Garden Skillet Supper (a.k.a Ground Beef and Vegetables)

My easy-peasy and healthy garden skillet supper includes ground beef and lots of fresh vegetables (think juicy baked garden tomatoes, squash, and bell pepper) served over noodles or rice.

It’s garden skillet supper recipe time! I love me some veggies and the great part about this recipe is you can use veggies that are available all year round. So this one-pan skillet meal can be a healthy supper or lunch in the fall, winter, spring, or summer. It just doesn’t matter. You can add fresh veggies from the garden or get them from the grocery store, whatever cranks your tractor!

This garden skillet meal is a simple go-to weeknight dinner, one like our grandmothers would just throw together and not even consider a recipe. But today I’m going to show you how to make a fresh, flavorful, and filling ground beef skillet with just enough seasonings to enhance all of the flavors without covering any of them up.

As the title suggests, you need ground beef and vegetables to make this main meal, as well as dried or fresh parsley, and some salt and pepper. That’s all the seasoning you need. For the fresh mixed vegetables, I’m using garden tomatoes that we quickly broil to make them extra tasty, flavorful, and juicy. Then I add bell pepper, squash, and onion, but you can use any vegetables you like or have on hand.

In 30 minutes and one pan (slash cast iron skillet), your ground beef and vegetables will be ready to serve to your hungry family. I love to serve this with noodles or rice, but I’ve included further serving suggestions below. Are you ready to get cooking?

Recipe Ingredients

• Tomatoes
• Squash
• Bell pepper
• Onion
• Lean ground beef
• Dried or fresh parsley
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper
• Sugar (a dash)

How to Make A Garden Skillet Supper

To begin with, place your tomatoes on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and put them in the oven on “broil” while you get your beef going (about 5 minutes or so). 

 Chop up your onion and place that in the skillet with your ground beef.

Chop the beef up really well and stir over medium heat until brown.

You can buy these awesome meat chopper devices from a Pampered Chef person, eBay, or even on Amazon.

 Now take your tomatoes out of the oven and the tomato skin should be split.

Set them aside for a minute to cool and then carefully pull a piece of skin until it comes off. 

 Repeat until you peel every tomato.

Cut the tomatoes into wedges and add them to your skillet. 

NOTE: I’m using lean ground beef so I didn’t have to drain mine before adding the tomatoes. If you aren’t using lean beef and have grease in your skillet at this step, drain the beef before adding tomatoes.

Chop them up with your thingiemawhosit or a wooden spoon or whatever you grab first from the drawer and continue cooking over medium heat.

Keep in mind these tomatoes are hot and have juice so there may be hot juice involved.

Add your parsley, salt, and pepper (just add a teaspoon of sugar if you really wanna bring out the sweetness of these tomatoes).

 Continue cooking and dicing up the tomatoes for about 5 minutes, until they are good and juicy and make a sauce of sorts. 

While you’re doing this, chop up your bell pepper (throwing away the seeds) and squash. 

 Add in the rest of your veggies. 

Cook and stir until squash is lightly translucent and veggies are just tender, but not overcooked or soft. 

I know “overcooked” is kind of the Southern way to some folks but that is a holdover from the old days when we really did have to cook the mess out of something in order to make sure it was safe to eat. So when your meemaw cooks you vegetables until they cry uncle, she is just repeating what her meemaw did as a way to make sure the food was safe.

 This ground beef skillet is BURSTING with flavor!

Serve over hot cooked macaroni noodles or rice. 

Enjoy! 

Storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating in the microwave.

Recipe Notes

• Here are some easy substitutions and variations to put your own spin on this ground beef and vegetable recipe:
  • Substitute the yellow squash for zucchini.
  • Use ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pork instead of ground beef.
  • Other vegetables that work in this garden skillet: cauliflower, broccoli, carrot, celery, green beans, mushrooms, sweet potato, and cherry tomatoes.
  • Add your favorite seasoning, whether that’s garlic powder, minced garlic cloves, dried or fresh basil, Italian seasoning, taco seasoning, dried oregano, or thyme.
  • Add some heat with a dash of chili powder, red pepper flakes, or cayenne pepper.
  • In a pinch, substitute for the frozen vegetable of your choice.
•  If you have never used kosher salt before, grab some next time you are in the grocery store. This is one of those ingredients that really does make a pow difference and won’t cost you much at all. IF you don’t have kosher salt, table salt will work as well. 
• Serve your ground beef and vegetables as is or on a bed of macaroni pasta, white or brown rice, quinoa, cauliflower rice, mashed potato, or zoodles (zucchini noodles).

You may also enjoy these easy-peasy skillet recipes:

Asian Pork Tenderloin Skillet (Quick & Budget-Friendly)

Kielbasa Skillet

Skillet Lasagna

Creamy Chicken Skillet

Chicken Broccoli Skillet with Pimento Cheese Sauce

 

To wish you were someone else is to waste the person you are!

~Unknown