- 2 days ago
Looking for easy ground beef dinners that go beyond the usual tacos and spaghetti? In this video, Nicole shares five creative, flavor-packed recipes that transform a pound of ground beef into something exciting. From comfort food favorites to takeout-inspired meals, these simple recipes are perfect for busy weeknights when you want to switch up your dinner routine.
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00:00Before you make tacos or spaghetti again,
00:02let me show you five new ground beef recipes
00:04that deserve a spot on your weekly rotation.
00:06I'm starting with Big Mac pot pie.
00:09Yes, please.
00:10It's pretty self-explanatory,
00:12but you're gonna get all the flavors of a Big Mac
00:15into a delicious pot pie casserole.
00:17Everyone should have ground beef
00:18in your freezer at all times.
00:19Buy it when it's on sale.
00:21It freezes perfectly.
00:22You can do the same thing with it
00:24after it's thawed out that you could when it was fresh.
00:26While these are all ground beef recipes,
00:29truth be told, you can make any of these
00:31with ground turkey as well.
00:33I've also gone ahead and chopped up some pickles.
00:35Everything else happens at the stove.
00:36I'm using a lean ground beef for this,
00:39adding in a little bit of oil since this is a leaner cut.
00:43And then I'm just gonna brown this.
00:45I wanna get some color on it,
00:46so I like to cook my ground beef at a high temperature
00:49and get it kind of caramelized on that first side
00:52before I start really breaking it up.
00:54Kind of press it out into a thinner layer
00:56and then just let it cook without touching it.
00:58It's hard to resist just going ahead and stirring,
01:02but just walk away.
01:03This is worth it.
01:05Let it go for about three minutes.
01:07See, like that, that's what we like.
01:10The whole thing won't be like that,
01:12but you'll get some pieces like that
01:13and it just adds great flavor.
01:15I do find I use my potato masher for this
01:18more than potatoes.
01:19I'm gonna keep my heat high
01:21so that I can get a little more browning here
01:23and then I'll season it.
01:24Just a little salt, pepper, and Worcestershire.
01:26When you add the Worcestershire,
01:27it almost deglazes any brown bits off the bottom.
01:29That's what gives it that burger flavor.
01:31One more little stir,
01:33and then I'm just gonna transfer this meat
01:35to your casserole dish,
01:36and then to the drippings, the onion.
01:39I'm gonna try to achieve a little color on the onion as well,
01:42just to help develop that flavor.
01:43And this will cook down a lot,
01:44so just let it go for a few minutes
01:46until it takes on some color and softens.
01:49All right, then you're just gonna pour these right over the beef,
01:52top with my other favorite burger topping,
01:54chopped up pickles,
01:56and then cheese, because this is a cheeseburger.
01:59For the bun, puff pastry.
02:01You can roll it or stretch it to fit your casserole dish,
02:05and then you can trim off any excess or just fold it under.
02:08I mean, this is gonna be better than a bun,
02:10because you get all this buttery topping.
02:13The best part of a chicken pot pie also.
02:15We're gonna brush it with some egg,
02:17and this is going to be the glue
02:19for our sesame seed bun topping.
02:23You can add a little bit of water to your beaten egg,
02:26just to help it kind of spread a little easier.
02:29We're just gonna sprinkle with some sesame seeds,
02:31and then you're gonna want to cut a couple slits in there
02:34to let the steam escape.
02:35And then into the oven we go 400 degrees for about 25 minutes,
02:39or until that top is puffed and golden.
02:42Everything else is cooked inside, so it shouldn't take long.
02:45All our casseroles in the oven, you gotta make the special sauce,
02:49because it is part of a Big Mac.
02:51So it starts with mayonnaise, to that add in some mustard,
02:54a little bit of the pickle brine,
02:56a little onion powder and garlic powder,
02:59paprika, and a little bit of sugar.
03:01Contrary to what people think,
03:02there is no ketchup in the Big Mac sauce.
03:04I personally would like a little ketchup squeezed in here.
03:10No need to hit up those golden arches.
03:12Now that's a Big Mac if I've ever seen one.
03:14Give me a little pot pie.
03:17Oh yeah, it's a cheeseburger.
03:19And a pot pie.
03:21The Big Mac sauce.
03:23Lettuce, I love extra lettuce on my burgers.
03:26And then some diced tomatoes.
03:28Maybe tomatoes are not on a Big Mac,
03:29but they are on Big Mac pot pie.
03:33That's how to make your package of ground beef a superhero.
03:36It's not a burger you can eat with your hands,
03:37I'll tell you that.
