Healthy Budget Ground Beef Recipes

Find healthy, delicious budget ground beef ideas, from the food and nutrition experts at EatingWell.

Staff Picks

American Goulash

Rating: Unrated
7
American goulash, also known as old-fashioned goulash, is the perfect economical family meal. The pasta cooks right in the sauce, so this satisfying dish can cook in just one pot.
By Carolyn Casner

Mini Meatloaves with Green Beans & Potatoes

Rating: Unrated
8
This healthy meatloaf recipe and side dishes are all made in the oven on two sheet pans so that everything's ready for the dinner table at the same time. The potatoes go into the oven first to start roasting while the mini meatloaves and green beans are prepped and added to the oven partway through.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

Rating: Unrated
5
Two of our favorite comfort-food sandwiches join forces in these family-friendly dinner sandwiches. We found that softer buns make this easier to eat, and it's all the better when wrapped takeout-style in a sheet of foil.
By Katie Webster

Mexican Skillet Lasagna

Rating: Unrated
2
This easy Mexican-inspired lasagna recipe replaces the noodles with tortilla strips that become like tender ribbons in the cayenne- and cumin-spiked tomato sauce. Topped with Cheddar and cream cheese, the lasagna is just as soulful as its Italian cousin and can be made on a busy weeknight in about 30 minutes using a single skillet. Excerpted from The Dinner Plan by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion, published by ABRAMS © 2017.
By Kathy Brennan & Caroline Campion

Spaghetti with Quick Meat Sauce

Rating: Unrated
9
Instead of opening a jar of sauce, try this easy spaghetti with meat sauce on a weeknight. Serve with steamed broccoli and garlic bread. The recipe makes enough for 8 servings. If you're serving only four for dinner, cook 8 ounces of spaghetti and freeze the leftover sauce.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Baked Beans with Ground Beef

Upgrade baked beans from classic side dish to a meaty main meal by adding lean ground beef. The final result, a superfast hearty casserole, is an easy and fast dinner option. Ground turkey or even sausage would work nicely in this dish. Just watch the sodium.
By Hilary Meyer

No-Noodle Eggplant Lasagna

Rating: Unrated
4
Satisfy your craving for cheesy, indulgent lasagna with this noodle-less version. Roasted eggplant slices stand in for noodles in this low-carb, gluten-free lasagna.
By Carolyn Casner

Zucchini Lasagna

Rating: Unrated
5
Roasted zucchini slices stand in beautifully for wheat pasta in this no-noodle lasagna. The simple swap reduces calories and eliminates gluten. It's also a great way to use up extra zucchini if your plants are prolific.
By Carolyn Casner

Taco-Stuffed Zucchini

Rating: Unrated
1
These stuffed zucchini boats are filled with all your favorite taco ingredients like seasoned meat, cheese and avocado. They're perfect for a a low-carb alternative on taco night or a great kid-friendly way to sneak in more vegetables.
By Carolyn Casner

Nonna's Spaghetti & Meatballs

Rating: Unrated
5
The meatballs and sauce are cooked in the slow cooker for this traditional Italian spaghetti and meatballs recipe. You could also serve the meatballs over creamy polenta or on a sandwich with melted provolone.
By Carolyn Malcoun

Ground Beef Stroganoff

Rating: Unrated
1
How do you get classic beef stroganoff on the dinner table in under an hour? Use ground beef instead of cubed steak. Ground beef cooks in a fraction of the time but is just as delicious in a creamy sauce with mushrooms and served over whole-wheat noodles.
By Carolyn Casner

Chili-Cheese Nachos

Rating: Unrated
1
Make nachos a healthy dinner when you top them with an easy 30-minute chili. Serve this healthy recipe with sliced scallions, avocado, fresh tomatoes and sour cream, if desired.
By Carolyn Malcoun

Inspiration and Ideas

Pita Chip Nachos

Pita Chip Nachos

Swap tortilla chips for pita chips in this healthy Mediterranean nacho recipe. For a party, create one large platter—just be sure to serve with plates!
Taco Lettuce Wraps

