CHEFFIFY

3 recipes · 21 Oct 2026

What to make with ground beef and potatoes

A pack of mince and a bag of potatoes is a whole week of dinners. Here are three ways to use them.

Open your fridge See the recipes

Your first recipe is free. No account needed.

Ground beef and potatoes are the backbone of cheap, filling food. They take on whatever you season them with, so the same two ingredients can be a cosy pie, a crispy one-pan hash or something with a bit of heat.

Each recipe below started from a different fridge. Cheffify picked the dish and kept the shopping list short.

Classic Shepherd's Pie
AI-generated photo. Your dish will look a little different.

Classic Shepherd's Pie

  • 60 min
  • Serves 4
  • 550 kcal a serving
  • Easy
  • British

A comforting, hearty classic that perfectly uses your ground beef and vegetables under a golden, cheesy mashed potato crust.

Made with Cheffify’s AI from these ingredients

In the fridge ground beef, potatoes, carrots, onion, frozen peas, beef stock cube, cheddar

Used from the fridge
ground beefpotatoescarrotsonionfrozen peasbeef stock cubecheddar
Worth buying (optional)
  • + Worcestershire sauce Adds depth to beef
From the pantry
saltblack pepperolive oilbuttergarlicmilk

Ingredients

  • 500g ground beef
  • 800g potatoes
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1 large onion
  • 150g frozen peas
  • 1 beef stock cube
  • 100g cheddar
  • 50g butter
  • 60ml milk
  • 2 cloves garlic

Allergens: contains milk. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes.

Calories
550 kcal
Protein
30 g
Carbs
45 g
Fat
28 g

Per serving, estimated by AI.

Method

  1. Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks. Boil them in salted water until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain well.
  2. While potatoes boil, dice the onion and carrots. Heat oil in a large pan and sauté the onion and carrots until soft. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add the ground beef to the pan, breaking it up with a spoon, and cook until browned. Drain excess fat if needed.
  4. Dissolve the beef stock cube in 200ml of boiling water and pour into the pan with the beef. Simmer for 10 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Stir in the frozen peas.
  5. Mash the cooked potatoes with butter and milk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. Transfer the beef mixture into a baking dish. Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the top. Sprinkle with grated cheddar.
  7. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (400°F) for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling.

Tip For an even better crust, use a fork to create little ridges in the mashed potato before sprinkling the cheese; these will get extra crispy in the oven.

Smoky Beef and Potato Skillet Hash
AI-generated photo. Your dish will look a little different.

Smoky Beef and Potato Skillet Hash

  • 30 min
  • Serves 2
  • 550 kcal a serving
  • Easy
  • American

A comforting, one-pan skillet dinner where crispy potatoes and spiced ground beef come together perfectly. It's hearty, fast, and relies on simple, bold flavors.

Made with Cheffify’s AI from these ingredients

In the fridge ground beef, potatoes, red pepper, onion, eggs, smoked paprika

Used from the fridge
ground beefpotatoesred pepperonionsmoked paprika
Left for another day
  • eggs save for a hearty breakfast
Worth buying (optional)
  • + fresh parsley adds a fresh, bright finish
From the pantry
olive oilsaltblack peppergarlic

Ingredients

  • 250g ground beef
  • 3 medium potatoes
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Allergens: none of the common ones in this ingredient list. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes.

Calories
550 kcal
Protein
32 g
Carbs
45 g
Fat
28 g

Per serving, estimated by AI.

Method

  1. Dice the potatoes into small 1/2-inch cubes so they cook quickly. Finely chop the onion, red pepper, and garlic.
  2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and tender. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  3. In the same pan, add the ground beef. Break it up with a spoon and cook until browned, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add the onion and red pepper to the beef. Sauté for 3-4 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and smoked paprika, cooking for another minute until fragrant.
  5. Return the cooked potatoes to the skillet. Toss everything together, season generously with salt and pepper, and cook for 2 more minutes to meld the flavors.

Tip For extra crispy potatoes, make sure to dry them thoroughly with a paper towel before adding them to the hot oil, and avoid crowding the pan.

Keema Matar (Spiced Beef and Potato Curry)
AI-generated photo. Your dish will look a little different.

Keema Matar (Spiced Beef and Potato Curry)

  • 40 min
  • Serves 4
  • 450 kcal a serving
  • Easy
  • Indian-inspired

This comforting, one-pan curry balances the richness of the ground beef with tender potatoes and sweet peas, all brought together by a creamy yogurt finish.

Made with Cheffify’s AI from these ingredients

In the fridge ground beef, potatoes, frozen peas, canned tomatoes, ginger, curry powder, greek yogurt

Used from the fridge
ground beefpotatoesfrozen peascanned tomatoesgingercurry powdergreek yogurt
Worth buying (optional)
  • + fresh cilantro adds essential brightness and freshness
From the pantry
oniongarliccooking oilsaltblack pepper

Ingredients

  • 500g ground beef
  • 3 medium potatoes
  • 200g frozen peas
  • 400g canned tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp curry powder
  • 120ml greek yogurt
  • 1 large onion
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbsp cooking oil

Allergens: contains milk. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes.

Calories
450 kcal
Protein
28 g
Carbs
35 g
Fat
22 g

Per serving, estimated by AI.

Method

  1. Peel and dice the potatoes into small, bite-sized cubes. Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and grated ginger, cooking for another minute until fragrant.
  3. Add the ground beef to the pan. Break it up with a spoon and cook until browned. Drain any excess fat if necessary.
  4. Stir in the curry powder, coating the beef evenly. Add the diced potatoes and canned tomatoes (with their juices). If the mixture seems too dry, add a splash of water.
  5. Cover the pan and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
  6. Stir in the frozen peas and cook for 3-4 minutes until they are heated through. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Greek yogurt to create a creamy sauce.

Tip To prevent the yogurt from curdling, remove the pan from the heat entirely before stirring it in, and add it slowly to the sauce.

Swaps

Missing something, or cooking for a different diet? These work in the recipes above.

Ground turkey or pork
Works in all three. Turkey is leaner, so add a splash more oil when browning.
Vegetarian
Swap the beef for a can of green or brown lentils (drained) and use vegetable stock.
Sweet potatoes
Swap them in one for one. They cook faster and brown more, so check them early.
No stock cube
A teaspoon of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce adds the same savoury depth.

What to buy to finish it

Every recipe works with what it lists. These optional extras are what Cheffify suggested to lift each one.

Pantry basics these recipes assume

saltblack pepperolive oilbuttergarlicmilkonioncooking oil

Good to know

  • Ground beef is safe at 71°C (160°F). Unlike a steak, it should not be served pink in the middle. USDA safe minimum internal temperatures
  • Brown the mince in a hot pan without stirring for the first few minutes: the crust is where the flavour is.

Got something else?

Tell Cheffify what’s in your fridge. It picks what goes together, writes the recipe and tells you what it left out. Your first recipe is free, with no account needed.

Open your fridge

How these recipes were made

Each recipe started as the fridge list shown with it. Cheffify’s AI (the same Chef’s Pick you get in the app) chose what goes together and wrote the recipe on 21 Oct 2026, and an image model made the photo. We read every recipe before publishing, but they haven’t been tested in a test kitchen. Times and nutrition are estimates, and the allergen notes only cover the listed ingredients.

More things to make

Choosing a fridge-to-dinner app?