My husband and I are the biggest beef fans alive today. Our favorite pastime is trying different beefy recipes with our secret cooking tactics to surprise our family and friends.
Our kids had their holidays and we thought about diverting their taste buds from chicken to beef. It was a hell of a task. I never assumed it to be tough. KFC had it good this time.
But, this was not the time to give up. Being too stubborn to give up, we stuck to trying the traditional ground beef in our recipes. We looked for ground beef healthy recipes that we could blend with meatballs, spaghetti, pasta, burger patty, and more to excite the kids.
That was enough background of my struggle; let us now get to some tasteful, low-calorie ground beef recipes for you to try.
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Get Your Hands on Some Ground Beef!
We went to our closest supermarket and got some ground for $10.00 /lb. There has been a hike in prices, but what could we do? We had a couple of packages so we could try our hands at different recipes. Our goal was to put some creativity into the healthy ground beef recipes for dinner so we could enjoy eating together as a family.
Anyway, we will get to the business of lean ground beef healthy recipes without further ado.
Spaghetti is Italian but is also one of our all-time favorite family dinners. My kids love spaghetti’s juicy, meaty flavors at least twice a week. But it was to be made with beef this time, so I tried making my mom’s main course of homemade beef spaghetti with hot meat sauce.
Spaghetti is our top pick in the ground beef healthy recipes category. We make the sauce first. This simple and quick meat sauce takes only a few minutes of preparation, then is left for a low simmer on the stove. These lean ground beef recipes satisfy your taste buds completely.
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours 25 minutes
Total Servings: 10 servings
Nutritional Facts Per Serving:
No. of Calories: 667 cal
Total Fat: 22 gms
Saturated Fat: 6.5 gms
Cholesterol: 62 mg
Sodium: 637mgs
Potassium: 1135 mg
Carbohydrates: 84gms
Fiber: 11gms
Sugar: 14gms
Protein: 35 gms
Cooking Ingredients:
Ground beef: 85% Lean (1 pound)
Yellow Onion: 1 (Chopped)
Garlic cloves: 2 (minced or chopped)
Celery: 4 stalks (chopped)
Diced tomatoes can: 1 (29 ounces)
Tomato sauce can: 1 (29 ounces)
Tomato paste can: 1 (6 ounces)
Sliced mushrooms can: 2 (7 ounces)
Beef broth can: 1 (15 ounces)
Whole cloves: 5 -6
Bay leaves: 2
Sugar: 2 tablespoons
Fresh parsley: 2 cups (chopped) OR 4 teaspoons (dried)
Basil: 1 teaspoon
Oregano: 1 teaspoon
Kosher salt: 1 teaspoon
Freshly grounded black pepper: 1 teaspoon
Dries spaghetti noodles: 1 pound
Parmesan cheese: grated (to taste)
Directions:
Take a large, heavy-bottomed stock pot and put it on medium-high heat.
Cook the ground beef until browned 一stir it for about 5 -7 minutes.
Drain the excess fat deposits and put the meat back into the pot.
Now add chopped onion, garlic, and celery.
Cook until the heat softens the veggies for about 5 -7 minutes.
At this point, add the rest of the ingredients (leaving the spaghetti noodles and Parmesan cheese).
Stir them all well and bring them to a boil.
Lessen the heat to simmer, stir the dish and cover it with a lid.
Cook this for about 3 hours on medium-low heat. You have to keep stirring occasionally.
Carefully cook the spaghetti according to the instructions on the packaging. The cooking water should be salted generously for the best results.
After the spaghetti noodles are boiled, drain the water and mix them with the spaghetti sauce.
Time for serving! 😃
You can serve the dish with grated or ground Parmesan cheese and some freshly chopped parsley as you like it.
How to Store?
You can save the meat sauce in the refrigerator for a week. Also, you can keep it in a gallon ziplock bag and freeze it for up to 3 whole months.
Another of our family-favorite ground beef healthy recipes is the Instant pot lasagna soup.
You have to give it a try for a classic, meaty flavored cuisine that everyone will love. You can have this dish as one of your weekday healthy ground beef recipes for dinner or even for a special weekend menu.
