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This simple recipe for slow cooked ground beef is great for stocking your freezer! Just pull out a bag of already cooked meat and you can have dinner on the table in no time!
I’m ’bout to blow your little taco loving minds.
As you all have heard, time and time again, I recently moved to Middle of Nowhere, Nebraska. There are not a lot of options to save us from those days where I just willfully ignore the idea of cooking a third meal for the day. Cold sandwiches, canned soup, frozen pizzas…we’re getting a little tired of those. Stocking my freezer with easy dinner options has been a lifesaver for me!
You guys remember my slow cooker shredded chicken? It gets perfectly shredded in a stand mixer to make things unbelievably easy! I always keeps bags of this chicken in my freezer.
Lately though I’ve been wanting a little variety and so I decided to stock my freezer with ground beef. Now, sure, browning a single pound of ground beef on the stove only takes 10 minutes, but have you ever browned 5+ pounds? It takes for.ev.er. for all that meat to cook. That’s way too much stirring and standing and staring and waiting for me.
If you want perfect little pieces of finely ground beef, your crockpot is the way to go. I dumped 7 pounds of raw 90/10 ground beef in my Ninja Slow Cooker (it’s 6 quarts which means there is plenty of room for lots of meat!) and set it to low. An hour later I came back with a potato masher and broke the meat up a bit. I set a timer for 2 hours and came back and broke it up again. I did this every 2 hours after that for a total of 6 hours in the crockpot. I added a little bit of salt and pepper to the meat, but otherwise, didn’t season it at all so that it would be ready to go with whatever in any recipe I chose.
I portioned the meat out into freezer bags and stuck them all in my freezer. Now I just grab a bag and go! It’s such a lifesaver having the meat in cooked and ready to add to any recipe, especially if you’re the type of person who always forgets to thaw meat. This meat is in such small chunks that it thaws out enough to use really quickly, but you can also pop it in the microwave or dump it into a skillet and warm it up straight from the freezer.
For more instructions and to save this recipe to your recipe box, view the crock pot ground beef recipe here.
The best part about this is the taste! It sounds weird to say this, but it tastes so meaty! Because the meat is cooked in it’s own juices all day long, it just really tastes extra beefy and has so much great flavor!
There are tons of ways to use this meat, but I love to use it for an extra easy taco night.
Slow Cooker Tacos
Ingredients
- 1 pound crock pot ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning (or make your own
- 8 hard or soft tortillas
- Taco toppings, such as lettuce, tomato, salsa, cheese
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Dump the frozen beef straight into the skillet and stir around until warm. Add the taco seasoning and 1/4 cup of water and stir to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the liquid has mostly cooked away.
- Stuff your taco shells with meat and any other toppings you desire.
Nutrition Information:
Need some other ideas to use up your freezer full of already cooked ground beef?
Kristina Anthony says
I brown ground beef in bulk all the time, but never thought about cooking it in the crock pot. I do season my meat, however, because FLAVOR! I use a mixture that I throw together of Creole seasoning and a season-all type seasoning mix. My husband likes spicy, but I have to tone it down a bit for me. A 2/3 creole to 1/3 seasoning works well for us, and this works great in every dish I make with ground beef.
Christy says
Middle of nowhere Nebraska?? That’s where I live! Well, in a village of @600, about 15 minutes from a town of 25,000!
This idea is genius! I cannot wait to try it! Tonight I am making your teriyaki chicken for the first time! So excited!
Karly says
We’ve since moved back to Illinois, but we were in Aurora, not far from Grand Island. I feel like almost everywhere in Nebraska was the middle of nowhere. 😉
Elizabeth says
Thank you so much! I’m living in a motel with a microwave and a crock pot for my cooking–and I bought ingredients to make a shepherd’s pie. Almost every recipe asks for the ground beef to be browned on the stove first–well, I can’t do that. I’m definitely going to cook it in the slow cooker first and then add the rest of the ingredients . . . looking forward to this meal!
Karly says
Hope you enjoy!
Patti says
Sounds great! Do you drain the fat before freezing?
Robin says
Superb,Superb,Superb attractive, tasty, charming .I think Personal chefs are responsible to control all the menu organization, grocery shopping, cooking, packaging and kitchen cleanup and make enjoyable and healthy meals that you will look forward to eating.
cheri says
What a great tip, thanks for sharing!
Kelly T says
I love this idea of using the crockpot to cook hamburger! I buy hamburger from our local meat market in 10 pound packs (the more you buy the cheaper it is) and I spend forever browning it up for the freezer. I will start doing this from now on!! Thanks
Kari/SourdoughNative says
Wow! Talk about an Aha! moment. Thanks for the awesome tip.
Anna@CrunchyCreamySweet says
I love time saving tips like this! Pinned!
danielle says
Anyone have an idea how well this would work without stirring/mashing every two hours? I’m wondering if cooking it and then using my mixer (like for chicken) would work….
Karly says
@danielle,
That’s a brilliant idea! I haven’t tried it myself, but would be curious to hear your results if you do! 🙂
Dawn says
@Karly, I cook mine over night in the slow cooker. No stirring. It works great. Let it cool and break it apart.
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I so need to do this!! And the chicken too. It would be so nice to have meat already cooked in the freezer, waiting for me. Otherwise we just eat salad for dinner, which I chase with 10 cookies to fill the hunger spaces.
Simple Green Moms says
why have i never made ground beef in a crockpot? this sounds so good and so much easier than stovetop! YUM =)
Chelsea @ Gal on a Mission says
I do not know what I would do without my slow cooker! Karly, I could seriously go for one of these tacos right about now – even for breakfast, yum!
Jennie @themessybakerblog says
This is a genius idea! I bet the ground beef is so much more tender this way. Pinning!
Taylor @ Food Faith Fitness says
I LOVE this! I always cook ground beef in a big pan and it get’s so messy and gross. The slow cooker is the best for easy meals….so I gotta try this! Pinned!