How To Crush Ground Beef Really Fine – I Test 4 Methods

This article was updated on 22nd September 2023 for clarity and to incorporate a new method.

Taco Bell can do it, so why can’t you? Taco meat, sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce. All of these can benefit from having super fine, crumbly ground beef.

But why is your beef clumpy? Big chunks of unseasoned ground beef aren’t appetizing for anyone. Luckily, your problem is easy to fix.

To crush ground beef, boil the meat instead of browning it (trust me!). Boiling the meat melts the fat, so the meat falls apart before it has a chance to form hard clumps. You can use a potato masher to squish any chunks that do form.

The experiment

I tested four different methods to crush ground beef and documented my results in this article.

I tested:

• The mix ‘n’ mash method: The finest texture.
• Simmering the ground beef: Good for big batches.
• Using a potato masher: Easy and convenient.
• Using a food processor: Good for mince in a sauce.

How To Crush Ground Beef: The Mix ‘N Mash method

Time: 10 minutes
Rating: 9/10

1. Turn the stove to a low heat.
2. Break your ground beef up by hand and add it to a deep skillet.
3. Add a ¼ of a cup of water or stock for every pound of beef.
4. Stir the mixture and mash the beef with a potato masher as the water heats and slowly starts to simmer (don’t let it boil).
5. When the water evaporates, you’ll have cooked, really fine crushed beef.
6. Add your seasonings and continue with your dish as normal or store the beef.

Using a potato masher here is key to getting the best results. And be sure not to let the water come to a full boil because this will lead to tough beef.

Results: This technique gave me extra fine beef. It looked gross when I was mashing it, but once all the water had cooked off I was left with super crumbly ground beef.

The method wouldn’t be so great for batch cooking because you need to be able to mash the beef effectively. But if you’re just cooking up a quick taco dinner, this would be my preferred method.

How To Crush Ground Beef: Simmering In Water

Time: 5-10 minutes
Rating: 8/10

1. Fill a saucepan with simmering water (don’t let it boil). Add any seasonings to the water you want.
2. Break the raw ground beef into small pieces using your hands and add it to the simmering water.
3. Stir the beef frequently while it’s cooking. You can break up any big clumps with a fork. The beef should take around 5-10 minutes.
4. Once it’s cooked through (no longer pink), remove the ground beef from the water.
5. Rinse the beef to get rid of any excess fat (optional).
6. Add the beef to your chosen dish, or save it for later. You can also save the cooking water to use as a stock in a different dish.

Don’t pour the cooking water down the sink. It’s full of fat and will clog your drain. Instead, pour the water into a big bowl. As the cooking water cools, you’ll notice a layer solidifying and settling on top of the water. This is fat. You can scoop it out and either put it in the bin or store it for later use. You can also save the water to use as stock.

Psst… all that fat you just threw away? That would normally be going inside you making this a pretty healthy way of cooking ground beef.

Verdict: This method produced uniformly ground beef, but it wasn’t as fine as the mix n’ mash method. It was good, but not amazing. That said, if you’re cooking in bulk boiling the beef in a saucepan is the easiest solution and it’s also the healthiest technique.

How To Crush Ground Beef: With A Potato Masher

Time: 5 minutes
Rating: 8/10

1. Set your stove to medium-low heat and add a small amount of oil.
2. As the oil heats, break up the raw beef with your hands or a wooden spoon.
3. Add the beef to the pan and continually mash it with a potato mashed as it cooks.
4. Once all the beef is browned, continue with your dish as normal.

It’s important you still stick to a lowish temperature with this method because if the beef cooks too quickly, you won’t have a chance to mash it up.

Psst… If you’re in the mood for a new kitchen gadget, then you could go a step further and invest in a Mix N Chop. It’s a tool specifically designed to crush, chop, and mince foods. Like a potato masher on steroids.

Results: The beef with this method wasn’t as fine as the water methods, but it is more convenient and allows you to get some sort of crisp on the beef. Overall a decent method.

How To Crush Ground Beef: In A Food Processor

Time: 1 minute
Rating: 5/10

1. Cook your beef.
2. Chuck it in the food processor and give it a blitz.

You can put the meat in the processor before you add it to a sauce or after. It doesn’t matter, but be aware if there’s any vegetable in your sauce they’ll also get blitzed!

An immersion blender will also work in place of a food processor. Just make sure the pot has deep enough sides that the meat won’t spray everywhere.

Results: This technique was quick and easy. At first, it didn’t look like it was working as the beef clumped up, but once I took it out, the clumps broke up really easily into fine and crumbly ground beef.

