Leftover Ground Beef Recipes: Quick Cooking Ideas for Fridge-clearing Day

Stocking leftover ground beef in the fridge makes cooking easier because it saves tons of prepping time—especially for the meal-prep lovers amongst you. If you’ve been searching through the internet for some cooking inspiration, you’ve come to the right place.

We are thrilled to present our leftover ground beef recipes, featuring delectable beef specialties from different parts of the world.

It is an undeniable fact that leftover ground beef is a true lifesaver on busy nights. However, if it has not been stored properly, the ground beef will spoil quickly and may ruin your dish or, worse, put your health at risk.

To prevent any such untoward incident, pay attention to the two most crucial factors affecting the shelf-life of your leftover beef—the state of the ground beef (raw or frozen) and the storing techniques used.

Best Leftover Ground Beef Recipes

This is the moment you’ve been waiting for!. Go ahead and check out our collection of top-notch leftover ground beef recipes, and treat yourself to a sumptuous meal.

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Taco Pie Recipe

Take a moment to meet your new favorite hybrid dish. Taco flavors delivered in pie fashion are ten times better than just tacos! Now there’s a crunchy crust to go with them. This simply can’t be missed.

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Beef Chow Fun Recipe

This Chow Fun is a rice noodle stir-fry that exudes umami undertones. With tender mushrooms basking in a luscious soy sauce, it’s just what you need for a gratifying feast.

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Ginger Beef Recipe

We love how the bitterness of ginger in this treat works well with the brown sugar sauce. It creates a playful dynamic of flavors from peppy to sweet and an array of aromas in between.

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Ground Beef and Potatoes Recipe

In need of comfort food? You’ll serve this at the drop of a hat. Potatoes in a rustic form never fail to please even the pickiest of appetites, and neither will this rice bowl.

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Lasagna Recipe

Lasagna needs no introduction. It’s sometimes exactly what you need when you’re unsure what to eat. A guaranteed pleaser no matter the occasion.

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Ground Beef and Broccoli Recipe

Broccoli always makes a dish look effortless. Pair it with ground beef, and you get this trouble-free yet impressive meal.

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Beef and Mushrooms Recipe

This dish is proof of basic ingredients par excellence. Simply sear mushrooms, onions, and beef in a semi-sweet soy sauce until caramelized, and serve with fluffy white rice. That’s it — no heavy lifting. Except to convince your guests that it really is that simple.

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Beef Kofta Recipe

Kofta is a Middle Eastern meatball or meatloaf dish commonly served on skewers. We’ve cooked it on a griddle to impart a slight char to irresistible paprika aromas.

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Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

When you plan a dish you want everyone to love, Spaghetti Bolognese should come to mind. It’s a time-tested meal that requires little effort yet never fails to impress. The kids will be lining up for seconds.

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What Kind of Steak Cut Good For Steak Salad 1

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Steak Salad Recipe

Salads are great and all, but add some protein, and they instantly taste better. At least in our opinion. You can’t go wrong with this Steak Salad anyway. It’s nourishing and satiating and can easily pass for a main dish.

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Meatball Soup Recipe

A good soup almost always disappears by the end of the meal. Make a big batch of this meatball soup; if you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, you can enjoy it the next day.

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Instant Pot Carne Asada Recipe

Tacos come in different forms, and carne asada is one of them. The shreds of tender beef dredged in spicy broth flavors make this a truly unique taco that’ll disappear rapidly at the dining table!

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Beef Chow Mein Recipe

Another egg-noodle dish to fulfill, Chow Mein is easily a favorite for curbing carb cravings. Stir-fry flank steak with voluminous veggies (bok choy, cabbage) and noodles in soy sauce and serve right away.

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Beefy Butternut Squash Pasta Recipe

This dish guarantees there’s no better way to enjoy Butternut Squash Pasta. The sweet and nutty after-roast tang is addictive. And once you add the tomato sauce broth, it glosses over the butternut cubes and delivers a bittersweet finished taste.

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Beef Pot Pie Recipe

This pot pie includes a succulent mushroom and red wine relish. The light and flaky baked pastry is just the icing on the cake. It’s the perfect savory pair; you’ll want to hide a slice in an unfrequented corner of the fridge just for yourself.

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Taco Soup Recipe

We love a recipe that uses only one pot. This Taco Soup involves dumping meat, veggies, and cheese in a stew and simmering them all in one go. You’ll reap hot Mexican flavors you can enjoy with a simple pico de gallo.

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Stuffed Pepper Soup Recipe

We’re showing you our healthy take on one of the world’s greatest soups. It’s incredibly savory, heartwarming, and what we’d refer to as “soul food” at its best.

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Tortilla Pie Recipe

Combine two food favorites, and you get this delightful duo. A pie with a delicate, moist exterior never tasted better. With a gooey cheesy center layered with soft tortillas, everyone will be scrambling for seconds.

