Easy One Pot Pasta with Ground Beef and Broccoli
This easy One Pot Pasta with Ground Beef and Broccoli is for those nights when dinner needs to be quick and easy. As in, almost hands-free. And family-friendly too. I love making this simple all in one pasta dish that is super customizable, is and manages to be light and flavorful with no red sauce or any cream!
Welcome to a favorite weeknight pasta dinner recipe that is mix and match friendly. What I mean by that is, you can easily swap ingredients, customized to what you have in the refrigerator… and what your family will eat. I simply adore this recipe for One Pot Pasta with Ground Beef and Broccoli, but actually you can use this recipe to make a delicious pasta recipe with whatever you have to hand.
I love this for it’s easy, almost cooks itself qualities. Perfect for busy people, students, and people who hate washing up! This is one of those recipes so many people have been in touch after making, and I love hearing about how it has made their dinner times easier, especially from people who are only just learning how to cook for themselves.
Any short pasta like penne, macaroni, farfalle, just to name a few. I’ve also used shells and wagon wheels, which are kind of fun! Pretty much anything will work, just check the pasta is done and add a little more liquid to the pot if it needs cooking for longer so it has something to absorb.
Gluten-free pasta is healthy and fiber-rich. It works just fine in this recipe. It does cook a little faster, so check the pasta toward the end of cooking.
Well, broccoli, obviously, is my first choice. Most people love it cooked crisp-tender. Adding cheese to the pasta makes it very family-friendly – the kids will love it! But you can use whatever veggies you want for this dish.
You want about 4 to 5 cups of vegetables. One pound of broccoli will be roughly 3 cups chopped. Think of another cup or so of vegetables to add.
I sometimes love to include broccoli, cherry tomatoes, spinach, sliced mushrooms, asparagus, peas, zucchini or summer squash, or chopped peppers.
Absolutely. Ground turkey or pork are easy substitutions, but if you like ground chicken, it works too.
If you enjoyed this recipe on 31 Daily, you might also enjoy:
- One Pot Pasta with Tomatoes and Spinach
- Tortellini Skillet with Meatballs
- Pasta with Zucchini Garlic Butter Sauce
- Roasted Garlic Sausage Pasta
- Linguini with Canned Clam Sauce
- Healthy Tamale Pie Recipe (Mexican Casserole)
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Easy One Pot Pasta with Ground Beef and Broccoli
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
This easy One Pot Pasta with Ground Beef and Broccoli is for those nights when dinner needs to be quick and easy. As in, almost hands-free. And family-friendly too. I love making this simple all in one pasta dish that is super customizable, is and manages to be light and flavorful with no red sauce or any cream!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 8-ounce package mushrooms, sliced
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 8 ounces pasta (short, see note)
- 3 cups low sodium broth (beef, chicken, vegetable)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 broccoli head, cut into florets (about 3 cups)
- 12 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat a large Dutch oven or pasta pot and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onion and mushrooms; saute for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink; about 5 minutes, breaking it up as it cooks. Sprinkle in the dry pasta, salt, and pepper; then add the broth. Bring the broth to a boil and level the pasta with a spatula until the pasta is mostly submerged in the liquid.
- Cover and cook on low heat for 10-12 minutes. Once the pasta is al dente, remove the lid. Add the broccoli, tomato, garlic, and red pepper flakes to the pasta. Stir and cover the pasta. Turn off the heat and let the pasta and vegetables steam in the residual heat for 5 minutes.
- Once the vegetables are crisp-tender, add the fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese as desired. Stir and serve.
Equipment
Lodge Enamel 6-Quart Dutch Oven
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Cuisinart Cast Iron Dutch Oven
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Notes
You can use any short pasta shape in this recipe; gluten-free shapes also work well.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Category: Pasta
- Method: One Pot
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 359
- Sugar: 5
- Sodium: 874
- Fat: 15
- Saturated Fat: 5
- Unsaturated Fat: 7
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 26
- Fiber: 5
- Protein: 32
- Cholesterol: 74
Keywords: one pot pasta, pasta, italian pasta, broccoli pasta
Stumbled upon this recipe while trying to use some of the random veggies and ground turkey we had. It was great!!! My whole family loved it.
Hi Noelle– I’m so glad you stumbled onto us! Thank you for trying the recipe. I’m so glad your family enjoyed it– mine does too!
