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If you’ve spent time staring into the refrigerator, bovine with indecision as a pack of ground beef stares back at you, this is for you.
One-pan ground beef recipes are the busy home cook’s friend, hearty, nutritious, and on the table in a little less than 30 minutes.
Why are ground beef skillet recipes so popular?
Ground-beef frying pan recipes have many loyal adherents. They cook up fast, they’re forgiving of failure, and they can be whatever you want them to be.
You brown the meat, toss in some onions and garlic, add a few vegetables, then finish with rice, pasta, or tortillas, all in one pan.
It all happens in a single skillet, which equals minimal clean-up and more time for you to relax after dinner’s done.
What you need is a large skillet on medium-high heat. Succulence and flavor only get locked in by nature.
You’d want the beef’s marbled fat to melt and caramelize. Then add garlic powder or taco seasoning to complete this dish.
What Ingredients You Need For One-Pan ground Beef
- 1 lb of ground beef (80/20 for the best flavor)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup white rice, uncooked (or substitute with pasta for variation)
- 2 cups beef broth or beef stock
- 1 cup tomato sauce (or canned diced tomatoes for texture)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp taco seasoning
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Optional toppings: sour cream, green onions, or tortilla chips for crunch
Tip: You can also use ground turkey for a lighter version without sacrificing flavor.
How To Cook One-Pan Ground Beef
Browning the beef.
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a little olive oil and the ground beef. It shouldn’t be stirred too much at this point.
This will spoil the flavour development of caramelization. When the beef is browned, discard any extra fat that may have been left in the pan.
Add Aromatics.
Toss in your chopped onion, minced garlic (Chinese people don’t necessarily prepare all of it so you can add almost 1 teaspoonful instead), and diced capsicum.
After about 3-4 minutes of heating, when the onions don’t have a fiery taste and the peppers are well done he goes in again with two things that alter its flavor.
Now it not only has the taste from heaven but turns your kitchen into a banquet and festival scene.
Season generously.
Garlic powder, chili powder and taco seasoning are sprinkled in. Stir until thoroughly combined. Sample and then adjust with salt and pepper as needed. For added spice, a pinch of crushed red peppers adds a whole lot of zip!
Add rice and liquid.
Stir in the uncooked rice so that every single little grain is coated in flavor. Pour in your beef broth plus tomato sauce. Mix everything together and bring to a gentle boil.
Simmer and cover.
Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and its cook rice around fifteen twenty minute, until almost dry, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon as you cook until then turn down some of how.
Serve with cheese on top.
After the rice has begun to soften and thicken the mixture, sprinkle shredded cheese over its peak. Put back on the cover and let it go another minute or two, until indeed that delicious layer of melted cheese has synthesized itself utterly into every mouthful!
Serve and garnish.
Scoop into bowls. Top with sour cream, green onions parsley or crushed tortilla chips for a little crunch.
What Type of Ground Beef Works Best for a One-Pan Dinner?
For most a skillet dinner recipe so far, 80% lean / 20% fat ground beef comes closest to providing a good balance of taste and tenderness. Leaner combination (such as 90/10) can be dry in flavor, while richer cuts need to be trimmed of fat.
This ground beef is a solid 80/20 mix: juicy, flavorful, and perfect for burgers or tacos. It’s affordable, cooks evenly, and gives that classic homemade taste without breaking the bank.
You may wish to substitute 80/20 beef with ground turkey if you want a lighter meal. It cooks almost exactly the same way in the skillet and still absorbs seasonings just as readily.
The key is properly cooking the meat, let it cook 15–20 minutes over medium heat until it’s fully cooked and a little crisp around the edges.
How to Add Flavor to Ground Beef Skillet?
Most kitchens will contain these two humble ingredients that give your ground beef a rich flavor. The onions minced, and garlic scented capture an aroma that will change even the most ordinary ways in which to make ground beef.
You get both color and a slightly sweet taste with the Red Bell Pepper. Black beans add even more texture.
Now add your herbs and spices: taco seasoning for that comfy feeling, chili powder for really hot, or some dried oregano for an earthy touch.
Adding a little beef broth or beef stock to the skillet, then scraping it up, collects all those bits that have burnt onto the pan.
If you stir it in before adding your starch or sauce, it’s that little trick that separates your homemade hamburger helper-style dishes from the ones you’ll eat at a restaurant.
Can You Make a Taco Skillet with Ground Beef?
Of course! Even if you’re making it with a pound of ground beef or turkey, a taco skillet remains one of the easiest possible weeknight meals to make, wherever its origins were.
Cook and drain off any excess grease that forms when browning the ground beef. Then add the taco seasoning.
Black beans, bell peppers, and a handful of tortilla chips
Top it with some melted cheese, a dollop of sour cream and green onions for finishing flair. It’s all made in just one skillet and ready to serve in less than 25 minutes.
With an easy ground beef dinner like this, every member of the family is sure to come running. And the next day, there can be none better than yesterday’s beef burrito or rice bowl, as an extra bonus.
What About an Easy Korean Beef Bowl?
