This Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet is a gluten-free, whole30, and paleo-friendly meal that will be ready in less than 30 minutes. You only need one pan to make this delicious recipe, making cleanup a breeze!
The first part of this post was originally published on February 21st, 2017.
Before I talk about this yummy Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet recipe, I’d like to share something very special that happened last Sunday.
I consider myself a very calm mom. I mean I’m not stressed or worried too much about things like “Why he is not eating well today?” or “Why he is being so fussy today?” and so on. I just understand that these things are normal, and babies have days where they are not feeling so great. When Thomas had his first fever, I didn’t run to the emergency room. Of course, I just knew it was a simple cold because I talked to my sister, who has a two-year-old son, and my mother-in-law who is a nurse. I was fine. Not a big deal! I guess I’m like that because I worked with young children for years teaching English in Brazil and volunteering in daycares here in Canada. And, I also have great support from my family and friends who have already passed through all these things. 😉
But if there is something that I was very worried about, it was Thomas’s teething. OMG guys, I couldn’t wait to see a tooth coming in. Seriously, I was very worried and even considering going to a specialist to see why his teeth weren’t coming in. Every baby that I know had teeth before they were one year old. My nephew had his first two teeth when he was 6 months old. Some friends’ babies had theirs when they were four months old!! Two weeks ago, Thomas turned one, and he still didn’t have any teeth. My husband was always joking saying “Look, babe! I can see a tooth coming in. It’s coming… It’s coming!” And, I knew he was just playing with me.
So, Sunday we went for a long walk in downtown Toronto and stopped in a store to buy jeans and t-shirts. Pierre and Thomas were sitting on the sofa inside the store waiting for me while I was in the fitting room trying on a few clothes. When I finally came out, my husband came to me and said: “Babe, I have good news for you.” Then, I said: “Yes, what?” He said: “I just saw Thomas’s first tooth coming in!!”. And honestly, I wasn’t very excited: “Really?!!” As you can imagine, I didn’t care much because I thought he was simply pulling my leg like he usually does. But this time, he completed his sentence saying: “Please, put your finger in his mouth, and you’ll feel it. I’m not kidding this time.” Immediately, I did what he told me to do, and I couldn’t believe it! There was actually a tooth on his bottom gum!!
OMG, I was so happy that I can’t describe it. I’m only going to say that tears came to my eyes! I kissed my little Thomas so much, and he was just laughing! So happy!! I texted my close friends and called my family to tell them. That is how excited I was. I know, I know… It sounds so stupid, but that’s what parents do when we are proud of our babies, right?
This second part of this post was updated on August 15, 2018 with new pictures and more information about the recipe.
Another thing that I am very excited about is how delicious this Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet turned out. This is a new version of my most popular recipe on the blog: Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet. So good!! Meal prep bowls, like my Spicy Chicken Meal-Prep Bowls, Ground Turkey Cauliflower Rice Veggie Bowls, and Spicy Salmon Vegetable Meal-Prep Bowls make meal time so easy. Just got to grab it from the fridge and reheat it!
Anyways, lately, I’ve been receiving emails from my subscribers asking me to make a new version of my ground turkey recipe because they love it. They say they enjoy it because it is very flavourful, easy, quick-to-make, healthy, a one-pan meal, gluten-free, whole30, and paleo-friendly!! Some readers told me that they make this recipe to take to work for lunch.
So, I made this Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet recipe for 5 portions so that you have a meal-prep recipe for the 5 days of the work week. I also added cauliflower rice, making it a very satisfying lunch box. Got extra sweet potatoes? Try my Sweet Potato Chicken Soup Recipe!
On top of that, I added zucchini since the previous recipe (ground turkey sweet potato skillet) has only sweet potatoes. I think the zucchini adds more nutrients and goes really well with ground turkey or beef. But, don’t forget to cut both the zucchini and sweet potatoes very small because it helps them cook faster.
The Dijon mustard is something new I used in this Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet recipe as well, and I really love this addition. It brings life to any dish, don’t you agree? But if you don’t like it, you certainly can leave it out.
I also used tomato passata, which is a liquid tomato puree, to add another layer of flavour to this Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet recipe, but you can use any tomato sauce of your preference. One last thing I would like to say is that since so many people avoid dairy for so many reasons, I decided not to add cheese this time.
But if you are a cheese lover, go ahead and top it with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Mm… Yummy! This version is extremely tasty and easy-to-make, just like the other one. In less than 30 minutes, you will have this delicious Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet recipe to enjoy!
The meal-prep container that I recommend:
In my opinion, glass containers are the best to store food because they don’t release toxic substances into your food like plastic does when used in a microwave. You are safe with glass containers. But, when you choose glass containers, please consider a few things like:
- Choose containers with leakproof lids to avoid spills.
- Buy a good-quality glass container that won’t break easily.
- Make sure it’s safe to use in the microwave and has freezer-safe tempered glass.
- And finally, buy different-sized containers because it helps to stack them easily and take up less space in the fridge.
Amazon.com has a huge variety of glass containers with different sizes, with or without compartments. Check them out here .
