This Ground Beef and Broccoli is an easy 30 minute meal with a simple, flavorful sauce that your family will love eating with vegetables!
Ground Beef and Broccoli
I can’t pass up a good stir fry recipe, especially one that is truly a 30 minute meal.
You can make this recipe with ground beef, chicken, or turkey. Feel free to add in whatever vegetables you have on hand as well. It even makes a great freezer meal to reheat for easy, healthy lunches and dinners!
So….you sold yet?! See how easy this is to make below and don’t miss my pro tips for this recipe.
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Sauté the broccoli in oil for about 4-5 minutes, set aside. Add ground beef and onions and cook/crumble over medium-high heat. Drain grease. Add bell peppers and cook for 1 minute.
Add sauce mixture and bring to a gentle boil. Let it simmer/reduce for 2-3 minutes. Remove cornstarch mixture from the fridge and give it a shake. Slowly stir it into the sauce. Let it continue to bubble gently until desired thickness is obtained.
Reduce heat to low. Add broccoli back and stir to combine and heat through. Garnish with green onions and serve.
Keto Ground Beef and Broccoli
- Cauliflower rice can be used instead of regular.
- Brown Sugar and Honey can be replaced with more keto-friendly sweeteners. I do feel that sweetener of some sort is necessary in this recipe to balance out the savory flavor from the soy sauce and beef broth.
- Consider skipping the cornstarch.
Pro Tips
- Ground Turkey or Ground Chicken may also be used in this recipe. You can also make my Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry with chicken breasts!
- Frozen Broccoli may also be used. Thaw and pat dry and proceed as outlined in the recipe.
- Ingredient Additions include julienned carrots, water chestnuts, celery, kale, and more.
- Topping Options include green onions, roughly chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, crunchy chow mein noodles, and sliced almonds.
- To Control the Sodium in this recipe, consider using low sodium soy sauce and/or reduced sodium broth.
- Tip for cooking rice: Add chicken bouillon to the water for added flavor. Let it stand in the pot with the cover on for 10 minutes after simmering to let the rice release from the bottom.
Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. (Leftovers do freeze well!)
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- Wok– conducts heat well for this recipe and other stir fry recipes.
- Rice Cooker/Steamer
- Rubbermaid Containers with lids– I always use these to combine my corn starch + cold water.
- Better Than Bouillon– This is what I always use for broth in my recipes. It takes very little space and makes it easy to measure out customized amounts of broth.
Try These Next
- Chicken Noodle Stir Fry
- Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Ramen Noodle Stir Fry
- Mushroom Chicken
- Broccoli Pasta
- Copycat Longhorn Parmesan Crusted Chicken
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Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ground Beef and Broccoli
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon peanut oil, can sub vegetable or olive
- 3 cups broccoli florets, washed and patted dry
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- Salt/White Pepper, to taste
Sauce
- 1 cup beef broth
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
For Serving
- 3 cups cooked rice, any kind
Instructions
Prep Work
- Combine cornstarch + 2 Tablespoons water in a covered container and shake to combine. Place in a cool location.
- Combine remaining sauce ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.
Cook the Broccoli
- Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the broccoli and toss to coat. Cook for 4-5 minutes, until slightly softened. Remove and set aside.
Cook the Beef
- Season the beef with salt/white pepper if desired. Cook and crumble the ground beef and diced onions over medium-high heat until browned and cooked through. Drain grease. Add sliced bell peppers and cook for 1 minute.
Add the Sauce
- Add sauce mixture and bring to a gentle boil. Let it simmer/reduce for 2-3 minutes. Shake the cornstarch mixture, then slowly stir it into the sauce. Let it continue to bubble gently until desired thickness is obtained.
Add the Broccoli Back
- Reduce heat to low. Add broccoli back and stir to combine and heat through. Garnish with green onions and serve over rice! *See notes for my process on making perfectly cooked, flavorful rice.
Notes
- Ground Turkey or Ground Chicken may also be used in this recipe. You can also make my Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry with chicken breasts!
- Frozen Broccoli may also be used. Thaw and pat dry and proceed as outlined in the recipe.
