This Stuffed French Bread is the ultimate dinner your family will love. It’s absolutely delicious and ready in only 30 minutes!
It was a little difficult to take a good picture of this Stuffed French Bread, but I HAD to share the recipe. It was so delicious! A cheesy and flavorful ground beef mixture stuffed inside French Bread. Holy moly, so good! It’s even better if you use my homemade French bread recipe.
Another reason I love this comforting stuffed bread so much is because it’s one of those easy 30-minute meals. Perfect for those tired, stressful, I-don’t-feel-like-cooking nights. 🙂 The meat mixture requires a skillet prep of around 15 minutes, then you pop it in the oven for another 15. After that you’re on your way to a crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside, delish French bread sandwich!
Stuffed French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 loaf french bread
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 Tablespoons finely chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 can (10 ounces) cream of mushroom soup
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 Tablespoon chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Slice the french bread in half, lengthwise, so you have two equal pieces. Scoop out the bread in the center of each piece. Place bread in a large bowl and tear into small chunks. Set the two halves of french bread onto a large baking sheet. Set aside.
- Brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Drain any grease. Add the celery and garlic to skillet. Cook a few minutes until celery is tender. Next, add soup, milk and Worcestershire sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook mixture until heated; another 5 minutes or so.
- Add the beef mixture to the bread in the large bowl. Stir to combine. Pour mixture into the center of one half of the french bread. Spread out evenly. Top the mixture with the shredded cheese. Top with the other half of bread.
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
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Could you make up the beef mixture ahead of time? Say maybe a night or two before and just refrigerate it until ready to use, then just heat it up before putting into the bread and oven? You know, just for a quick easy dinner on those dreadful where you have worked all day and have to rush the kids here and there and really don’t have much time for anything unless it is already purchased from the frozen food section. You know…..THOSE nights. I know we all have them, I can’t be the only one! 😉
Rene, yes, you could definitely make the meat mixture ahead of time! I would just heat it up in the microwave before you put it into the French loaves, then pop it in the oven for the final heating. Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Could you possibly prepare and freeze then thaw and use when you forget to pull something out for dinner
I bought the condensed version. Do I need to add water to make the soup?
No just add the contents of can. No water needed 🙂
What size? It just says “can”, of which there are several sizes of?
10 ounces
My husband doesn’t like mushrooms , so can I use any other cream soup?
Yes, for sure! Cream of celery or cream of chicken would work fine.
I used cream of onion it was fantastic
I used cheddar cheese soup. I’m not a mushroom fan. It comes out great. I love this recipe.
Just a quick tip. I always throw my cream of mushroom in the blender 😉
I feel like the cream of mushroom itself does not have a lot of mushroom flavor (I’m not even a mushroom fan either).
This is the way
No!
My family doesnt like any kind of cream soups…so…mixed in diced tomatoes w/ basil instead. The loved it.
I’ve also used a can of tomato soup.
OK. Hands down delicious. My son is extremely picky and he came back for seconds! My friend’s mother used to make this when we were kids and always so good. I made her version with pretty much same stuff except using tomato soup. Fab! I also made your version with turkey instead of beef because I had some leftover. Both kinds were a winner. Thanks for putting this out there for the world to share. One great comfort food dinner that’s easy and cheesy.
This reminds me of something my mom used to make. She did it open faced. I can’t wait to try this. Thanks.
LOL that was so funny to read!
I saw this on G+ and had to pop over. It looks amazing, my kind of quick & easy meal!
Thanks, Matt! You have to try it. It really is delicious!
I tried it and its amazing!!!!!!!
Yay – I am so glad you liked it. Your pictures look amazing and bright as always!!!
Aww thanks, Jenn! We really loved this recipe. I love everything I make from your blog!! 🙂
Seems like this would be good one to make ahead and put extras in the freezer for quick meals later in the month. I just changed my menu plan so I could add this; thanks!
have you made the French bread meal stuffed and then froze the whole thing?
I bet this would be a GREAT way to use up leftover spaghetti sauce with meatballs! You could mash the meatballs, stir with sauce, top with mozzarella….yum!!
I can my own Italian hamburger meat, Mexican meat,and spaghetti sauce with meat. All three sound like they would work with no prep at all. Just open my jars and pour it in and heat it! Another wonderful idea for uses for my Mexican and Italian hamburger. YES!!!!!!
You have to process it in pressure cooker. It cans very well.
Made this last night and it was delicious! Both my kids didn’t they would like it and they loved it!
what can you use instead of canned soup?