Put the ground beef, minced garlic, soy sauce, brown sugar, and ginger into the skillet and sauté until the garlic is fragrant.
Soy sauce begins to bubble out of the meat, and brown sugar caramelizes into dark streaks that add complexity to the ginger; this takes just a minute or so.
Eating Korean beef over white rice with green onions and sour cream or sriracha mayo is decidedly different. It tastes sweet and salty at the same time; the smooth flavor of the meat meets every bite (even if you don’t have smothered eggplant).
A great-tasting ground beef recipe that only requires one skillet and five minutes to make, it doesn’t get fresher than this.
Can You Make a Casserole From Ground Beef in Just One Skillet?
The answer is yes, and it’s not so difficult to do. In a beef and potato casserole, the potatoes are arranged in the skillet with browned ground beef and onions.
Pour the beef broth into the casserole with the potatoes and beef. Stir the whole thing, then add cream cheese or cheddar. Carry on cooking by covering the casserole. Then remove and serve when potatoes are tender.
The result is comfort through and through, as if a sloppy joe and shepherd’s pie had a delicious weeknight baby.
How to Make a One-Skillet Pasta with Ground Beef
I used to take 2 pots to do this, one for the beef and one for the pasta. To cook them all in one, you will need a bit more beef broth to cover the pasta, and have it cooked. If it starts drying up, the other way is to add more water.
You can serve once the whole pot of pasta is cooked well.
What About a Stuffed Pepper Skillet?
If you like stuffed peppers but find that you don’t have time to bake them up, this ground beef version, which we’ll introduce you to in this post, may be perfect then. Sauté diced bell peppers and onions.
Add beef, garlic, and tomato sauce.mix: Afterward, you’ll turn down the heat to let rice or quinoa cook itself in everything else for a bit until toppings (which is optional) finish out since everything has been fully cooked
This skillet meal captures the flavors of classic stuffed peppers without the hassle. Top with cheese until it is melted or sprinkle a spoonful of sour cream over for a delicious dinner that feels both comforting and new.
Can You Make a Beef and Potato Skillet in 15 Minutes?
Yes, you can. Start by sauteing the diced potatoes in oil until they are crispy. Then mix in the ground beef, onions and garlic.
Sprinkle with some salt, pepper and garlic powder. Pour a little beef broth over it to keep it moist,cover and cook until the potatoes are soft enough to poke easily with a knife.
What’s the Trick to a Perfect One-Pot Ground Beef and Rice Dinner?
In order to produce a nice taste, when you start cooking some ground beef and rice together there is no need for the meat to brown after the rice has cooked
Liar, liar frying pan on the wall, runaway cooks can always pick up another trick to fail from these one-pot ground beef and rice dishes.
The seasoning and broth will be richly absorbed into that one-pot ground beef and rice dish. A touch of butter at the end will further enrich their flavor.
If you feel like adding in some color, throw in a handful of corn and peas later part of the cooking.
Are There Recipes Like Homemade Hamburger Helper?
Of course! But they’re still better than the box mix. Your favorite homemade hamburger helper may not quite as smooth and consistent, but much richer and fresher in taste.
First you fry up some ground beef with onion and garlic. Add pasta, beef chop broth or a hint of cheddar cheese to give it that creamy mouth feel.
And everything simmers together in one skillet, where it takes on a delicious flavor as it mingles with all that savory goodness, with a minimum of pan licking afterwards.
The end result is this kind of heartwarming yet decidedly grown-up one-skillet ground beef dish. Perfect for busy weekends when you can’t settle on what to eat or make cratch, but need something hearty, warm, and from family leftovers.
How to Reheat Leftover Ground Beef Dishes
Since the only thing better than consuming leftover ground beef is consuming it with other flavors, some folks choose to cook it in its own weight (instant Ramen, tak-Krai, that’s Thai chicken and-coconut milk soup) or even serve add-on pieces such as corn-dogs.
A splash of stock or hot broth warmed in the pan without drying out leftovers helps the busy convenience of this concept work well, add a splash to make all your meals moist again!
Cooked through and covered up on top with plenty of cheese sauce for added flavor. As such it’s possible not only to reheat but turn around for another day’s dinner.
Keep the pan covered if you are heating up leftover pasta or rice-based recipes, to keep everything moist; this is one thing that microwaves don’t do much better than conventional ovens.
Frequently one-skillet ground beef dishes store for a couple weeks in the refrigerator. This makes a great way to prepare meals ahead of time when they’re difficult to do, or you just don’t feel like cooking.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
You will love this recipe, though. It eliminates a lot of the nut and fuss that make Monday through Friday’s meal time so stressful.
Easy to Make: You can replace it with pasta, or replace the noodles for rice tortillas. If your taste runs toward the lighter side of meats and carbohydrates, just switch to ground turkey and cut back on cheese a little
Finally, as there are no pots to boil on one stove you get your pans dirty. This leaves more of that valuable free time and less wasted in cleaning up a messwhich can only happen if more than one pot is involved.
What’s left to cook is up to number one customer without any more input from him than breathing fresh air as he sits down in time for dinner.
This website contains affiliate links. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases (What’s This?).
