A low carb Southwest casserole with ground beef and beans. Black soy beans can be replaced with more meat if desired. It's a meal loaded with flavor.
I stumbled upon a Southwest Black Bean Casserole at Pinch of Yum while searching for a black soy beans recipe. I have been following Lindsay and Bjork at Pinch of Yum off and on for a few months.
The information that Lindsay and Bjork provide to food bloggers has really helped me improve this blog since I returned to blogging in October 2014. So, a big thank you to Pinch of Yum and all they do for us food bloggers! And, thanks for the inspiring this tasty Southwest Casserole with Ground Beef and beans.
So much has changed since I stopped blogging in January 2013. Although Pinterest launched in March 2010, the same year I started this blog, I had never heard of it.
I discovered Pinterest last October when I was looking at the stats for this blog and saw that a lot of the traffic was coming from Pinterest. It was amazing how many people pinned posts from this food blog while I was away.
The food blogging community has become much larger today than I could have ever imagined. I was one of the few low carb bloggers back in 2010 and now things have kind of exploded.
I made a lot of mistakes in the beginning of the blog and I'm still working on cleaning up those issues as I have time.
This low carb Southwest casserole recipe with ground beef and beans uses a can of low carb black soy beans. Regular black beans have way too many carbs.
My local grocery store used to sell these in the natural food section. But now it's on the shelf with all the other beans after they redesigned the layout of the store. They ended up eliminating the aisles that used to be specific to natural food items.
It took me a while to figure out where the black soy beans were after they relocated things. As you can see from the label, the carbs in these black soy beans are almost all fiber so a ½ cup serving has only 1 net carb.
I don't eat soy very often because it may interfere with the thyroid medication that I take. However, it's suggested that this isn't the case as long as you wait at least four hours after taking thyroid medication before consuming any soy.
The original black bean casserole recipe calls for only a half a pound of meat and it used ground turkey. I'm not a fan of ground turkey and a half pound is certainly not enough meat for 6 servings. So I doubled the meat and used only half the amount of beans for my Southwest casserole with ground beef and beans.
I actually used a little over a pound of ground venison meat which tastes more like beef, but is very lean so fat is added when it's processed. I think a red meat tastes better in this dish. You can use whatever ground meat you prefer.
I've found that soy beans take a little longer to cook than black beans and they don't mash as well. I cooked the beans a little longer than five minutes and it took a bit to mash them up.
Once the beans are mashed, the soy bean mixture is layered at the bottom of a 8x8-inch or 2 quart casserole dish. The browned meat mix is then layered over the beans.
I didn't have any fresh tomatoes, so I used a 14 ounce can and drained the liquid off. It also saved me the time of cutting and seeding the tomatoes.
The original recipe also didn't use enough cheese. I'm a cheese lover so more is always better. I added some grated cheddar as well to the grated Monterey jack cheese.
For me, the Southwest beef and bean casserole was done in a little over 20 minutes. This is a yummy Southwest beef and bean casserole recipe that isn't too spicy. I may up the heat next time as I like hot Southwest food. It's delicious served with sour cream mixed in.
Low Carb Southwest Casserole with Ground Beef and Beans
Hope you enjoy this low carb recipe. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Follow us on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, and INSTAGRAM for even more tasty keto-friendly recipes!
Recipe
Southwest Casserole with Ground Beef and Beans
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeds and ribs removed, diced
- 1 red pepper chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- ⅔ cup low-sodium beef broth
- 15 ounces black soy beans (canned) rinsed and drained, see note
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes (canned) drained
- 3 slices no sugar bacon cooked and chopped
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack 4 oz
- ½ cup shredded Cheddar cheese 2 oz
- ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground meat and half the onions to the pan, sauteing until meat is browned. Remove, drain if necessary, and set aside.
- Coat pan with olive. Add remaining onion, pepper, and jalapeno, sauteing for 4 minutes; stirring occasionally. Add salt, cumin, red pepper, and garlic. Saute for 1 minute, stirring constantly (I added a tablespoon or two of water to keep things from sticking in the pan.)
- Stir in broth and black soy beans. Bring mixture to a boil and cook for 5-10 minutes. Mash beans to desired consistency.
- Spoon mixture into a 2 quart or 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with browned meat, bacon, tomato, and cheese. Bake at 425°F for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Top with green onions and let cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Best served with sour cream.
Notes
Low Carb Sweeteners | Keto Sweetener Conversion Chart
Nutrition
Additional Info
Notes on Nutritional Information
Nutritional information for the recipe is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts as it has been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
Copyright
© LowCarbYum.com - Unauthorized use of this material without written permission is strictly prohibited unless for personal offline purposes. Single photos may be used, provided that full credit is given to LowCarbYum.com along with a link back to the original content.
Joyce G
YUM! I had a lonely can of Soy Black Beans in the cupboard that I just didn't know what to do with. THIS was perfect!!! I did use chipotle powder instead of cumin as another commenter said. Perfect for us!
Kate
Do you think this could be modified to be made in a crock pot? I'd like to bring to a work carry in. Thanks
Lisa MarcAurele
Slow cooking would work great if you want to be able to keep it warm in the crock pot after cooking.
Ffenski
Love the flavors in this! However, at 425 degrees this dish should be covered for at least 20 minutes of the cooking time to avoid drying out the cheese,
Lisa MarcAurele
Thanks for the tip! That is a good idea with this casserole.
