An easy and quick meal: ground beef and potatoes skillet with zucchini and herbs.

This zucchini beef skillet is one of those meals put together on a Sunday afternoon when you actually have nothing planned, and you just start searching your fridge and freezer in search of something to eat.
Many times we decide to eat just spaghetti with pesto or tomato sauce; I always have some homemade jars of pesto in the freezer or tomato sauce in the pantry.
But sometimes, I find more than just an opened jar of pesto in the fridge. So here it is: a quick and thoroughly delicious Sunday lunch with ground beef, potatoes and zucchini.
Recipe ingredients
- Zucchini: 2-3 zucchini, depending on size, about 450 g/ 1lb.
- Potatoes: This ground beef and potatoes skillet can be made with either leftover cooked potatoes or freshly boiled potatoes. If you cook the potatoes, cook them in their skin, drain, and let them cool until cool enough to handle. Peel the potatoes, then slice or cube them.
- Ground beef: You can cook this zucchini beef skillet with only ground beef or with a mixture of ground beef and ground pork. The second version will have more calories, but it will taste just as good.
- Dairy products: Heavy cream and a little crème fraiche; I added them to the zucchini beef skillet as well. If you only have heavy cream or only crème fraiche, you can use only one of the two.
- Or you can replace them with sour cream and a splash of milk, for instance, if that is what you have.
- Herbs: I used fresh summer savory and chives because I had them in the garden. However, feel free to use whatever herbs you have, for instance, parsley, dill, or a mixture of frozen herbs.
- You can also use this Homemade Ground Beef Seasoning and leave out the rest of the spices.
How to make zucchini and beef with potatoes?
I cooked the ground beef, potatoes, and zucchini dish in my cast iron pan (Amazon affiliate link). This pan is perfect for this kind of dish; however, if you don't have it, a regular large non-stick pan will be fine as well.
- Cook the potatoes, drain, let cool slightly, and peel, slice, or cube. Use leftover boiled potatoes if you have some.
- Cook the ground beef in the heated oil for a few minutes.
- Add onion and garlic. Continue cooking until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Chop vegetables: Half the zucchini lengthwise and slice the halves. Chop the bell pepper.
- Simmer: Add both to the skillet and fry for a few minutes. Add the broth, cover the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the veggies are done to your liking. Add the potatoes and reheat them.
- Add cream and crème fraiche, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper to taste. Stir carefully.
What to serve with it?
- Green Salad with Yogurt Dressing
- German Cabbage Salad
- Simple White Cabbage Salad
- Cucumber Dill Salad
- Shopska Salad
More recipes cooked in a skillet
Ground Beef, Zucchini and Potatoes
Ingredients
- 1 lb potatoes See note 1
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 lb zucchini
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- ½ cup single or heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons crème fraiche See note 2
- a few sprigs fresh summer savory or thyme See note 3
- small bunch of chives
- fine sea salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Potatoes: If you don't have any leftover potatoes, start by cooking the potatoes. Let cool slightly, peel, cube, or thickly slice them. Set aside.
- Chop: Finely chop the onion and the garlic cloves.
- Cook ground beef: Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the ground beef and stir for a few minutes until the meat changes color.
- Add the onion and the garlic and cook until the onions are translucent and the ground beef lightly browned for about 5 minutes.
- Chop vegetables: In the meantime, halve the zucchini lengthwise and slice the halves. Chop the bell pepper into cubes. Add both to the skillet and fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Simmer: Add the broth, cover the pot and cook for about 5 minutes or until the veggies are done to your liking.
- Add the potatoes and reheat them.
- Add cream, crème Fraiche, chopped herbs, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Stir carefully and serve immediately as suggested above.
Notes
- Leftover boiled potatoes can be used instead.
- The heavy cream and crème fraiche can be replaced with about 150 g/ 5.3 oz/ slightly more than ½ cup sour cream and a splash of milk
- You can use other fresh or frozen herbs instead, for instance parsley, dill or any other (frozen) herb mixture you like.
Angie@Angie's Recipes says
I adore one pot meal like this...this looks very tasty and satisfying!
Dawn @ Girl Heart Food says
I don't meal plan often, but I probably should 'cause I don't like throwing away food. We always try to eat our leftovers when we have them and even sometime repurpose them for another type of meal. I'm loving zucchini these days in all forms and this recipe looks delicious with the beef all in one skillet...my kinda meal. Love the touch of heavy cream in there just to make it a little richer. This is like the perfect comfort food 🙂 Something hubby and I would love!
Jutta Holden says
What is single cream? Heavy cream and whipping cream is the same, I believe!
Want to make this, looks so good!
Adina says
Hi Jutta. Single cream has less fat than heavy cream, only about 18%-20% fat compared to over 35%. If you don't mind the calories, you can definitely use heavy cream as well, it will make the dish even richer. I hope you like it! 🙂
Dianna says
Its a shame there are SO many advertisements jumping all over this page. They are SO distracting and irritating.
I'm looking forward to making a meal similar to this one, thank you for the inspiration.
Please try to ease up on the advertisements and all the pop-up videos.
imsen says
Love this recipe! This was very tasty!