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Quick Beef Noodles With Veggies (One Pot, 20 Min)

ByCheryl AvrichUpdated on April 29, 2025
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5 from 5 votes

Whip up a quick and easy one-pot beef noodles dinner in just 20 minutes with ground beef, vegetables, and ramen or instant noodles – all tossed with a delicious savory sauce.

Nothing fancy – just comforting and satisfying and perfect for busy weeknights!

beef ramen noodles with veggies on plate.
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Basic Recipe – 4 Steps

  1. Sauté veggies, then ground beef in a skillet.
  2. Mix in sauce ingredients.
  3. Move everything to one half of the skillet, then cook noodles in the other half for 2 minutes.
  4. Toss noodles, beef and veggies together and serve.

What to expect

  • One-pot, 20 minutes. Cook the noodles right in the skillet with the beef and veg since instant and ramen noodles only take 2 minutes to cook. Very convenient!
  • Ground beef is much faster than using steak. No slicing, dredging, or marinating is needed.
  • Flexible veg. Use what you have or cut out the veggies except the onion (for flavor).
  • Simple sauce. Toss everything with the quick Asian-style sauce. (Skip the ramen seasoning packets, or use a good store-bought sauce if you’re in a rush.)

Bottom line: a tasty, weeknight-easy beef ramen with veggies – minimal dishes, maximum comfort.

Ingredients – tailored to your taste

ground beef, instant or ramen noodles, chopped vegetables, spinach, green onion, oyster sauce, brown sugar, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sriracha.
  • Ground beef – I use lean or extra lean ground beef.
  • Instant noodles – These come in small packages of 85-100 grams along with a seasoning packet that you will discard. The dried instant Ramen noodles are fine too. They both cook in 2 minutes.
  • Vegetables – I recommend including onions. Beyond that, use what you like or have on hand. I always go for red pepper and baby spinach for color and nutrition. Other good options are zucchini, mushrooms, matchstick carrots, cauliflower, bok choy and snap peas.
  • Sauce: The 5-ingredient sauce is a mixture of soy sauce, oyster sauce, sriracha, Shaoxing wine and brown sugar.

Substitutions

Instead of:Use:
ground beefground pork, ground chicken or ground turkey
instant or ramen noodlesrice noodles or any type of wheat noodles (cooked separately)
fresh vegetablesstore-bought broccoli slaw or kale slaw – super easy!
Shioxang wineanother rice cooking wine (not rice vinegar), dry sherry, mirin, or apple cider vinegar
Oyster saucehoisin sauce or Worcestershire sauce
Srirachachili paste, gochuchang, peri peri sauce or red pepper flakes 
Sauce in recipea store-bought sauce like Teriyaki sauce, Korean BBQ sauce, Szechaun sauce, peanut sauce, stir-fry sauce.

Step-by-step instructions

sauteed vegetables in skillet.
Saute veggies in a large skillet.
cooked beef and vegetables and spinach in skillet.
Add beef and cook until browned. Stir in spinach.
Combine sauce ingredients in a cup and add to skillet. Stir and cook for a few minutes.
beef vegetable mixture in half of skillet and water in other half.
Move the meat mixture to one side of the skillet and add water.
beef vegetable mixture in half of skillet and raw ramen noodles in other half.
Place noodles in the boiling water in the skillet. Let cook, turning, for about 2 minutes.
beef, noodles and mixed with vegetables in skillet.
Toss noodles and beef-vegetable mixture to combine. Garnish with green onions.
beef, noodles and mixed with vegetables on plate.
Sprinkle on sesame seeds if you like.

Tips

Don’t overcook the noodles as they will become too soft, even mushy. Just under two minutes is perfect since they will continue cooking as you toss everything together.

Skip the noodles and serve over cauliflower rice or spaghetti squash for a lower calorie, lower carb option.

Shortcuts

  1. Buy a bag of broccoli slaw instead of chopping veggies or chop your own veggies in a food processor if you don’t feel like chopping by hand.
  2. Use a store-bought sauce instead of the one in the recipe.

What to serve with beef noodles

For a quick weeknight dinner, I serve this easy recipe on its own if I include lots of veggies.

To stretch the meal, add a soup like an easy squash apple soup, egg drop vegetable soup or curried lentil soup.

Or a side dish such as no-cook peach compote or Thai mango salad.

