The Seasoning Mistake That's All Too Common When Cooking Ground Beef

Ground beef is an underrated ingredient that can lead to so many delicious dishes. Whether you're making meatloaf, tacos, pasta sauce, or meatballs, ground beef won't steer you wrong. It's also very affordable and easy to find. But ground beef does have its shortcomings. When you're using it as the star of your dish, it can end up bland and flavorless if you don't season it correctly. Oftentimes people will only add seasoning after it's been browned, when really you should be mixing that seasoning into the raw meat.

Ground beef cooks pretty quickly, making it a versatile ingredient. But that also means there's a limited time for flavor to develop. You only have a short window in which to build flavor. So if you start cooking the beef before adding any seasoning, you're limiting how much flavor can develop.

Salt dissolves protein in beef, so adding it causes ground beef to become a little stickier and bind together more. That also means the flavor can penetrate throughout the meat. But if you add it after it's cooked, it will just sit on the surface. The same is true of other seasonings you may want to add like pepper, cumin, chili powder, oregano, or taco seasoning. Season with dry spices at the beginning of the cook, not after, for the most flavorful result.

You do need to be careful about adding salt to your ground beef, especially if you are making meatballs, meatloaf, and burgers. If you add it too early, it will cause the proteins to break down too much and bind in a way that leaves behind its naturally crumbly and tender texture. That's why heavily processed burgers taste different from a homemade patty that still crumbles when you bite into it.

Adding seasoning too late is one of the main mistakes to avoid with ground beef, but this rule generally only refers to dry spices. Things are different if you are adding soy sauce or another liquid source of flavor. Because sauces are high in water, adding them too early risks steaming or boiling your beef instead of getting a proper sear. If you're trying to brown your beef and get that flavorful Maillard reaction, hold off on the liquid until after you've accomplished those goals.

If you're making an Italian meat sauce, the same rules apply to adding any wet ingredients. That means anything from onions to tomato sauce. Let your beef cook thoroughly first, get it brown with a nice caramelization, then add the wet ingredients to finish the dish. This will ensure the best flavor for all the elements. With that in mind, try out any of these 16 ground beef recipes to see which you like best.