This Philly Cheese Steak Casserole is such an easy delicious dinner! Full of the Philly Cheese Steak flavor you love, but baked up in a delicious noodle casserole!
This super simple casserole recipe started off as a riff on some delicious Philly Cheese Steak pizza I ate at Chuck E. Cheese’s during my kid’s birthday party.
Yup. For real.
Since then it has become a crazy viral recipe.
This really simple casserole that can be done in 40 minutes has been viewed millions of times and has so many five star reviews.
“This has become a standard in our household. It’s our go-to when we want to cook for friends or family and everyone always loves it!” – John
Philly Cheese Steak Casserole Ingredients
This easy dinner is made with simple ingredients, which is one of the reasons it is so loved.
- Pasta
- Beef Stock
- Butter
- Garlic
- Ground Beef
- Cream Cheese
- Onion
- Green Pepper
- Mozzarella
- Provolone
How to Make Philly Cheese Steak Casserole
- Cook the noodles: To deepen the flavor in this recipe, we are cooking the noodles in beef stock. Be sure to reserve a cup of that starchy cooking stock before draining the noodles.
- Cook the ground beef: In an oven proof skillet, cook the ground beef.
- Sauté the vegetables: Add the onion and bell pepper to the ground beef and sauté to soften.
- Drain the excess grease: Very carefully, drain the excess grease from your skillet. I like to do this using the lid of skillet, and putting it just slightly ajar and tipping the skillet over my sink into a jar. The lid keeps the contents in the skillet, but that little crack lets out the grease.
- Add cream cheese and noodles: Stir in some cream cheese, the cooked noodles, and the reserved cooking liquid.
- Top with cheese and bake: Add a little bit of provolone to the top of your skillet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Why Reserve Pasta Water
Reserving pasta water is a great trick in cooking. Right before you drain the noodles you dip a glass measuring cup into the liquid and pull out 1/2 cup or more. The water (or in this case the water and beef stock mix) is full of starchiness from the noodles.
When you add starchy pasta water to a casserole like this, it helps pull the entire dish together in the most amazing way. I like using this trick in my Broccoli Pasta too.
Why Use Beef Stock
The beef stock is one of my favorite parts about this recipe. Cooking the noodles in the stock is a great way to deepen the flavor. With so few ingredients, this is an important one.
If you aren’t used to cooking your noodles in stock, I highly recommend it. It is something I do in a few recipes, like this Chicken Noodle Casserole, and it is a game changer.
PRO TIP: If you are budget conscious, buy stock base. It is a powder you buy near the stock, and mixing it with boiling water gives you stock. It is not the same caliber as actual stock, but it will definitely get the job done.
Storing Leftovers
Left overs can be stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
I would not recommend freezing this recipe. Since it is such a quick stove top recipe, I think it is worth it to just make it from scratch.
Other Great Recipes
If you are looking for more easy dinners, you have come to the right place, friends!
Other big hits are:
- Beef and Broccoli Only 25 minutes on the stove top!
- Chicken Spaghetti My kids LOVE this easy recipe.
- Turkey Meatloaf Easy to make, and the best tasting meatloaf ever.
If you make this recipe or any of my others, please come back and let me know what you think! I love hearing from you!
Philly Cheese Steak Casserole
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound small shells
- 32 ounces beef stock + 32 ounces water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 1/2 cup reserved pasta water
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 6 slices provolone cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine the beef stock with 32 ounces of water and cook the shells in it according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water.
- In an oven proof skillet (see note for alternative), melt the butter, cook the garlic clove for thirty seconds, then add the bell pepper and onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook through. Drain the grease, then return to heat and stir in the cream cheese until melted.
- Stir in the reserved cooking liquid from the noodles, the noodles, and the shredded mozzarella.
- Top with sliced provolone. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the provolone is completely melted.
Notes
Crissy says
This was delicious, I added more pasta water, a little more pasta, paprika, and milk the next day for the leftovers! Wonderful recipe!
What a great tip about the leftovers!
Sara Benz says
We love this recipe! However, I cook the meat, pepper, onion and garlic together then add the noodles and the stock and boil until the noodles are done then add the cheeses and bake. Makes it a one pan meal!
Brenda Hackbarth says
I love how you have a button to increase or decrease the size of the recipe. There are only two of us & to make a normal family sized recipe means we’ll be eating it all week! I can honestly say there isn’t a single recipe I tried that I didn’t like. Thanks & keep them coming.
I’m so glad you are enjoying them!
Kim rogerson says
Hi I was wondering about the pasta amount. 1/2lb of pasta doesn’t seem like enough for the recipe which says it feeds 6. Please help
I would love to make for dinner
Thanks
I think it’s good to consider that in addition to the pasta, you also have meat, cheese, and vegetables in there. Certainly, the amount people eat varies greatly, which makes it hard to give serving sizes. If you are concerned this won’t feed your group of six, I suggest doubling the whole recipe.
Kim Oliver says
Hi Lisa!
I noticed that the amount of water added to the stock doesn’t seem to change, regardless of the quantity of servings put into the very valuable slider. Is that correct?
You are right! That is a flaw in the system. So if you were going to double this, you would want to add in as much water as you add in beef stock.
Tony says
What would you suggest as a substitute for the small shell pasta?
Really any small pasta would be good, like mini penne. But larger pasta would work as well.
Jayne says
This was so good! We will be making it again soon! I did alter the recipe to 1 lb small shells, 2 lb of ground beef- 1 1/2 lb would be plenty. I cooked the pasta in beef stock, increased the mozzarella to 1 1/2 cups, kept the 8 oz. cream cheese.
And we added a can of sautéed sliced mushrooms- because my husband likes a mushroom cheesesteak, lol. He is not a casserole lover, but he loved this and couldn’t get over how much it tasted like a cheesesteak!
Sandy J says
We loved it! I also added extra pasta water and paprika on top (and salt and pepper to our taste) but otherwise as per the recipe. Found the flavour to be great. Fast and easy. Will definitely be having it again and again
I’m so happy you liked it!
Angel Heller says
I made this dish for the residents at the nursing home I work at and everyone loved it. I even had a resident that rarely eats anything but cheeseburgers come back for thirds!!! 😊😊😊
This absolutely melts my heart. Thank you for letting me know!
Elaine Robinson says
I had quite a bit left over so the next night I added spaghetti sauce with some more seasonings and wow.
I would never have thought to do this! I’m so glad you liked it!