Kerri M Breakfield
This is AMAZING!!! Only 2 small changes. My husband HATES cumin, so we used chipotle powder. We only used half the amount of cheese. My husband was surprised at how good this tasted! We will add this to the rotation!
Donna
Fixed this tonight for dinner & it was by far the best Mexican Casserole I've ever made & I've made
a lot of them. My husband wouldn't stop telling how great it was. Served with sour cream & avocado on the side. WOW!!!
Lisa MarcAurele
Yay! I'm happy that the dish was hubby approved!
Sue Steffen
DELICIOUS! I don't know black soy beans, but used a can of black beans & 1/2 can of chickpeas, smooshed. Instead of just tomatoes, used tomatoes & green chilies. Just sent recipe to my daughters away at college. Soooooo goood!
Lisa
Regular beans and chickpeas are fine if not doing low carb.
Candy Lind
Do you have any explanation for why these Eden Black Soy Beans have such a high fiber/carb ratio when I can't find any other black soy beans that come anywhere close? The others seem to go about 8g carb/2g fiber which means they are net six carbs per 1/2 cup. That just doesn't sit well with me, and because I'm very low carb (try to stay under 25 net) I'm just not willing to pull the trigger on using them, even though their info is listed on the USDA database. Just curious if you know something about them I don't!
Lisa
I'm not sure why there is a difference. However, you're better off leaving them out and using more meat or vegetables. Soy is a legume which contains lectins and phytic acid which can cause digestive issues as well as autoimmune problems. Soy also contains phytoestrogens. I avoid soy beans now.
Shari
I appreciate you sharing your insight regarding beans. I just started the low carb lifestyle and I miss my beans. But doubling the protein and reducing the amount of beans in recipes could be my solution now. I realize to stay low carb, I can not have more than a 1/4 cup cooked per serving alone. Your way gives me more options now. Thanks!
Lisa
If kept in moderation, it should be okay unless you are very sensitive to them.
Jacqui
Can I add taco seasoning to the meat? Or will that be too overpowering?
Lisa
It should be fine, but I wouldn't add too much.
Cynthia
I love the recipe l'm going to do it tonight. I bean in a low carb diet and l feel so good, but l have a question. Sometimes in some recipes says per serving, but doesn't say how much per serving. Even in your recipe, can you please help me.
Thank you!
Lisa
Some of the recipes aren't as detailed and you'll have to divide the total amount by the number of servings to get serving size. Sorry, I just haven't had the time to put serving amount in.
Cona
Thanks for this great dish, it was delicious! One question, when you say red pepper, here in the Netherlands that's for me a hot red spanish pepper. Is that the same to you, because in the picture it looked like maybe by red pepper you mean red paprika?
I made it with a hot red spanish pepper, that was yum!
Lisa
I used red bell pepper, but you could use a hot pepper or chili pepper.
Karen Lee
My son has Epilepsy and recently started the Ketogenic Diet it has been very hard finding recipes that he will eat. We all are doing the diet also. My family LOVED this recipe it was so Delicious! This is a keeper for sure.
Lisa
SO glad the whole family enjoyed this one! 🙂
Pete from Australia
Karen Lee. How is your son doing on the ketogenic diet. Has this improved is epilepsy and therefore wellbeing. I'd be really interested to know. So interesting
You can email direct if you like
Thanks in anticipation
Nancy
I made this last night and it was YUMMY!!!! I didn't have a jalapeno, so I left it out; I used some frozen green peppers instead of the red pepper, and I didn't have any red pepper flakes, so I added some hot sauce, and it was still yummy! Unfortunately, hubby picked up regular black beans instead of the black soy beans, but I made it anyway!
I'm wondering now how this would do in a crock pot! The cheese kind of dried out in the oven and got tough (and I left it the recommended 40 minutes), so I'm thinking the crock pot might eliminate that concern.
Lisa
I bet it would be very moist and flavorful from the slow cooker!
Lita
If I am making a dish for my family I always use black soy beans in place of any beans in the recipe. They don't notice the difference, and I don't use them so often that I need to be paranoid about any health risks. They work!
Maria
I use an immersion blender to 'mash' the beans. It's magic. Love these soy black beans for anything that calls for beans in a recipe.
Lisa
I used to have an immersion blender and loved it. I've got to buy another one as that one was lost in a move.
kathie
Hi, i am sorry but this question is not about this dish. I was wondering if you could use the black soy beans in chili too as a low carb. alternative?
Lisa
I have used the black soy beans in chili with great results!
Js
If we substitute pinto beans for the black soy, would it drastically change the nutritional value Since? It would give it a more authentic Mexican flavor and remove the concerns of using soy.
Lisa
Yes! It would significantly increase carbs! It's better to replace with all beef and leave out the beans all together. Each half cup of pinto beans have 7g net carbs while black soybeans have only 1g net carb.
Kim Beaulieu
I love casseroles so this is right up my alley. And yeah for pinterest, love the traffic they send.
Ashley (QLCC)
Beans are low carb? Very cool. I love this casserole!
Lisa
Black soy beans have only 8g total carbs, 7g of which is fiber so the net carbs is only 1g per half cup. I don't eat them often, but it's good to have a bean that can be used in low carb dishes. Typically, I'd just use all beef in this casserole.