03:41Mmm, the puff pastry as a topping makes this a whole different experience.
03:47Trust me.
03:48It's just a casserole of perfect bites.
03:50That's all I can say.
03:52The pickle reminds you this is not just a typical ground beef dinner.
03:55This is all about a burger.
03:57And we are off to a fabulous start.
04:01Next up, skip the takeout.
04:03We're making Korean beef bowls.
04:05This is another very family friendly dish.
04:07It's full of those umami flavors.
04:09It's one of those like once you start eating,
04:11you're going to have to like make yourself stop.
04:14And it's like a one pot meal, which we love.
04:17Get that hot and brown the star of the show.
04:20Same thing as before.
04:22Just kind of spread it out and let it start to take on some color.
04:25All right, time to add in some flavor.
04:27I'm going in with lots of garlic.
04:28So we're developing some good flavor in this pan.
04:32Then I'm also adding in some ginger, fresh ginger.
04:35I've peeled it.
04:36And then you just take your microplane and kind of grate it in.
04:38That way you don't get like big chunks of it.
04:41Now I'm going in with a little bit of sesame oil.
04:43A little bit goes a long way.
04:44This is one of those pantry staples you need to add to your collection.
04:48And it hits you right away.
04:50Now soy sauce.
04:51I'm using low sodium.
04:53This is going to lift up any flavor that we have built on the bottom.
04:56And not in the recipe, but I want it to be just a little bit saucier.
04:59So I'm adding in a little bit of beef broth.
05:01Okay, so we've got our salty going on and our tangy.
05:05Now we're going to add a little sweet and a little heat.
05:08For the sweet, some brown sugar.
05:10And for the heat, a little crushed red pepper.
05:12I'm just going to bring everything together.
05:14Let it simmer for about seven minutes and it's going to thicken slightly.
05:18Something as simple as ground beef can be so flavorful.
05:22This smells so good.
05:24And now we're about to zhuzh it up.
05:26Get some green onions.
05:28I like the light and dark parts here.
05:31Okay, and I'm serving this up bowl style.
05:33Just incorporating a bowl-type meal into your dinner rotation is just a smart thing to do.
05:39It's easy, people can kind of customize their own.
05:43Get your kids to eat more veggies, believe it or not.
05:47All right, so down with some hot rice and delicious Korean beef.
05:51Now to add some cool crunch, some cucumber.
05:55And what's also good is some shredded, like pickled carrots.
05:58You can easily do this just by grating a carrot, adding in a little vinegar, sugar,
06:02and having these fresh components on that saucy, really savory meat is so good.
06:08I'm also going to do a little more green onion.
06:10I myself don't mind a little more heat to the sweet.
06:13Now does that not look like a delicious ground beef dinner that you have not made before?
06:18This is also going to be a lot cheaper than takeout.
06:25It's a perfect example of making something so simple and taking it over the top.
06:29I think this is what I'm bringing home for dinner tonight.
06:35Taking it to the streets with this next one.
06:37This is a viral recipe.
06:39The easy donor kebabs.
06:40It's a way to get that street food experience at home in an easier, cheaper way.
06:46Typically, the recipe has ground beef and ground lamb.
06:49I'm doing it with just ground beef.
06:50You can do it however you want.
06:52I've also done this with ground chicken.
06:54To the ground beef, I'm going to add in some grated onion.
06:57I'm going to do it on this paper towel so that I can squeeze out any excess moisture.
07:01Onions have a lot of water in them, right?
07:04And the onion goes in.
07:05Now we add lots of spices.
07:07It's about two tablespoons of cumin and paprika and a teaspoon of coriander and a couple teaspoons of oregano.
07:14And then, of course, salt and pepper.
07:16And we're going to add a little more moisture with some olive oil as well as some Greek yogurt.
07:21Break out, you know, your best kitchen tools and get to mix them.
07:24All those spices smell so good, and that's what makes this taste so good.
07:29Now, you know, typically these meats are cooked on a spit and then they are shaved off.
07:35Most people don't have that at home, so the hack is what comes next.
07:39Here's how you do it.
07:40Get some parchment paper, cut it into rectangles, or you can buy the pre-cut kind.
07:44You're going to divide this mixture into about three or four sheets of parchment.
07:50And then you take another piece just to help flatten it out.
07:54You can get a can or a rolling pin and you want to roll this out as thin as you
07:59can get it.
07:59When you think you've got it, go more because it can get really thin.
08:05That's why when it cooks, it looks like it's been shaved.
08:09And it is amazing how close it looks to the real thing.
08:13Then we're going to take the top sheet off, save it for the next one.
