Zucchini Beef Skillet Recipe: Easy & Quick Stovetop Dinner (2024)

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Easy Zucchini Beef Skillet Recipe

If you’ve been following all thetips for growing zucchini and yellow squash, chances are you’re inundated right now. This time of year we always seem to have more garden zucchini and summer squash than we can use!

This quick and delicious zucchini beef skillet recipe is a great way to use up zucchini, along with many other fresh vegetables that you may have on hand. In addition to zucchini, the recipe calls for onions, garlic, green bell pepper, fresh tomatoes, and whole kernel corn. Of course, if you only have those vegetables frozen or canned, that’s fine too. It will taste great either way.

This meal gets a nice flavor from the chili powder, onion, and garlic. We find it balances nicely with cheddar cheese, especially when served in apita pocket. If you don’t have pita pockets, a tortilla also works.

You don’t have to turn the oven on to make any part of the recipe. This easy meal is ready on the stovetop in less than half an hour, making it a great choice for the hot summer nights we’ve had lately. Of course, with a few fresh or frozen vegetables from the grocery store, you can make this anytime of year!

While it has a bit of Mexican flavor from the chili powder, it’s not too spicy if you have family members who dislike heat. My grandmother, who never liked spicy food, made this quick dinner often in the summertime. This zucchini skillet has been a personal favorite comfort food for me (and most of my family) ever since she started making it years ago.

Cooking Tips

If you’d like, you can do some meal prep for the ground beef ahead of time. Just brown a large package of beef and freeze it in 1 lb. portions. Then, to speed up making this recipe, you can just thaw the ground beef and proceed as directed, but without having to wait as long as you would to cook the raw beef with the vegetables.

Lean ground beef works best, since the excess grease will mostly cook off and you won’t have to drain it at the end.

How you slice your zucchini depends on the size – a small one can just be sliced as is, but larger ones should be halved or quartered before slicing into small pieces. This helps with both cooking time and overall enjoyment. After all, huge chunks of zucchini only partially coated with spice can be a little boring. Keep the zucchini slices as thin as possible to speed up the cooking time.

If you’d like, you can substitute some yellow squash for the zucchini. You can also substitute onion or garlic powder in a powder or flake form for the fresh chopped onion and garlic, though it will affect the flavor somewhat. Check the containers for the right conversion amounts before adding them.

Since this isn’t very spicy, you can always add more chili powder or other spices to give it some extra flavor! You could even try adding Rotel tomatoes or a few chopped up jalapenos for more kick. Try it as it’s written first, then adjust the amounts to your personal taste in the future.

How to Make Zucchini Beef Skillet

Start by chopping up all the vegetable ingredients you’ll need. Grease a large skillet, then cook beef, onion, green pepper, and minced garlic together over medium heat. Once you have sufficiently brown ground beef (I always like to cook mine a little longer to get any excess grease off, but you can bring it to just brown if you prefer), add the rest of the ingredients.

Cover it and simmer until all the vegetables are tender, which typically takes around 10-15 minutes. If you find the skillet has excessive water halfway through simmering, take the cover off. It tends to get overly watery especially when you use frozen vegetables, so don’t hesitate to take the cover off to encourage evaporation. Just don’t do it to early in the process, or the vegetables may not steam properly. About halfway to 3/4 of the way through cooking is best.

Once it’s finished cooking, serve it warm in pita pockets, tortillas, or even loose with shredded cheddar cheese. It would likely taste great with some sour cream too, though we prefer just cheese or even plain.

You can store this for several days in an airtight container, which can help improve the flavor as well.

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoy this ground beef skillet recipe. It makes an easy and quick meal on busy weeknights, especially in summer when you may be struggling to use up excess summer squash and other fresh vegetables. We find it’s a delicious recipe that’s a hit for the whole family, including young children who want tasty food and elderly family members who can’t eat much spice.

If you’re looking for more zucchini recipes to go with this main dish, check out our 5 favorite zucchini desserts for more delicious ways to use up zucchini!

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