That’s what I was going to ask. I don’t like Cream of Mushroom soup. Sour Cream plus fresh mushrooms sounds much better to me! Looks so good!
Oh wow i am in Australia so i will be able to make the recipe cause it everything we have and i am in love with the sound of it. Nice easy dinner. Going to have to look at more of your recipies
Do you use the frozen loaf that you have to bake or already made, and just re-heat?
When making this Stuffed french bread you want to use ready to eat french bread. Not frozen.
Never mind! It finally loaded after I sent the above (about 30+ minutes later). It looks yummy!! Cant wait to try it!!
What would you recommend as some sides for these sandwiches to make a full meal out of it?
Thanks!
Hi Jilanne,
I think a green salad or a veggie would be a great side for this! 🙂
We don’t use cream of mushroom soup at our house because of allergies….any suggestions as to an alternative?
You could replace the canned soup with a cup of sour cream
My mom is allergic to mushrooms…she would always substitute a can of cream of celery soup for any recipes that called for mushroom 🙂
Suzy, you could definitely substitute with any cream of soup you’d like! 🙂
What’s your second fav suggestion on soup for this?
Really any cream of soup will work. I would try cream of celery or chicken 🙂
I think canned cheddar cheese soup would be awesome too! Then just add some sliced mushrooms. Yum
This looks so good! Cant wait to try it!
Would heating the bread in microwave work ok? Texas gets pretty hot and don’t think we want to heat the oven if there was another option.
Yeah Connie, I think you could do the final heating with the french bread in the microwave. You would probably have to cut it in half, and do each piece at a time. Also, the bread won’t get that crisp being heated in the microwave, but it will still taste as good 🙂 Good luck!
I made this recipe for lunch today and it was delicious! I will definitely be trying more of your featured recipes.
I discovered this thru a link on Pinterest about 2 weeks ago and tonight is our 3rd time making it……..My family LOVES it……Thanks Holly!!!
A good canned soup alternative would be homemade white sauce. Or make the white sauce but sub some or all of the milk with beef broth.
My husband was a little unsure when I showed him this recipe but after trying it he LOVED it. We used a little extra cheese and put some on the top and bottom. Very good!
I’m going to try it but leave it open faced and eat it like that! I can tell it’s gonna be delicious..love new ideas, thanks 🙂
Hi Holly, Can’t wait to try this – sounds yummy! But I wanted to share the version I make which is hamburger, mushrooms, green peppers and BBQ sauce. Line the bread with American cheese (both sides) add the hamburger mixture put the top on, wrap in foil, bake and serve! My daughter doesn’t like BBQ sauce so I hope she likes your version!!!
Just made this for dinner and my family loved it. Definitely will make again. Thank you!
Oh my goodness gracious! This is my kind of food 😀
Family loved it! Even those who are picky and eat tiny… Thanks! Great quick meal.
Great family recipe! My Mom used to make ground hamburger mixed with mushroom soup and she called it “sludge”. Isn’t that a terrible name? She’s ill right now and I made this recipe for her tonight and she ate every last bite which is a great compliment.
To the poster from Texas, you could also heat this on a barbeque…ignite one side and put the loaf on the other
for the 10-15 minutes. It would be a shame to lose that crustiness by microwaving it.
My mom used to call it hamburger gravy, but the most popular way to have that is on toast….its called “S.O.S”
You can also use any crusty roll you would like in place of the french bread – that way you don’t have to cut it into pieces after you heat it. I also mix 1/2 to 3/4 of the cheese right into the meat mixture – makes it extra “gooey”. My family has been making this for years. I loved it as a child and now my kids love it too. Round it out with a salad and it is a simple, complete meal everyone will love.
This looks great, however, I’m not a ground beef fan. I was thinking of crock potting a chuck roast, using all of the ingredients (and golden mushroom soup) – then shredding it and making the recipe as called for … 🙂
Michelle, that sounds amazing!! 🙂
Hi Michelle, my daughter isn’t a fan of ground beef. I’ve made this several times with slow cooker chuck roast….it’s delicious!!
Do you have a favorite kind of French bread that works with this? Looks amazing.
Kathy, I love my homemade recipe: https://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/fabulous-french-bread/ But if I don’t have time to make it, I just purchase store bought 🙂
My bread came out too hard to eat after 10 mins. On the top and bottom, not sure what happened..anyone else have this problem?
