This Hamburger Casserole is a better-for-you, homemade Hamburger Helper that is made with NC Sweetpotato puree, warm spices, and ground turkey for a healthy and EASY weeknight dinner.
Let’s Hear it for Sweet Potatoes!
Raise your hand if you’re a big fan of sweet potatoes. Us! Not only are they healthy and nutritious, they’re a pantry staple that’s easy to find in grocery stores nationwide and can last for up to 2 weeks. What’s not to love?
We’re super excited to be partnering with our friends over at the North Carolina SweetPotato Commission today to share this easy and delicious hamburger casserole, and the star of this recipe show is, you guessed it: NC SWEETPOTATOES!
Comfort Food Made Healthy
Classic hamburger casserole comes from a box and is essentially noodles and a powdered cheese sauce. Then, you mix in some ground hamburger and call it a meal.
While boxed food has a time and a place (especially right now when we’re all doing what we can to limit grocery runs and eat what we have on-hand at home!), we’re here to help you recreate hamburger casserole in your own home, while making it healthier at the same time! AKA healthy comfort food comin’ atcha.
How we Made it Healthier
As you know, most boxed foods are packed with additives and sodium and what we do best is taking classic recipes and making them a little better for you. We lightened the classic hamburger casserole while keeping all the same, wholesome flavors with easy-to-find ingredients. Here’s how we did it:
Homemade “cheese” sauce: While there is still cheese in our homemade cheese sauce, the secret ingredient is actually sweet potatoes. NC sweetpotatoes add a touch of sweetness and lots of healthy nutrients such as complex carbs, fiber, and potassium. Plus, that perfect bright orange color!
Meat: Classic hamburger casserole is made with ground beef, but in this recipe we used ground turkey. The option is yours to use whatever kind of meat you wish, but turkey packs in the protein with less fat and calories.
Noodles: Swap the classic white noodle for something a little bit healthier such as a whole wheat noodles or even a chickpea pasta.
What You Need
This healthy hamburger casserole utilizes simple ingredients that are both easy to find in grocery stores right now, and easy to store for a week or two at home. You’ll need:
- NC sweetpotatoes
- Whole wheat pasta shells
- Ground turkey
- Onion
- Spices: garlic powder, dried mustard, salt and pepper
- Tomato paste
- Chicken broth (or any broth!)
- Shredded cheese
Why did you use sweet potatoes for the sauce?
NC sweetpotatoes pack healthy nutrients, and when pureed create a rich and creamy sauce texture that’s perfect for this hamburger casserole! In a dish that typically doesn’t have any vegetables, we’re pureeing an entire sweet potato for the sauce, so every serving of this casserole gets in on this goodness.
Oh! We also love that NC sweetpotatoes have a long shelf life and can be found year round in grocery stores, which is especially important right now.
Can you freeze hamburger casserole?
We don’t suggest freezing hamburger casserole because the noodles will get soggy when defrosting. But, this recipe does reheat well when stored in the fridge for leftover meals throughout the week!
Can I brown ground turkey the night before?
Ground beef or ground turkey can be browned the night before. Just make sure to store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
How do you make hamburger helper better?
In order to make hamburger helper better, we suggest making it from scratch at home. Or, you can always add more spices and/or veggies to make it taste better!
Can you make hamburger casserole without the hamburger?
Hamburger casserole can be made without the traditional ground beef. We suggest subbing another ground meat such as turkey (like in this recipe!) or chicken, but you could even use a bean or lentils to make it vegetarian.
More Recipes with Sweet Potatoes
More Casserole Recipes
- Southwest Chicken Casserole
- Healthy Slow Cooker Sweet Potato Mexican Quinoa
- Best Chicken Casserole Recipes
Healthy Hamburger Casserole
Ingredients
Turkey
- 1 lb. ground turkey
- 1/2 medium yellow onion minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon powdered mustard
- 3 tablespoons tomato puree
NC Sweetpotato Cheese Sauce
- 1 medium sweet potato cooked and pureed
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup Colby jack cheese
- salt to taste
Other
- 16 oz. shells or any kind of noodle
- optional: more shredded cheese for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cook and prepare your sweet potato puree by following our how to make sweet potato puree post for details. You'll need about 1 cup. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 16 ounces of shell pasta to boiling water. Cook pasta until it is almost cooked. You want the pasta to still have a bite to it (harder than al dente) as it will continue to cook in the oven.
