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Ground Beef in the Crock Pot

September 28, 2017 by Susan 10 Comments

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Cooking ground beef in the crock pot is the easiest way I’ve found to cook a large quantity of hamburger. Perfect for freezer cooking!

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

Have you ever needed to cook a large quantity of ground beef and wondered how to do it easily? Me too!

This is not so much a recipe as it is a technique.  And like all my favorite crock pot cooking, it requires very little effort…and that spread out throughout the day.

I have been on a bit of a freezer stocking mission lately.  And having cooked ground beef stashed in the chill chest makes meal prep so quick!

Hamburger in the Crockpot

If you’re not home during the day, this would make a perfect weekend task.  You’ll want to be around at least a few times during the cook time to stir the meat, breaking it up.

But it’s not a strict timetable, so no stress.

I like to buy my meat in bulk at Costco.  It comes in one pound chubs, five to a package.  I cooked all five pounds in my oval crock pot.

I buy my ground beef in bulk at Costco.

In the morning, put your frozen ground beef directly into the crock pot, along with one cup of water.  (You could use beef stock, if you wanted to).  If you’re doing a smaller amount of meat, lessen the water accordingly.

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

I didn’t season the meat at all at this stage.  That comes later.

Turn your crock pot on low and ignore it for 2-3 hours.  That’s when you want to open it up and use a large spoon or spatula to break up the ground beef.  Really get in there and break it into small pieces.

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

This is when I seasoned my meat.  Since I want to freeze my hamburger to use for various recipes, I’m keeping the seasoning pretty basic:

Salt, pepper, garlic powder.


Cover your crock pot back up and let it cook for another 2-3 hours.  At that time, open it up and give it another good mix.

At this point, I got a little concerned that it might not be done in time to make the tacos I was planning for dinner, so I turned it up to high for the last couple of hours.

I think it would have been ok on low the whole time, but just to be safe, if I was doing that, I’d shoot for 8-10 hours instead of 6-8.

My total cook time was 8 hours (6 on low and 2 on high).

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

At this point, give it one last good stir.  Then it’s time to strain it.

I set a mesh strainer over a mixing bowl and scooped the beef in batches to let it drain.  I moved the beef directly from the strainer into my labeled Ziploc bags.

This is such an easy method for making ground beef in the crock pot!

 

Since I have two teenage boys, one pound of ground beef doesn’t typically cut it for most of our recipes.  (I have one that almost exclusively exists on leftovers.)  So, I divided the meat about in half and froze half of it in two bags.

Related reading: Stock the freezer to make meal time easier

The other half I strained and then returned to the crock pot for tacos.  I seasoned it up and put it on high until dinner (just about 15 minutes).

Cooking ground beef in the crock pot helps me stock my freezer for quick meal prep!

My two cents on this method

This is easy-peasy and I love that!  For preparing ground beef for the freezer, this will be my go-to method for sure.

Update:  Since trying this method, I’ve used it lots of times!  I’ve also used thawed beef instead of frozen and it works GREAT!  Just cut a couple hours off your time.

Because the meat is not cooked over direct heat, you miss the dark brown, yummy bits that browning beef on the stove top produces.  What you end up with is a lot softer in texture.  It’s great for tacos and casseroles, hamburger stroganoff, and the like.

Yes, I’ll definitely use this for bulk meat preparation.

For an average night when I’m just cooking a pound or two I’ll still rely on my trusty cast iron skillet. But when I get the itch for stocking my freezer, this is it, my friends!

Have you ever tried cooking ground beef in the crock pot?

 

Ground Beef in the Crock pot

Print this recipe
Susan
September 28, 2017
by Susan
Category Freezer Recipes Main Dishes Recipes
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
8 hours

Ingredients

  • Frozen ground beef (5- 1 lb. packages fit in a large oval crock pot)
  • 1 cup water
  • seasoning to taste (suggested: salt, pepper, garlic powder)

Instructions

  1. Place frozen ground beef into crock pot
  2. Pour water over beef
  3. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (or on low for 6 hours and high for 2 hours)
  4. Stir meat every 2-3 hours, breaking meat into small pieces. Season meat the first time you stir.
  5. Strain meat and place in plastic bags to freeze or use as desired.

Tags

beef,
freezer
https://thesparrowshome.com/ground-beef-crock-pot/


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Filed Under: Freezer Recipes, Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: beef, freezer

Comments

  1. Patti B. Moss says

    May 3, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    I’ve never cooked it in bulk in the Crock Pot, but I have cooked it in bulk on the stove top. Thank you for this short cut! I love my Crock Pot, so I don’t know why I didn’t think of this anyway! It’s wonderful to have the cooked beef already on hand when I finally figure out what I’m going to cook. Thank again.

    Reply
    • Susan says

      May 3, 2020 at 11:15 pm

      You are so welcome! Every time I use what I have frozen I wonder why I don’t always have it on hand–It’s so easy and convenient!

      Reply
  2. Marilyn Groneng says

    May 4, 2020 at 8:56 am

    This is Brilliant! I too have done this on the stovetop and it takes time! I always swear when we don’t have anything prepared I am going to do this again but never do! It is on my “to do” list for this week! Thank you! Thank you!

    Reply
    • Susan says

      May 4, 2020 at 7:38 pm

      So glad it’s been helpful! Definitely a lifesaver for us.

      Reply
  3. Charl Birdett Roberson says

    May 6, 2020 at 8:40 am

    I do this all the time. There are only two of us, so I divide 1 cup portions into sandwich bags and then load the sandwich bags into a larger ziplock bag. I try to use lean ground beef, but with this method, you can strain off the fat that cooks out. I usually get the big chunks of ground beef at WalMart to use for this.

    Thanks for the tip about adding the water – will try that next time

    Reply
    • Susan says

      May 10, 2020 at 10:52 pm

      Yes! Storing it in the size you need makes it so easy for pulling out to use in a pinch. Perfect!

      Reply

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