Taco Lettuce Wraps

Don't limit yourself to lettuce for this low-carb, gluten-free taco lettuce wrap recipe—any fresh green sturdy enough to wrap works.
Spicy Meatloaf with Collards

Spicy Meatloaf with Collards

Mom's Chili

Mom's Chili

Rating: Unrated
2
Taco Lettuce Wraps

Taco Lettuce Wraps

Rating: Unrated
1
EatingWell Meat Pie

EatingWell Meat Pie

Rating: Unrated
2

Pressure-Cooker Chili

Rating: Unrated
2

Chili cooks in just 15 minutes when it's made in a multicooker. The beef gets infused with the flavors of chili powder and cumin. Shredded cheese, scallion and sour cream round out the meal, but feel free to garnish with whatever toppings you choose.

All Healthy Budget Ground Beef Recipes

Chili Cornbread Casserole

Rating: Unrated
9
Here's a fun way to serve chili and cornbread together. Don't let the ingredient list intimidate you--this casserole is easy to make and a real crowd pleaser.
By Jessie Price

Hamburger Buddy

Rating: Unrated
51
Very finely chopping onion, mushrooms and carrots in the food processor is not only fast--it makes the vegetables hard to detect for picky eaters. They also form the base for the sauce of this ground beef skillet supper. Make it a meal: Serve with a green salad.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Spicy Meatloaf with Collards

Rating: Unrated
3
Plenty of dark leafy greens deliver the moisture needed to balance lean ground pork and beef in this spicy meatloaf recipe. Serve any leftovers with extra ketchup as meatloaf sandwiches.
By Breana Killeen

Broccoli, Beef & Potato Hotdish

Rating: Unrated
18
This easy casserole, full of ground beef, roasted broccoli and topped with hash browns, was inspired by the classic Minnesota Tater Tot hotdish. Roasting the broccoli before adding it to the casserole gives the whole dish a much more complex and exciting flavor, but it's by no means necessary. If you want to keep it simple, skip roasting the broccoli (Step 2) and use 6 cups frozen broccoli, thawed, in its place (omit 1 tablespoon oil, as well).
By Jessie Price

The EatingWell Taco

Rating: Unrated
6
Building the perfect taco is a very personal task--cheese under meat, cheese on top, no cheese at all? This is just our recommendation.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Bacon & Mango Tango Sliders

With a touch of sweet from the mango, savory from the bacon, plus a creamy avocado spread, this healthy slider recipe with takes burgers to a whole new level. Double the avocado mayo and use it for your next BLT.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Stuffed Delicata Squash

Rating: Unrated
4
In this Tex-Mex-seasoned stuffed delicata squash recipe we swap out half of the ground beef you'd normally use for bulgur to reduce saturated fat without skimping on the amount of stuffing. Serve with a mixed green salad with cilantro vinaigrette.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Classic Hamburger for Two

Rating: Unrated
2
Slow-cooked onions add moisture and flavor to these lean beef burgers for two. A quick blend of mayonnaise, ketchup, relish and vinegar makes a perfect tangy, sweet and creamy “special sauce” for this burger. We love the dill relish here, but use sweet relish if you prefer it. Serve with sweet potato fries.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Oven-Fried Beef Taquitos

Rating: Unrated
5
This healthy beef taquitos recipe calls for baking instead of deep-frying, making the taquitos substantially healthier than what you'd get at a restaurant. One order of these little deep-fried, rolled-up tacos at a restaurant can set you back almost 1,000 calories and 60 grams of fat! Don't worry if some of the taquitos crack open while baking--they're still crispy and delicious. Serve with your favorite salsa, guacamole and reduced-fat sour cream.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Pita Chip Nachos

Swap tortilla chips for pita chips in this healthy Mediterranean nacho recipe. For a party, create one large platter--just be sure to serve with plates!
By Carolyn Malcoun

Neapolitan Meatballs

Rating: Unrated
2
A touch of cinnamon distinguishes these delicious tomato-sauced meatballs. Adding whole-grain bulgur allows you to use less meat, resulting in meatballs with less than half the total fat and saturated fat of the original. Plus a vibrant-tasting combination of fresh and canned tomatoes in the sauce helps reduce the sodium by two-thirds. Serve with pasta, polenta or even on a whole-grain roll with a bit of melted part-skim mozzarella for a meatball sub.
By Patsy Jamieson

