Easy John Wayne Casserole

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.

The thing is, while we don’t have much room for a garden here in the city, I love planting a couple of tomato plants each year because they usually grow well and are easy to take care of.  So every year, I find myself looking for new ways to use up the random tomatoes that we harvest.

Several years ago I had a couple of fresh tomatoes that needed to be used up before they spoiled.  As I was flipping through a small church cookbook, I came across this John Wayne Casserole recipe and decided to try it.  I was a bit worried that the tomatoes would be too obvious for the kids, but I made it and we all loved it!

In fact, it was so tasty that several weeks later when I got hungry for it again but realized that I didn’t have any fresh tomatoes, I improvised and made it using diced canned tomatoes.  It ended up working really well and is my fallback method when I simply don’t have any fresh ones on hand.

Why We Love John Wayne Casserole

This recipe is one of those comfort food sort of dishes….hearty, creamy, and just plain delicious.  An added bonus is that it’s always a hit with our children too and I love that it helps get them eating more tomatoes.  Score! 

It also comes together in just 45 minutes, which in my opinion is an easy weeknight dinner. Not to mention, it’s budget-friendly! The most expensive ingredient is ground beef but it only uses half of a pound, so making a double batch for leftovers is always a good idea. I feel like casseroles always make more than you think anyway.

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.
• 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.

Print Recipe

4.88 from 8 votes

John Wayne Casserole

This easy recipe combines layers of sour cream, cheese, tomatoes and ground beef on top of a tasty Bisquick crust for a delicious kid friendly dinner!  

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time45 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Servings: 5 people

Author: Lydia @ ThriftyFrugalMom.com

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

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