If you’re looking for a quick and easy dinner after a busy day, you’ll love this simple recipe. Ground Beef and Broccoli is a delicious one-pot meal that’s ready in 30 minutes or less.
With ground beef, garlic, ginger, oyster sauce, and broccoli served over rice, it will remind you of Chinese take-out only it’s cheaper and healthier for you.
As an added bonus, this Beef and Broccoli recipe is gluten-free, soy-free, and dairy-free. It’s a delicious way to enjoy a “normal” meal if your family has dietary restrictions.
Ground Beef and Broccoli Recipe
Typically, you would probably think of beef and broccoli as including pieces of steak.
Steak can take longer to cook, plus you have to be careful not to overcook or the meat will get tough. This recipe uses ground beef – or hamburger as some refer to it – and that makes this savory dinner faster and simpler.
If you prefer leaner meat, you should know that I have tried substituting ground turkey for the beef (we often enjoy meals with ground turkey, like our Beanless Turkey and Sweet Potato Chili), however, it was not as tasty.
If you use organic, grass-fed ground beef that’s leaner, such as 90%, you’ll still have healthy meat and a delicious meal.
This simple ground beef recipe calls for ready-made oyster sauce.
While you could make your own brown sugar with soy and sesame sauce, it’s just easier to buy ready-made.
I’m so busy that I don’t mind using some ready-made ingredients if it means I’m putting a mostly homemade dinner on the table for my family compared to ordering take-out.
How to Make Gluten-Free Beef and Broccoli
You’ll need: ground beef, chopped onions, gluten-free oyster sauce*, minced garlic, ginger paste, frozen broccoli, and rice. Optional: sesame seeds
*I use and recommend Kikkoman oyster sauce
– it’s gluten-free, soy-free, corn syrup free, and MSG free
Time-saving tips:
Buy frozen chopped onions in the frozen vegetable section of your grocery store. It will save you the time of chopping, not to mention the tears!
Make your rice in an Instant Pot
before you begin browning the ground beef. Or cook on the stove top or in a rice cooker according to package or cooker instructions.
I love using my instant pot for cooking rice because it’s fast, plus my pressure cooker is multi-purpose. I often use my instant pot for cooking dinner, including my kids’ favorite Gluten-Free Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
Easy Beef and Broccoli Instructions
In a large skillet, cook the beef until no longer pink, then add the chopped onions, garlic, ginger paste, and oyster sauce.
Simmer and stir occasionally.
Add the frozen broccoli and stir in.
Cover your pan and heat over medium heat for 5 minutes. The broccoli will release water as it thaws. Stir your ground beef and broccoli every so often and cook until the broccoli is heated through. If needed add a little more water.
Serve with rice.
You may also choose to sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
Enjoy your absolutely delicious homemade beef and broccoli dinner.
Print
Easy Ground Beef and Broccoli
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: serves 6 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: cooking
- Cuisine: Chinese
Description
With simple ingredients and quick and easy prep time, Ground Beef and Broccoli will remind you of Chinese take-out only it’s cheaper and healthier!
Ingredients
2 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 (12oz) jar gluten-free oyster sauce
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 Tbsp ginger paste
16 oz frozen broccoli,
2–3 cups raw white rice
sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
Begin cooking your rice first.
In a large skillet, brown the ground beef, then add the chopped onions, garlic, ginger paste, and oyster sauce. Cook over medium heat and stir occasionally for 2 minutes. Stir in the frozen broccoli. Cover your pan and cook for 5 minutes. The broccoli will begin to thaw and release water.
Remove the cover, stir, and cook, checking and stirring occasionally, for 5-15 more minutes until the broccoli is heated through and enough liquid is absorbed to reach the desired consistency.
Serve over rice when ready and sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
Keywords: chinese, ground beef, broccoli, rice, gluten-free, soy-free, easy dinner
Kate Berkey says
I was looking for an awesome recipe for the whole family and I stumbled on this article. I read and followed the instructions carefully and I made this ground beef and broccoli deliciously! Every member of my family is so happy! Thanks for this!
