Classic cheeseburger pie recipe but without using a Bisquick mix. Made with wholesome everyday ingredients that your whole family will love. It's a quick meal that tastes like a cheeseburger! What's not to love?
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Coming up with family friendly recipes that don't take much time to make can often be challenging. Part of my mission on this blog is to help regular families put a well balanced dinner on the table on busy weeknights. Easy dinner recipes get the job done.
This impossible cheeseburger pie recipe fits that bill in our house. The only hands on time required is the time that it takes to cut up an onion and brown ground beef. Whip up the custard while the beef is browning, assemble and pop it in the oven for thirty minutes.
Both of my kids are big fans of this. My daughter claims it's "absolutely delicious". It's definitely not gourmet food, but it is certainly family friendly and makes a great well balanced weeknight meal.
What is an impossible pie?
The impossibly easy cheeseburger pie recipe became popular in the 1970s and 1980s when Betty Crocker printed the recipe on the back of their popular baking mix called Bisquick. You have probably seen that recipe on the back of a Bisquick box at some point in your life.
The premise behind it is that you make a savory pie without having to go through the trouble of making a pie crust. The baking mix is whisked together with egg and milk to create a custard like filling that when poured over a meat filling makes its own crust when baked. No pastry cutter or food processor needed! It was "impossibly easy" for busy home cooks.
The original recipe obviously uses Bisquick, but I prefer to put a little "made from scratch twist" on it to exclude the baking mix. In my opinion, it's just as easy. It also makes it less processed, which I'm always a fan of.
Cheeseburger pie
There are many variations of impossible pies, but the one that I find to be the most crowd pleasing for the entire family is the cheeseburger pie. It tastes like a cheeseburger, and I love to treat it as such by topping it with classic cheeseburger toppings.
- ketchup
- mustard
- pickle
- chopped tomatoes
- chopped bacon
Ingredients needed
ground beef: Lean ground beef is best, so it doesn't produce as much grease.
onion: Yellow or white onion works best for this recipe.
flour: You can use all purpose white flour, a gluten free all purpose flour like Bob's Red Mill, or whole wheat flour.
baking powder
seasonings: salt and pepper are the only seasonings in this recipe. If you wanted to make a taco variation of this cheeseburger pie, you could also season the ground beef with taco seasoning once browned.
eggs
milk
cheddar cheese
How to make cheeseburger pie
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Brown ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain any extra fat.
In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and black pepper.
Add milk and eggs to the bowl and whisk until well combined.
Grease a 10 inch pie plate with butter, olive oil, or your favorite cooking spray.
Spread out meat mixture evenly into pie pan and sprinkle shredded cheese in an even layer on top of the beef.
Pour the milk, egg, and flour mixture over the meat and spread out evenly.
Bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and set.
Slice into 8 triangles and serve topped with your favorite burger toppings.
What to serve with cheeseburger pie
You could serve it with just about any side dish, but here are a few of my favorites:
a big salad
cut up fruit
Cheeseburger pie without Bisquick
Equipment
- 1 large skillet
- 1 large spoon
- 1 medium mixing bowl
- 1 whisk
- 1 10 inch pie plate
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ cup onion chopped
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ cup flour all purpose, gluten free 1 to 1, or whole wheat
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- softened butter or olive oil for greasing pie pan
Instructions
- Brown ground beef and onions in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain excess grease.
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper, and baking powder.
- Add milk and eggs and whisk thoroughly to combine.
- Grease 10 inch pie dish.
- Pour beef mixture in bottom of pie dish and evenly top with cheese.
- Pour egg/milk/flour mixture over beef and cheese. Make sure it is evenly distributed.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown and pie is firmly set.
- Slice into wedges and serve with your favorite burger toppings.
Amber L.
Thank you for this recipe! I had some leftover hamburger to use up & thought of making the impossible cheeseburger pie. I didn't have bisquick but I had all the ingredients your recipe needed 😀. It turned out very well. I think it tastes better once completely cooled and reheated than fresh from the oven. Tomorrow it will probably taste even better. Thanks for sharing!
Tara Buss
I'm glad it turned out well, Amber!