More healthy recipes that are perfect for your weekday meal-prep:
- Sweet Potato Chicken Kale Skillet: This recipe is great because it’s also very easy to make and uses only one pan. It’s whole30, paleo, and gluten-free.
- Easy Cauliflower Fried Rice: Do you love rice but don’t like all the carbs? This is definitely the recipe for you. It’s perfect for lunch and is delicious.
- Slow Cooker Chicken and Sweet Potato: This recipe requires only 6 ingredients, 10 minutes to prep, and is a healthy, easy meal-prep recipe for during the week! It’s also whole30, paleo, and gluten-free.
- Sweet Potato, Kale and Shrimp Skillet: Are you too busy to meal-prep? Not a problem! This recipe is great for you because it only requires 4 ingredients and is ready in less than 20 minutes. It’s whole30, gluten-free, paleo, and super easy to make!
Ground Beef Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet (Meal Prep)
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Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound organic extra-lean ground beef
- 1 garlic clove minced
- ½ cup onions diced (cut very small)
- ½ cup red bell peppers diced
- 2½ cups sweet potatoes diced
- ¼ cup beef broth or water
- 1 medium zucchini quartered
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ⅓ cup tomato passata or tomato sauce of your choice
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper optional
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Fresh parsley chopped, for garnishing
For the meal Prep
- 5 cups cauliflower rice
Instructions
- In a cast iron skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
- Add the ground beef and garlic. Use a wooden spoon to break up the ground beef while it cooks. Stir occasionally, and cook for about 7 minutes until the meat is no longer pink. Remove the meat from the pan, and set aside.
- Add the onions, red bell peppers to the same skillet, and cook for 3-4 minutes or until the onions are soft. If necessary, add a little bit of olive oil to help sauté the veggies.
- Add the sweet potatoes and beef broth. Cook for 5-6 minutes. Put a lid on the skillet. The steam will help cook the sweet potatoes faster. Stir occasionally.
- Add the zucchini, and cook for 3 minutes.
- Return the ground beef to the skillet, and mix everything together.
- Add the Dijon, tomato passata, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for 1-2 minutes more.
- Garnish with fresh parsley.
MEAL PREPPING:
- Place an even amount of cauliflower rice into 5 different plastic/glass containers.
- Divide the ground beef zucchini sweet potato recipe into 5 portions.
- Cover with the lid, and place in the fridge for up 5 days.
- Heat in the microwave for about 2 minutes.
Tips
- If you like to meal-prep on Sunday, I have other meal-prep recipes here. But my favourite meal-prep recipes are these: Spicy Salmon Vegetable Meal-Prep Bowls, Spicy Chicken Meal-prep Bowls, Low-carb Ground Turkey Cauliflower Rice Veggie Bowls, and One-sheet Pan Shrimp with Cherry Tomatoes.
- You can swap the ground beef for any other ground meat.
- Feel free to swap the red bell peppers for any other colour.
- Make sure the sweet potatoes are diced uniformly, so they cook evenly.
- To store: Store the meal prep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- To reheat: You can reheat this meal prep in the microwave.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
If you’re looking to eat healthier, you should try to start the day with this delicious Low Carb Raspberry Smoothie!
If you like this Ground Turkey Zucchini Sweet Potato Skillet recipe, please share it with your friends and family. Do you want to taste more? Subscribe to my newsletter, and follow Primavera Kitchen on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Facebook for all delicious recipe updates. As always, I really appreciate you stopping by.
Kk says
The amount of pop-up ads and long ridiculous stories to navigate, to get to this recipe was quite the journey.
Olivia says
I’m sorry you feel this way. I hope you understand that I’m only able to provide free content/recipes on this site because of the ads. But I’ll talk to my ad network to see what we can do to give you a better experience on my site. Thanks.
Cherisse says
Thank you for sharing your recipes for free! They are worth the pop ups!
Olivia says
Aww you’re so kind and sweet. Thank you so much 😉
Diane Robison says
I was looking for a quick and easy recipe for dinner when I found your recipe for Sweet potatoe
as I just got out of the hospital and wanted to look for a recipe that I wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store for, so I was wondering if I could use red potatoes as I do not have a sweet potatoe for the recipe but I have everything else. Also I do have on hand a banana squash and carrots , can you give me a suggestion?
Olivia says
Yes you an use the red potatoes for this recipe too.
D’Ambrah King says
I love this recipe! I make it for my boyfriend and myself so I doubled everything and was so yummy! Only things I changed was I did ground turkey and reduced sodium chicken broth! Definitely my go-to healthy meal prep for before the gym!
Olivia says
Yes this is a great recipe for before the gym!
Maddy says
Really liked this! I would double the sauce next time I make it and add more salt. Also I’m considering adding fennel seed next time!
Olivia says
I think adding fennel seed would be great.
MDC says
What fantastic weeknight recipe loaded with lots of veggies and great flavor! I added mushrooms because I had some on hand that I wanted to use up. Excellent recipe!
Olivia says
Thank you so much. Happy you liked it!