Check out this collection of easy to cook and truly delicious keto ground beef recipes! Ground beef is affordable, nourishing, and – when properly cooked – very tasty.
Ground beef is one of the easiest dinner ingredients. It’d affordable, nourishing, and – when properly prepared – very tasty.
It’s easy to stock up on ground beef and keep it in your fridge (the vacuum-sealed packs last for quite a while) or in your freezer.
How to cook keto ground beef recipes safely
Ground beef carries a higher risk of contamination than roasts or steaks. You can easily kill bacteria on the surface of steaks, for example, during cooking.
But when we ground beef, bacteria from its surface are mixed throughout the meat. So in order to kill the bacteria, we should cook ground beef all the way through, to an internal temperature of 160°F.
Not everyone does this, of course. Many people eat steak tartare or rare burgers with no ill effects. But one should be very aware of the risks and make an informed decision.
Generally speaking, most of my recipes instruct you to cook the beef so that it’s cooked all the way through. When I cook it to a medium temperature (mostly for burgers), I say so in the recipe.
What ground beef to use in these keto recipes?
I almost always use lean ground beef – 85/15, which means 85% lean beef and 15% fat. I either buy the prepackaged vacuum-sealed packs, or I ask the butcher to grind some beef round.
In my opinion, 85/15 ground beef has the perfect ratio of lean beef to fat and a very good flavor. However, in many recipes – such as casserole recipes – I drain the fat. So I find that it’s fine to use extra lean ground beef (90/10, or freshly ground sirloin).
Some people swear by 80/20 ground beef (ground chuck) in terms of texture and flavor. But personally, I find it a bit too rich. And as I said, in many of these recipes I end up draining the fat anyway.
It’s not that I object to fatty cuts of beef – on the contrary. But I prefer them in steaks and roasts, such as this amazing ribeye roast.
How to store leftovers
If you refrigerate cooked ground beef within two hours of cooking it (1 hour if the temperature is above 90 °F), you can safely keep it in the fridge, in an airtight container, for 3 or 4 days. You can also freeze it for up to 4 months.
Reviews of these recipes
Many of these recipes have Pinterest reviews. These include my recipe for ground beef casserole, my recipe for zucchini lasagna, and my recipe for cheesy kale casserole.
20 keto recipes made with ground beef
I make these recipes regularly for my family. They are tasty, easy to make, and leftovers are fabulous in the next few days.
1. Keto cheeseburger casserole
This casserole is amazing. It is wonderfully creamy and cheesy, and the best part? It’s SO EASY to make. Leftovers taste great too!
2. Keto meatloaf
Everyone should have a good meatloaf recipe in their repertoire, and for those on the keto diet, this one is a winner. The secret ingredients? Parmesan cheese and unsweetened ketchup!
3. Ground beef meat pie
This is one of my favorite keto ground beef recipes. The addition of tomato paste (just a little) really enhances the flavor of the meat.
4. Meatza
This keto pizza has a well-seasoned ground beef crust. It’s very different than a doughy crust, but it’s delicious!
5. Scotch eggs
I LOVE this recipe. It’s not one of my easiest, but it’s also not too difficult to make. And it’s so much fun to bite into a well-seasoned meatball and find a hardboiled egg hidden inside!
6. Baked hamburgers
This is probably the easiest way to cook hamburgers, which helps explain why it’s one of the keto ground beef recipes I make most often!
7. Korean ground beef
The flavors in this dish are amazing. It is so well-seasoned. And when you serve it on cauliflower rice, you can enjoy these wonderful Asian flavors while remaining faithful to your keto diet.
8. Asian meatballs
Another winner in terms of flavor, these cute little meatballs are first baked, then coated in a delicious Asian-style glaze.
9. Taco salad
Who needs the tortilla shell? You can enjoy all the wonderful flavors of traditional tacos when you make this delicious taco salad. The ground beef seasoning is phenomenal.
10. Baked meatballs
Another easy recipe – simply bake the meatballs, then coat in a very simple glaze. My kids love these!
11. Sausage egg muffins
Similarly to Scotch eggs, the combination of flavorful ground beef and eggs is pleasing to the eye AND very satiating.
12. Sloppy Joes
Unlike traditional recipes, this one is not loaded with sugar, yet it’s still very tasty. Leftovers reheat beautifully, so make extra and enjoy this dish for a few days.
13. Keto ground beef casserole
I love making this simple casserole because it’s so easy for me to make, and my family really enjoys it – even the notoriously picky eater. It’s wonderfully creamy and very tasty.
14. Zucchini lasagna
Some Pinterest users say that they prefer this to traditional lasagna! 😮 Now, I don’t know about that. But it’s certainly very tasty, and helps prevent those feelings of deprivation on the keto diet.
15. Stuffed peppers
My grandma used to make amazing stuffed peppers with rice. I make mine without rice, and while they pale in comparison to hers (she was a gifted cook, I’m just trying to follow in her footsteps!), they are very very good.
16. Ground beef kale casserole
It’s wonderful that this very tasty keto ground beef recipe enables me to hide some kale in the ground beef! I’m not a big fan of kale, but it’s really good for you, and this casserole makes it quite palatable.
17. Spaghetti squash and meatballs
I will never tell you that this is exactly like pasta. It’s not. But it’s a delicious dish that closely mimics the experience of eating spaghetti and meatballs.
18. No-bean chili
Yes, beanless chili can be very good, and in fact, some claim that real chili SHOULD be made without beans. I love how good leftovers are – in fact, they are even better than the freshly cooked dish.
19. Bunless burger
It’s certainly an adjustment that one needs to make after adopting a keto diet, but you learn fairly quickly that burgers can be very enjoyable indeed, even without a bun.
20. Keto empanadas
I saved this one for last because it does require quite a bit of work, but also because it’s one of my favorite keto ground beef recipes. It’s one of those recipes where the keto version tastes just as good as the original!
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, Reader's Digest, and Better Homes and Gardens.