Salisbury Steak Casserole- Gluten Free, Low Carb, Allergy Friendly

Salisbury Steak Casserole is classic comfort food in one dish! Packed with protein and veggies, this nourishing meal is gluten free and friendly to many special diets. No eggs, nuts, or grains, and dairy is easy to avoid. The flavor is so rich you won’t think about what isn’t there!

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Salisbury Steak Casserole is ugly.

Some foods are pretty, but not this one. This is nourishing, delicious, simple, and allergy friendly. It is gluten free, low carb, made with whole foods, and freezes well. It is not, however, photogenic.

If you are looking for comfort food that is also high in nutrition, this casserole is ideal. If you want it to be beautiful– this casserole isn’t.

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What is a Salisbury Steak?

If, like me, you never had a Salisbury steak growing up, you may be wondering what it is…

It’s not steak. Also not from Salisbury. A Salisbury steak is a seasoned ground beef patty served with a mushroom or other brown gravy. It is often served with mashed potatoes (they get some gravy, too) and cooked vegetables.

Apparently Salisbury steaks have a bad reputation from school lunch, diner, and frozen meal iterations, and also a nostalgic fan base, probably depending on how good the originals were. If you make them fresh with real ingredients, they taste really good. We enjoy them every now and then.

They are not named for Salisbury in England, but rather after a nineteenth century doctor who advocated eating ground beef as part of a high meat diet. Except that he called it “muscle pulp of beef”. You can see why we prefer to call is “ground beef” today.

What to Love about Salisbury Steak Casserole

While this particular recipe will never be magazine-cover-worthy, it is a workhorse on our meal plan. Here are some of the things we love about it:

• it is made with real foods– nothing prepared (except mustard and maybe ketchup) or boxed or made with mysterious ingredients
• friendly to most allergy needs– no gluten, grains, nuts, eggs, and dairy is easy to swap out
• low carb– unless you want the carbs, and I will explain how to do it either way
• made with ground beef– an affordable type of beef that can get boring… but doesn’t have to
• classic comfort food, but made into a casserole
• perfect to make ahead
• freezes well
• full of nourishment– protein, veggies, meat stock
• most importantly– it tastes great!

How to Make Salisbury Steak Casserole

I don’t consider casseroles to be particularly quick or convenient meals, at least not to make at the last minute. Unless you are relying on processed ingredients, most casseroles take a bit of time to assemble. Most of the time, it seems easier to prepare a soup or stew, or to fix meat with some accompaniments.

However, casseroles have their own certain appeal. They exude a homey, cozy vibe. On a busy evening, especially in cooler weather, a casserole is a rather consoling option.

Most of the meal is in the casserole, so there is little else to fix. Maybe a salad, some fruit, or a vegetable side dish.

While casseroles can take awhile to assemble, they work wonderfully well if you want to prepare them earlier in the day, then bake just before dinner time. Leftovers make a convenient lunch option. This particular casserole freezes well, so I often make two and have one in the freezer for a future easy meal.

With three different layers to it, you can make this casserole in stages or all at once. I usually start with the lower layer, then the meat, then the gravy all in one pot– one at a time. While each component simmers along, I work on the next part, or on other kitchen tasks. So the prep time is on the long side, but there is only pot to wash and I get other things done at the same time.

If I’m in a hurry, I use two pots on the stove to hurry things along. It isn’t that much more to wash!

Here are the three parts:

The First Layer

Since Salisbury steaks go so well with mashed potatoes, that is the first layer. You could use actual mashed potatoes in this layer. I have grated potatoes for this layer before, and that was wonderful. You could even use rice or pasta. Typically, though, I use cauliflower. I know it sounds bad, but it will be fine. I’ll show you how.

It works well to use a couple of frozen packages of “riced” cauliflower. That is cauliflower that has been chopped up finely to resemble rice without the starches and such, and with lots of nutrition. Cauliflower is so good for us, especially when cooked. It isn’t great without some help, though, so we will help it taste better.

An economical option is to buy a head of cauliflower and “rice” it yourself. I washed my cauliflower, roughly chopped it (no need to preserve the shape of the florets).

Then I whizzed it for a few seconds in my food processor. My food processor isn’t big enough for a whole head at once, so I did half at a time. This time, I processed it into pretty fine pieces, but you can leave them bigger. If you don’t have a food processor, you could chop them up with a knife.

