As a kid, I remember eating things like Hamburger Helper (or Tuna Helper, cringe<\/em>) on the regular. This MSG, hydrolyzed corn, protein-infused one-pan meal was a staple of the 80s. My friends and I would bemoan its existence over equally processed school lunches. Obviously, I hadn\u2019t been taught my own food rules <\/a>to cure picky eating at that point!<\/p>\n As the saying goes, \u201cWhen you know better, you do better.\u201d I can honestly say I\u2019ve never bought a Hamburger Helper from the grocery store. That said, I can understand the appeal!<\/p>\n A meal that comes together in 20 minutes and only needs one pound of meat? Yes, please!<\/p>\n Hamburger Helper certainly did have one thing right\u2026 the convenience! I\u2019m sure its low price and simple preparation were some of the major reasons it gained so much popularity (the taste\u2026 not so much!). An easy beef stir fry makes the perfect weeknight dinner that even picky eaters can like.<\/p>\n With a few simple and equally inexpensive real food ingredients, you can replace the pre-packaged one-pan meals with more nutritious options. You could use gluten-free noodles or shirataki noodles<\/a>, in place of the regular ones, but this recipe is a perfect way to get more veggies into your diet. I always like creating new recipes and this one is now a favorite with the kids!<\/p>\n I often use our spiralizer<\/a> to slice zucchini into thin noodles for this recipe. If you don\u2019t have a spiralizer- get one! They do magic tricks to get kids to love making and eating vegetables.<\/p>\n Another benefit to this recipe is how easy and fast it is to prepare. My kids love that they can help <\/a>prepare this recipe. And the older kids can now prepare this all on their own without my help.<\/p>\n This simple stir-fry is a regular in our meal planning rotation. It\u2019s also one of my go-to dishes for busy nights when I don\u2019t have anything else ready to cook. I\u2019ll usually use beef for the ground meat, but you could also use ground turkey or ground chicken if that\u2019s what you have on hand.<\/p>\n Zucchini is our favorite vegetable in this recipe but you can use any vegetable you have on hand. Some that readers have used and loved are carrots, yellow squash, kohlrabi, or sweet potatoes.<\/p>\n You can also mix it up with a variety of spices for completely different flavors. Some of our favorites are:<\/p>\n More Topping Ideas<\/strong><\/p>\n Now that our family does eat some grains, we\u2019ll often have stir fry over white rice. My favorite is jasmine rice but sometimes I\u2019ll do cauliflower rice (which is still a veggie). I actually prefer it to brown rice (here\u2019s why<\/a>).<\/p>\n So let me introduce our favorite beef and zucchini stir-fry recipe\u2026<\/p>\n \tA Ground Beef Stir Fry That\u2019s Better Than Takeout<\/h2>\n
Turn Vegetables Into Noodles<\/h3>\n
Ground Beef Stir Fry Variations<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
![\"ground](\"https:\/\/wellnessmama.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Beef__Zucchini_Stir-Fry-200x200.jpg)
Zucchini and Ground Beef Stir-Fry Recipe<\/h2>\n