It’s not your fault no one taught you how to cook ground beef!

If you thought you knew how to meal prep ground beef but ended up with watery, gray, flavorless meat, you’re not alone. I didn’t know either until I became a chef. Here is what is happening: you’re crowding the pan and cooking everything together.

What is the Meal Prep Ground Beef Game Changer?

1. Cooking your ground beef and onions separately. It allows each ingredient to develop a deep, golden-brown crust instead of steaming into mediocrity.
2. The key here is mashing the meat into a large disk that covers the entire bottom of the pan, and then not agitating it until a nice crust forms on the bottom. The sear you get on the meat imparts unmatched flavor that you cannot achieve any other way (I won’t bore you with science, but the flavor is the result of something called the “Maillard reaction”).

How to Choose the Right Ground Beef (lean vs. fatty):

My personal preference, in order are: 80/20, 85/15, 90/10. I don’t recommend using leaner than 90/10 otherwise the meat will come out too dry. Because I use a fatty meat, I cook the beef first, then cook the aromatics (onion, celery, garlic) in the beef fat.

How Much Ground Beef Should I Prep?

I typically do 2 lb. at a time. In order to do this, I use a 12-inch skillet. This is the one I use.

What is the Best Way to Cook the Beef?

I sear it, remove it from the pan, then sauté the aromatics in the beef fat.

When Do I Season the Beef?

I sprinkle Kosher salt right onto the beef right before searing.

How to Store Meal Prep Ground Beef:

Allow to cool to room temperature then transfer to a storage container. Refrigerate uncovered until fully cold, then cover tightly. Stored properly, it will last in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. You can also freeze the meal prep ground beef, tightly sealed, for up to three months.

How Do I Reheat Ground Beef Without Drying It Out:

My favorite way to reheat the ground beef is by heating up a few tbsp water (or bone broth if I have it), in a saucepan on the stove, the adding the beef. You could also microwave it, but it tends to make the texture less pleasant in my opinion. If microwaving, add a tbsp of water and cover tightly with plastic wrap before reheating.

What Should I Eat My Meal Prep Ground Beef With?

• My ultimate fave: ground beef bowl with jasmine rice, steamed cabbage, edamame, and avocado- DRENCHED in Carrot Ginger Dressing
• Tacos! I make my taco meat by adding to the cooked beef: 2-3 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground chipotle pepper, and the juice of one lime
• Add it to Mamma’s Red Sauce
• Add some spices and make this Turkish Spiced Beef and Cauliflower Steak Platter

Meal Prep Ground Beef

Servings

6-8

servings

Every week I meal prep 2 lbs. of ground beef for my family to eat throughout the week. I keep it neutrally flavored so I can add it to tomato sauce for a quick bolognese, turn it into taco/burrito meat, make Asian sloppy joes, or serve it over brown rice/quinoa for a quick grain bowl. Once you learn how to meal prep ground beef like a chef, you won’t want it prepared any other way.

Ingredients

• 2 lb. ground beef (80/20, 85/15, 90/10- I don’t recommend using leaner than 90/10*)

• 1 medium onion, diced

• 3-5 cloves garlic, minced

• 3-4 ribs celery, sliced thinly

• freshly cracked black pepper

• 1-1/2 tsp Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (halve amount if using table salt)

• *1-1 1/2 tbsp oil (your preferred cooking oil), ONLY if using 90/10 beef

Directions

• Place a large sauté pan (12-inch) on stove over high heat. Season beef with 1 tsp Kosher salt and black pepper to taste. Place beef into pan and press into one large meat disk, covering the entirety of the sauté pan. Do not stir beef. Allow beef to cook until a fragrant crust develops. Once this occurs, reduce the heat to medium, and break up beef to cook the remainder (I cannot recommend this spatula, or something similar, enough). If using 80/20 or 85/15 beef, drain some of the fat so that only about 1 tbsp fat remains in the pan. If using leaner meat, there should be about 1 tbsp of beef fat in pan. If there isn’t any remaining fat, keep handy your preferred cooking oil (I use olive or grapeseed).
• Once the beef is mostly cooked, you can either, 1) push it to one side of pan to create enough surface area to cook the aromatics; or 2) remove the beef from the pan entirely and keep it nearby. If you chose option 1), tilt the pan so that residual fat pools in the now empty side. If there isn’t 1 tbsp of beef fat in pan, add 1 tbsp of your preferred cooking oil. Add onion, garlic, and celery to pan and reduce heat to medium high. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp of salt onto the onion mixture and stir. Cook the onion mixture until softened and lightly browned.  If you chose option 2) and removed all the meat from the pan, add the onions, garlic and celery (and additional oil if necessary), and sprinkle 1/2 tsp salt onto the onion mixture. Stir to combine. Cook the onion mixture until softened and lightly browned.
• Combine the cooked onion mixture and beef and season with additional salt/pepper if desired.

Equipment

• 
  The Spatula I Can’t Live WithoutLINKED HERE

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