Cowboy Beef & Bean Chili

Rating: Unrated
6
Anything but dainty, this healthy cowboy beef and bean chili recipe is hearty with the addition of mushrooms and beer. To keep the saturated fat low, we use one pound of ground beef and add whole-grain bulgur to boost the volume and fiber in this chili recipe. After all the ingredients are added to the pot, we like to slowly simmer our chili for close to an hour to develop the best flavor, but if you're in a hurry, reduce the liquid by half and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Blue Ribbon Meatloaf

Rating: Unrated
6
In revisiting this classic, we put the meat back in the “loaf” by using ultra-lean ground beef and turkey. With fresh whole-wheat breadcrumbs and beer-simmered sweet onions, you'll never notice the missing fat.
By Jim Romanoff

Inside-Out Cheeseburgers

Rating: Unrated
2
Why put the cheese on top of the burger when half of it just melts off? Instead, form the burger around the cheese so you can char the meat and safeguard the more delicate flavors. Use any mixture of hard or semihard cheeses--Emmentaler and Gouda or Asiago and Parmigiano-Reggiano also pair well.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Classic Beef Chili

Rating: Unrated
2
This classic beef-and-bean chili gets a nutritional boost from shredded sweet potato. We call it a stealth vegetable because it melts into the chili so well that even picky eaters will gobble it up.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

EatingWell Sloppy Joes

Rating: Unrated
9
Our updated Sloppy Joe takes lean ground beef and adds chopped cremini mushrooms and diced fresh plum tomatoes, all in a zesty sauce. Served on a whole-wheat bun, it's a hearty dinner sandwich that will please adults and kids alike.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Smoky Meatloaf

Rating: Unrated
8
In this lightened-up meatloaf, healthy low-calorie shredded zucchini keeps very lean beef moist but doesn't take away from the meat itself. The flavor gets a boost from a touch of smoked paprika, Worcestershire and a sweet ketchup glaze. We've also included a variation with Italian flavors.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Skillet Moussaka

Rating: Unrated
3
In Greece, moussaka is made with beef or lamb, layers of sliced eggplant and a creamy béchamel sauce all baked together in the oven. This variation takes plenty of liberties to make it easy, quick and healthful. Serve over whole-wheat pasta or with potatoes.
By Sheilah Kaufman

Southwestern Beef & Bean Burger Wraps

Rating: Unrated
7
Kids and adults alike will love these quick, zippy burgers. The beans make the burgers a little fragile, so be careful when taking them off the broiler pan. Make it a meal: serve a green salad and frozen mango slices for dessert.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Reuben Meatloaf

Rating: Unrated
1
Inspired by the classic Reuben sandwich, this nontraditional, healthy Reuben meatloaf recipe includes sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, dill pickles and rye breadcrumbs.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Szechuan Braised Meatballs

Rating: Unrated
3
We braise these spicy beef meatballs and Chinese cabbage in a bit of beef broth. Make it a meal: Ladle over brown rice or noodles with steamed broccoli and carrots on the side.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Portobello & Beef Patty Melt

Rating: Unrated
5
This diner classic gets a makeover by replacing some of the ground beef with finely chopped portobello mushrooms, which add moisture and flavor. We like a smear of pickle relish on top, but you could try chutney, mustard or hot pepper relish in its place.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Saucy Porcupine Meatballs

Rating: Unrated
1
These meatballs are stuffed with plenty of rice, which, as it cooks, pokes out of the meatballs, making them look like prickly little porcupines. The little meatballs are cooked in a mildly tangy tomato sauce that's a sure crowd-pleaser.
By EatingWell Test Kitchen

Stuffed Tomatoes with Golden Crumb Topping

Rating: Unrated
2
Stuffed tomatoes are classic comfort food. Serve with a mixed green salad studded with garden-fresh vegetables. For vegetarians, omit the beef or turkey.
By Marie Simmons
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