More ground beef recipes

Please leave a 5 star rating ***** with a comment in the recipe card below if you like the recipe, Thank you so much!

beef ramen noodles with veggies on plate.
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5 from 5 votes

Quick Beef Noodles With Veggies (One Pot, 20 Min)

Whip up a quick and easy one-pot beef noodles dinner in just 20 minutes with ground beef, vegetables, and ramen or instant noodles – all tossed with a delicious savory sauce.
Prep Time8 minutes
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time20 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American, Asian style
Servings: 4 (or 3 larger portions)
Author: Cheryl Avrich

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil (or vegetable oil)
  • 1 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
  • 2 cups chopped vegetables, Note 1 *300 -340 grams)
  • 1 pound ground beef, Note 2 (lean or extra lean)
  • 2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 packages, instant noodles, break into a few pieces, Note 3 DISCARD flavor packets
  • Garnish: 1-2 chopped green oinons, and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds if you like.

Sauce ingredients, Note 4

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce dark or low-sodium soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Shioxang wine
  • 1/2 tablespoon sriracha sauce (for mild heat) (use more if you like spicier)
  • Optional: 1/2-1 teaspoon sesame oil, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, 1 tablespoon peanut butter.
US Measures – Metric

Instructions

  • MAKE SAUCE: Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl or cup (including optional sesame oil or ginger if you like). Set aside.
  • SAUTE VEGETABLES AND BEEF: Heat oil to medium-high heat in large skillet. Add onions and vegetables. Cook for 3 minutes until softened. Add ground beef and garlic. Saute until cooked through (meat will lose pink color), about 3 minutes. Stir in chopped spinach.
  • ADD SAUCE: Pour sauce over beef vegetable mixture. Stir for 2-3 minutes to coat evenly. Sauce will cook and thicken slightly.
  • COOK NOODLES IN SKILLET: Move beef-vegetable mixture to one half of skillet. Add 1 cup/237 ml water to other half of skillet. Let it come to a boil. Add 2 packages of broken up ramen or instant noodles to water. Let boil for 1 minute, turn them over and boil another 40 seconds or so until softened and water is mostly absorbed.
  • FINISH: Toss cooked noodles, beef and veggies together. Taste and add a pinch of black pepper if needed. Garnish with chopped green onions and a sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional).

Recipe Notes

  1. Chopped vegetable options: some good choices are red bell pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, matchstick carrots, cauliflower, bok choy, snap peas – use 2 cups of one, two or any combination. 2 cups is approximately 1 bell pepper and 2 medium carrots, chopped. Shortcut: skip chopping veggies and use 2-3 cups of store-bought broccoli slaw in a bag. 
  2. Ground beef alternatives: ground turkey, ground pork, ground chicken. 
  3. Instant noodles or Ramen noodles: These come in small packages of 85-100 grams along with a seasoning packet that you will discard. I use two small packages (170 grams). The noodles are often found in the Asian section of your grocery store. I break them into smaller pieces for easier cooking. You can, of course, cook the noodles separately according to package instructions if you prefer and toss them with the beef at the end. 
    • Skip the noodles and serve over cauliflower rice or spaghetti squash for a lower calorie, lower carb option. Calories will be about 340 per serving, carbs about 25 per serving.
  4. Sauce substitutes: (flavors may be slightly altered)
    • Shaoxing wine: Sub another rice cooking wine (not rice wine vinegar), dry sherry, mirin, or apple cider vinegar. 
    • Oyster sauce: Sub hoisin or Worcestershire sauce.  
    • Sriracha: Sub chili paste, gochujang, peri peri sauce. hot sauce or red pepper flakes 
    • Brown sugar: Sub maple syrup or honey 
    • Shortcut: Skip the sauce ingredients and buy a sauce such as Teriyaki, stir fry sauce, peanut sauce, Korean BBQ sauce, or Szechuan sauce. 
  5. Make ahead:
    • If you don’t mind soft noodles, you can certainly make the dish ahead and reheat it before serving.
    • Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. I find the best way to reheat the beef noodles is in the microwave (add a splash of water and cover the dish) for a couple of minutes, stirring in between.
    • Freezing is not recommended as the noodles tend to get mushy. 
 
Nutrition values are estimated using lean beef (90% beef, 10% fat) and low sodium soy sauce. 

Nutrition

Calories: 517kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 1578mg | Potassium: 819mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 6036IU | Vitamin C: 18mg | Calcium: 85mg | Iron: 6mg
Tried this recipe?We’d love you to rate it above under ‘rate this recipe’ or in the comment section below. Thanks!
5 from 5 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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7 Comments

    1. I would be perfect! Just spoon the mixture (without the noodles) over the cooked spaghetti squash or even cauliflower rice for a lower calorie, lower carb version. Thanks for the suggestion Lu! I added it to the recipe card. You will reduce 30-40% of the carbs and calories that way.

      Reply