French bread is supposed to be crusty, but I know what you are saying Jenn. I think next time we would wrap it in tinfoil before baking to keep it from getting so hard and crumbly. Maybe even use the same mixture in soft Hoagie buns and wrap in foil when baking too. It was a bit too hard and a bit messy for us, but other than that, we really liked it!
You can throw a dish towel on it, and the steam will soften the bread again.
this was so much better than i expected it to be!! It was awesome!
This was a great recipe!!!! We have extra hamburger from our neighbors and I was looking for awesome ground beef recipes. I tweaked the recipe slightly by using a mixture of smoked gouda and sharp cheddar and adding to both sides of the bread. The two cheeses gave an awesome flavor! I also crusted my bread in the oven a little before adding the mixture and cheese and then just did 7 minutes on a lower temp to melt the cheese. Thanks for the yumminess:)
Making Tonight for dinner. Can’t wait!
This recipe was so easy to prepare, I hope it tastes as good as it looks. I opened up a can of chicken noodle soup by mistake so we are also having that.
We made these tonight and absolutely loved them. They kind of reminded us of cheese steaks. We doubled the recipe and didn’t have celery, so we used one can of cream of celery soup and one can of cream of mushroom. They were delicious!
So… am thinking that I could slice this in 1 or 2 inch slices and serve as an appetizer? or is it too messy?
They’re a little bit messy. I think it might be hard to cut them so thin.
Could you use provolone cheese instead? I’m not a fan of cheddar. I know…kinda weird.
Use whatever you wanted. There are no cheese police.
Any suggestions for doing this with chicken? I looked it with ground beef but thought I’d try something different
Ruth, my daughter is allergic to beef and pork, so we just use ground chicken in place of recipes that call for ground beef or sausage. I haven’t found a recipe that it doesn’t work for yet. I would suggest reducing the amount of celery in the recipe if making it with ground chicken, because the chicken is milder in flavor than beef.
This was so good-Thank you!
I usually don’t comment on blogs but I am eating this right now and it is amazing!! Thanks for the quick and delicious recipe!
When do you add parsley?
At the end….you sprinkle it on.
I used to make this about 10 years ago and somehow lost the recipe. Now I have found it. I would like to that I used to wrap it in foil to ensure everything was heated thru and cheese melted while the bread was not too crusty. It just seemed heartier that way.
So maybe I missed it, but what do you do with the bread that is scooped out and torn?
Mix it into the meat mixture.
This was soo yummy! I was tired of cooking the same things and tied this and it turned out perfect! I loved the can of mushroom soup 🙂
Making for Superbowl Sunday – go Hawks!
So excited to try this later on in the week. I’m using a combo of ground turkey and ground chicken…also adding a bit of yellow and red pepper!
Shawn, that sounds delicious!!
What could you use in place of the celery? Green peppers?
Heather, you could just leave them out and be fine. But adding green pepper woud be delish, too!! 🙂
This is a great recipe! The only thing I do different is use hoagie buns instead of french bread.
This is something I grew up with in the 40’s. Except ours was meatloaf filling. Mom called it “Meatloaf in a Loaf”. She would use the bread from hollowing out the french bread for making the meatloaf. Love it! Still serve it to company!
What’s for dinner in my house is the million dollar question of the day., im not a very good cook.lol. so I opt for things that are easy to fix, and that are fast to fix, it doesn’t help my husband dosent like American food ” he is from Ghana, he is half African and half Filipino” and my 6 yr old is also a picky eater. Anyway I made thing stuffed french bread thing. I loved it. My 6 yr old. Well had I chopped the celery a little finer I wouldn’t had to negotiate dessert. The whole if u don’t eat your dinner then… lol. I’ll let you know what my husband thinks. Thank you so much for this delicious recipe
I have this in the oven right now and keeping my finger crossed that it reheats well for lunch.
Can I serve this for the lunch entree.. Is the soup has to be on the side
This is a great idea. This mixture is basically what I put together for tater-tot casserole. Can’t wait to do it this way.
This looks so good!! I cant wait to try it. Thanks for sharing.
Do you prepare the cream of mushroom soup as the can says with a can of water, or do you just use the soup undiluted?
Just add the condensed soups. Don’t dilute
I made this last night, and OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was SO delicious! I added in a little bit of seasoning to the ground beef [dried parsnips, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, basil (and some Old Bay, of course)]. Next time I might switch out the celery for green peppers.
Other than that, I wouldn’t change a single thing. This is definitely a keeper!