One downside was the extra washing up. I don’t enjoy washing my blender up at the best of times. Washing it after it had fatty meat in was NOT an enjoyable experience. One I wouldn’t be keen to repeat.

Other tips for getting really fine ground beef

I’ve explained the cooking methods that will produce fine ground beef, but there are a few other tips and tricks you can use to make your life easier.

Don’t brown the mince (cook long and slow)

Recipes will often call for you to brown your mince on a high heat, but this is not a good idea if you want finely crushed beef.

If you put your ground beef into a hot pan, it will start to cook immediately. Once it’s cooked, its texture becomes much harder and you’ll have a tough time breaking up any clumps that have formed. 

If you cooked it slower on a low heat, you have more time to break up the clumps before they get too hard. Unbrowned ground beef also has a more tender, silky texture compared to beef that’s been browned. Browned beef always ends up overcooked.

What about the Maillard reaction?

Of course, if you don’t brown your mince you miss out on the deep, rich flavors of the Maillard reaction (the reaction that creates the caramelized crust on beef). If this is worrying you, and I can appreciate why it would be, I have a simple answer.

Brown a small subsection of the beef, and boil the rest.

The flavors produced by the Maillard reaction are very intense, so adding a small amount (less than 1/4 of the total weight) of deeply browned mince to your dish will allow the flavors to penetrate the whole dish.

Don’t overload the pan

Ground beef is an ingredient that lends itself to cooking up big batches and portioning it out for later. This is great, but it also means you can easily overcrowd the pan and if there’s too much mince in the pan, you’re going to find it hard to spot all the clumps before they cook.

If you have a lot of mince, consider cooking it up in two batches instead, or have two pans on the go at once (who said you couldn’t multitask?)

Ask for a finer grind

Most shop-bought ground beef has a pretty coarse grind. If you buy your beef from a butcher (or you’re grinding it yourself), you can pick how fine or coarse your grind is.

As the butcher to use a fine grinding plate or pick your finest plate. The finer the grind, the easier it will be to get a really fine texture in your final dish.

You might consider grinding the beef twice, but I wouldn’t recommend that. Overworked beef can become chewy and tough. It’s much better to do a single, fine grind than to do two coarser grinds.

Avoid lean ground beef

The key to getting fine ground beef is to melt the fat before the meat cooks. Therefore, you need a decent amount of fat in the beef. Leaner cuts lack this fat, and it’s harder to get the delicate, crumbly texture. Opt for at least 20% fat if your aim is to get a finer texture

Psst… already got lean beef? I’ve got some great tips for adding fat to lean ground beef.

Related: How To Store Chicken Fat

How To Crush Ground Beef Really Fine

Taco Bell can do it, so why can’t you?

Taco meat, sloppy joes, spaghetti sauce. All of these can benefit from having super fine, crumbly ground beef.

In this recipe, I show you two ways to prepare your ground beef to get a deliciously fine and crumbly texture.

4.75 from 4 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 1 person

Calories 332 kcal

Equipment

• Potato masher

Ingredients

  

• 1 portion ground beef
• 1 pan cold water

Instructions

 

Boil your ground beef (Method 1)

• Fill a saucepan with cold water (you can add seasoning if you wish) and bring it to the boil. You need enough water to cover the beef you’re going to add.
• Turn the heat down so the water is simmering.
• Break the raw ground beef into small pieces using your hands and add it to the simmering water.
• Stir the beef frequently while it’s cooking. You can break up any clumps with a potato masher. The beef should take around 5-10 minutes to cook depending on how much you have.
• Once it’s cooked through (no longer pink), remove the ground beef from the water. DO NOT pour the cooking water down the sink. It’s full of fat and will clog your drain. Instead, pour the water into a big bowl.
• Rinse the beef to get rid of any excess fat (optional).
• Add the beef to your chosen dish, or save it for later. You can also save the fat and cooking water for later use.

Mix the meat with water before you cook it (Method 2)

• Turn the stove onto a low heat.
• Break your ground beef up by hand and add it to your pan (a deep skillet is best because this encourages steaming/boiling rather than frying).
• Add the liquid. A ¼ of a cup for every pound of beef is a good amount.
• Mix the beef and the liquid together (the beef will turn quite mushy, but don’t worry. As it cooks, it will firm up). The liquid will start to boil, so you’re effectively boiling the beef as in method 1.
• Continue to mix and crush the beef with your potato masher until it’s fully cooked. Most of the liquid should have evaporated off by now, and the beef will be nice and crumbled.
• Add your seasonings and continue with your dish as normal.

Keyword crumbly ground beef, fine ground beef, ground beef, powdery ground beef