Beef Teriyaki Skillet

Ground beef and only 4 ingredients is all you need for this beef teriyaki skillet. One skillet pan and 15 minutes for an amazing dinner that the entire family will love. Serve over white or brown rice with a vegetable side!

Easy & quick skillet dinners are on repeat at my house these days. I keep a list of recipes I want to make and at least half of them are skillet pan dinners that are 30 minute or less meals. Which makes sense because we are right in the middle of getting our house ready to list for sale. Which means that my husbands tool collection now takes up my kitchen and dining room 🙂 

And it also means that I need quick dinners that don’t take a lot of time and stuff to make it. One skillet pan, ground beef, ginger, garlic, chopped onion, and some teriyaki sauce is all you need. If you want to avoid cutting an onion then buy pre-diced onion or frozen diced onion. If you do that there is no need to even pull out a cutting board and knife!

This beef teriyaki skillet is packed with flavor! Which always surprises me because all you need are 5 ingredients. Nothing makes me happier than a quick meal that tastes like it took hours to make, but you really know it only took minutes!

And I am pretty much in heaven when my kids eat dinner with no whining, complaining, begging me to let them not eat it, and/or getting up from the table because they refuse to eat what I make. This beef teriyaki skillet, I am happy to report, was devoured by all 4 kids. Even the 1 year old. 

Brown a pound of lean ground beef with some finely diced onion. Drain if needed. Add garlic, ginger, and some teriyaki sauce. Let it simmer so it gets nice & thick and for the flavor to get into the meat. Serve over rice. It literally take minutes to make this dinner!

For an even quicker version, use the squeeze tubes of garlic and ginger paste. As seen above in the picture. These paste tubes are my best kept kitchen secret. No need to chop and peel garlic and ginger. Just squeeze out what you need and then store it in the fridge. It keeps for months in the fridge. I am not a fan of garlic chunks in my food which is why I love the paste because it’s smooth with no chunks. 

You’ll find the squeeze tubes in the produce section of the grocery store.

There are so many options with the rice : 

• Cook up some minute rice on the stove top while the beef is cooking
• Use the rice cooker (plan ahead because the rice cooker usually takes a bit longer). I actually prefer rice cooker rice because of the texture of the rice, but it does take awhile to make it this way, and I rarely plan ahead of time for it. 
• Use the microwaveable cups of rice.
• Cook regular, long grain rice on the stove top.

Lots of options so choose rice that you love and have the time for. I always use white rice because that is what my family prefers, but brown rice would be equally good with this teriyaki beef. 

Tips for this beef teriyaki skillet

• Be sure you are using a thick teriyaki sauce. There is also a teriyaki sauce & marinade which is more the texture of soy sauce. You DO NOT want that one. You want a thick, paste like teriyaki sauce. You’ll find this by the other Asian ingredients of the grocery store. 
• For a super quick version, use pre-chopped onion or frozen chopped onion.
• If you use fresh ginger, use a vegetable peeler to peel off the rough brown skin of the ginger. Then use a grater to grate the ginger. Store the leftover ginger piece in a Ziploc bag in the freezer and pull out as needed straight from the freezer. 
• Serve this with a vegetable side dish. I will usually just microwave a bag of vegetables or put these carrots in the slow cooker earlier in the day. I also have this stove top version of carrots too. 

For more Asian inspired teriyaki dinners try these : 30 minute chicken teriyaki rice bowls, pineapple teriyaki chicken meatballs, or this slow cooker honey teriyaki chicken. 

5 from 1 vote

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15 Minute Beef Teriyaki Skillet

Prep Time

5 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Ground beef and only 4 ingredients is all you need for this beef teriyaki skillet. One skillet pan and 15 minutes for an amazing dinner that the entire family will love. Serve over white or brown rice with a vegetable side! 

Course: Main Course

Servings: 4 servings (1 cup each)

Calories: 305 kcal

Author: Jessica - Together as Family

Ingredients

beef teriyaki

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh, minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon fresh, minced garlic
• 3/4 cup thick teriyaki sauce

optional garnishes : green onions, sesame seeds

for serving : lettuce wraps, white or brown rice

Instructions

1. In a skillet pan, over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef and diced onion. Crumble beef as it cooks until no longer pink. Drain if needed.

2. Turn heat down to medium-low and add the ginger, garlic, and teriyaki sauce to the cooked beef. Stir together. Let simmer for about 5 minutes. Until it's thickened slightly and the flavors come together. 

3. Serve over rice or in lettuce wraps. Garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, if wanted. 

Recipe Notes

The beef teriyaki is not overly saucy at all. I think it's just perfect as is, but if you want a looser and more saucier beef teriyaki then add more teriyaki sauce and/or some water and pineapple juice to thin it out a bit. 

 

I use a yellow or white onion for this recipe. You could also use a Vidalia sweet onion if wanted. 

 

If you prefer to use dry spices then use 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder + 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger in place of the fresh garlic and ginger. 

 

Depending on your salt preference, you may want to add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the ground beef mixture. The teriyaki sauce can be sweet, but it also has lots of salt in it. If you want the extra salt, I would just add about 1/4 teaspoon to the ground beef and onion while it's cooking. 

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