Ground Beef and Cabbage Stir Fry

TL;DR

We prepare various simple stir-fries in our skillets. A wok isn't always an integral part of our cooking equipment, especially when we are traveling, but a large skillet can work wonders!

I love to prepare my chicken and cabbage stir-fry or a mixed vegetable stir-fry whenever I'm feeling exhausted or when I'm short on time at night.

This ground beef and cabbage stir-fry is based on my previous recipes. You will love it if you are looking for a low-carb, healthier type of meal. It's also a super simple dish to prep from start to end.

Ingredient Notes

• Oil — Either neutral oils such as sunflower oil or canola oil or flavorful Asian oils such as in peanut oil or sesame oil.
• Cabbage — Sliced. I use a regular cabbage head, but you can make this with napa cabbage too. Just keep in mind that napa cabbage cooks through faster, and in that case you won't need to add water to the pan.
• Ginger — Fresh, shredded, paste, or finely chopped.
• Garlic — Fresh, finely chopped or in paste form.
• Green Onion — Fresh sliced. Separate bulbs and green stalks. The bulbs will be cooked, and the green onions will serve as a topping.
• Ground Beef — Regular or lean.
• Soy Sauce — Kikkoman style thin soy sauce. You can experiment with different soy sauces such as Chinese soy sauce, Thai soy sauce, or mushroom soy sauce.
• Vinegar — A milder vinegar. I like to use rice vinegar or white wine vinegar. Distilled vinegar is also ok.
• Water — So that the cabbage cooks through on the high-heat stir-frying setting.
• Sesame Seeds — To top the dish. I like to use both white and black sesame seeds to create a contrast.

Process Overview

Step 1

Heat oil in a pan and briefly stir-cook cabbage over high heat.

Make a well and stir in ginger, garlic, and sliced onion bulbs. Mix everything and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Step 2

Make space in the center and stir in the ground beef. Pour the soy sauce, vinegar, and water over that.

Step 3

Stir, cook, and mix over a steady high heat. Continue to cook until all liquids have evaporated.

Serve hot with sesame seeds and sliced green onion stalks as a topping.

Serving

Enjoy this beef and cabbage stir-fry with cooked rice, boiled or steamed. I think flavored Japanese (sushi) rice is a great addition to this meal or a simple egg fried rice.

If you would rather not prepare rice, you can have this meal with some bread or flatbreads. We usually end up going for this route when we are short on time.

Storing

Keep leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days refrigerated. The meal can be gradually reheated in the microwave or oven on a lower heat setting.

I like to store it in rectangular glass containers, which come with clip lids. These can be stacked over each other in the fridge or freezer, and they can be directly placed into the oven or microwave to reheat the meal.

To meal prep and freeze, prepare the dish as per the instructions and freeze in batches.