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Crustless Pizza Bowl Recipe

No one will be able to resist this Crustless Pizza Bowl. It’s everything good about pizza except the crust. So low-carbers can also get their fill.

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Beef Tapa Recipe

This Filipino dish of thinly-sliced steak is what we forage for when we’re famished. It’s tender and marinated meat served with a sunny-side-up egg and fried rice — the epitome of a rewarding meal.

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Instant Pot Barbacoa Recipe

Making Barbacoa is extremely simple, which is half the appeal of this dish. The other half is that it’s a Mexican relish, so expect to be hit by a blizzard of addictive aromas. It’ll very quickly become a favorite.

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Air Fryer Empanadas Recipe

It’s hard to go wrong with these adorable pockets of empanadas. They’re stuffed with ground beef, peas, and kidney beans for a mouthful of hearty textures and flavors to breathe new life into you!

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Thai Beef Salad Recipe

This amalgam of jalapeños, chili, lime juice, sriracha, and fish sauce is a feisty fusion gentled by fresh vegetables and roasted peanuts. Don’t be surprised if you can’t get enough of it.

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Mexican Spaghetti Recipe

Maybe you’re too tired to go all out on dinner. No worries. You’ll only have to do the bare minimum with this recipe. Simply dump the ingredients into one skillet to simmer together, and you’ll have a hearty, flavorsome meal (that tastes like it’s been cooking all day!) in 25 minutes.

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Beef and Noodles Recipe

The perfect skillet dinner exists. This dish proves exactly that with just the right amount of protein and carbs to leave you feeling satiated. Ready in 35 minutes!

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Beef Tomato Stir Fry Recipe

What looks like a simple dish produces many irresistible, tomato-sweet flavors. It’s so succulent and delicious you’ll have to eat it with your shoes off so you can wiggle your toes.

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Sheet Pan Nachos Recipe

Ready to get your hands dirty while you dig into a finger-lickin' good dish? These Sheet Pan Nachos present you with this much-awaited opportunity. When food makes you eat like a kid, that’s how you know it’s really good.

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Stuffed Shells Recipe

This recipe includes conchiglie, a shell-shaped pasta of medium size. We stuffed them with ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan, poured meat sauce, and baked them to a rich, caramelized finish.

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Korean Beef Bowl Recipe

The intense sweetness of brown sugar and caramelized garlic is just the perfect complement to cooked rice. For that reason, this recipe is your best bet to introduce Korean flavors to your dining table. Everyone will be thrilled.

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Vegetable Beef Ragu Recipe

This ragu is packed with vegetables simmered in a satisfying, hearty broth. It’s so robust that it carries a life of its own. You’ll undoubtedly want to cling to each spoonful to prolong this experience.

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Sloppy Joe Recipe

We’ll always recommend a Sloppy Joe recipe for get-togethers. It’s loaded with savory tomato and pepper aromas with an eye-catching presentation that appeals to kids and adults alike. Plus, you can prepare it ahead of time to save yourself the hassle of cooking on the day.

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Calzone Recipe

Eating calzone is one of our favorite ways to imagine eating pizza. It’s basically the same thing but with a double dose of crispy crust goodness that you might eventually opt for in place of the original pizza. Once you taste it, you’ll understand why.

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Creamy Tomato Rigatoni Pasta Recipe

Rigatoni is wide, cylindrical pasta with ridges on the exterior. All the better to soak up as much of these savory mushroom and parmesan flavors in each spoonful!

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Vegetable Beef Casserole Recipe

The ease of preparing a casserole is enough to win any hungry soul over. Throw in potatoes, carrots, green beans, and cheese, and you’ve got a fetching weeknight meal.

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Cabbage Rolls Recipe

If you’re looking for a no-frills, comfort food, this is where to start. These Cabbage Rolls include arborio rice to absorb the intense stock flavors and present a fulfilling dish balanced in taste.

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Ground Beef Taco Recipe

Party-pleasers? You’ve got them with these filling tacos. It’s a matter of throwing together a few simple ingredients — ground beef, salsa, and cheese — to go along with crispy tortillas. Undoubtedly foolproof.

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Thai Basil Beef Recipe

We love Thai Basil anything. In fact, we love Thai anything when it comes to food. This red bell pepper, chili, carrot, fish sauce, and brown sugar mix is precisely why. A furious, red dish that’ll take your diners by storm.

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Ground Beef Casserole Recipe

They must have had rumbling bellies in mind when they invented casseroles. Like the best casseroles, this one is creamy, cheesy, and loaded with filling carbs. A foolproof main sure to please your guests.

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Taco Salad Recipe

The seasoning and spiciness in this Taco Salad make it so outstandingly appealing. That, plus how it comes together in 15 minutes tops. That’s just the kind of dish you need for a stress-free night.

