These one pound ground meat recipes are tried and true dinners we keep in our rotation. Several of these links will lead to other websites, but I firmly believe in giving credit where it’s due. I may modify a recipe to feed my family–especially when it comes to adding home-canned foods–but I didn’t write it originally. To be honest, I probably found it on Pinterest. I feed six people using one pound of ground beef, ground pork, or ground venison with every one of these meals.
In order for a recipe to make this list, the ground meat called for must be able to be substituted with any other ground meat without any noticeable difference in taste OR the different taste is just as good as the original.
Taco Bowls
From Start to Finish: 35 minutes
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 35 minutes
One of my kids’ favorites. It comes together pretty quickly and because everything goes to the table separately, they love to pick and choose how much of what they want in their bowl.
The key is the lettuce. Don’t go with iceberg. Get a decent leaf lettuce or even romaine. Iceberg lettuce tastes like nothing.
Stuffed Bell Peppers
From Start to Finish: About an Hour
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 35 minutes
Will’s very own creation! He’s not some classically trained chef who studied in France, but the man can cook. We tried a bunch of stuffed pepper recipes and none of them really did it for us.
So in true Will fashion, he used the instruction manual as fire starter and did it himself. Y’all, it’s good.
Lasagna
From Start to Finish: Just over an Hour
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 30 minutes
Our middle son requests lasagna as his pick for dinner every week. Homemade pasta takes a bit more time than I’m willing to spend that often, but it hits the table at least once per month.
Ricotta is a little more expensive than cottage cheese, but the flavor and texture is infinitely better. Ricotta can also be made at home from a gallon of store-bought milk.
The Pie of Many Names
From Start to Finish: Just over an Hour
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 25 minutes
A true classic: Shepherd’s Pie when it’s lamb, Cottage Pie with beef, Hunter’s Pie if it’s venison, and we call it Farmer’s Pie if it’s pork. If you like the taste of the meat you use, you’ll like the end result.
Always a crowd pleaser and easy to mix and match ingredients. Just because the traditional meat pie has green beans, corn, and mashed potatoes doesn’t mean you can’t use mushrooms and celery and top it with rutabaga.
Taco Soup
From Start to Finish: At Least an Hour
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 20 minutes
Crockpot/InstantPot Friendly? Yes!
Fed this to a close family member who shall not be named because he is a rather picky eater who “doesn’t like soup” a while back. He had three bowls and took home leftovers.
It’s easy, it’s delicious, and you can dump-and-go it. Taco Soup checks all the boxes for a busy weeknight.
One Pot Teriyaki Beef and Rice
From Start to Finish: 30 minutes
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 30 minutes
One of the fastest dinners on this list. The teriyaki is sweet enough that the kids love it, but not so sweet to send them bouncing off the walls just in time for bed.
My modifications:
– double the salt
– venison broth instead of beef
– basmati or white rice instead of jasmine
– 6 or so mini sweet peppers instead of bell
Grape Jelly Meatballs
From Start to Finish: 3+ Hours
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 5 Minutes
Crockpot/InstantPot Friendly? YES
Don’t knock them till you try them! Really, they’re “Sweet and Sour” Meatballs, but you legit use grape jelly, so that’s what we call them. The kids like them the best as-is or on a sub sandwich.
My modifications:
– 1 lb frozen meatballs from my recipe
– no lemon juice
– 1.5 – 2 cups of jelly instead of one
– corn cob jelly is a good substitute
Stuffed Butternut Squash
From Start to Finish: About an Hour
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 30 minutes
By far my personal favorite on this list. I make it regularly during Autumn and Winter. Less so in the warmer months. It’s a very seasonal dish with several stereotypical Fall ingredients.
My modifications:
– ground pork instead of Italian sausage
– 1 extra tsp dried sage
– spinach instead of kale because kale is gross
– no nuts (they give a weird texture)
– plain dried whatever-fruit-we-have-on-hand
Honey Garlic Rice
From Start to Finish: 25 minutes
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 25 minutes
The best part of this recipe is that we’ve used basically any meat we had on hand–not just ground meat–and it always turns out just as good.
My modifications:
– regular basmati rice instead of instant
– instead of store-bought honey garlic sauce, we add about 3 cloves of minced garlic, 4 tbsp of honey, and 1/4 c of soy sauce before the cooked rice goes in the skillet. If it doesn’t thicken by itself, I’ll add 1tbsp of cornstarch to 2tbsp of soy sauce and pour that in.
Instant Stroganoff
From Start to Finish: 35 minutes
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 10 minutes
InstantPot Friendly? Definitely
Will really likes this one. He’s pretty keen on Stroganoff in general, so for a quick dinner, this definitely passes the test–as long as I have some homemade cream of mushroom on hand.
My modifications:
– usually dried parsley instead of fresh
– medium to large onion, not small
– venison or chicken stock
– additional 1-2 cloves of garlic
Sloppy Joes
From Start to Finish: 3+ Hours
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 5 minutes
CrockPot Friendly? 100%
I treat this like a dump-and-go dinner. It just takes long enough to brown the meat straight from frozen and I set it and forget it. It is rather sloppy, though. My youngest always needs a bath after these.
My modifications:
– 1lb of meat
– 1 extra tbsp worchestershire
– 2 tbsp of ketchup instead of half a cup
– add 1-2 cups of frozen shredded zucchini
Egg Roll in a Bowl
From Start to Finish: 30 minutes
Time Spent in the Kitchen: 30 minutes
InstantPot Friendly? Definitely
I’ve also heard it called crack slaw, but egg roll in a bowl rhymes, so that’s what I’m going with.
My modifications:
– 1lb of meat
– add an extra cup of shredded carrots
– half a head of cabbage instead of bagged
– no vegetable oil
– scramble a few eggs into the ground beef before adding the cabbage
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