If you look up “beginner cook” online you’ll see a picture of me looking back at you but I’m looking to eat better and this recipe seemed within my skill set. I followed the recipe as designed except for the pasta where I substituted whole grain penne regate as that was the closest pasta I had available. The dish came out great though there was about a cup’s worth of liquid left when done and from your picture it appears it should have been mostly absorbed? I liked the flavor as is but it seems easy to add other seasonings & vegetables to change things up. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Hi Nolan! You made my day! Thank you for trying the recipe and letting me know how you liked it and how it worked. You are absolutely right, it’s so easy to experiment with this recipe, changing vegetables, meat (even eliminating it), pasta, and seasoning. I’m so glad you found it easy to make and can’t wait to hear how you change it up!
Hi Stephanie!
Thank you for this easy recipe. I made it earlier today. I had no tomatoes so used a few tablespoons of salsa. Oh and I used gluten-free elbow macaroni. 🤷🏼♀️ Daily, I MUST track my calcium intake. I don’t have a choice. Any chance you can help me with that? I’d certainly appreciate it. 🫶🏼👩🏼🍳
Hi Marti! I’m so glad you enjoyed the one pot pasta! I too watch calcium so completely understand. I cannot find a reliable source for the exact measurement of how much calcium is in this dish. Without modifications, the recipe contains 8% of recommended daily calcium. Hope this helps. By the way, the use of salsa was a brilliant substitution!
Hi! How would I adjust the recipe if I wanted to use fresh pasta? Would I still use the same amount of broth? Thanks!
That is such a great question, Alison! I have not tested this recipe with fresh pasta. But generally, one pot pasta recipes, cooked similarly to this one, use 4 cups of water (in our case broth) for 16 ounces of fresh pasta. Fresh pasta tends to clump more than dry pasta, when cooked with larger components, like broccoli. I’m a huge fan of fresh pasta, but I’m not sure how it would do in this dish. I’ll add it to my cooking list to test soon though!
I made this tonight, will vegetable broth, tomatoes and frozen broccoli and beef. I didn’t having onion, but adding Italian herbs, paprika and garlic powder added lots of complementary flavour. Really tasty!
I’m so glad you liked it, Brennan! Those spices are my absolute favorite.
I especially like the suggestions on how to customize the recipe. Broccoli is a particularly good idea, because the florets create more spaces so nothing crowds out anything else. It’s nice to run across a recipe without red sauce.
That is a great way to describe what broccoli does! I’ve not thought about it in that way but you’re so right. I love broccoli, especially in pasta!
Was looking for a recipe to use up brocoli, pasta and ground beef and this one tasted amazing. I saved the website as I do for all my favourite recipes. I used medium lean ground beef because it was cheaper and I’m pretty sure I used a little more than prescribed but it tasted amazing nonetheless.
I’m SO glad you liked it! And you’re right, often a little higher fat ground beef is more affordable. I love how adaptable this recipe is and I’m thrilled that you enjoyed it!
I’ve never left a comment on a recipe from the internet until today. I just graduated college, moved to a new city with a new job and have been looking for things to cook.
The first time I made it I was just looking for something to use up ground beef and pasta. I didn’t have mushrooms or tomatoes or garlic cloves. I didn’t even have enough broth and I had to cut it with some water. Despite that, it was plenty good enough for me to go out of my way to get the right materials and make it again.
I recommend this dish and i recommend you use the right amount of ingredients too (but if you’re missing a few things you’ll survive).
Thank you SO much for commenting on this recipe and sharing your experience. I’m so happy you liked it and that you experimented with the ingredients you had on hand. Your comment made me smile as just yesterday, I also made this pasta, and like you, had to make do with what I had on hand. Congratulations on graduation, your new job… and your new city! I hope you have fun cooking!!
I did this recipe today but I modified it a bit. What a did in other way? I used different pasta. I don’t like the type you used, it just doesn’t taste good for me, so I used Fusilli. And, I used different variety of broccoli. My harvest was so big that I still have a few purple broccoli – the same ones as these: https://gardenseedsmarket.com/broccoli-miranda-seeds-brassica-oleracea.html – and I used one of them. It was really tasty and delicious!
Hi Jemima! Fusilli would be super good and I LOVE the idea of purple broccoli! I’m so glad you liked it!!
I was hesitant to make this recipe because of no reviews. I had broccoli and ground beef on hand, but did not want to make a stir fry because they contain soy sauce which I cannot eat. This meal was wonderful and full of flavor. I used frozen mushrooms, fresh broccoli and low sodium chicken bone broth. I will add it to our recipe collection of favorite recipes!
Hi Nancy! Thank you for leaving a review — We love this recipe for quick dinners. I’m so glad you liked it. Your veggie choices are delicious and bone broth makes everything healthy and wonderful. Have a great night!