It always makes me happy when I can bring you another ground beef recipe because I know a lot of families rely on Ground beef as a staple on their dinner table – mine certainly does!
What makes you happy? I think for most of us, it takes a lot less than we realize. A sunny day, the smell of daffodils or cinnamon or apples. We find tiny little happy moments all day long and all it takes is just that split second to stop and pay attention to them.
I’ve known a lot of people who really hold back on feeling happy though. They save it for something big, pinning their happiness on a huge paycheck sometime in the future, a house as big as their neighbors, or their name in lights. Rather than take delight in the little things, the constant influx of opportunities to be happy that appear before us each day, they hold off and keep joy at a distance, holding it up as something to strive to reach one day when Perfect Plan A comes to fruition and the stars align or some other such nonsense. As my grandmama would say, God love ’em.
Me, I’ll take happiness and joy over a hundred little things a day rather than one big thing every decade. Today, this recipe makes me happy :). I love stuffed bell peppers. I love Ketchup. I love ground beef. This combines them all into a one dish meal – which I also love.
Happy happy, joy joy!
Let’s Eat!
You’ll need: Ground beef, saltine crackers, onion, ketchup, bell pepper, egg, and italian seasoning.
You’ll also need a slow cooker. I’m using my Hamilton Beach Set and Forget .
Now crush your saltines and place them in a bowl with your egg.
Add your ground beef and mix it up well with your hands.
Shape meat into patties and place in the bottom of your slow cooker.
Take your ketchup and water and add a tablespoon Italian seasoning. mix that up really well in a cup or bowl.
You know, if dry Italian seasoning was the only seasoning I had in my cabinet, I could live happily the rest of my life.
Alright, I would also need some cinnamon, allspice, garlic powder, and cumin. But beyond those, I’m pretty well set. It drives me nigh on bat crazy to see a recipe that calls for 1/8 of a teaspoon each of twenty different spices. As my friend Terri Leverett says, K.I.S.S. = Keep It Simple Sweetie!
Pour your sauce over the patties.
Chop up your onions and bell pepper and add those in.
Cover and cook on low, 7-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.
When it is done it’ll look like this and your house will smell like stuffed bell peppers deluxe 🙂
If you want at this point, you can add a little more ketchup to the mixture to thicken your sauce but I like it just like this.
Serve over rice and enjoy!
- 1-2 Pounds Ground Beef (Can use less and make smaller patties, or more and make larger patties)
- ½ sleeve Saltines, crushed
- 1 Egg
- ⅔ Cup Ketchup
- ⅓ Cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon dry Italian Seasoning
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 bell pepper, chopped
- Crush Saltines and place in large bowl. Add in egg and ground beef. Mix well with hands. Form into 4 patties. Place patties in bottom of slow cooker. Wash hands because touching raw meat is pretty unsanitary but I appreciate you following my recipe :).
- Mix ketchup, water, and Italian seasoning. Pour over beef. Top with onions and bell pepper.
- Cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours.
- Serve over rice.
Now tell me what makes you happy in the comments below!
You might also enjoy 20 Recipes For Ground Beef.
“What you do makes a difference,
and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
– Jane Goodall
Thank you Jenny for submitting this! Add your quote to our ever growing collection by clicking here. Lift someone up today!
I love this recipe. It is simple, uses ‘have on hand’ ingredients, and tastes delicious. I noticed though that you didn’t call for any seasoning. I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, and a seasoning blend (Tony’s) to the hamburger meat when mixing it up. I also used beef broth instead of water when making the ketchup gravy. My family loved the dish and the only other thing I would do differently is perhaps double the ketchup gravy mixture because my family likes a lot of gravy with their rice.
I noticed no basic seasonings as well. So I took all your suggestions and have it in the crockpot now! Hope it’s good!!
Here I am thinking fully seasoned ketchup, Italian seasoning, onions, and pepper count as seasoning. Lol. Apparently I’ve gotten behind the curve. 😉 Hope yall enjoy it as much as we do!
Making this again for the third time. It has become a family favorite. Blessings to you and your family. (-:
making this again tonite. didn’t have cracker so using oatmeal.
🙂
if using the oven how long do you bake?
I’ve never baked these in the oven personally, but I would guess 350 around 30 minutes or so. Check doneness, of course 🙂
thanks
In your come home to supper book on page 10 the recipe says to preheat the oven to 325°but it does not say how long to bake it for
Do you need to use a lean ground beef to avoid excess grease or maybe brown first on stove top?? Sounds so good!!
Do you need to use extra lean ground beef? Afraid grease from hamburger patties will incorporate into the gravy. Maybe brown them first?? Your ideas please?
My word, Uptown Beef Patties with Ketchup Gravy has to be my favorite recipe from your cookbook. I still dream of that first bite. The flavor is out of this world.
I love this recipe so much. I’ve made it a lot over the years since it was first posted. I have even created a quick stove-top version for when a craving hits me and I don’t want to wait for the crockpot.