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Erika says
I’m so glad your family enjoyed this easy dinner, Kate. Thanks for letting me know! 🙂
Courtney says
Can I sub oyster sauce for fish sauce? It’s what I have on hand.
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Erika says
Do you mean use fish sauce instead of oyster sauce? I don’t mention anything about fish sauce here. I would not use fish sauce instead of oyster sauce as they’re very different. Fish sauce has more of a salty taste and it would ruin the dinner. Thanks for reading!
Sara says
Can I do without ginger paste? Or can I use ground ginger instead ?
Erika says
You can try a tsp of ground ginger, but the ginger paste does give a better, richer ginger flavor.
Jennifer says
Do you drain the ground beef first? Thanks in advance?
★★★★★
Erika says
Yes, you can drain the ground beef. (I need to update the recipe.)
Yolanda says
I think this recipe is awesome. I was looking for a recipe to make with ground beef and this was simple, I had all the ingredients, and it was delicious. I will definitely make this again. The only question I have is about the calorie count. It says that one serving is 841 calories; is that true? Or is it 841 calories divided by six servings?
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Erika says
I’m so glad you enjoyed this, Yolanda. 841 calories is accurate however that includes rice for each person too. The rice by itself adds almost 500 calories per serving. If you want to cut back on the calories, I would reduce the rice. Hope that helps!
Kelly says
Just trying to use what we have in the pantry right now…so do you recommend a substitute for the oyster sauce? Thanks!
Erika says
Hi Kelly, I only use oyster sauce for this recipe, but I just googled it and read some people replace oyster sauce with soy sauce or coconut aminos and a little sugar. I haven’t tried this myself, but if I were you, I’d add a tablespoon of soy sauce and adjust it to your taste.
Emily says
Hi! I was looking for new dairy free ground beef recipes and found this – I would love to try it tonight but use the fresh broccoli I have on hand. Do you think this would work? Should I steam the fresh broccoli by itself first so it is cooked? Thanks!
Erika says
Yes, you can use fresh broccoli. I would cook it first. It will then take less time to cook after you add the broccoli to the beef mixture. Enjoy!
Emily says
Thank you! I used fresh broccoli that I pre-cooked and didn’t have a whole jar of oyster sauce so I added a little soy sauce. This recipe is so easy and delicious and I’ll be making again for sure! 🙂
★★★★★
Erika says
Yay!
Kristin says
I really wanted to see your recipe to make it but I couldn’t get past all the ads to even look at the recipe.
Erika says
Hi Kristin, sorry about that! I’ll let my ad network know and see what they can tweak to make it a better experience. I have to run ads because it costs me a lot of money to run this website and provide free content and recipes but we are always re-evaluating to try to find the best balance. Thanks for letting me know.
Shanna says
I really want to make this recipe too, but as mentioned the ads make it nearly impossible to see the recipe without getting in the way, and when you try to exit the ad it clicks through to another page. Not your fault, but thought you should know:)
Erika says
Hi Shanna, did you see the “Jump to recipe” link at the top of the post? It makes it easy to skip straight down to the recipe card. I will check on the settings with my ad provider. Thanks for letting me know.
Cathleen Smith says
I used peanut sauce in the meat and topped with some sweet and sour sauce after plating. I used a bag of stir fry vegetables (broccoli, peas, water chestnuts- my favorite) and I enjoyed it. My husband didn’t use sweet and sour sauce, said the meal was “ok.”
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Avondarcye says
Can we use Gluten Free Hoisin sauce instead of Oyster ( I’m allergic}. I also have coconut aminos
Erika says
You should be able to try hoison sauce. I believe it’s sweeter than regular oyster sauce so you would probably want to use less of it than the oyster sauce. You might also try less coconut aminos so your beef and broccoli isn’t too sweet.