Ground Beef & Broccoli (gluten-free)
This ground beef and broccoli is a simple and cost-effective one-pan meal. It’s gluten-free, soy-free, paleo, and AIP-friendly.
Beef and broccoli is a flavorful restaurant classic! It’s one of my favorite dishes to make at home, but buying sirloin or flank steak can get expensive. I love cooking with ground beef for simple and cost-effective cooking in recipes like gluten-free hamburger helper and my ground beef ramen stir fry! So, I made a beef and broccoli copycat with ground beef!
Not only is it cheaper than buying steak, but it’s easier to cook, and comes together much more quickly than traditional beef and broccoli. It’s the perfect easy, one pan weeknight meal.
Table of contents
Why you’ll love ground beef and broccoli
- A one-pan wonder! No extra dishes, just everything in one pan!
- Protein and veggies all in one meal. This recipe is protein-packed and has extra nutrients and fiber from the broccoli.
- Beef and broccoli are a flavor match made in heaven. I love my recipe for gluten-free chicken and broccoli too, but beef and broccoli is just perfection.
- Ground meat is the ultimate meal prep hack. Not only does it cook faster than roasts or whole cuts of meat, but it requires zero chopping.
Recipe Ingredients
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
- Ground beef. A cheaper and easier alternative to using steak!
- Broccoli. I like to chop the broccoli into small florets for this recipe
- Coconut aminos. This is a soy sauce alternative that’s the base of the sauce.
- Broth, coconut sugar, apple cider vinegar, ginger, and garlic. These are the rest of the ingredients for the sauce.
Substitutions and modifications
- Sugar snap peas, zucchini, etc. These would all be great additions to this recipe. I love using snap peas in recipes like my honey garlic beef stir fry, and they’d also work well in this recipe if you want some more green.
- Teriyaki sauce. This recipe uses a homemade sauce, but you can likely make this with a storebought teriyaki sauce. You may have to add some extra broth to thin it out, but that will just depend on the brand.
How to make Ground Beef & Broccoli
Here are the simple steps, with photos, to make this recipe. Find full instructions in the recipe card.
Step one. Prep the sauce ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Step two. Saute the broccoli until lightly crisp.
Step three. Crumble the ground beef until cooked through. Add the broccoli back to the pan.
Step four. Add the sauce and allow to simmer to thicken. Toss to coat the beef and broccoli in the sauce.
Tips & Tricks
- Use a leaner cut of beef. I don’t like to use 80/20 beef for this recipe as it’s just too much extra fat in the sauce, which impacts the flavor a bit. I much prefer 85/15. You can even use a lower fat beef, but keep in mind that it does dry out much more quickly.
- Take a shortcut with pre-cut broccoli florets. A lot of stores will sell precut broccoli florets, and that will speed up this recipe even more. I do prefer fresh, but if you use frozen, you should defrost it before you use it and be careful of the excess water. It won’t be as crispy as fresh broccoli, but it’ll work!
- Adjust the sauce to your liking. I find that sauce can thin out or thicken a lot more quickly depending on what type of cooking surface I’m using. To thicken the sauce further, combine 1 tsp of arrowroot starch with about 1-2 tsp of water in a small bowl. Whisk well and add to the pan. Allow to thicken, and add another mixture if a thicker sauce is desired. If you’d prefer a thinner sauce, add splash of broth and stir to thin out the sauce.
- Add a side. This recipe is excellent with cauliflower rice, or regular rice if you can tolerate it! It’s also great with a side of vegetables like roasted bok choy.
Recipes FAQS
The rule of thumb is to make sure that everything is cooked through to 165 F. However, for this particular recipe, I recommend cooking them separately, as you really want to make sure the ground beef is crumbled thoroughly and that will be harder to do if there are large pieces of broccoli.
Traditionally, flank steak is the best cut for beef and broccoli. But using ground beef in beef and broccoli cuts down cook time and cost!
Yes! You can make it ahead of time and easily store it for 3-4 in the fridge in glass Tupperware. You can even freeze it for up to a month.
Other related ground beef recipes to try...
If you tried this Ground Beef and Broccoli or any other recipe on my blog please leave a rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Thanks for visiting!
Gluten Free Ground Beef & Broccoli
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Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut aminos
- ⅓ cup beef broth
- 2 tsp rice vinegar, sub apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp arrowroot starch
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ginger powder
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- ¾ tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper, omit for AIP
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 tbsp green onion, chopped
Instructions
- Whisk the coconut sugar, coconut aminos, broth, apple cider vinegar, arrowroot, garlic powder, and ginger powder together and set aside.
- Using a large pan, heat the avocado oil over medium heat. Add the broccoli and lightly season with salt and pepper. Saute for 5-6 minutes or until crisped to your liking. Set aside.
- Add the ground beef to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Use a wooden spoon to crumble the beef and brown. Once browned, drain some of the excess fat.
- Add the broccoli back to the pan and pour the un sauce mixture. Reduce the heat and stir for 1-2 minutes to allow the sauce to reduce. Toss to fully coat the beef and broccoli in the sauce.
- Remove from heat and serve topped with green onion.
I have everything but the arrowroot starch, how necessary is it or is there a sub I can use?
The starch is necessary in order to get the sauce to thicken! I wouldn’t recommend subbing or omitting it.
I have everything but coconut sugar. What can I substitute?
You can try to add a bit of honey!
Could this be done in the instant pot? Also could you sub ground beef for stew cubes? How would that affect? Much TIA!
I’m so happy I found this! Been struggling as an AIP newbie (missing my sauces!) and this hit the spot. Thank you for the easy and inexpensive recipe!
Thank you!! Good luck, hopefully you can find some great recipes that will help make the adjustment easier!
This beef and broccoli recipe is amazing and easy. I will be adding it to my favorite recipe list.
YAY! So glad!!
Made this tonight and loved it. This was a very quick meal to put together.
Yum!! I doubled the broccoli and it was perfect! I’ll definitely make this again!
My husband and I really liked this recipe. It will definitely be a staple in our rotation.
Great recipe! Thanks for sharing it!
The aip version is deeeeelish! Thank you for your wonderful recipes
Thank you so much, Trish!!
Made this tonight and decided to double the recipe because my bag of frozen broccoli was 4 cups. I let the broccoli thaw in fridge overnight along with my hamburger meat. At lunch, I laid the thawed broccoli out on parchment to air dry a bit. Once ready to prepare supper, I cut the broccoli into smaller pieces. The recipe turned out so well and I am glad I doubled it so I will have left overs for lunch this week.
Thanks for trying it!! So glad that it worked well 🙂
Sooo Yummy!! My whole family LOVED it and it was soo easy!!
Yay! Thank you so much, Leslie!! So glad it was a hit!
Our family loved this, I am making again tonight and trying peas and carrots instead of broccoli, thank you for a great simple recipe!!
Yum!! Thank you, Tanya!
Delicious and easy! Made it tonight and will definitely make again soon!
Yay, so glad!!
So easy and SO delicious!!
So glad you liked it! Thank you!!!