The Best Tool To Break Up Ground Beef Isn't Your Spatula

From lasagna to empanadas, any dish that features ground beef is at its best when the meat is perfectly browned. When cooked properly, the flavorful juices of the beef come out to play with the other ingredients in the dish. Accomplishing this requires the meat to be evenly cooked, which is best done by breaking it up into small pieces. If the ground beef is not broken up thoroughly, larger chunks will cook more slowly than the smaller pieces.

It's no secret that breaking up ground meat with a spatula or spoon is both tiring and tedious. Spatulas and cooking spoons have dominated the culinary landscape for too long as far as ground beef is concerned, and not just because plastic cooking utensils may be toxic. Swapping your usual cooking utensils for a potato masher when cooking ground beef is game changing. The physical characteristics of a potato masher make it the most efficient and least energy consuming tool for breaking up ground beef.

Yes, you heard us right: Breaking up ground meat is one of the best ways you should be using your potato masher. Potato mashers excel at breaking up ground beef due to their large surface area and unique shape. The tool isn't limited to only breaking up the meat in a straight line, like a spatula or spoon.

While potato mashers are generally good for breaking up ground beef, not all mashers mash equally. Some potato mashers feature perforated holes more akin to a potato ricer. This style of potato masher excels when mashing things to fine bits. A zig-zag-style potato masher, on the other hand, will leave some unmashed pieces, potentially making it a better option for breaking up ground meat depending on how fine you want your beef to turn out. Regardless of the masher you use, when it comes time to prepare your ground beef, be sure to avoid the many other mistakes people make when cooking ground beef.