This light and filling 30-minute Lasagna soup is full of nutrition for all our loved ones. The instructions below also cover the cooking method of this soup on the stovetop alongside the instant pot.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 hours
Total Time: 30 minutes
Total Servings: 6 servings
Nutritional Facts Per Serving:
No. of Calories: 320 cal
Fats: 6 gms
Saturated Fats: 2 gms
Sodium: 655 mg
Carbohydrates: 35 gms
Fiber: 4 gms
Sugar: 8 gms
Cholesterol: 48 mg
Protein: 28 gms
Cooking Ingredients:
Ground beef: 1 pound
Yellow onion: 1 (medium-sized, diced)
Zucchini: 1 (medium-sized, diced ¼-inch (1 ½ cups))
Garlic cloves: 3 (minced)
Marinara sauce: 1 (24 ounces jar)
Low-sodium broth (beef or chicken): 4 cups
Italian seasoning: 2 teaspoons
Fine salt: 1 teaspoon
Black pepper: ½ teaspoon
Uncooked lasagna noodles (broken into 2-inch pieces): gluten-free (if needed), 8 -9 ounces. You can also use farfalle pasta.
Toppings (Optional):
Fresh basil leaves: to taste (chopped)
Ricotta cheese: to taste
Parmesan cheese: to taste (shredded or grated)
Mozzarella cheese: to taste (shredded)
Directions:
On the Instant Pot, select the ‘Saute’ button.
Put the onion and ground beef together in it.
Break up the meat with a spatula and cook it for 6 -7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Beef will cook through.
Add the garlic and cook until the beef changes its color. Keep stirring when it needs to be.
Add the ingredients; zucchini, marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, broth, salt, pepper, and lasagna noodle pieces. Stir to mix well.
Cover the Instant Pot with its lid. Turn the valve to the ‘sealing’ position.
Let it cook for about 3 minutes. Keep the pressure high. You have to allow 5 minutes to release the pressure naturally. After that, you can flip the vent valve to ‘venting’ to let go of any remaining pressure.
Put the soup into bowls. You can do the dressings with ricotta, Parmesan, mozzarella cheese, and chopped basil.
Stovetop Cooking Directions:
You can make this soup in a pot on the stovetop. To do this, follow the steps below:
Cook the onion and ground beef.
Add zucchini, marinara, garlic, Italian seasoning, broth, salt, and pepper.
Cook for 7 -10 minutes.
Add the broken lasagna pieces.
Stir until the noodles soften, then cook them more for about 5 minutes.
Pour soup into serving bowls.
Do the toppings as desired.
Enjoy such ground beef healthy recipes with simple preparation steps.
How to Store?
You can save the leftover soup in a food container that is properly covered in the fridge for about 4 days.
3. Super Easy Grilled Pizza Burger
Ready to eat in 30 minutes, part pizza, part burger ─these easy grilled pizza burgers always please the kids.
You can have this kid-friendly treat on your menu list for family dinner, lunch, or a big gathering. Even if you are back home after a long work day, you and your kids do not have to miss a healthy homemade meal!
The grilled pizza burgers are made with lean ground beef, rich, creamy mozzarella cheese, and flavorful pizza sauce. It is a timeless recipe worth trying.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 hours
Total Time: 20 minutes
Total Servings: 4 servings
Nutritional Facts Per Serving:
No. of Calories: 480 cal
Total Fat: 15 gms
Saturated Fat: 7.1gms
Cholesterol: 166 mg
Sodium: 965 mg
Potassium: 758 mg
Carbohydrates 43 gms
Fiber: 1.8 gms
Sugars: 7.5 gms
Protein: 42 gms
Cooking Ingredients:
90 -93% Lean ground beef: 1lb.
Dried Italian Seasoning: 1 ½ teaspoon
Onion powder: ½ teaspoon
Garlic powder: ½ teaspoon
Fennel seeds: ½ teaspoon (lightly crushed)
Fine salt: ½ teaspoon
Black pepper: ⅛ teaspoon
Unsweetened pizza sauce: ⅓ cup
Mozzarella cheese slices: 4 ounces
Buns or large dinner rolls: 4 (toasted, gluten-free, if needed)
Fresh basil leaves: to taste (for serving)
Toppings (Optional):
Fresh tomato slices, green leaf lettuce, and fresh tomato slices
Directions:
If you use indirect heat like Traeger grill, prefer preheating it to high heat (450 -475℉).
Or
If you cooking medium of direct heat, such as a gas grill or charcoal grill, medium-high heat (400℉).
