Ground Beef Substitutes & Stretchers

Historically, people have stretched ground beef using grains, starches, vegetables, and textured proteins like oats, breadcrumbs, rice, and potatoes. These ingredients were heavily relied upon during periods of economic crisis and wartime rationing to bulk up meals and feed more people with less meat. Thus, our many inherited meals we still enjoy: soups, stews, casseroles, stuffed vegetables, tacos, and many more dishes. These techniques still work today to stretch your ground beef, in some cases give it structure, and to add flavor and other nutrients.

• Oats and cereal: Home cooks mixed rolled oats or crushed breakfast cereals (like Wheaties) into meatloaves and hamburger patties to absorb juices and increase volume. Plus the cereal helps the meat hold together.
• Breadcrumbs and crackers: Crushed saltines, stale bread, or dry breadcrumbs were folded into ground meat mixtures (meatballs, meatloaf, burger patties) to add bulk and bind the ingredients.
  On my cholesterol diet, add oatmeal to meatballs and meatloaf, if making, in place of bread or crackers, or use whole wheat/grain bread or crackers.
• Rice and pasta: Cooked brown or white rice, macaroni, and other starches were stirred into skillet dishes, soups, casseroles, stuffed peppers, or meat patties to turn a small fraction of meat into a large, filling meal.
• Vegetables: Finely dice or grate mushrooms, onions, carrots, or zucchini so they blend right in with the meat. Cook the vegetables down in the pan before or while browning your beef. Use about 1 cup of chopped veggies for every pound of beef.
• Potatoes: Diced or mashed potatoes were cooked directly in the same skillet with small amounts of ground beef, famously known during the Great Depression as "Poor Man’s Meal".
• Beans and lentils: Cooked black beans, kidney beans, or lentils were blended into chilis, tacos, and meat bases to add both fiber and plant protein.
• Onions and cabbage: Finely chopped onions, cabbage, and shredded root vegetables added moisture, bulk, and savory flavor while reducing the required meat ratio.

Add Lentils to Saucy Ground Beef Dishes (to use less meat)

I don't remember where I found this idea, but:

• To use less meat: add 1/2 cup of cooked homemade brown or green lentils (canned lentils too soft) into 1 pound of ground meat when making dishes with crumbly meat, like tacos, chili, shepherd’s pie, sloppy joes, stuffed peppers and ground beef casseroles. These recipes have plenty of sauce and texture, which help the lentils blend in without dramatically changing the flavor or feel of the dish. Good for getting youngsters to eat more legumes.
• You can also replace up to half the meat with lentils in many recipes. For dishes that call for 1 pound of ground meat, try using 1/2 pound of meat plus 1 to 1-1/2 cups of cooked lentils.
• Skip this swap in drier recipes where ground meat needs to hold its shape, like burgers, meatballs and meat loaf - instead, can add oatmeal or whole wheat bread. Adding lentils to these shaped meats can make them overly soft and more likely to fall apart.
• Adding lentils to ground meat dishes boosts fiber, plant-based protein, iron and other important nutrients.

Recipes Using Ground Beef Substitutes

• Black Bean & Corn Stuffed Peppers (gives the option to add finely chopped walnuts or ground beef)
• Barley & Lentil Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (doesn't pretend to make these with a vegan ground beef)

Cooking Tips for Substitutes

Mushrooms: Finely chop and brown them in a pan. They add a rich, meaty texture and savory flavor, making them ideal to swap for half or all of the beef in sauces and tacos.

Lentils: Cooked brown or green lentils match the texture of crumbly beef well in chilis and pasta sauces.

Add Depth: Use soy sauce, tamari, or Worcestershire sauce to recreate the deep, savory umami flavor of beef. One recipe I came across uses Nutritional Yeast.

NOTE: Adding walnuts to vegan meat mixtures is high in fat, but it is mostly healthy unsaturated fat. Walnuts add rich flavor, a meaty texture, and omega-3 fatty acids. High fat means higher calories, so keep portion sizes in mind if you watch your weight. And their natural oils help hold veggie burgers and loaves together.

FMM: I don't think I would use any of these recipes to completely replace ground beef in recipes I make, but I would use them to give me some ideas about how to partially replace some of the ground beef to make the dish more healthy. I would also buy low-fat ground beef to use, like 90 - 10%, which would also make the dish more healthy. Exceptions would be if the mixture was central to the recipe I am making, such as Barley & Lentil Stuffed Cabbage Rolls. This recipe doesn't pretend to make vegan stuffed cabbage; it is basically a new version of stuffed cabbage.