Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry
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Spicy and delicious, because that’s what you are in the mood for, Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry is a meal that can be ready in 7-10 minutes. The flavors add a nice variety to your busy weeknights, and keep mealtime interesting.

When speed is of the essence but you still want to get a homemade hot meal to the table for your family, having a stacked freezer is essential. You can get more fantastic meal ideas, instant access to all our recipes, and exclusive video content with the Freezer Meal 101 Club. I’m also going to recommend you try a few similar recipes to get a feel for our methods — Shrimp Stir Fry Pack for the Freezer or Sheet Pan Cashew Chicken.
Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb. lean ground beef, browned and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups green beans, frozen
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup Franks red hot sauce
- 2 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- red pepper flakes
- 1 large (gallon) freezer bag or reusable silicone bag
How to Make Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry
Assembly Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a large freezer bag.
- Squish gently to mix.
- Remove excess air, seal and freeze.

Cooking Instructions
- Thaw in the fridge overnight.
- Add bag contents to large skillet or wok. Stir fry for 7-10 minutes.
- Serve over rice or noodles.

What kind of ground beef should I use?
Lean ground beef works best for freezer meal cooking. I always recommend 90/10 or 93/7 lean. If you need to use 85/15 or 80/20 ground beef, plan to drain off the grease using a strainer, and buy more than the recipe calls for to account for lost weight during cooking. Ground pork, ground chicken, or ground turkey could also be used for this recipe.
What is a substitute for rice wine vinegar?
This specialty vinegar gives off that classic Asian vibe in your food, but it can sometimes be harder to find. Look in the international aisle of your local grocery store. In a pinch, you can use apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or white distilled vinegar.
Two extra people showed up for dinner, what can I do to stretch this meal?
This happens at our house all the time! I love it! But also, it can make mealtime a little stressful if you don’t have ideas in your back pocket. Here are a few ways to quickly and easily stretch this meal at the last minute by adding things to the skillet. Add 1/2 cup of quick oats. Add veggies — more onion, broccoli or broccolini, mushrooms, bok choy, shredded cabbage, carrot strips or anything that goes well with stir fry.
It’s too spicy for my family, what can I do?
Add peanut butter. The fat will cut through the heat. Or add brown sugar to provide balance. Another trick is to double the other parts of the sauce to dilute the hot sauce more or when assembling the meal, omit the red pepper flakes and cut down on the amount of hot sauce.
Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry Recipe Ideas

Since this dish literally takes 7-10 minutes to heat through and serve, the longer pole in the tent of meal prep here is rice or noodles. Plan to start rice in your rice cooker at least thirty minutes before your planned meal time or prep the stir-fry noodles according to the package directions to be ready when your meat is ready. If you know you will be in a rush, make the rice the day before and refrigerate it. Then just microwave portions while the stir fry cooks!
The green beans aren’t required and can be substituted with halved snow peas, sugar snap peas, or one-inch pieces of asparagus.
Red peppers can be substituted with yellow peppers or orange peppers. The flavor of green peppers would be too strong.
I like to use minced ginger from the squeeze tube to save the hassle of peeling and mincing fresh ginger, which goes bad really fast.
Dial down the heat fast by removing the hot sauce and just using the pinch of red pepper flakes instead. You could even use hot honey! Or go with no heat at all.
I highly recommend using the Mix and Chop to cook your ground beef easily and thoroughly!
How do I store Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry?
Leftovers should be refrigerated in an airtight container and can be kept for a few days. Since the ground beef is pre-cooked and frozen, it should not be frozen a second time. Making individual containers with rice or noodles on the bottom makes these perfect for taking to work or school.
What to Serve with Firecracker Ground Beef Stir Fry?
Steamed or fried wontons or dumplings are a nice touch and a job that can be given to a teenager. Vegetable spring rolls from the freezer aisle at your grocery store can be baked while the rice is cooking. A miso or sesame bagged salad will match the theme nicely. Or you can just skip the theme and serve this with a nice crusty bread, which, my kids would argue, goes with everything. Also, you don’t need anything but rice or noodles to make this a meal, so don’t stress if extras seem like too much work. They are extras.

- 1 lb lean ground beef, browned and cooled
- 1 1/2 cups green beans, frozen
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup Franks red hot sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- red pepper flakes
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Add all ingredients to a large freezer bag.
-
Squish gently to mix.
-
Remove excess air, seal and freeze.
-
Thaw in the fridge overnight.
-
Add bag contents to large skillet or wok.
-
Stir fry for 7-10 minutes.
-
Serve over rice or noodles.
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