easily than cooking whole slices and chopping after the bacon is cooked. Chopping it first yields more evenly cooked pieces.
- Recipe can easily be doubled and cooked in a 9×13-inch baking dish to feed more than four people.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I make Cheeseburger Pie ahead of time? The filling and dumplings can be made in advance then refrigerated separately. When ready to bake, remove the filling from refrigeration and bring to room temperature. Once the oven is hot, scoop the cold dumpling batter over the pie and bake per instructions.
- How do I store leftovers? Store covered in the refrigerator for up to two days.
- How do I reheat leftovers? Reheat individual portions in the microwave or cover the pie and warm through in the oven.
- Can I freeze? We’ve actually never tried doing so ourselves, but we think the cooked pie should freeze well.
This Cheeseburger Pie recipe originally appeared on A Family Feast in 2013. We’ve updated the post, photos, as well as the recipe to make it even more delicious!
You might like these other Burger-Inspired Recipes
Click here for more delicious Casserole Recipes
See The RecipesWe love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Cheeseburger Pie
Cheeseburger Pie has a delicious savory filling made with ground beef, bacon, cheese, mushrooms, and onions under a buttery dumpling crust. Your family will love it!
Ingredients
4 ounces thin-sliced bacon (about 4–5 slices depending on brand)
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thick half inch slices (about 6 ounces)
6 ounces button mushrooms, sliced into thick slices
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
1 1/2 pounds 80/20 ground beef
1 cup beef stock or broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon gravy color, such as Kitchen Bouquet
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Few shakes of your favorite hot sauce, we used Cholula
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons water
3/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Dumplings
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon cold butter cut into small pieces
1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup whole milk, plus more if needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F with rack in the center of the oven.
- Spray a baking dish that holds seven cups or larger: 8×8 or 9×9-inch ceramic round. (Our round baking dish held seven cups with the dumplings rising higher than the dish rim).
- Chop bacon into very small pieces by stacking the slices and cutting them into strips then into pieces. Place in a large high-sided skillet and cook over medium heat until crisp and fully rendered. Remove pieces with a slotted spoon to a dish covered in a paper towel. Pour out fat and return two tablespoons of the fat back into the skillet.
- Over medium high heat, cook the thick cut onion slices and the thickly sliced mushrooms for about four minutes or until the onions are starting to soften. Add garlic and cook for one minute.
- Add the ground beef and break it up while cooking. Cook until it is no longer pink. Pour off some of the rendered fat but leave a little in the pan. (If you forget and leave all the fat in, it will float to the top and you can remove it once baked)
- Add the beef stock, heavy cream, gravy color, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, salt, pepper, ketchup, and dry mustard.
- Bring to a medium simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Mix the flour and water to form a thick slurry and stir into the hot mixture and cook for one more minute.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle on the shredded cheese and cooked bacon pieces.
- In a small bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cold butter pieces and shredded cheddar cheese.
- Add cold milk and mix to form a slightly thick sticky dough. If the mixture is too dry, drizzle in a little more milk until no dry flour is left.
- Divide the dough into quarters and using a scoop to get a round shape, drop the four dough balls onto the top of the filling.
- Cover the top with a piece of parchment that will fit the baking dish and a piece of foil, shiny side down.
- Bake for 15 minutes, remove the cover, and bake for ten more minutes.
- Remove and let set up for ten minutes then serve.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
dana says
I just made this…less the mushrooms. I added scallions and used whole milk instead of heavy cream. I also had no baking powder so I substituted baking soda and vinegar ..u can find measurements on google. I also added a tad of shredded cheese to the dumplings.
It was delicious!!!
Martha says
So glad you liked it Dana! Thanks for letting us know!
Lisa says
I was thinking of trying corn muffin mix instead of dumplings. Any thoughts?
Martha Pesa says
Hi Lisa – Not sure about consistency you’ll end up with using corn muffin mix! Dumplings cook with a lot of humidity in the pot, while the muffin mix is meant more for the dry heat of the oven – they might end up pretty soggy. If you try it – let us know how it comes out!