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Cheeseburger Pizza Recipe

No matter the occasion, this Cheeseburger Pizza will steal the show—and plenty of hearts. It combines the best of comfort food to give you an exquisite feast that’s so good; you won’t mind the extra calories!

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Ground Beef and Cabbage Recipe

This simple mix is humble yet glorious. You could be raggedy or rich, yet still want — or need — this meal with a bowl of rice at the end of a long day. After all, who doesn’t love simple comfort food?

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Instant Pot Ropa Vieja Recipe

As far as enjoying your beef to its fullest potential, there’s nothing like serving it as Ropa Veja. It’s braised into succulent, tender pieces with olives and capers to create a robust and vibrant finish.

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Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe

If there’s anything you should have on your menu, it’s a gratifying stew or soup for rough days. This veggie medley is nourishing and comforting to the body and soul.

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Instant Pot Meatloaf Recipe

Turning a traditional classic into an instant pot version can be either genius or disastrous. You be the judge. Make this 35-minute meatloaf, dig into it, and let us know!

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Instant Pot Sloppy Joes Recipe

These Sloppy Joes will knock your socks off with pleasure-prompting aromas. It doesn’t help that the classic burger flavors are simmered soft in an instant pot until balmy. It’s a game changer, to put it mildly.

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Meatloaf Recipe

If reviews are anything to go by, you can expect only good things from a Meatloaf like ours. It’s gorgeous and succulent and should be on every beef lover’s bucket list!

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Hamburger Soup Recipe

Filled with alliaceous flavors and nutritious veggies, this meat and pasta dish is a weekday lifeline. You’ll suffer no compromise of flavors with this one-pot stew that’s ready in under an hour.

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Instant Pot Goulash Recipe

Even at times you can afford any type of dinner you like, this Instant Pot Goulash can be a godsend. At almost no cost, it exchanges your worries — buried in each spoonful — for cozy, gratifying tastes.

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Beef Fajitas Recipe

Fajitas are a fistful (and more) of beloved Mexican flavors. Each corn tortilla combines colorful bell peppers, meat, and cheese for an exquisitely toothsome bite.

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Continue reading to learn more.

How Long Is Ground Beef Good for?

The storing time varies, depending on the temperature at which you preserve the ground beef.

At Room Temperature

Keeping raw/cooked ground beef in an air-sealed container at room temperature is not a good option for overnight storage.

Ground beef, together with other types of protein stored in the ‘Danger Zone’ (between 40°F and 140°F) for more than 2 hours, will lead to bacterial growth; this is the main cause of foodborne illnesses.

In the Fridge

If you plan to use up leftovers in just a few days, refrigerating is a more convenient option because no thawing is required.

Refrigerated raw ground beef: Raw beef will remain in its best state for 3-5 days in the fridge. During the refrigerator storage, you may notice some color changes, where it could turn slightly brown from a bright red.
Refrigerated cooked ground beef: Stored properly in an airtight container, it will last for 3-4 days in the fridge.

In the Freezer

The freezing method will come in handy for meal-preppers wishing to lengthen the storage time to a few months.

Frozen raw ground beef: Unlike frozen chicken, which may last up to 9 months, frozen ground beef stays consumable for only 3-4 months.
Frozen cooked ground beef: It will remain edible for 2-3 months.

How to Tell If Ground Beef Is Bad

If you’ve forgotten your ground beef in the fridge for quite some time, check for these four signs to tell whether it is spoiled or not.

Color: Due to factors such as temperature, light, microbial growth, and oxidation process, ground beef may change its color from a reddish-pink to a grayish-brown. Once the outer surface of your beef turns dark gray, discard it immediately.
Texture: Whether raw or cooked, good-quality ground beef should have a firm texture and separate easily when squeezed. If your ground beef has a slimy and sticky feel to it when touched, it is likely to be rotten.
Smell: While fresh ground beef has a mild smell of iron, spoiled beef may possess a putrid odor. It’s time to toss it out.
Expiration date: Always check the expiry date on the packaging to ensure the ground beef is safe to consume.

What to Do with Leftover

With a bowl of ground beef on hand, you have endless options for delish meals—try a quick, simple side dish or get adventurous with an exotic main course.

Here are some great ideas that you can try out.

Make meatballs: This is the first option to cross our minds when we want to make the most of leftover ground beef. Fun to make and delicious to eat, you can have meatballs as a snack or lay them on a bed of steamy white rice for a filling meal.
Use as a topping for Mexican dishes: The robust flavor of ground beef will never let your Mexico-style meal go wrong. Add some to tacos, burritos, or quesadillas, and you’ll end up with a delectable treat that will tempt your guests to keep coming back for more!
Serve ground beef with vegetables: Stir-fry well-seasoned ground beef with some julienned carrots for a hearty Korean beef bowl, or toss them with greens for a quick salad—either choice will make a satisfying dish.