Description
Super quick one-pan dinner with ground beef, broccoli, and this sticky honey garlic sauce over rice. Ready in 25 minutes and uses stuff you probably already have. Perfect for crazy weeknights when you need food fast.
Ingredients
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)
Instructions
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Notes
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.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Sauté, One-Pan
- Cuisine: Asian-Inspired