We have a lot of ground beef in our freezer right now.
And when I say a lot, I mean a lot.
We bought beef from a local rancher, which has been wonderful, but it also means I’m constantly looking for different meals I can make with ground beef. There are only so many times you can make burgers, tacos, and spaghetti before everyone is ready for something different.
That’s how I ended up making Sour Cream Noodle Bake.
I’d seen this recipe from Ree Drummond before, and it checked several boxes for me. It used ground beef, didn’t require a ton of ingredients, and looked incredibly easy to put together.
There was just one ingredient I wasn’t completely sold on.
Cottage cheese.
I Wasn’t Sure About the Cottage Cheese
I actually used to love cottage cheese.
Now? Not so much.
It’s not something I normally reach for anymore, so when I saw that the noodle mixture contained both sour cream and cottage cheese, I wasn’t sure what I was going to think about it.
But it was really good.
Once everything was mixed together and baked with the seasoned ground beef, tomato sauce, noodles, and cheddar cheese, I wasn’t sitting there thinking, Yep, there’s cottage cheese.
Instead, it helped make the noodles creamy and gave the casserole a richness that worked really well with the beef and tomato sauce.
So, if the cottage cheese gives you pause, too, I wouldn’t let that stop you from trying this one.
This Was So Easy to Make
The other thing I loved about this meal was how easy it was.
There isn’t a complicated list of ingredients or a bunch of prep work.
You brown the ground beef and add the tomato sauce and seasoning. While that’s simmering, cook the egg noodles.
Then you mix the noodles with sour cream, cottage cheese, seasonings, and green onions.
After that, it’s basically layering.
Noodles.
Meat sauce.
Cheese.
Then do it again.
Bake it until the cheese is melted, and dinner is done.
This is exactly the kind of recipe I like for a weeknight when we have practices, games, school activities, or somewhere else we’ve got to be.
Which, apparently, is most nights around here.
A Good Way to Use Ground Beef
Since we have so much beef from a local rancher in our freezer, I’ve been trying to branch out and find more recipes that use it.
I don’t want every package of ground beef to automatically become tacos or hamburgers.
This was a nice change.
It’s still simple enough that the kids aren’t looking at the plate wondering what I’ve made, but it’s different enough that it doesn’t feel like we’re eating the same ground beef meals over and over again.
And because it uses more than a pound of ground beef, it helped me accomplish my original goal:
Use some of that beef in the freezer.
You Can Make It Ahead, Too
Another thing I like about the original recipe is that it can be prepared for the freezer.
That’s particularly useful for busy weeks when I know our evenings are going to be packed. You can assemble the casserole in a freezer-safe pan, cover it well, and freeze it for another night.
The original recipe includes specific instructions for freezing and cooking it from frozen, so I’d follow those directions if you’re making it ahead.
You can find Ree Drummond’s original Sour Cream Noodle Bake recipe on Food Network.
Would I Make Sour Cream Noodle Bake Again?
Absolutely.
It was easy.
It used ingredients that aren’t difficult to find.
It gave me another way to use the ground beef filling our freezer.
And even the cottage cheese, which was the ingredient I wasn’t sure about, ended up working really well.
This isn’t a fancy dinner.
It’s a simple, filling, family-friendly ground beef casserole, and sometimes that’s exactly what I need.
I’ll definitely keep this one in the rotation.
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Brown the ground chuck in a large skillet and drain the excess fat. Add the tomato sauce, salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Stir and allow the mixture to simmer while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
- Cook the egg noodles until al dente. Drain and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, combine the sour cream and cottage cheese. Season with freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Add the mixture to the cooked noodles and stir to combine. Stir in the green onions.
- Add half of the noodle mixture to a baking dish. Top with half of the meat mixture and half of the grated cheddar. Repeat with the remaining noodles, meat mixture, and cheddar.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
- Serve warm with crusty French bread, if desired.
- To cook from frozen: Place directly in a 375-degree F oven and bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until lightly brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes more.