Crockpot and ground beef make for great recipes. And it lies with the ease of cooking and the seemingly endless ways you can cook your ground beef in a crockpot.
However, you might be asking yourself, is it ideal to cook ground beef using a crockpot?
Well that largely depends on how you like your ground beef cooked.
If you have no qualms having beef that isn’t browned or somewhat greasy, cooking your ground beef in a crockpot is the best option for you. However, if you are the kind that likes their beef browned slightly, then you might have to improvise how you cook your ground beef using a crockpot.
You will find all about that and more on crockpot recipes for ground beef below.
1. How to cook ground beef in a crockpot
This is by far the easiest way to cook your ground beef in a crockpot.
Procedure
- Start off by putting your ground beef in the crockpot.
- Stir the ground beef using a spoon to evenly space it out.
- Add water to the ground beef in the crockpot. To this, use the ratio of a quarter cup to every pound of ground beef.
- Cover the crockpot and set it cook for 2-3 hours on high. This is for best results, but you can also set it to cook for 4-6 hours on low.
- Once your ground beef is properly cooked, turn off the heat. Drain the liquid from the crockpot.
- You can then use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked beef from the crockpot.
And that is how you cook ground beef using a crockpot.
You may however want to cook your ground beef in bulk at a time, then preserve the cooked ground beef. You can actually cook as much as 3 or even 5 pounds of ground beef at a go.
The benefit of this, is that you can easily use the preserved cooked beef in other recipes. You’ll find more about that shortly.
Preserving cooked ground beef.
- After you have drained your ground beef of any excess liquid, put the meat in airtight containers.
- You can store the meat in a refrigerator. With this, you can store the meat for 2-3 days. Any more and the meat will go bad.
- If you want to preserve your meat for much longer, once you have put the cooked ground beef in airtight containers, place the containers in a freezer. You would also need to drain excess liquid from the meat before freezing it.
- In a freezer, the meat can be preserved for at most 2 months.
2. Healthy Bell pepper nachos using ground beef.
If you are all about eating healthy, this yummy recipe is all you need.
It is low on carbs, easy to prepare and the ultimate people pleaser. In other words, even the most squeamish eaters you may have, will scramble for this amazing meal.
Procedure
- Start off by first slicing the bell peppers. You will need like 3 bell peppers for this. You can slice them however you wish but nacho sizes would be best.
- Heat your oven to 300-350 degrees. As the oven heats up, line a baking sheet using parchment paper.
- Put your bell pepper slices on the pan, then place it in the oven. Have it cook for at least 5 minutes. The oven rack should be in the middle.
- Heat another fairly sized pan on medium heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon oil to the heated pan, then add in your ground beef and taco seasoning once the oil is properly heated up.
- Stir the ground beef and taco seasoning, ensuring the beef evenly spreads out in the pan. Let the beef cook for around 6-12 minutes or at least when the beef is no longer pink.
- After the 5 minutes are over, remove the bell pepper from the oven then add your now cooked ground beef as well as salsa. Add cheese, preferably grated, as well as other toppings you may wish to have.
- Return the bell peppers to the oven, then let it bake for 5 more minutes. The cheese will probably be melted by then.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool before serving.
- Serve with sour cream and guacamole. This last part however, is up to you.
If you are using precooked ground beef you had preserved, it is not necessary to cook in the pan for the whole 12 minute. Just ensure it is well warmed through.
Also, if you are using frozen ground beef, ensure you let It thaw in the refrigerator before cooking. Cooking the frozen meat as it is harbors the chance of having bacteria multiply in the meat which may make you sick.
3. How to cook ground beef casserole in a slow cooker
This makes for a hearty meal
Procedure
- Begin by browning your ground beef. To do this, you’ll need a non-stick skillet.
- Add your diced onion to the ground beef just before it cooks completely.
- As it cooks, mix spaghetti sauce 24 ounces with 1 cup of water.
- Add the tomato both paste and diced tomatoes, as well Italian seasoning to the ground beef.
- Add the cottage cheese, sour cream and cream cheese in a fairly sized bowl. Mix them until they form a smooth paste. You can then add garlic powder and sliced green onions to the mixture. Stir well.
- Add ½ the spaghetti sauce to the bottom of the crockpot. To the same, add in about 6 ounces of pasta.
- Add in ½ of the meat sauce to the crockpot.
- Add the cheese mixture. Spread it evenly over the meat mixture.
- Add the other pasta that remained, together with the remaining meat sauce and spaghetti sauce.
- Cover the crockpot, and let it cook for about 3 hours on low heat.
- Once the 3 hours are over, stir the mixture while sprinkling cheese on top.
- Cover and let it cook for 10 more minutes
Serve the cooked ground beef with noodles.
Conclusion
That is, it for crockpot recipes for ground beef.
Starting with how to cook ground beef in a crockpot as well as two crockpot recipes for ground beef.
To save up on time, you may want to first cook your ground beef in a crockpot and store it in a freezer or refrigerator. You can then easily whip out the cooked beef, let it thaw and have your favorite ground beef recipe ready in no time.
Read my other articles on how to cook ground beef and other ground beef crockpot recipes.