Was at the store not sure what to eat for dinner and I see freshly baked warm french bread for $1. I snatch one up and envisioned a sandwich so I Googled “french bread sandwich” and your website pops up. I made this for dinner and holy moly! It was amazing!!!!! Thanks a bunch…I love the site….can’t believe I haven’t come across it sooner. Will definitely try other stuff on here.
Made this tonight for dinner. We really like it, will definitely make again. Thanks for the recipe!
What size can of Cream of Mushroom soup do you use?
10 ounce can
Great! Thank you! I’ll be making it tonight…can’t wait to try it 🙂
Good
I made the mixture ahead of time. Came home hours later and filled the loaves, I made two. I served it with a salad and my boys loved it. I didn’t change a thing. Thank you for this fabulous creation.
Wish I could add a picture !!
I just made this and wow! Even my son loved it. I didn’t have worchestshire but used teriyaki and added a couple drops of hot sauce. I also used mixed peppers and onion. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was easy, quick and a big hit with the husband and kids! I didn’t have celery so I used cream of celery along with the cream of mushroom.
I left you a note on Pinterest to say that I made this last night and it was delicious! We liked it so much that I’ve included a link to it in this week’s newsletter. Hope it brings you even more traffic!
Thanks, Katie! ♥
Wondering if you could spread it onto a Pillsbury pizza dough, roll it and cook it? Like a stuffed bread? Thoughts?
This is outstanding. Made it for football watching weekend. Will definitely make agan.
Made it for dinner tonight. Was delicious. Will make again.
I made this with Steak-um. It was wonderful and easy.
I made this for dinner last night. I used lean turkey instead of ground beef to make it a little healthier. It turned out dry and wasn’t very tasty at all. If I make it again I will use ground beef and I will definitely omit the part where you mix it with the bread. That is what made it so dry and took away alot of the flavor. I will also try adding rotel to it as I think it will boost the flavor even more.
I made this recipe tonight, using pre-baked yeast rolls from Sam’s Club. I just cut about a 1 1/2 inch wide slit, scooped most of the center of the roll out, and filled them. I stacked them like dominos in a baking pan to keep the filling from oozing out. Other than using only a small amount of the bread I pulled and making homemade cream of mushroom, I stuck to the recipe. I did cover them in foil for 3/4 of the bake time, since those rolls tend to get hard. They were very good!
We made this tonight and it was fabulous! Thanks for the recipe, it will be put in our regular recipe rotation!
We just finished this off for lunch! So tasty! Will definitely be making this again! So easy and so good!
My mom’s been making this since I was a kid, but she butters the inside of the bread with garlic butter, so yummy!
This looks really yummy! Making tonight. I have ground beef in the freezer that needs to be used. It’s sure looks easy and fast and all the ingredients are already in my fridge and pantry. All I need is to have hubby pick up the French Bread. Easy peasy.
I made this for supper two days ago and it was great. Next time I do it I will tweak it a bit in the spice department. I think I had too much hamburger but I always cook too much of anything I make. I will also add some red pepper flakes for a kick and some mushrooms.
Amazing.. so good. I made this for the first time and I’m so glad I did. It really is delicious. Super easy to make as well. My 1 year old son loved it too 🙂
I made a slight variation on this and it turned out great! I made it as a stuffed garlic bread with the ground beef and a quick tomato sauce are baked inside the bread and then top with shaved garlic and cheese melt and serve!
Yum! That sounds delicious!!
I think this Sammie just screams for some mustard! I’ll try it both ways!
Wow!! Simple but great taste. Hubby loved it. This is a keeper.
Made this for lunch yesterday. Really good since my guys don’t like traditional sloppy joes. Added a bit more Worcestershire.
This was really good and easy. I added extra mushrooms and a little green pepper. Tast d like a really yummy steak and cheese .
Assigned dinner to my 14 year old son. He found this and knocked it out of the park! Family liked it, he was really proud of himself and I got the night off!
Karen, that is so awesome! My 13 yr old daughter loves to cook too. It’s so nice when Momma gets a night off 🙂
Definitely gonna to try this, thinking about substituting the cheddar with either mozzarella or provalone or maybe a combination of all 3
Your recipe looks great. But one question, is it the actual French loaf bread or is it baguette. Thanks for the great recipe 🙂
I use a loaf of French bread from the grocery store
Made this tonight and it was DELICIOUS and easy. These are changes I made – did chopped onion, 1/2 green bell pepper & 1/2 sweet red bell pepper chopped. Didn’t use the celery. Followed all other directions, and used Monterey Jack cheese & shred cheddar. Great recipe that we will make again – thank you!
