This easy recipe combines layers of ground beef, sour cream, cheese and tomatoes on top of a simple Bisquick crust. The perfect delicious, quick weeknight dinner!
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While our family doesn’t mind tomato soup and recipes that use cooked tomatoes, oddly enough, none of us are big fans of tomatoes when they are fresh.
But I love to garden and since tomatoes grow well and are easy to take care of, I always end up planting some. But then, of course, I find myself looking for ways to use up all those tomatoes that we harvest! Which is how I discovered this recipe.
Why We Love John Wayne Casserole
A comfort food type of recipe, this John Wayne Casserole is….hearty, creamy, flavorful and just plain delicious.
Our children all love it, even the pickiest eater. And I love that it helps to get them eating more tomatoes.
It is quick to prep and is ready to eat in just 45 minutes, which in my opinion is great for a weeknight dinner.
Plus, it’s also budget-friendly. And with grocery prices rising, that’s more of a help than ever!
Watch Video: Learn How to Make This Recipe
Ingredients Needed for John Wayne Casserole with Bisquick
- Ground Beef – You can easily swap for ground turkey if you prefer.
- Onion – This is my favorite handy gadget to make chopping the onions a cinch!
- Sour Cream – Greek yogurt works too, although I do think the sour cream gives it a slightly better taste overall.
- Mayonnaise
- Cheddar Cheese
- Garlic Powder – You can use granulated garlic or jarred minced garlic instead. See the recipe notes for more details on this!
- Bisquick – I personally like to use my homemade Bisquick Mix. It’s cheaper and I know exactly what ingredients are in it! But any variety of plain Bisquick should work fine, even gluten-free.
- Cold Water
- Tomatoes – If you don’t want to use fresh tomatoes, you can swap these for one (15 ounce) can instead. Or if you are like me and can diced tomatoes, you can substitute with a pint of those.
- Paprika
How to Make this Recipe
STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8×8 baking pan, then set aside.
STEP 2: In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and diced onion (drain when fully cooked).
STEP 3: While that’s cooking, in a separate bowl combine the sour cream, mayo, cheese, and garlic powder, then set aside.
STEP 4: In another bowl, combine the cold water with the Bisquick mix and stir together until the dough forms. Then transfer the dough into the greased baking dish, and press to cover the bottoms and slightly up the sides of the pan. (You may want to keep your hands damp while you do this so the dough doesn’t get too sticky where you can’t work with it.)
STEP 5: Layer the cooked ground beef, onions and tomatoes on top of the dough.
STEP 6: Then pour on the sour cream mixture; smooth into an even layer. Sprinkle with paprika.
STEP 7: Bake for 25 to 30 minutes and serve!
What Should I Serve with a Bisquick Beef Casserole?
This simple dinner recipe is perfect like it is, but if you want to serve it with a side here are some suggestions.
- Instant Pot Refried Beans
- An easy dinner salad
- Tortilla chips and salsa
- Cooked vegetables like peas, corn, green beans or broccoli
- Seasoned black beans
- Spanish or Mexican rice
You May Also Enjoy These Easy Dinner Recipes:
- Bisquick Chicken Alfredo Bake
- Crockpot Tamale Pie
- Herb Roasted Chicken and Potatoes
- Easy Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie
- Oven Ready Lasagna (no boil!)
12/28/21: This recipe was originally published on my site under the name Deep Dish Taco Squares. I updated the article with new photos and changed the name of the recipe to better reflect what this casserole actually is.
John Wayne Casserole
Ingredients
- ½ lb. ground beef
- 2 Tbsp. onion, chopped
- ½ c. sour cream
- ¼ c. mayonnaise
- ½ c. shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ tsp. garlic powder (see recipe notes)
- 1 c. Bisquick (link to homemade Bisquick in recipe notes below)
- ¼ c. cold water
- 2 tomatoes, diced- more if preferred (see recipe notes)
- paprika optional
Instructions
- Brown ground beef and onion.
- Mix sour cream, mayonnaise, cheese and garlic powder. Set aside.
- Combine Bisquick and water to form soft dough. Press into the bottom of a greased 8×8 baking dish. (It helps to make your hands slightly damp to do this!)
- Top with cooked ground beef then the tomatoes, then the sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.
- Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes.
Notes
- Tomatoes: 1 (15 oz.) can of drained diced tomatoes can be subbed for the tomatoes- just be sure to drain them really well!
- I love using my Homemade Bisquick Mix recipe.
- Garlic Powder: can substitute with 1 tsp. jarred minced garlic or 1/2 tsp. granulated garlic.
- Doubling Recipe: You can easily double this and make it in a 9 x 13 baking dish instead.
- Additions: feel free to add in corn, green chilis or peppers. If adding peppers, fry them up with the ground beef and onion
Melissa
I would make it again. I used Gluten Free Bisquick. I used the 16pz box and only added water. I lost track how much water I added, but I would guess it was 2 cups. I would add something next time, just to give it some flavor. The food on top of the biscuit was good, but the biscuit was a little plain, in my opinion. Just wanted GF eaters to know how it worked from my experience. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Lydia Beiler
Thanks for taking the time to share here and let others know that the gluten-free Bisquick worked well. That’s always so helpful! And I’d love to hear if you ever figure out something with the biscuit part that you like better. I’m always up for trying something new!
KaDee
Hey! I’m here from your recent Aldi Meal Plan! I was wondering if there would be a good substitution for the mayo in this recipe. I’m the one in my family who gags at the thought of mayo coming anywhere near me lol but I’d love to try your shopping list and stick to it as close as I can! Thanks from a new reader!
Lydia Beiler
Hey, glad to hear you are using the meal plan! I think that you could sub plain Greek yogurt or maybe even just plain regular yogurt for the mayo in this recipe. It will change it just a bit, but it should still provide the tangy/tart flavor that mayo gives and I’m pretty sure it will still be quite tasty. I hope that helps!
Katy
Hello! Does the baking time need to be increased for doubling the recipe? Can’t wait to try this!
Lydia Beiler
I regularly double this recipe, but I usually bake it in two smaller dishes and it’s been a while since I used a 9×13 pan. My memory says that I didn’t increase the baking time at all, but I could be wrong. If I did, it would have only been by 5 to 10 minutes. Basically, it needs to be hot throughout and the bottom crust part needs to be fully baked so it’s not doughy (if you are using a clear baking dish, you can usually fairly easily tell this by looking at the bottom). You could check those things to be sure that you don’t need to add more time. I hope you enjoy it, Katy!
Wendi
Could I freeze this before or after baking?
Lydia Beiler
Unfortunately, I don’t think this would freeze very well either way because I think it would make the crust soggy. If you decide to give it a try though, I’d love to know how it worked out.