Ideal for meal prep, this mouthwatering one dish cheeseburger skillet hits the spot when craving something delicious for dinner or lunch. It’s ideal for the whole family and ready in under 20 minutes. And you can serve it infinite ways!
I sat down to post a cheeseburger bake recipe but decided to back it up a bit and post the recipe for just the meat mixture instead.
Why?
Because once you make this, you open a door of infinite possibilities for dinner.
And if you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for a way to make ground beef outside of the typical tacos. And if you’re anything like my family, cheeseburgers are always in high demand.
Inspired by the good ol’ fashion cheeseburger, this recipe is the best because it brings all the flavor and toppings in just one easy dish meal, which means easy to prep and easy to clean up.
And it’s packed full of color! So, I guess you could call it a healthy cheeseburger skillet. But we’ll just call it good 🙂
Ingredients for One Dish Cheeseburger Skillet
Everything you love on your cheeseburger is cooked within. Check it out:
- ground beef— Any will work, but may I suggest Good Ranchers? So delicious and love having it right in my freezer, individually packaged in small amounts. And better than organic 😉
- hamburger seasoning— I keep this one on hand for instant burger flavor.
- frozen onion— recommend keeping in freezer at all times but you could use fresh onion or even use onion powder
- frozen spinach– A little green on a burger is always good. And you know my favorite hack: Freeze Spinach and crumble it in!
- tomatoes — use diced tomatoes canned or fresh chopped tomatoes
- Ketchup— a must have and gives so much flavor
- Mustard— blends in for a touch of tangy goodness
- pickles— I recommend dill pickles but any would work
- shredded cheese— You can’t go wrong with any cheese. Cheddar is always a winner but use what you love. And a combination of cheese is delicious too!
Can I make substitutions to this recipe?
Easy one pan skillets like this are ideal for families because you can make so many substitutions. Add, subtract or use something else!
For example:
- Substitute the meat (ground chicken or turkey)
- Got a request for bacon cheeseburger skillet? Throw in the bacon or bacon bits
- For picky eaters, leave out certain ingredients. You can serve them on the side.
How to make:
- Brown meat until almost done in pan over medium heat and drain
- Return to heat and add onion, spinach, seasoning and continue to cook, stirring
- Add in ketchup, mustard and blend well.
- Add pickles, tomatoes and top with cheese
- Remove from heat, mix once more and you’re ready to enjoy
How to serve One Dish Cheeseburger Skillet:
Great for meal prepping, you can take this out of fridge, quickly reheat in a pan or microwave and serve it:
- on sandwich (think sloppy joe style )
- as cheeseburger bake with biscuits
- with pasta
- on quesadilla
- on flatbread
- in a wrap
- on top of salad
There are literally no wrong ways to serve this, including scooped right from the pan onto your plate.
Tips/Tricks
- Picky eater? No problem! You can customize this to please. Leave out what husband/kid doesn’t like and toss it into yours last minute
- Store in fridge for 4-5 days
- Freezes well, just defrost and warm for a later meal
- While I recommend 1.5 lb of meat, you can totally make it with that 1 lb you have on hand
- To keep this a true one dish meal, I highly recommend this silicone strainer. It attaches to any size pot or pan and makes draining meat easy. Wipes clean with soap and water but it’s also dishwasher safe!
Is this dish healthy?
This dish is ideal when it comes to creating a balanced plate. Lean, high quality ground beef for protein, veggies blended in for color and flavor and served to order. Without a bun, it’s a low carb cheeseburger skillet dinner if you have any dietary preferences.
Skillets, or healthy one dish meals, like this are key to feeding a family and staying sane, IMO.
Easy to customize, you have multiple weeknight dinners, and you feel like you’ve nourished your family well…because you have! And I will always include low stress into the health category 😉
Cheeseburgers are tasty. They can be healthy. And when made in one skillet, they can be a lot of fun!
Recipe, please!
Please see recipe below. Print it or pin it/save it and add it into your dinner rotation this week!
Looking for something similar?
If you’re looking for another great way to cook up ground beef, check out:
If you’re looking for more one dish meals, check out:
Full Heart
If this one dish cheeseburger skillet helped get dinner on the table or infused a little extra joy in your day, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment below! And share the gift of easy with others. Please tag me @briefandbalanced on IG as you enjoy the cheeseburger skillet. That would mean so much! Thank you!
One Dish Cheeseburger Skillet
Equipment
- large saucepan
Ingredients
- 1.5 lb ground beef
- 1 tbsp hamburger seasoning
- 1/2 cup frozen onion
- 1/2 cup spinach leaves crumbled or chopped
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 1/2 cup pickles chopped
- 1/4 cup diced tomatoes canned, in juice
- 1/2 cup shredded cheese
Instructions
- Gather ingredients
- Brown meat in a large skillet over medium heat until mostly done (barely pink) and drain grease
- Return to heat and add frozen onion, spinach and seasoning, stirring until warm and wilted
- Stir in ketchup and mustard and blend together, allowing a light sauce to form
- Stir in tomatoes and pickles until warm.
- Top with cheese and remove from heat and allow cheese to melt, stirring it in
- Enjoy!
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