Honey Garlic Ground Beef and Broccoli

Honey Garlic Ground Beef and Broccoli is quick, delicious, and so easy to make! This one-pan wonder combines tender ground beef, crisp broccoli florets, and a sweet-savory honey garlic sauce that’ll have everyone asking for seconds. With just 5 main ingredients and under 30 minutes of cooking time, this is my go-to recipe when I need something satisfying on the table FAST.

Love More Dinner Recipes? Try My Creamy Rotel Pasta with Ground Beef or this Easy Taco Spaghetti next.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

The honey garlic sauce creates this incredible sweet and savory balance that makes even picky eaters devour their broccoli. Plus, you probably have most of these ingredients already sitting in your kitchen. No fancy shopping trip required—just simple, accessible ingredients that come together into something absolutely crave-worthy.

Print

Ingredient List

For the Beef & Broccoli:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced (the jarred kind works when you’re lazy, no judgment)
• 1 cup white onion, chopped (or yellow, red, whatever’s not moldy)
• 1 pound lean ground beef (85/15 is my jam)
• 3 cups broccoli florets, chopped small-ish
• 1 cup honey garlic sauce (store-bought is totally fine)

For Serving:

• 4 cups cooked rice (I use my rice cooker and forget about it)

Real talk:

• Fresh broccoli beats frozen but I’ve definitely grabbed the frozen bag when I forgot to grocery shop
• Too lean beef = dry, too fatty = grease puddle, 85/15 is the goldilocks zone
• That jarred honey garlic sauce from Trader Joe’s? Perfect. Don’t overthink it.

Why These Ingredients Work

Ground beef is a weeknight MVP because it cooks stupid fast and you don’t have to do anything special to it. Just brown it and you’re done. I tried using those fancy grass-fed beef crumbles once and honestly couldn’t tell the difference, so regular ground beef it is.

The garlic and onion thing—that’s non-negotiable. First time I made this I was out of onions and just used extra garlic. My son literally said “Mom, this tastes weird” before he even took a bite. Kids are brutal critics. The onion adds this sweetness that balances everything out, and the garlic makes your house smell like you actually know how to cook.

Broccoli has to be cut small or you’ll be there forever waiting for it to cook. Learned that one the hard way when I served basically crunchy tree branches the first time. Now I chop it into pieces my kids can actually fit in their mouths without gagging. Revolutionary concept, I know.

And that honey garlic sauce? Game changer. Bought it on a whim at Costco and now I panic-buy three bottles at a time. The honey’s sweet but not candy-sweet, the garlic is punchy, and together they make this glaze that literally makes my kids eat vegetables. That’s basically witchcraft.

Essential Tools and Equipment

You need like five things:

• Big pan (I use this old 12-inch skillet my mom gave me that’s probably older than me)
• Wooden spoon or whatever you stir with
• Knife that’s actually sharp (game changer, get your knives sharpened)
• Paper towels for the grease situation
• Measuring cups if you’re the measuring type (I eyeball everything but you do you)

How To Make Honey Garlic Ground Beef and Broccoli

Step 1: Sauté the Aromatics

Put your pan on medium heat and dump in the olive oil. Wait like thirty seconds till it looks shimmery and thin, then throw in your chopped garlic and onion. Stir them around for maybe a minute or two. You’ll know they’re ready when the onion goes from white to kind of see-through and your kitchen smells amazing.

Don’t answer the phone or check your texts during this part because garlic burns faster than you can say “dinner’s ruined” and then everything tastes like an ashtray. Been there, done that, had to order pizza.

Step 2: Brown the Ground Beef

Plop the ground beef in there and just start mashing it up with your spoon. I basically pretend I’m angry at the beef and attack it till it’s in little pieces. Takes maybe 3-4 minutes and you want zero pink left anywhere.

If you see a pool of grease hanging out in there (you probably will), grab some paper towels and soak it up. I usually fold up like three paper towels and just press them into the grease. Nobody wants to eat a grease pond. That’s not flavor, that’s just gross.

Step 3: Add the Broccoli

Dump all your broccoli in and keep stirring everything around for about 3-4 minutes. You’re shooting for this perfect spot where it’s cooked enough to eat but still has some crunch. Should be bright green and tender but not falling apart.

My kid watches me cook this now and goes “Is it crisp-tender yet?” like she’s on some cooking show. But yeah, that’s exactly what you want. Crisp-tender. Sounds fancy but just means not mushy.