Take a medium-sized bowl. Add ground beef, Italian seasoning, garlic and onion powder, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper, and mix them well.
Now, divide this mixture into 4 equal parts. Flatten each piece into patties of the approximate thickness of ¼-inch. To make shapes, use your index finger and press small indentations into the middle of each patty.
You can now place patties on the grill grate. Cook them for 4 minutes. Flip the patties over and cook them for 3 -4 minutes.
Put mozzarella cheese on top of each piece before cooking it for an extra 1 -2 minutes. You should cook them with mozzarella cheese, having the lid covered or until you see that cheese is melted.
Remove the patties from the grill.
Take a small saucepan, and heat the pizza sauce on low heat. You can also do the same by heating it in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds or until it’s hot.
Finally, it is the topping time. Put a patty on top of each bun. Add 1 ½ tablespoon pizza sauce with some fresh basil leaves. Top it with another piece of bun and deserve it instantly. This is one of the tastiest healthy ground beef dinner recipes.
Place the buns split-side down directly on the grill grate once you add mozzarella cheese to the burger. This way, you will get even tastier burger treats!
How to Store?
You can store any burger leftovers for one or two days and consume them.
4. Flawless Teriyaki Meatballs
Here is another one of our favorite ground beef healthy recipes for our readers. Our very own teriyaki meatball recipe combines with a deliciously sticky, sweet, and salty sauce. You can serve the meatballs as a starter or main course even to the very picky eaters.
Not only do our kids love to say Teriyaki’s name when they demand us to cook this for dinner, but also, it’s full of fun to make.
Teriyaki requires less than ten ingredients to prepare. The mouth-watering teriyaki sauce nails it for adding gooey-delicious glaze. You can enjoy them with rice and veggies, rice noodles, or fresh greens. You can also have them with grains to add proteins. Teriyaki meatballs make a great addition to your meal in any way.
What makes teriyaki meatballs so unique is that they are spicy on the inside and sweet and salty on the outside. Giving you all sorts of tastes you crave for!
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Total Servings: 10 servings (being an appetizer)
Nutritional Facts Per 3 Meatballs:
Calories: 195 cal
Total Fats: 8 gms
Saturated Fats: 3 gms
Sodium: 563 gms
Carbohydrates: 10 (low carb)
Fiber: 0 gms
Sugar: 8 gms
Protein: 19 gms
Cholesterol: 57 gms
Ingredients to Prepare the Homemade Teriyaki Sauce:
Tamari or Soy Sauce: ¼ cup + water: ¼ cup OR Coconut aminos: ½ cup
Water: ⅔ cup
Honey: 2 tablespoons
Garlic: 2 cloves (finely grated or minced) OR Garlic powder ½ teaspoon.
Fresh ginger: 1 teaspoon (grated and peeled). OR Ground ginger: ¼ teaspoon
Sesame oil: 2 teaspoons
Cornstarch: 1 tablespoon OR Arrowroot starch: 1 ½ teaspoon ーwith 2 tablespoons water
Ingredients For the Meatballs:
Avocado oil or Olive oil: 1 teaspoon
Green onions: 6 (sliced with separated green and white parts
Lean ground beef: 2 pounds
Lean ground beef: 2 pounds
Homemade Teriyaki sauce: 3 tablespoons
Fine salt: ½ teaspoon
Black pepper: ½ teaspoon
Directions:
Set the oven to 375℉ to preheat.
Place a large baking sheet having parchment paper. When you preheat the oven, you can prepare Teriyaki sauce in the meantime.
Take a small saucepan.
Put it on medium-high heat.
Add the water, coconut aminos, garlic, honey, sesame oil, and ginger. Stir them well to mix properly.
Now, take a small bowl or glass measuring cup. Put the corn starch with 2 tablespoons of cold water until dissolved.
When the sauce starts boiling, add the starch mixture. Whisk constantly in slow motion.
Set aside the saucepan from heat. You will notice that the sauce thickens some more after it cools down.
Take a small skillet and place it over medium heat.
When it heats up, add oil and spin to coat.
Add the white and green parts of the onions.
Cook for 5 minutes. You will see the mixture softens. Keep stirring when needed. Remove the skillet from the heat.
Take another medium bowl. Add the ground beef, the green onions you sauteed earlier, and 3 tablespoons of the teriyaki sauce, salt, and pepper. Combine all these ingredients using a large spoon or hands.