08:17And then you're going to roll the parchment into about like one inch folds all the way down.
08:23And then you just repeat with the remaining meat mixture and parchment.
08:27All right, now you just pop it onto a baking sheet and it goes into the oven for about 30
08:31minutes.
08:32It's going to start accumulating some fat in the pan, but we want it to get brown.
08:37If it gets to be too much moisture in the pan, it won't brown.
08:42So you just want to drain it off, drain off the fat or liquid halfway through if needed.
08:48Simply magical.
08:50So now when it's done, you just unravel the paper and you get these little sheets of beef.
08:57You wouldn't think that was started as just ground beef.
08:59When you drain off some of the liquid that accumulates in the pan, you don't have to throw it
09:06out in case you want to add more back later, but it helps get the browning and the little crispy
09:11bits
09:13if you do drain it off.
09:14Now we got to get all the accompaniments.
09:16Just before serving or while your meat is still hot, take a lemon and just kind of squeeze the juice
09:22over.
09:22And then we also need to make a little sauce.
09:25So I've just got some more of our whole milk yogurt to that.
09:29Go in with some more lemon juice, a little bit of garlic.
09:32It's like a garlicky lemon sauce.
09:35Okay.
09:35And then just a little bit of salt.
09:36And then if you want to thin it out a little bit, just go in with a little water.
09:40Okay.
09:40So now we build.
09:41Grab you a pita.
09:43You can microwave it to soften it up a little bit and down goes our meat.
09:47This meat is so tender.
09:49I'm telling you.
09:49Can you believe that was in a ground beef package a few minutes ago?
09:52Then I'm doing some red onion.
09:54You could do pickle, some fresh tomato.
09:57Season those tomatoes.
09:58Then I'm going in with some fresh parsley leaves as my lettuce.
10:02And then our yogurt sauce.
10:03Roll it up.
10:05Don't you want to take a bite of that right there?
10:07I'm a dipper.
10:08So, you know, I'll be like sauce on every bite.
10:16It may not be the traditional way to make a donor kebab, but I am here for this all day
10:22long.
10:23If you haven't made it in a while or if you've never tried this little hack,
10:26100% do this tonight.
10:28Start here of all these recipes today.
10:30It's like a 13 out of 10 solid, solid dinner.
10:35Don't let the name of this next dish scare you, but we are making dirty cabbage.
10:40If you know Cajun food, then you've heard of dirty rice.
10:42This is almost like a healthier version because we are using cabbage.
10:46It's packed with ground beef, sausage, sometimes livers.
10:51And I'm chopping up a whole head of cabbage.
10:53It's going to cook down.
10:54You have so many other things going on in this dish.
10:57You don't even realize how many, you know, veggies you're getting.
11:01So get yourself a big Dutch oven, add in a little oil, and then in with our ground beef.
11:06We're going to crumble it, we're going to brown it, and we're going to add in the sausage.
11:09The fat will start to render from the sausage and really start to create this
11:13amazing flavor that's going to carry through the rest of the dish.
11:15All right, you can see the flavor building.
11:18This is why I love a one-pot meal.
11:21And the Cajuns are known for their one-pot meals.
11:24The jambalayas, the gumbos, the dirty rices.
11:28Okay, now I'm going to add in some veggie.
11:29Red and green bell peppers and celery.
11:32I'm also going to go in with lots of garlic.
11:34And here I've got my heat up high because I am trying to keep developing color on everything.
11:39Okay, time to kick it up with some Tonys or some Cajun seasoning.
11:44Some Cajun seasonings have salt and some do not.
11:48This has a lot of salt, so you want to get a little easier than what the recipe calls for.
11:51And I'm also going in with some tomato paste.
11:54That's going to help lift off some of the flavor.
11:56And also get some seasoning from the andouille sausage.
11:59So all the color, all that browning is going to be lifted off.
12:03And it's going to color our cabbage, making it look dirty.
12:07Hence the name.
12:09So we're going to start working our cabbage in.
12:10As it cooks down, we can add more.
12:13I promise you will not have had cabbage with this much flavor before today.
12:18You can see all of this dark brown on the bottom.
12:23You might be going, I'm not going to want to clean that pot afterwards.
12:27You don't have to because our liquid is about to do that for us.
12:31Now, this is not meant to be a stew or a soup.
12:35So you just need enough liquid to just kind of bring everything together.
12:40Also, the cabbage and the vegetables are going to give off some too.
12:43So just about a cup of chicken stock.
12:45And after you add it, use your spoon to start scraping up that flavor.
12:49I mean, that just lifts right up.
12:51We're going to cook it until that cabbage kind of smothers in all that flavor.
