10 Things To Make With Leftover Ground Beef

February 20, 2019

Ground meat, often beef, is a dinner mainstay for many of us. So many things to do with it, it cooks up very quickly, and whatever you make with it is usually comforting and homey and satisfying and family friendly. But as with any dinner staple, we can get rut-like about how we make it, so here are 10 ways for putting that protein to work in delicious ways.

Many of these recipes call for browning the beef within the recipe itself, but if you have leftover ground beef you can skip the browning step and just add the cooked ground beef right in there. Obviously make sure the ground beef has been cooked simply, or with seasonings complimentary to the recipes you choose. You may need to adjust the amount of seasonings you add in the recipe if the beef has been fully seasoned.

10 ways for putting ever-popular ground beef to work in delicious ways. Dinner ideas for days.Click To Tweet

1. Beef, Black Bean and Jalapeno Chili

Can you ever have too many chili recipes? Trick question.

2. One-Skillet Cheesy Beef and Macaroni

Full on crowd-pleasing comfort food.

3. Instant Pot Ziti “Lasagna” with Bolognese Sauce

The Instant Pot quickly makes cooked pasta, sauce, and cheese come together in a layered pasta dinner.

4. Game Day Ground Beef Chili

A nice straightforward and simple chili recipe.

5. Nacho Bar

Ground beef makes a terrific nacho topping.

6. Bolognese Sauce

This makes the cold weather a lot more tolerable. Make a big pot, and you can also turn it into lasagna later in the week.

7. Cheesy Mashed Potato Topped Shepherd’s Pie

Leftover ground or chopped cooked lamb also works perfectly for this. Also something to think about when you have leftover mashed potatoes on hand (I’ve also used packaged mashed potatoes for this, and no one knew or would have cared).