70+ Crock-Pot Hamburger/Ground Beef Recipes

A collection of over 70 easy and delicious Crock-Pot Hamburger/Ground Beef Recipes that you can easily make in your slow cooker. Something for everyone, from soups and stews to meatloaf and more!

Hamburger (also known as ground beef) is an inexpensive choice for many families. You can make a ton of great dishes in your slow cooker to feed your family. From slow cooker casseroles to crockpot meatloaf recipes and everything in between! We love coming up with easy ground beef slow cooker recipes.

How To Save Money On Ground Beef:

My normal method for saving money on ground beef is to watch the sales circulars each week to see when it goes on sale for a great price. Sale prices are going to vary greatly from area to area so just keep notes on what the price is each week for a few months and when they go low buy several pounds at the best price. For me, when ground beef goes on sale for $1.99 per pound or less that is when I purchase 25 or more pounds at one time.

Additionally you can save money on ground beef by grinding your own! We often watch for sales on quality cuts of meat like beef roasts (chuck roast makes for some flavorful burger meat) and then we use the meat grinding attachment on our Kitchen-Aid stand mixer (or a stand alone meat grinder). Then, package the meat up and freeze it for long term storage.

To save even more time we like to cook up some of our hamburger meat, rinse and drain it (to remove fat) and freeze it already cooked. This is great for dumping into soups and other dishes.

In fact, in most dishes that use hamburger in the slow-cooker the recipe will call for the hamburger meat to be pre-cooked. That is because you need to remove the fat and get the meat crumbled for soups, stews and casseroles.

The exception for this of course is going to be dishes like meatloaf, meatballs and other dishes where the ground beef is formed into a shape.

What Type Of Hamburger To Buy:

Hamburger is usually sold by fat content here in the United States. You will often find the fat content spelled out on the package in percentages.

92% Lean to 8% Fat
90% Lean to 10% Fat
85% Lean to 15% Fat
80% Lean to 20% Fat

In most cases, the higher the fat content of the meat the less expensive it is. However, when you factor in cooking, browning and draining off the fat you are left with less actual meat. So we feel that it is a better choice to go ahead and spend more money on the less fatty meat as you will end up with more meat and usable product.

How To Drain The Excess Fat Off Cooked Hamburger Meat:

When draining the fat off of cooked ground beef it is best to not pour the grease down your kitchen drain as this often leaves a fatty build up in your pipes overtime and ends up being a costly repair by a plumber. Instead drain the fat into a container, let it cool and solidify and then scrap the solid fat into the trash can.

Using Other Meat Besides Ground Beef:

Please feel free to substitute ground turkey, chicken, venison, or even bison in just about any dish calling for ground beef. The taste and texture may be a bit different but it should still be tasty!