Make 30 balls from the meat mixture. Each ball should take about 2 tablespoons of meat.
Place the meatballs on the baking sheet.
Place the meatballs in the oven for 13 -15 minutes to cook them thoroughly.
After removing the meatballs from the oven, put them in a large bowl and toss them gently with the leftover teriyaki sauce. Make the toppings by sprinkling sesame seeds, thinly sliced onion tops, and peeling and boiled carrots to make the dish look more appealing.
How to Store?
Teriyaki meatballs can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days on average. If you freeze them with the sauce and reheat them before having them again later, they will be as tasty as fresh.
5. Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie
Once you give it a try, this recipe will surely become your go-to specialty diet. Sweet potato Shepherd’s Pie is a healthy eating and satisfying meal with veggies full of nutrition. This cooking method is so incredibly flavorful that you will make it repeatedly. Easy weeknight dinners efficiently reduce your workload when you have nice freezer-friendly food stored in your freezer.
The good thing is that such ground beef healthy recipes are capable of freezing well, so you can get in and use it in a few days again. You can substitute regular potatoes for sweet potatoes anytime you want. You can call it wholesome, comfort food at its best.
Do you know that you can replace ground beef with ground lamb to give this dish a more traditional appeal? Well, we all know that ground beef is more accessible and a pocket-friendly option; still, it has become the hero ingredient in creating tasty routine meals.
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 hours
Total Time: 45 minutes
Total Servings: 4 servings
Nutritional Facts Per Serving
Number of Calories: 395 cal
Total Fat: 16 gms
Sodium: 350 gms
Fiber: 8 gms
Sugar: 17 gms
Proteins: 26 gms
Ingredients for the Shepherd Pie Filling
Ground beef: 1 pound
Carrots: 2 (medium-sized, peeled and diced)
Small green pepper: 1 (diced)
Small yellow onion: 1 (diced)
Mushrooms: 1 cup (clean and stemmed, diced)
Garlic cloves: 4 (minced)
Tomato paste: 3 ounces
Chili Powder: 1 teaspoon
Dried rosemary or any other dried herb you like: ½ teaspoon
Fine salt: ½ teaspoon or to taste
Black Pepper: ¼ teaspoon
Water: ¼ cup
Ingredients for the Sweet Potato Topping
Large sweet potatoes: 2 (about 12 ounces each, peeled and cubed up to 6 cups)
Butter: 1 tablespoon OR ghee or coconut oil
Chili powder: ½ teaspoon
Fine salt: ¼ teaspoon
Directions:
A 10-inch cast iron skillet would be better to choose for cooking for the overall easy and complete cooking experience.
Preheat your oven to 375 ℉.
Bake the sweet potatoes until they soften. This will take up to 45vto 60 minutes.
Saute the ground beef, chopped carrots, green pepper, onion, garlic, and mushrooms in a medium skillet over medium-high heat.
Cook them well until the carrots soften after about 12 -15 minutes.
Make the sweet potato topping while the filling cooks.
To prepare the topping
Take a food processor or blender.
Put the peeled, baked sweet potato with all the ingredients in the topping in the processor.
Blend all ingredients well.
Note: If using white potatoes, use your hands to mash them. DO NOT blend in the blender. Else they will become pasty.
For Filling
When the carrots become soft, mix them with tomato paste, water, salt, black pepper, chili powder, and rosemary.
Put sweet potato mash on top of the meat filling.
Sprinkle the top with some sea salt and chili powder.
Bake the dish for ten minutes.
Remove the wholesome goodness from the oven and serve hot.
How to Store?
You can store the leftover sweet potato pie in the fridge for 4 days. You can still double-wrap the pie with plastic wrap and foil and freeze it in a freezer-safe container. If your food container quality
is good, you can store it for longer.
Wrapping Up
So guys, above are some ground beef healthy recipes with simple ingredients for your entire family.
At The Food Nom, we share wholesome, rich recipes to nourish our readers. These recipes are healthful whether you want to add healthy food to your diet plan or follow a special diet.
Try the above lean ground beef recipes for lunch or dinner; your kids will love them. These easy recipes will be hearty, family-pleasing, and incredibly delicious additions to your monthly menu.
We hope you enjoy the goodness of beefy food even with the weight watchers in your family!
Happy healthy eating! 😃🍔
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