Once chopped, put the cauliflower into a pot with a bit of water and butter. (You can use any cooking fat here in place of butter– whatever you usually use is fine.) Bring to a simmer until it is soft. Salt and pepper it to taste.

The smell of cruciferous vegetables cooking is seriously off-putting to many people. That sulfurous smell, while denoting health benefits, isn’t exactly aromatic. At least, not in a good way…

However, if you use some fat, the problem resolves. Stir-fries don’t have this problem. Cabbage soup often does. Stick in some fat, and you won’t likely have much complaint! Having cooked the cauliflower to tenderness, spread it in a casserole dish, discarding any remaining liquid. I like a 9 x13″ pan for this.

My cauliflower was chopped pretty fine, and I cooked it for longer than necessary. It is close to a mashed consistency. If you use larger bits of cauliflower cooked just to tenderness, it will retain more definition. We like it both ways.

The Second Layer

The ground beef is next! This time I used 2 pounds, but sometimes I use 3. Brown the beef (I used the same pot while prepping the gravy, but you can do 2 components at once if you prefer) with a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Spread over the base layer once the beef is cooked through and the onion is tender.

The Third Layer

Now we will add most of the flavor! Chop a package of mushrooms. If you buy the pre-sliced ones, it is fine to use them in those large slices, but I chop them up more. They distribute over the beef more evenly if they are smaller, and the stores leave huge pieces! The bigger ones look a little nicer, though.

Sauté the mushrooms (maybe in the same trusty pot) in a bit of fat. I used butter, but any fat will work.

You can use beef stock or store bought broth. Stir in mustard, ketchup, a few more garlic cloves, and onion powder. (Or put more chopped onion in with the mushrooms!) Add arrowroot starch (or cornstarch) and whisk it in while the broth is still cold.

Pour this mixture over your sautéed mushrooms; bring to a low boil while whisking gently until it bubbles and thickens. Pour over the ground beef mixture in your baking dish.

Bake for 30-40 minutes at 350° F, removing from the oven when the casserole is bubbly. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

What if I don’t want to use any starch?

At the moment, I don’t really think too much about a small amount of starch. It is the least nourishing item in the recipe, but there isn’t much.

While we were on the GAPS diet, any starch at all was out. If you want to avoid starches entirely, here are a couple of ideas to try:

1. Cook an onion or a zucchini in a little of the broth, and purée it to thicken the sauce.
2. If you are making your own meat stock, (like GAPS-style), many people purée the gristly bits into their stock for added healing properties. That might thicken it up enough, even if you used chicken or some other meat instead of beef.
3. Use just one cup of beef stock, add it with the other ingredients to the mushrooms and warm it all up, then whisk in a cup of sour cream. This tastes and looks quite different, but also good.
4. You could temper some egg yolks and use them to thicken the gravy. This is a pain and uses up several eggs, but it also adds nutrition. You need to temper the egg yolks so that they don’t turn to scrambled eggs in your gravy! If that happens, you can smooth it out with a blender.

To temper egg yolks:

I would start with 4-6 eggs; you may need more. Whisk the eggs, then add hot beef broth a spoonful at a time. Whisk well after each addition. When all (or at least half) of the broth is incorporated, return it to the pan and bring to a simmer, whisking the whole time. When it bubbles, it will thicken.

If you want it thicker, you can repeat the process until you are satisfied. I have not tried egg yolks with this gravy, but I sometimes do this when I make enchilada casserole. It works.

Make the Casserole Your Way!

Casseroles are pretty adaptable. You could make all sorts of changes. Here are some I have tried:

• use more beef– I often make this with 3 pounds
• try a different meat– either a different ground meat or shredded beef
• add more/other veggies– I have added celery, bell pepper, and carrot to the beef mixture with the onion
• skip the mustard and ketchup– they add flavor, but aren’t necessary. Skip if you want nothing at all processed, or use a really clean kind from the store.
• you can swap some other tomato-y sauce for the ketchup, like marinara, pizza sauce, or even plain tomato sauce
• add other seasonings you enjoy, like Italian seasoning, smoked paprika, etc.
• add another onion to the gravy– it is even better this way!
• not avoiding carbs? This is great with mashed potatoes! I like it with a couple of peeled, grated potatoes– still cook them lightly first and season with salt and pepper. You could probably use rice or pasta, but I haven’t tried those.

I like to serve this casserole with roasted carrots and a salad or maybe some fruit.