This is very good. I did add some bell pepper. Baked produced a very crusty bread so next time I will wrap in foil. Ate it with crystal hot sauce. Will do again soon.
I originally made this recipe back in August and since then I’ve made it countless times. It’s super easy and it’s soo good!! It even tastes great the next day. Thank you for a great recipe
When a recipe has this many positive reviews you know it will be good!! I’m making this tonight, but am using some ground venison in place of the ground beef. I can’t wait to try it. Thanks for an easy, and I’m sure tasty, dinner recipe!! =)
Made this for dinner and it was so yummy! Added a bit more onion and some green pepper but otherwise stayed true to the recipe. Will definitely be making this again. Thanks for such a easy and delicious recipe!
Just stumbled upon your website after a search for ground beef recipies. I tried this sandwich for dinner and it was a huge hit! Quickly made the top favorite of all dinners ever. Thank you!
Made this 2 weeks ago, absolutely loved it! Wrapped left overs in foil and baked again the next day to reheat and crisp up the bread, was just as delicious as the first day. Trying it again tonight but this time with ground turkey. Tasted like our favorite cheesesteak hoagie so why not give it a try as a “chicken cheesesteak”!
I made it tonight for dinner and my family loved it
I was really surprised by how good this is. I hate celery so I just had chopped onion. I had leftover bolleo rolls so I used that instead. Really tasty! Really easy! Cheap!
Great. Thank you. I was able to follow and enjoy it.
Just tried this tonight–it was delicious!! I added some finely diced green bell peppers, since they were on sale today, and added some garlic powder and onion powder, and it turned out wonderfully. I’ve been looking for more ground beef recipes to add to my book, since all I can ever think of is spaghetti and burgers… :] Thank you!
I made this last night ….the only thing I would change would be to spread some butter on the hollowed out surface of the french bread. It was too dry. It also could benefit from some sort of dipping sauce, such as BBQ or marinara sauce. Otherwise it was very yummy and my family enjoyed it!
it’s almost embarrassing that we haven’t thought of something this simple and delicious before! I love the convenience and easy of this stuffed bread and how one can use artisan breads of their choice with fillings that they like. Awesome recipe and thanks for sharing!
I have made the Baked Beef Stew and her Stuffed French Bread is amazing. Pork Chops Fiesta Chicken Pizza Sweet Asian Chicken Pork Tenderloin Spaghetti & Meatballs Stuffed French Bread Oven Drumsticks Tacos Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells Honey Garlic Broiled Chicken Thighs Chicken.
I also was really surprised by how good this is. I hate celery so I just had chopped onion. And I had leftover bolleo rolls so I used that instead. Really tasty! Really easy! Cheap!
i just made this and it’s sooooo good!! i ended up making a lot for just me so i still have a lot of the beef mixture, i have another half of the bread, so it’s gonna use up some, but do you think this would go well with pasta?
We like spicy in our house – has anyone tried a variation of this with chopped jalapenos? I’m just not sure the cream of mushroom soup would work with that. Any thoughts?
Michelle, you could replace the cream of mushroom soup with cream of chicken soup. I think that would be yummy with jalapeños!
I made this and we loved it! Thank you. Looking forward to try more of your recipes.
Awesome recipe. I used Italian sausage along with onions and red, yellow and green peppers. for the soup I used cheese…great hit.
I used smoked provolone cheese and it was fantastic!
Holly, this was outstanding! Oh my goodneSs it tasted like a stromboli!! And i saw the chicken stuffed french bread, so That’s another recipe on my list to make! I love your blog, so many amazing recipes to make! Thank you so very much!
Loved this the first time i made it and i am making it again Tonight.
instead of french bread, I used a defrosted loaf of garlic bread split down the middle…..since thawed, compressed the center of the loaf with a spoon, pushing down into the loaf the section with the garlic seasoning. then i added the beef and ingredients….baked at 300 with cheese on top……it was great, so fast…..i had it like an open-faced hot sandwich. lots of ways to make variations on a theme. good job!
How large a loaf of bread and how many inches per serving?????? I am making for a bridal shower. About 35 people.
Just a standard size French bread loaf. Each stuffed loaf would serve around 6 so I would just cut it in 6 even slices. 🙂
We absolutely love this dinner!! Making it tonight, cannot, wait for dinner!!
Dinner tonight! We absolutely love this recipe! Mmmmm good!
Just popped This is the oven! We absolutely love this dinner! Thank you!