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Teriyaki Ground Beef and Broccoli

We clearly love easy one pan meals around here, and it doesn’t get much easier than this teriyaki ground beef and broccoli. The broccoli is slightly charred in the pan before browning ground beef and seasoning with garlic, ginger, and your favorite teriyaki sauce for convenience. Then everything is served over rice with a simple spin on homemade yum yum sauce for a complete meal.

This dish works great as a quick weeknight dinner or as a meal prep option thanks to how well it reheats. With extra lean ground beef and low fat ingredients for the sauce, you have a high protein and macro friendly dish. But enough talk, let’s get cooking!

teriyaki ground beef and broccoli with rice, yum yum sauce, scallions, and toasted sesame seeds

How to Make Teriyaki Ground Beef and Broccoli

It’s super easy, but you’ll want a large pan with plenty of surface area for best results.

Pan Roasted Broccoli

Start by cutting away the florets from a couple crowns of broccoli. Cut any large florets in half or into fourths to create more bite size pieces and more surface area to make contact with the pan.

You can also use fresh broccoli florets if your grocery store has them pre-cut. I wouldn’t, however, use frozen broccoli florets.

Heat a skillet with olive oil and add the broccoli florets. Once the broccoli is in the pan, leave it alone for 2-3 minutes or until it begins to char on one side. At that point, give the broccoli a stir and cook another 2-3 minutes until it turns a dark green color.

broccoli florets in a skillet with olive oil

Transfer the broccoli to a bowl and set aside. Don’t worry, the broccoli will finish cooking with residual heat and in the teriyaki sauce with the ground beef.

Side note: If you like the charred broccoli and want to take it all the way and fully cook in the pan as a side dish for something else, just add a tablespoon or two of water and cover the pan for a few minutes. The residual steam will finish cooking the broccoli. See my orange chicken bowls for an example.

Cooking the Ground Beef

Speaking of, the process of cooking the ground beef is simple enough. Like I mentioned in my ground beef and quinoa recipe, browning ground beef is an important step. So, be sure to fully heat the pan and leave the beef alone long enough to develop a nice crust on one side before breaking apart to fully cook.

cooked ground beef with teriyaki sauce

You’ll see fresh garlic and ginger are listed as optional ingredients. With a simple recipe like this, a pop of freshness from this duo goes a long way so I’d recommend including them. You can buy frozen minced garlic and ginger cubes (see my Traeger kalbi recipe for an example) now so go that route if you hate prepping either ingredient.

Teriyaki Sauce

I used the soy-free Teriyaki sauce from Primal Kitchen. My preferred “lower calorie” teriyaki is the one from Kevin’s I used for my ground beef stir fry recipe. If you’re a Costco shopper, you can pick up the Kindred teriyaki sauce from my ground bison and rice recipe there as well.

Feel free to use any teriyaki, though. You could also make your own.

sautéed broccoli with the teriyaki ground beef

Yum Yum Sauce and Serving Your Ground Beef with Broccoli

Typically I’d say a finishing sauce like this is optional, but the yum yum sauce really makes this dish in my opinion. It’s creamy, sweet, spicy, and elevates the broccoli and ground beef. All that to say, don’t skip the sauce!

The recipe calls for light mayo but if you’re not calorie conscious, go with the real deal or the even creamier Kewpie mayo like in my Asian-fusion esquites. I also have a healthier yum yum sauce recipe that’s made with Greek yogurt instead of mayo.

light mayo, garlic powder, rice vinegar, honey, sriracha in a bowl

As for the rice, I like to make a blend of cauliflower rice and jasmine rice. If you mix 3 cups of cooked cauliflower rice with 2 cups of cooked jasmine rice, you can have 1 1/4 cup of the rice blend with each serving. That adds around 120 calories, 4g of protein, and 26g of carbs to each serving.

teriyaki ground beef and broccoli in a bowl with rice, sauce, and sesame seeds

Garnish with some freshly sliced scallion, toasted sesame seeds, yum yum sauce, and maybe soy sauce (or a favorite of ours, Bachan’s Japanese barbecue sauce) before digging in.

All right, you’ll find the printable recipe card below. Don’t hesitate to ask any questions about the recipe in the comments at the bottom of this post, and I always appreciate recipe reviews.

And if you love this ground beef and broccoli recipe, I bet you’ll like my ground beef and brussels sprouts skilletblack pepper beeffirecracker ground beef, and honey sesame ground chicken stir fry as well.

teriyaki ground beef and broccoli in a bowl with rice, sauce, and sesame seeds

Teriyaki Ground Beef and Broccoli

Yield: 4 Servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Pan roasted broccoli and ground beef with teriyaki sauce and served with a homemade yum yum sauce over rice.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
  • 12 oz Broccoli Florets
  • 1 pound Ground Beef*
  • 1" piece Ginger, minced (optional)
  • 2 cloves Garlic, minced (optional)
  • 1 cup Teriyaki Sauce*

For the Sauce

  • 1/4 cup (60g) Light Mayo
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon (23g) Sriracha or Chili Garlic Sauce
  • 1 Tablespoon (21g) Honey
  • 1 Tablespoon (15g) Rice Vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

For Serving

  • Rice or Cauliflower Rice
  • Toasted Sesame Seeds Scallions, thinly sliced

Instructions

  1. Mix the sauce ingredients together and set aside.
  2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add the broccoli and leave untouched for 2-3 minutes until slightly charred on one side. Flip the broccoli and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
  3. In the same skillet, heat a 1/2 tablespoon of oil before adding the ground beef. Brown one side before breaking apart and fully cooking.
  4. Once the beef is fully cooked, create a center well and add the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil, followed by the ginger and garlic. Cook for 30-60 seconds until fragrant before stirring together with the cooked beef.
  5. Add the teriyaki sauce and stir everything together. Cook for 1-2 minutes until the sauce thickens and begins to stick to the beef. At which point, add the broccoli back to the skillet. Turn off the heat and stir everything together.
  6. Serve over rice with the sauce and garnish with sesame seeds and scallions, if desired.

Notes

*The nutrition facts are with 96% lean ground beef and Primal Kitchen teriyaki sauce.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1/4 of the beef and broccoli
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 340Total Fat: 14gCarbohydrates: 24gProtein: 25g

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