Easy Ground Beef Stir Fry with Noodles
Ground beef stir fry with ramen: kid-friendly weeknight dinner recipes don't get any better than this! Made with budget-friendly ramen and bulked up with fresh veggies, this is a ground beef recipe you'll use again and again.
I am always looking for budget-friendly fast weeknight dinners for my family.
This easy ground beef stir fry cooks in just 20 minutes and uses lots of easy prep shortcuts to make sure that getting dinner done fast is possible even on a busy night.
The recipe was a huge hit with my entire family and there are so many variations you can play with to tailor it for yours!
Why This is the Best Recipe
My family loves Chinese take-out but sometimes the budget says we need to cook at home. This ground beef stir fry recipe is the perfect answer because:
- Quick & Easy: 15 - 20 minutes and the dish is ready to serve.
- Kid Friendly: My kids gobbled this up even with the veggies. They'll eat almost anything if it includes a noodle.
- Flexible Variations: You can make this the perfect recipe for your family just by switching up the veggies you include.
- Budget-Friendly: A package or two of ramen noodles are significantly cheaper than regular pasta. Use whatever veggies are on sale and inexpensive ground beef for a cost conscious dinner for the family.
Ingredients
This easy recipe starts with a short and simple list of ingredients:
- Ground Beef: You could substitute ground turkey, ground chicken, or ground pork if you prefer. Whatever is on sale will totally work.
- Mixed Stir Fry Vegetables: You can use whatever you have on hand, fresh or frozen. Be sure to see my notes about the best stir fry veggies below.
- Oriental Ramen Noodles: Yes, the super cheap kind you used to eat in college. Any flavor will work since you won't be using the seasoning packet.
- Soy Sauce
- Minced Garlic
- Asian Seasoning Blend: Most major spice companies offer a stir fry blend. If you don't want to use that, you can use my stir fry seasoning recipe.
- Fresh Green Onions for garnish (Optional)
Stir Fry Seasoning
I always keep a jar of this store bought prepared stir fry seasoning in my pantry because it saves me so much time in the kitchen.
If you don't want to buy it, you can mix together your own homemade stir fry seasoning using spices you likely already have in the pantry right now.
You can get my full stir fry seasoning recipe here.
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Cooking Instructions
First, brown the ground beef in a very large skillet over medium-high heat.
Crumble it as it cooks until it is no longer pink. Drain the excess fat as needed.
Add the Asian stir fry seasoning blend and minced garlic to the beef and stir to combine.
Then you'll add your veggies and quickly saute them.
Break up the ramen bricks and sprinkle them into the pan. Pour the water over the top and stir to combine.
Cover the pan with a lid and let the stir fry simmer until the noodles are tender, just 1 - 2 minutes.
Stir the noodles into the juices at the bottom of the pan so they absorb as much flavor as possible and let cook for just 1 more minute.
Pour the soy sauce over the top, garnish with green onions if desired, and serve immediately.
NOTE: Do not overcook the ramen, it will soften quickly so keep an eye on it!
Variations
I used a bag of frozen onions and bell peppers with chopped fresh broccoli. You could easily substitute any of the following vegetables:
- Pea pods: sugar snap peas or pea pods, fresh or frozen
- Celery: fresh, chop it or slice it on the diagonal
- Bell peppers: fresh or frozen, sliced or cut into chunks
- Broccoli: fresh or frozen florets
- Shredded carrots: grate your own from fresh or use the pre-shredded carrots from the store
- Onions: sliced thinly or chopped
- Baby corn: canned, you can find it in the Asian foods section of the grocery store
- Asparagus: fresh or frozen
You could also swap the ground beef with ground pork, ground turkey, or ground chicken if you want to lighten the dish up a bit.
Make Ahead Tips
When you cook anything with delicate ramen noodles, the dish will taste best when you serve it immediately. The longer the ramen sit, the more moisture they absorb and the mushier they become.
I prepared the entire recipe for the photos for this post around noon when the light was good in my kitchen. I stored the entire batch in a dish in the fridge and heated it up in the microwave a few hours later.
In that short time, the dish became more dry and the noodles were far too soft for our preference.
If you want to make it ahead of time, I suggest that you prepare the ground beef and veggie mixture in advance but stop the recipe when it calls for adding the water and ramen.
Refrigerate the beef and veggies. Then when dinnertime comes, warm them through in the skillet and then finish off the rest of the recipe so that the ramen is cooked fresh just before eating.
Serving Suggestions
I love this easy skillet recipe because everything we need for dinner cooks in just one pan.
If you wanted to dress the dish up a bit, you could serve it with my roasted peppers and pineapple on the side.
You could also add some heat with a dash or two of sriracha sauce or a spoonful of chili crisp. I love to load mine up with fresh chopped green onions.
More Easy Asian Dinner Recipes
If you love Asian-flavored stir fry recipes, you'll love this spicy gochujang noodles recipe which features mushrooms in the mix.
Our family also loves this easy spicy peanut butter noodles with pork which is finished in just 20 minutes. When we want chicken, I love making this Asian peanut butter pasta dish, too.
More Easy Ground Beef Recipes
When ground beef goes on sale, you might want to stock up to make these other delicious recipes using my ground beef meal prep packets for the freezer.
📖 Recipe
Ground Beef Stir Fry with Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tbsp stir fry seasoning prepared or homemade
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 cups mixed stir fry vegetables fresh or frozen, see notes
- 2 packages Oriental ramen noodles broken into quarters, discard the seasoning packet
- 2 cups water
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- Chopped green onions for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown the ground beef over medium-high heat until no longer pink. Break it up into crumbles with the back of a spoon as it browns. Drain the fat and return the skillet to the stovetop.
- Add the stir fry seasoning and minced garlic to the beef, stir to combine until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Add the veggie mix to the pan and stir fry for 3-4 minutes, mixing the veggies into the beef as they cook.
- Add the broken quarters of ramen noodles to the pan and pour the water over the top. Stir to combine and cover the pan with a lid. Let the stir fry simmer and steam until the noodles are tender. After a minute or two, stir the softening noodles into the liquid in the bottom of the pan so they can absorb the water faster.
- When the noodles are softened through, toss the noodles, beef, and veggies together and pour the soy sauce over the top.
- Serve immediately with chopped green onions for garnish.
Recipe Notes
A Note on Vegetables:
I used a frozen bag of onions and bell peppers meant for stir fry and chopped up one head of fresh broccoli when I prepared this dish. You can substitute:- pea pods: sugar snap peas or pea pods, fresh or frozen
- celery: fresh, chop it or slice it on the diagonal
- bell peppers: fresh or frozen, sliced or cut into chunks
- broccoli: fresh or frozen florets
- shredded carrots: grate your own from fresh or use the pre-shredded carrots from the store
- onions: sliced thinly or chopped
- baby corn: canned, you can find it in the Asian foods section of the grocery store
- asparagus: fresh or frozen
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Thank you for sharing the recipe! Gotta try it in a busy weeknight.