Zucchini and Ground Beef Skillet

This ground beef, zucchini, and cheese skillet is one of our favorite meals. It’s a flavorful blend of ground beef, vegetables, and your favorite cheese that is sure to satisfy.

Prep Time:

15 mins

Cook Time: 35 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium sweet onion, finely diced
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) package sliced white mushrooms
1 (6.5 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and ground white pepper to taste
4 medium zucchini
1 (8 ounce) package shredded sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef and onion in the hot skillet until beef is browned and crumbly and onion is translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain and discard grease.
Crush stewed tomatoes into smaller pieces in a bowl, then pour into the skillet. Stir in mushrooms, tomato sauce, olives, garlic, salt, and pepper. Let simmer, uncovered, until liquid reduces, 20 to 30 minutes.
Slice zucchini lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Add zucchini to beef mixture; cover and cook until zucchini is firm yet tender to the bite, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in Cheddar cheese; cover and cook until melted, 3 to 4 minutes.

The onions go well with the other ingredients and are not a prominent taste in the dish. Of course, they are optional if you don’t like onions, but this is worth giving them a try. Actually, we use even more onion than this recipe calls for.

Although we enjoy this dish with olives and mushrooms, sometimes we omit them if we don’t have them on hand.

Use your favorite cheese instead of Cheddar if you prefer. We love cheese, so we usually double the amount called for in the recipe.

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