Step 4: Pour in the Honey Garlic Sauce

This is where it gets good. Pour that whole cup of honey garlic sauce right over everything and mix it around like crazy. Every single piece of beef and broccoli needs to be swimming in that sauce. Cook it another minute or two while you’re stirring.

The sauce gets thick and shiny and everything looks like it belongs in a restaurant. This is the part where I always sneak a bite to “test” it and then end up eating like three more bites because it’s that good.

Step 5: Serve Over Rice

Scoop your rice into bowls—I use big bowls because everyone always wants seconds—and pile that beef mixture right on top. Make sure you scrape up all that extra sauce from the pan and drizzle it over. That sauce on the rice? That’s the whole point of life right there.

You Must Know

Broccoli size is weirdly important here. Cut it too big and you’re chewing raw broccoli. Cut it too small and you’ve got green mush. Aim for chunks about the size of—I don’t know—a large grape? A golf ball? Somewhere in that zone.

Start your rice before you cook anything else! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had a pan of hot beef sitting there while I’m frantically making rice. My rice cooker takes like twenty minutes so I hit the button first thing, then cook everything else while it’s doing its thing.

Get rid of that grease. I don’t care if you think “but that’s flavor”—it’s not, it’s just oily beef water. Blot it out with paper towels. Takes literally ten seconds and makes everything better. My mother-in-law taught me this trick and it changed my life.

Personal Secret: Alright so I’m gonna tell you something I don’t usually share because it sounds weird. I add this tiny pinch of red pepper flakes right when I’m cooking the garlic and onion. Like, barely any. Not enough to make it spicy—my kids would stage a revolt. Just enough to add this little warmth you can’t quite identify.

Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks

Don’t pack your pan full of stuff. I made a double batch once in the same pan because I was too lazy to wash a second one, and everything just steamed instead of browning. The beef turned gray and sad. Use a bigger pan or make two batches. Learn from my failures.

Chop everything before you turn on the stove. This recipe moves fast and you don’t have time to be chopping garlic while your onions are burning. I line up all my ingredients like I’m on a cooking show (minus the little glass bowls because who has time to wash those) and then cook.

Frozen broccoli works if you’re desperate but you gotta thaw it completely and squeeze out all the water. Like, really squeeze it in paper towels till it stops dripping. Otherwise your whole dish turns watery and the sauce gets all diluted and sad.

Need more sauce because you’re a sauce person like me? Use a cup and a half instead of one cup. I do this every single time. We like things saucy in this house.

Want to add more vegetables? Go for it. I throw in whatever’s about to go bad in my crisper drawer. Bell peppers are good, mushrooms work, snap peas are great. Just remember harder vegetables need longer cooking time.

Flavor Variations & Suggestions

Sometimes I add a squirt of sriracha to the sauce when the kids aren’t looking. Makes my portion spicy, theirs stays mild. Parenting win.

Sesame oil and sesame seeds turn this into straight-up takeout food. Add a tablespoon of sesame oil with the sauce and sprinkle seeds on top. Tastes exactly like P.F. Chang’s but costs like five bucks.

Load up the vegetables if you’re trying to be healthy. I’ve done this with cauliflower, carrots, zucchini—pretty much any vegetable works. Just add a bit more sauce to cover everything.

Fresh ginger is incredible if you have it. Grate maybe a teaspoon and cook it with the garlic. Totally transforms the whole thing. My friend made it this way and I was like “what did you DO?” Now I keep ginger in my freezer and grate it frozen.

Low-carb people can use cauliflower rice instead of regular rice. My sister does this and swears it’s just as good. I need real rice but that’s me.

Ground turkey or chicken work too if you want something lighter. Turkey cooks faster though so watch it or you’ll end up with dry turkey bits. Been there.

Make-Ahead Options

I meal prep this every Sunday for my lunches. Make the whole thing, cool it down, stick it in four containers. Done. Sometimes I prep rice separately, sometimes together. Either way works fine and it lasts all week in the fridge.

You can chop your vegetables the night before if you’re one of those organized people. Stick them in containers in the fridge. Shaves off like five minutes of cooking time the next day. I do this when I know Tuesday’s gonna be insane.

This freezes great for like three months. I made a huge batch once and froze half. Pulled it out a month later, thawed it overnight, reheated it—tasted exactly the same. Don’t freeze it with the rice though. Rice gets weird in the freezer. Make that fresh.

