How to Cook Ground Beef

Learn how to cook ground beef the right way so it stays juicy but gets nicely browned. I’ll show you my secrets so it comes out perfectly every time.

Knowing how to cook ground beef well is a vital skill in my opinion. Ground beef is used in so many dishes! I use it in my basic pasta sauce, baked ziti, nacho dip, and this easy Mexican skillet dinner. I even love adding ground beef to my baked beans for a hearty side dish. Those are just a few recipes, though. You can use ground beef in practically everything.

Video: How To Cook Perfect Ground Beef

Shopping For Ground Beef

Chances are, you have lots of options at your store for ground beef. Sometimes you’ll find what specific cut the meat is from, but you’ll also find the fat-to-lean content. So if you see 85/15 on the label, that means it’s made up of 85% lean ground beef and 15% fat. This is the most common ratio and generally considered all-purpose. You may want a higher fat content (70/30 – 80/20) for super juicy burgers or extra-lean (90/10) for tacos or sauces, but when in doubt go for the 85/15 like I’m showing you today.

Look for the freshest meat available, packages that have the furthest out sell-by date. Once you’ve selected your ground beef, keep it cold and cook it within a couple days of purchasing. For longer storage, you can freeze it up up to 3 months – store it in a freezer bag and remove as much air as possible. After it’s been cooked, it can be refrigerated for up to a week.

How To Cook Ground Beef

The trick to cooking ground beef well is to not move it around a lot until it’s finished cooking and nicely browned. This helps create a crust on the meat which is delicious.

I sauté it in cooking oil. I usually use olive oil because that’s my go-to, but your favorite cooking oil will work too.

It’s important to use a nice big pan. You can use a non-stick pan but it won’t brown the meat as well. I prefer stainless steel or a cast iron skillet because it gives a better crust to the meat than non-stick does. Using a thick heavy pan is ideal for this since it cooks more evenly as well. Also, make sure your meat is going into a hot pan!

Once the beef goes into the pan, I flatten it out like a big, thin burger patty. I let a crust form before I start to break it up into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon and flip it. Then I let the meat cook through completely before breaking it into even smaller clusters.

This is my favorite way to cook ground beef, but did you know you can also cook it in the air fryer?

Seasoning Ground Beef

The meat needs to be seasoned no matter what you’re going to do with it. In the recipe below I add salt and pepper at the end. You can also add it midway through. It doesn’t matter much.

Garlic powder is another thing that I like to add. Chili powder works well too. But anything beyond salt and pepper depends on what you’re planning to use the meat for so I haven’t included anything else in the recipe.

Podcast Episode: Cooking Ground Beef

Listen to me explain briefly about how to cook ground beef, along with some other great tips, by clicking the play button below:

Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.

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This post originally appeared in February 2019 and was revised and republished in April 2022.