On busy evenings with little time for cooking, you will love this hearty beef and vegetable skillet dinner! This meal is simple and quick to make, and packed with protein and veggies. I like adding carrots, potatoes, onions, corn, peas and celery. It’s easy to stretch this meal a long way, and my family always cleans their plates when I serve it!

When we go camping in the summertime we love to make tin foil dinners. I typically prep the beef and potatoes before we go. This makes the tin foil dinners super easy to put together and cook over a fire. This meal is really similar to a simple tin foil dinner with its basic, hearty ingredients. Instead of adding canned soup, I like to add a bit of beef Au jus. This adds depth of flavor to this one pan dinner. We then can individually season our plates with anything from cajun, Creole, seasoning salt, or Dan-O’s!

If you love tin foil dinners, you simply must try this recipe for Cajun Tin Foil Dinners, it’s one of our very favorites!

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Ingredient list for Hearty Beef and Vegetable Skillet Dinner:

Ground beef
Carrots
Russet Potatoes
Sweet onion
Frozen Peas
Frozen Corn
Celery
Mushrooms (Optional)
1 clove garlic (or garlic powder)
Seasonings of your choice
Salt and Pepper
Beef Au jus

Adding onion: to caramelize or not to caramelize?

A lot of kiddos do not like onions, I get it! I didn’t like them either until I was an adult. If you want to add onions to your skillet dinner, I highly suggest caramelizing them! When you caramelize a sweet onion it loses any sharp flavor. It becomes the most delicious little addition to any meal. I have noticed my kids rarely notice onions when they’re caramelized!

Because caramelizing onions reduces the amount you originally added, I like to add a whole onion to this dish. I typically give mine 10-15 minutes to really caramelize on med-lo heat, seasoned with salt.

Hearty Beef and Vegetable Skillet Dinner

Print Recipe

Course lunch, Main Course

Ingredients

Lean Ground Beef
1-2 Carrots Chopped
1 Sweet Onion Caramelized
1 Cup Frozen corn
1 Cup Frozen Peas
2-3 Stalks Celery Thinly sliced
Sliced mushrooms Optional
1 teaspoon garlic finely chopped (you can substitute garlic powder).
1 Large Russet Potato Peeled and cubed
1 packet beef au jus Optional but adds depth of flavor!

Instructions

Begin by cutting up one sweet onion and adding to a pan with butter or avocado oil. Cook on medium to medium low heat for 10-15 minutes until onions are caramelized. If you are adding mushrooms, I would add them now with the onions! Season with salt.
While onions are cooking, brown your desired amount of ground beef. Drain and discard fat. I like to add the diced potatoes after the meat has browned. Add in caramelized onions and remaining veggies. Season with salt and pepper.
Add in a packet of beef au jus, mixed with 1/2 cup of water. I like to allow the mix to simmer for 7-10 minutes with the lid on so the potatoes soften.
Sautee mixture until the liquid has evaporated. When the potatoes and carrots are tender the meal is ready. Serve hot.
We love to season with Creole or seasoning salt.
This makes a great meal for prep ahead lunches and dinners. It can also be frozen up to 3 months!

Reasons we make this dinner all the time:

While there is nothing fancy or photo-worthy about this hearty beef and vegetable skillet dinner, I find myself making it on repeat! Here are a few reasons we love it:

This recipe is really quick to make, especially if your ground beef is thawed. I usually have it ready to go in about 20-25 minutes!
This dish is really easy to change. You can simply add whatever veggies you have in your fridge, freezer or pantry. Variations for this dish would be adding squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, or other vegetables you have from the market or garden. If you needed to stretch it you could even add some prepared rice to it.
This meal makes a wonderful lunch or dinner that you can prep ahead. I like to use these glass containers to separate it, but you can also fill these deli containers and freeze it for up to 3 months!