It is good to have some easy lunch ideas with ground beef in your back pocket, because sometimes it can get repetitive eating the same recipes over and over again. . You never know when you might need them. A ground beef is an affordable and easy-to-prepare, yet versatile ingredient that you can use to whip up some of the best meals. Whether you are a novice in the kitchen or a professional chef, having easy lunch ideas with ground beef can prove to be very useful.
Easy Lunch Ideas With Ground Beef
Ground beef is quite possibly the ultimate all-American go-to ingredient. It keeps pretty well in the freezer, too, so you can even stock up when it’s on sale and know that you’ve got a freezer-full of easy ground beef dinners at your fingertips. Speaking of easy ground beef recipes—we’ve rounded up 30 of the very best that we, and the internet, have to offer! So if you’re staring at your fridge wondering “what should I make with ground beef?” you, friend, have come to the right place!
Easy Ground Beef Recipes with Few Ingredients
1. Gingery Ground Beef (Soboro Donburi)
- Calories: 269
- Dairy-Free
- Gluten Free
- 30 Minutes
- Kid Friendly
Five ingredients, a few minutes and a hot skillet, and you’ll be digging into a delicious soboro donburi, a gingery ground beef that reminds us that the best Japanese recipes are often the simplest.
We’re Just Going To Say It. Japanese Home Food > Fancy Pants Restaurant Sushi.
This gingery ground beef stir-fry recipe is Japanese in origin, and often served simply over white rice—that’s how we love to eat it—as a soboro donburi (donburi just means that something is served over steamed rice as a rice bowl). Here in the U.S., Japanese food is often thought of as the height of fussiness—pristine slices of raw fish, carefully placed on perfectly-cooked sushi rice, or quickly seared slices of wagyu that cost a gazillion dollars. But the thing is, Japanese home cooking is actually super approachable, and—here’s the big secret—we like it even better than super-fancy Japanese restaurant food. It’s mostly very, very simple, and at the heart of its simplicity is a deep comfort—in other words, it’s exactly the kind of food we’re hungry for these days. This meaty, savory, gingery ground beef stir-fry comes together in minutes, has just five ingredients, and is a sure-fire family-pleaser.
Soboro Donburi In Just 5 Ingredients
We didn’t make any changes to traditional Japanese soboro beef recipe, it really is just as simple as five ingredients. Well, plus the rice the soboro beef is served over, which is what makes it soboro donburi (remember, that means rice bowl). The word “soboro” refers to the fact that we’re using ground beef, and to the crumbly texture of the finished dish.
Here are the five ingredients you’ll need to make this gingery soboro beef with peas:
- Ground beef. We used a typical 80/20 blend.
- Soy sauce. Or, if you’re GF, it’s fine to use gluten-free tamaril
- Brown sugar.
- Fresh ginger.
- Frozen peas.
How To Make Japanese Soboro Beef
The crispy-crumbly texture and the meaty, savory flavors of this simple ground beef stir-fry are oh-so-lovable. Scooped over a pillowy bowl of steaming white rice, it’s a new (to us) kind of comfort food and we are ALL about it. Here’s how easy this gingery ground beef is to make:
- Heat a skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground beef, soy sauce, water and sugar and sauté until the beef is browned.
- Add the fresh ginger and frozen peas, and continue to cook until the peas are warmed through, and any liquid has mostly evaporated.
- Serve! Over warm, steamy bowls of rice. Soboro donburi is classically served with white rice, but brown rice would be fine, too.
Tools You’ll Need:
- Large skillet
- Wooden spoon
Um, that’s it. This soboro beef recipe is just really, really easy. Come to think of it, this is sort of a genius recipe for times when you don’t even want to dirty a knife. Or for if you’ve just moved and can’t find any of your kitchen stuff—just break out a skillet and whip up soboro beef! No prob!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/3 cup soy sauce or tamari (gluten-free)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1 cup frozen peas
Method
- In a large skillet combine ground beef, soy sauce, water and sugar and cook over medium heat until beef is just browned.
- Add fresh ginger and frozen peas, continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Serve over cooked rice.
Nutrition Info
- Per Serving
- Amount
- Calories 269
- Protein 37 g
- Carbohydrates 11 g
- Total Fat 7 g
- Dietary Fiber 2 g
- Cholesterol 101 mg
- sodium 1302 mg
- Total Sugars 5 g
2. Thai Basil Beef
- Serves: 4
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Calories: 327
- Dairy-Free
- Gluten Free
- Low-Carb
- 30 Minutes
- Kid Friendly
- One Pot
A speedy, savory Thai beef basil stir fry that’s just a bit spicy and really hits the spot.
We Had You At “Thai Basil”, Right?
Have you had that revelatory moment yet? You know the one, where you’re eagerly gobbling up your favorite Thai dishes, and you suddenly realize that the thing you love most about Thai food is the abundant use of basil. It shows up in curries, stir-fries, noodle dishes—so many dishes get a fragrant boost from this simple herb. There are many different varieties of basil, though, and in America the most readily available variety is not the kind that’s typically used in Thai cuisine. Authentically Thai dishes would ideally be made with holy basil, but that’s OK! We’re calling for sweet basil here, simply because we know you’ll be able to find it—though if you can find holy basil, by all means use it. Even with this non-traditional swap, this dish is still very delicious and brims with Thai flavors thanks to fresh lime juice, fish sauce, and plenty of garlic and chili paste.
