Stuffed French Bread
Make this easy Stuffed French Bread filled with seasoned ground beef, veggies, and melty cheese. A quick, family-friendly dinner that’s perfect for busy nights.
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 piled inside French bread. Holy moly, so good! It’s even better if you use my homemade French bread recipe!
STUFFED FRENCH BREAD
Another reason I love this comforting stuffed bread so much is that it’s one of those easy 30-minute meals. Perfect for those tired, stressful, I-don’t-feel-like-cooking nights. 🙂 The beef mixture requires a skillet prep of around 20 minutes, then you pop it in the oven for another 10 or so. After that, you’re on your way to a crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, delicious hot sandwich!
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 can (10 ounces) cream of celery soup
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 Tablespoon freshly chopped parsley (optional)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Drain any grease. Add the celery and minced garlic to skillet. Cook a few minutes until the celery is tender. Next, add the soup, milk, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Stir and cook mixture until heated through; about 5 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, slice the French bread in half, lengthwise, so you have two equal pieces. Scoop out the bread in the center of each piece and tear into small pieces. Add these bread pieces to the beef mixture in the skillet. Stir to combine.
Set the two halves of French bread onto a large baking sheet. Set aside.
Pour the warm beef and bread mixture into the center of one half of the French bread. Spread out evenly. Top the mixture evenly with the shredded cheese. Top with the other half of the 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!
Stuffed French Bread
Ingredients
- 1 loaf French bread
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 Tablespoons dried minced onion (or freshly diced white onion)
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 can (10 ounces) cream of celery soup (or cream of mushroom or chicken soup)
- 2 Tablespoons milk
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper
- 1 ½ cups freshly grated cheddar cheese
- 1/2 Tablespoon chopped parsley optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. Drain any grease. Add the celery and minced garlic to skillet. Cook a few minutes until the celery is tender. Next, add the soup, milk, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Stir and cook mixture until heated through; about 5 minutes or so.
- Meanwhile, slice the French bread in half, lengthwise, so you have two equal pieces. Scoop out the bread in the center of each piece and tear into small pieces. Add these bread pieces to the beef mixture in the skillet. Stir to combine. Set the two halves of french bread onto a large baking sheet. Set aside.
- Pour the warm beef and bread mixture into the center of one half of the French bread. Spread out evenly. Top the mixture evenly with the shredded cheese. Top with the other half of the 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.