- Ingredient Additions include julienned carrots, water chestnuts, celery, kale, and more.
- Topping Options include green onions, roughly chopped peanuts, sesame seeds, crunchy chow mein noodles, and sliced almonds.
- To Control the Sodium in this recipe, consider using low sodium soy sauce and/or reduced sodium broth.
My process for perfectly cooked rice:
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. (I add 2 chicken bouillon cubes to the water for enhanced flavor.)
- Add 1 cup of white long grain rice and let the liquid come back up to a boil.
- Cover tightly and reduce heat to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes. (I set my heat to low.)
- Remove from heat and let it stand in the pot for 10 minutes with the lid on, any rice stuck to the bottom will release.
- This yields 3 cups of flavorful, perfectly cooked rice. I use a Dutch oven for this which conducts heat well.
- Note that other varieties of rice may require different liquid measurements and/or cooking times.
The Nutrition Information is per serving, there are 4 servings in this recipe, and the rice is included. Note that the nutritional information shared is an estimate.
Loved this recipe. Easy, quick and delicious! Thank you!
Happy to hear that Kate! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment and review😀
Yummy. I was apprehensive using soy sauce, so I used amino acids, the soy sauce alternative, less salty and found this recipe delicious and easy. Thank you.
I’m so happy you enjoyed this Molly, thanks so much for the Amino Acids tip!❤️
This was delicious and pretty easy to make! My only adjustments were that I used vegetarian ground “meat”, left out the sesame oil because I didn’t have any. I also added red pepper to give it a lite kick and we loved the way it turned out. Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed this Gina with vegetarian ground meat! Thankis so much for the great comments and for taking the time to leave a review!💖
Turned out great. Everyone loved it. I added some carrots and sweet potatoes to make it go farther. It fed a lot of people. Flavor was really good.
I’m so happy your large crowd enjoyed the ground beef and broccoli Marnae! Sounds like you nailed it! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!😀
I really loved this sauce! It was perfect. I added some red pepper flakes to give a slight kick. I will definitely be making this one again soon 😋
Excellent! That makes me so happy Darcy. My husband would love a little bit of red pepper flakes, good call on that! Thanks so much for the great comments and review!❤️
So much flavour. A quick weekday meal. Question though does the nutritional include the rice as that may make a difference for many.
Hi Anita! I am so glad that you enjoyed this meal! The nutritional facts include all of the ingredients listed in the recipe card, (including 3 cups of cooked rice). 😊
Fantastic. Thank you so much. That knocks this recipe out of the park.
Excellent! I am so happy to hear that! Thank you!
How many calories are in this meal? I see the 525cal in the nutrition portion, but is that per serving ? Thank you
Hi Erick, the Nutrition Information is per serving, there are 4 servings in this recipe.
Thank you so much Stephanie, I cannot wait to meal prep this amazing meal !
You got it Erick, thanks so much for the great review, enjoy!
I came across this recipe last minute so I didn’t have all the ingredients… BUT it still turned out great! I didn’t add honey, ginger, bell pepper or onion (I did add onion powder) and it turned out awesome! One of my husband’s new favorite dinners and my in-laws have been raving about how good it was. (Win) thanks for an awesome dinner!
Such a win Katie! Sounds like you nailed it, nice work! Thanks so much for the great comments and review!❤️
This is one of four Cozy Cook recipes I earmarked and bought the ingredients for, to include in my meal plans over the next one to two weeks, and it did not disappoint! My “guys”…husband and son… are who I cook for most of the time, (unless my daughter is in town and is staying here), and they thought this was a delicious dish, as did I! I’m especially fond of Asian food so that is a big plus for me!
Wahooooo! Thanks so much for your support. I’m so happy you’re enjoying the recipes. This is such a classic in my house. I love seeing my daughter eat her broccoli. Thanks so much for the great comments and review Vicki!😀
Delicious quick and simple – I added a bit more sesame oil and brown sugar. Perfect when you don’t know what to make for dinner!!
I totally agree, this is definitely a great go to when you have no idea what to make for dinner! Simple and always a hit. Thanks so much for the great comments!❤️