- Strain pasta, rinse with cold water and set aside.
- Next, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add olive oil. When olive oil is fragrant, add ground turkey. Break the turkey up into small pieces. Add in the rest of the ingredients for the ground turkey mixture, mix, and cook for 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Lower oven temperature to 375ºF and place your sweet potato puree into a blender or food processor with all the ingredients for the sweet potato cheese sauce. Blend until all ingredients are combined and the sauce is nice and smooth.
- Spray a large 9x13-inch casserole dish with olive oil cooking spray. Place noodles, ground turkey, and sweet potato sauce into the casserole dish and mix until everything is coated in the sweet potato cheese sauce. Sprinkle with shredded cheese (optional) and place into the oven for 15 minutes.
- Remove, let cool for 10 minutes, and sprinkle on fresh parsley.
Tips & Notes
- Nutrition information is for 8 servings.
Watch It
Nutrition facts
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This post is sponsored by North Carolina SweetPotato Commission. We were compensated and all opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting Fit Foodie Finds!
What would be the best way to use lentils or beans in this recipe, instead of the meat. One cup of cooked lentils or beans? The meat is fried with the seasoning mix. Would we do the same with the legumes?
Very delicious! Surprisingly easy. The whole family enjoyed it.
This recipe is an amazing way to get anyone to eat sweet potatoes! My sister gobbled it up, and my dad had no idea that he ate the sweet potatoe! 😂 Thank you for the amazing recipe! Just slightly dry, so maybe add a bit more liquid, and top with some extra cheese for fun!
I made this with whole wheat penne and measured out 16 ounces and it was way to much pasta for the ingredients. I used ground hamburger as I didn’t have Turkey. It was very good but next time I’ll cut back in the pasta.
My fiance and I liked this. Both kids liked it (except one wasn’t a fan of the ground turkey). I would definitely make again but would maybe use 2 sweet potatoes and/or more broth to make it a little creamier. Ps- no one knew that there was even sweet potato in it 🙂
I first made this recipe a few years ago and just put it on my meal plan again for the coming week. I tend to add extra broth as I find it can be a little drier than I like by the time I get the browned top I look for in a casserole. So tasty and comforting!
This is delicious! I have made it several times and my family loves it. I sometimes just make the Mac and cheese for a side. I add chopped pickles( don’t judge lol) it really adds a new dimension. I use ketchup instead of the tomato purée as we like it that way. Yummy and thanks!
We’d love it if you could give us a star rating!
This turned out fantastic! I used canned pumpkin and extra seasonings in the cheese sauce and turkey mix to spice it up a little more and also added peas. My picky boyfriend loved it (which I always consider a win when cooking a “healthy” version of something). Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Such a yummy and easy take on mac and cheese. Love the use of sweet potato. Gives it a great smooth taste and texture. It’s a go to in our house.
I need to make this sometime soon. It’s SO GOOD.
Quick question, following the quantities listed and using 1 cup of pumpkin purée, the amount of noodles didn’t suffice to coat 1 pound of shells. What am I doing wrong or missing? Love the idea of using vegetable purée.
It was creamy and smelled like hamburger helper, but it needed more flavor. Not sure what to add. We usually use fresh garlic, so maybe that would help? Might try some oregano next time too.
Taco seasoning maybe?
Is the serving size 1/8 of a cup?
1/8 of the recipe! We didn’t measure in cups.
Your style of cooking is right up my alley and speaks to my heart! Thank you for all the lovely recipes!
<3
Very easy to make. Made it gluten free but still every bit as tasty. I’ll be repeating this one.
That is so good to hear! Thank you for taking the time to let us know:)
Did not disappoint thanks Lee my son had fun helping to prepare and mama is happy to get some sweet potatoes in there!
Hi what are the calories for this per serve thanks 🙂
Loved the cheese sauce but I think I should have doubled it…it didn’t come out as creamy looking as yours….seemed like I was short but followed directions to a T. More recipes using this sw. potato sauce please, this is GREAT!!
I always take my extra tomato paste and freeze it in 1 tbsp amounts on parchment paper. Once it’s frozen I stick it in a container so I can grab the quantities I need. Waste not, want not 🙂
how much pumpkin puree would you use?
I would say around 1 cup!
No nutritional info on this one?
How much of canned puree is equal to one potato?