Ground beef and potato skillet
Crispy-edged potatoes and savory beef in one pan, the kind of cheap, filling dinner that never gets old.
- 40 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.44 a serving
- 460 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 3 russet potatoes, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (optional)
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 460 calories, 25 g protein, 36 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $2.44 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No russet potatoes? Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Scrub the potatoes and cut them into ½-inch , skins on. the onion.
Cube. Cubing means cutting food into chunky, even squares, usually three quarters of an inch to an inch. Same-size cubes cook at the same speed and brown on every side.
How you’ll know: Your pieces look like a handful of sugar cubes, a little bigger than diced, all close to the same size.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Dolly’s tip: Keep the cubes about the same size so they finish cooking together.Heat a large with a lid over medium-high, add the beef, and press it flat. Leave it 3 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Break the beef into and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until no pink is left. Scoop it into a bowl, leaving the fat in the pan.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Add the oil and potatoes to the pan, spread them out, cover, and cook over medium for 8 minutes, stirring once halfway.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Dolly’s tip: The lid traps steam that cooks the insides while the bottoms brown.Uncover, add the onion, turn the heat to medium-high, and cook 7 to 8 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes, until the potatoes are and a fork slides in easily.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Return the beef to the pan, sprinkle in the garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper, and stir 1 minute to coat everything.
Medium-high heat
Scatter the cheddar over the top if you like, cover off the heat for 2 minutes to it, and finish with green onions.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Timer: 2 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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