My coworker does Sunday meal prep and makes this plus two other dinners. Says she barely cooks during the week now. That’s living the dream right there.

Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips

The whole secret to this recipe is not murdering the broccoli. Keep it a little crunchy. That’s what makes it taste restaurant-quality instead of cafeteria food.

If your sauce looks too thick, just add a splash of water or soy sauce. Too thin? Let it bubble for another minute. It’s pretty forgiving honestly.

This doubles or triples easy. Made it for a dinner party once—tripled everything, used my biggest pan. Everyone asked for the recipe. Felt like a real chef for like five minutes.

Use whatever rice you want. White rice, brown rice, jasmine, basmati. They all taste good. I use whatever’s in my pantry that week.

Serving Suggestions

Usually we just eat it over rice because that’s the easiest. But I’ve done it over lo mein noodles when I had leftover noodles from Chinese takeout. That was actually amazing.

Sometimes I’ll throw it over quinoa if I’m pretending to be healthy. Works fine. Tastes good. Still prefer rice but quinoa makes me feel virtuous.

My friend serves this in lettuce cups like it’s some fancy appetizer. Says it’s healthier. Sure, if you’re into that. I need my carbs to function.

If I’m feeling extra (which is rare), I’ll make those frozen egg rolls from Trader Joe’s on the side. Or pot stickers. Makes it feel like a real Asian feast even though everything came from my freezer.

Top it with whatever you’ve got—green onions look pretty, sesame seeds add crunch, I’ve even thrown cilantro on there when I had it. Makes it Instagram-worthy before we demolish it.

How to Store Your Honey Garlic Ground Beef and Broccoli

Throw leftovers in a container with a lid and stick it in the fridge. Lasts 3-4 days easy, probably longer but we always finish it before then. I keep the rice separate or it gets mushy and weird.

Freezer works great for this. Put the beef mixture in freezer containers (label them or you’ll find mystery containers in six months). Keeps for three months. I freeze it in single portions so I can grab one for lunch without defrosting the whole batch.

Reheat it on the stove with a little splash of water to loosen everything up. Or microwave it—I’m not fancy. Heat it in one-minute chunks and stir in between so it heats evenly.

If you froze it, let it thaw in the fridge overnight first. Trying to reheat it from frozen is just annoying and takes forever.

Rice reheats best in the microwave with a damp paper towel on top. Brings back some moisture so it’s not all dried out and sad.

Allergy Information

What’s in here that might be a problem:

• Soy (most honey garlic sauces have soy sauce in them)
• Garlic (duh)

Making it work:

Got celiac or gluten issues? Check that sauce label because some have gluten. Use tamari-based sauce instead.

Can’t do soy? Coconut aminos taste pretty similar and work fine.

This doesn’t have dairy so that’s one less thing to worry about.

Low-FODMAP people can use garlic-infused oil instead of real garlic and skip the onion. Or use just the green parts of green onions.

Questions I Get Asked A Lot

My broccoli turned mushy. What did I do wrong?

You cooked it too long, cut it too small, or both. Shoot for 3-4 minutes max and make the pieces bigger. Also if your pan’s super crowded everything steams instead of cooks and you get mush. Give it room to breathe.

Can I make my own honey garlic sauce?

Sure if you want. Mix ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup soy sauce, 3 smashed garlic cloves, a tablespoon of rice vinegar, and a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water. Simmer it a few minutes till it gets thick. Let it cool before using. Honestly though the store-bought stuff is fine and way easier.

How do I prevent the garlic from burning?

Keep your heat at medium not high. Don’t leave it alone even for a second—seriously, garlic burns so fast it’s ridiculous. If it starts browning too much, yank the pan off the heat or turn it down. Burned garlic tastes nasty and ruins everything.

Can I add other vegetables to this dish?

Go wild. I throw in bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots, whatever. Add harder vegetables like carrots when you add the broccoli. Softer stuff like bell peppers or mushrooms can go in a minute later. If you’re adding a ton of vegetables you might need more sauce to coat everything.

Is this recipe keto-friendly?

The beef and broccoli part works for keto if you use sugar-free honey substitute in your sauce. Skip the rice and do cauliflower rice. Just watch your store-bought sauce because most of them have sugar. Check the label.

💬 Made this? Tell me everything! Did your kids eat it? Did you burn the garlic? (It’s fine, we’ve all been there.) Drop a comment and let me know what you thought!