Chili Paste: Let’s Discuss.
For Asian stir-fry recipes like this, when we call for “chili paste” we mean this stuff—simple, spicy, delicious sambal oelek. Sambal brings heat (but not too much) and not much else, which is exactly how we like it. Sriracha has its place, but it is flavored with sugar and other spices and it can complicate things. In our Thai basil beef recipe, sambal stands in for fresh chilis—scooping some chili paste out of a jar is a lot easier than messing around with fresh chilis.
Now You Know You Need Chili Paste! What Else?
While this recipe—the simple, Thai flavors and quick stir-frying method—works well with almost any kind of ground meat you have on hand, we love it most of all made with ground beef. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Neutral oil—vegetable or canola work best.
- Ground beef
- A bell pepper
- Onion
- A lot of fresh garlic
- Soy sauce or tamari
- Fish sauce
- Brown sugar
- Fresh lime
- Basil—using Thai holy basil (if you’re lucky enough to find it) makes this spicy beef stir-fry worthy of the name “phat ka-phrao” which means “holy basil stir-fry”. If you can’t find Thai holy basil (it can be hard to track down) just use sweet basil
Thai Beef Basil: 15 Minutes from Start to Finish!
Bold flavors and high heat team up to make for a delectable dinner that you’ll barely believe you made yourself. We’re not trying to put your favorite Thai restaurant out of business, but you’ll be amazed how easy it is to cook Thai basil beef at home. Give it a try next time the craving strikes! Here’s how:
- Whisk a quick sauce: chili paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice. P.S. this sauce is good on everything. Marinate chicken in it, drizzle it on fish before roasting—there’s no wrong way.
- Crank the heat! When your oil is nice and hot, begin to stir-fry the beef. After a few minutes add the vegetables.
- Pour the sauce over the stir-fried beef and veggies, and toss in the basil.
- Serve! With white or brown rice, or if you’re trying to avoid carbs, you could even serve it in lettuce cups.
3. Crock-Pot Taco Meat
- Serves: 8
- Prep Time: 5 min
- Cook Time: 2 hrs
- Calories: 204
- Dairy-Free
- Gluten Free
- Low-Carb
- Whole30
- Kid Friendly
- Slow Cooker
Just three-ingredients and the use of our trusty slow-cooker make this Crock-Pot taco meat recipe an easy win.
The Best Taco Meat is Slow Taco Meat
A long simmer in the slow-cooker is the secret to our insanely flavorful, 3-ingredient taco meat. Yes it’s true, you can just quickly sauté ground beef in a skillet with some taco seasoning and call that taco meat. But if you really love ground beef tacos and really want the BEST taco meat, it’s all about a long, slow simmer with tomatoes, spices and aromatics. Luckily, store-bought salsa basically has all of those things, so it is our Crock-Pot taco meat secret weapon. Once the meat is cooked, the sky’s the limit! Obviously you’ve got the makings of a really good taco night dinner, but don’t stop there! One bite of this delicious taco meat, and you’ll be dreaming up a zillion ways to use it.
Taco Meat Seasoning—Shortcut Edition
When we say “taco meat” we mean lean ground beef—we like to use a 90/10 mixture. So, ground beef is one ingredient (and we’re guessing you already knew it was one of the three!). What else is in this taco meat recipe? Just two more things! You’ll need:
- Store-bought salsa. We like to buy the stuff in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. It’s fresher and much, much more flavorful than the jarred stuff.
- A taco seasoning packet. Or, you can use homemade! Have you tried our taco seasoning recipe yet? A spiced-but-not-too-spicy blend of cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder and other taco seasonings, it’s the very BEST. However, store-bought is fine, too.
How to Cook Taco Meat in a Crock-Pot
Now you know the ‘why’ of cooking taco meat in a Crock-Pot, but now you’ve got to get cooking! Here’s how to make it:
- Dump the ground beef, salsa, and taco seasoning into your slow-cooker.
- Cook! Either on low for four hours, or high for three.
- IF you’ll be close by, every hour or so, stir the meat and then drain off any liquid that accumulated into a heat-proof container. Let the liquid cool before tossing it in the trash. If you won’t be home while the meat cooks, it’s OK to skip this step.
- Eat! That’s it—taco meat is ready!
What To Do With All Of My Delicious Taco Meat?
Eat it straight out of the Crock-Pot? We’re not knocking that option. But why stop there!? Try it:
- On taco salads! Lettuce, taco meat, avocado, more salsa, some cheese, black olives, maybe even a few tortilla chips—oh yesssss.
- In breakfast burritos! It could be a filling as simple as taco meat, scrambled eggs, and a little cheddar cheese.
- Try making a pizza night / taco night hybrid and use it as a pizza topper!