12:57So I'm going to cover it and let it go for about 20, 25 minutes.
13:01Look how tender.
13:03See, the cabbage has cooked down to where it's more meat than cabbage.
13:08Final, final step is to add in a little bit of vinegar.
13:11This is just going to kind of add that balance, a little tang in there to go with some of
13:16the savory richness.
13:18Just a little bit of salt.
13:19It's reminiscent of like unstuffed cabbage if you've ever had, or stuffed cabbage.
13:23It's like that with a different flavor profile.
13:26Now for me, I'm going on with just a little bit of hot sauce and some more green onion.
13:33It's dirty cabbage, y'all.
13:34And it all started with a pack of ground beef.
13:36I hope I'm solving your problems.
13:38You know, it's like you get that pack and you get your normal groceries,
13:42your chicken, your ground beef.
13:44And you're like, what do I do with it?
13:45Here are five answers.
13:51I prefer this to the dirty rice because you have more moisture in here.
13:57Sometimes the rice absorbs so much of the flavor.
14:00This still has almost a sauciness to it.
14:03I don't know what to say.
14:03It's like just like a flavor bomb.
14:06I feel like this is the one you have to trust me on because I don't know that I can
14:09do it justice
14:10by just showing you, you need to make this.
14:13And I know you trust me.
14:15So what are you waiting for?
14:17What shall we do with our last pack of ground beef?
14:20How about something for your taco Tuesday?
14:22How about Taco Bell cheesy potato casserole?
14:25You know the cheesy potatoes you get there?
14:27You can go get a bunch of those and make this casserole like that or you start from scratch.
14:32So I've got three pounds of roasted potatoes that I have cut and parboiled.
14:37Now we're going to roast them so that they get crispy because theirs are deep fried.
14:41We are not doing that.
14:42So coat them with a little olive oil.
14:45Parboiling them like this kind of gives them more of that fried look.
14:48So they'll be more like pillowy on the inside, crispy on the outside.
14:51Down on the baking sheet.
14:53I'm going to hit them with a little salt.
14:55Then into the oven to get browned and crispy.
14:59And while that happens, we can be making our taco meat.
15:02By now, you know the drill.
15:04Cook it until it's browned and crumbly.
15:06These dinners are meant to be easy.
15:08So we take shortcuts.
15:10Really at this point, you're just making taco meat however you normally do.
15:13And with a packet and a packet of water.
15:17Okay, just let this thicken a little bit, get saucy.
15:20And then we build our cheesy potato casserole.
15:24See, it's not tacos, but it is for your Taco Tuesday.
15:30Taters took the parchment out about halfway through so that they get a little toasty.
15:36Now we're going to take gourmet nacho cheese sauce.
15:39No judgment.
15:41I'm going to spoon some right on top of the potatoes.
15:45And as it cooks, it'll melt down further.
15:48You know, measure with your heart if you want.
15:50Recipe calls for some shredded cheddar too.
15:52I'm going to put some on this layer and then some on the top.
15:55Just to make it extra cheesy.
15:57All right, then our taco meat on top of that.
16:00And then more shredded cheddar on top.
16:02This goes into the oven.
16:03Everything is still pretty hot, so this will not take long.
16:05Take about just another 15 to 20 minutes.
16:08And about halfway through, I'm going to top it with the taco sauce.
16:12Because when you get your cheesy potatoes, they have that sauce on top.
16:15Smelling good in here.
16:17Freshen it up with some green onion.
16:20Have you even ever ordered the cheesy potatoes at Taco Bell?
16:23Might be worth a try, guys.
16:25To finish it off, a little more cheese, if you dare.
16:29A little more taco sauce.
16:30You got to have some sour cream on your potatoes.
16:32I'm just going to load mine up.
16:34Some more green onions and I thought some pickled jalapenos would be nice.
16:40I feel like I need a cold beer with this one since I've worked so hard.
16:48I mean, it can't be bad.
16:50It's like you opened a baked potato up and just filled it up with flavorful taco meat,
16:56lots of gooey cheese, the sour cream, the green onion, the jalapeno.
17:00I mean, it's perfection.
17:02It's not tacos, but it is taco turned comfort food.
17:06And I will be serving this up to my family.
17:09We've taken that one common ingredient and turned it into five new dinners to add to your weekly rotation.
17:14So keep your fridge and freezer stocked with that ground beef.
17:16You definitely have a new use for it.
17:18Five new uses.
17:22Every single one worth trying.
17:25Now, where's that cold beer?
17:26Oh, here we go.
17:26Hey.
17:26Okay.
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