This easy mushroom and the ground beef skillet is an easy weeknight dinner that is delicious as-is, or served on top of baked potatoes or brown rice. (gluten-free, under 30-minutes)
When it comes to making my weekly menu, I almost always have two things on the list: some kind of slower cooker meal involving shredded chicken, and some type of skillet dinner involving ground beef.
I haven’t quite figured out how to cook ground beef in the slow cooker, but really there’s no reason for me to deviate from the skillet method of cooking it. It was done cooking in less than 10 minutes, I can throw in whatever veggies or spices I have on hand, and voila! DINNER!
That’s essentially how I came up with this super easy mushroom and ground beef skillet dinner. I woke up one morning thinking about what we were going to have for dinner [cue the “oops I didn’t meal plan this week!”].
The boys were begging me to get outside and go to the park— where we like to spend our fall days.
Before hitting the pavement, I took ground beef out of the freezer to thaw, and scanned the fridge— we had leftover mushrooms and fresh basil from our weekly pizza night, I knew we had frozen brown rice I could quickly microwave, and I found the boys’ favorite crinkle-cut carrots we could use as a “safe side.” Which means I know they’ll eat that on their plate if they don’t eat the beef!
Yep, the boys ate the carrots, the rice, and Anthony had some of the beef. Joey? He always touches the ground beef and puts it to his mouth, but I didn’t see any sneak into his stomach.
Regardless, it’s all about exposure at this age. And I consider it a win when they don’t ask for other foods [like those dinosaur chicken nuggets].
Here are some other quick and easy ground beef skillet meals:
- 1 lb. lean Ground Beef [93% lean or leaner]
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 2 cups mushrooms [any variety], sliced
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil [or 1 teaspoon dried]
- ¼ cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- Heat large non-stick skillet to medium-high heat. Add ground beef to skillet and cook for 8-10 minutes, breaking into crumbles. Remove from pan and set aside.
- Add oil to skillet. Add garlic and onion, and cook until garlic becomes fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for 5 more minutes.
- Return beef to the skillet. Add basil, broth, vinegar and worcestershire sauce. Bring mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced, about 3 minutes.
- Serve immediately with your favorite whole grain side, such as brown rice or quinoa.
Elizabeth Shaw says
YUM! You amaze me Katie— cooking and kiddos— you do it all!
Katie says
And wine… don’t forget the wine!! My CEO helps a lot too!
Jean Porter says
I just made this for dinner, it was easy, plus my husband thought it was excellent?
I teach cooking classes for adults with disabilities and this recipe will be on our menu soon.
Thanks so much!
Katie says
Thank you Jean! I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed it. And that you’ll be using it in your class!
Vanessa says
Bland , vinegar sauce to predominate for my taste . I added salt pepper shallots to help pick up flavor.
Katie says
I’m sorry you found it bland Vanessa. Hope you can make some adjustments based on your taste!
Rachelle Johnson says
This was great, had it with baked potatoes. Definitely a keeper.
Katie says
YUM! Awesome idea!!! I have a sweet potato and now I’m thinking I’ll add it in like a hash!
Katie says
Woohooo! So glad you liked it Rachelle!
Stacy says
This recipe was excellent! Thank you! We will definitely be making this again 🙂 The recipe was easy, we added garlic powder, black pepper and chicken bouillon ?
Katie says
I’ll have to try your additions! Thanks for letting me know ? yum!
Tanya Hughes says
This looks delicious and i have everything except for that vinegar. I only have red wine on hand.
Katie says
Give it a try with red wine vinegar!
Katie says
And let me know how you like it ?
Sarah says
Very tasty while being simple and easy to make. Hubby loved it too!
Kendra says
Thank you so much for this recipe. My doctor put me on a two week no carb diet and this added some much needed variety! I substituted mushroom broth for the beef broth since I couldn’t find a beef broth that didn’t have things added that are off limits to me. I also left out the basil and worcestershire sauce because can’t have those. It was delicious, I tried it with ground beef and then ground turkey!
ed long says
this looks as good as Katie’s Pussy
Jim Neighbors says
I’d eat it.
Jackie says
It looked very good and low carb for my husband and me. I added a few extra little things to heighten the taste, but we used low carb tortillas and topped with jalapeños, hot sauce, shredded cheese and sour cream! We loved it! Thanks for the recipe!
Greg says
Didnt have worcester or vinegar, but I mixed in a little bit of cream cheese at the end. Yum yum.
Yessenia says
This was actually great. Simple and quick. I didn’t use broth and I replaced the balsamic vinegar with red wine vinegar. So yummy. Thank you for sharing.
MPT says
This was great over brown rice. I thought it would need salt but it didn’t. I did preseason the ground beef with 1 teaspoon of Mrs. Dash because I feel that beef needs a little seasoning before cooking.
wyvern says
I used this recipe as a guide but altered it pretty drastically and thought I’d share because the results were delicious. I used red wine and a smidge of better than bouillon beef base in place of the stock, skipped the Worcestershire and basil because I didn’t have any, added in some fresh thyme and rosemary and lots of fresh ground black pepper. Ate it with some leftover polenta that had a bunch of roasted butternut squash mashed into it, which was a great combination.
Francesca C. says
It wasn’t bad but I agree, to make it more tasty with seasonings.
Justin says
My fiance and I used this as the base for “maid-rite” if you are familiar with the term. It was great. Would high suggest giving it a shot.