What do you call a cow with no legs?
Did you know how many cow related puns there are? It opened a whole new world of sensible chuckling.
Anyway…
Most grocery stores have an abundant options of ground beef (and other meats) at your disposal. Do you choose a certain lean/fat percentage or do you just buy what is on sale? How do you know which is the best option? Is one better for one recipe and another kind for a different recipe?
Did you ever think ground beef could make you think of so many questions? (just to add another in there).
Below is a chart I put together utilizing https://www.nutritionvalue.org/ . It is a website run by the USDA with nutritional components of like- everything you can think of. Seriously- I played with it for like 20 minutes just typing in random food. But the point of this is not what I do with my free time- it’s to provide you with information!
Lean % is to the left side of the hashmark and fat content to the right. The final two columns are two common beef replacements/alternatives I added in for reference. *All these numbers are based on pan seared crumbles in a 3oz serving size.*
So when would I higher fat content be better? Whenever you want honestly, but burgers and meatballs hold up much better with some more fat in them. When it comes to chili, I like getting a much leaner option and adding bacon to it for that fatty addition.
The sloppy joe variation I made (the one that’s pictured) worked very well with a high lean, low fat content because of the addition of the tomato sauce and ketchup to add moisture. That mixture was 90/10, and it served itself well in my won ton wraps as well! My personal rule of thumb is if the meat is stand alone- add in fat. If you’re mixing it into something, go leaner. But you do you boo, you know your taste buds best!
As you can see- the calorie difference between 70/30 and 95/5 is really big, so that could play into your decision. Also worth noting, somehow 75/25 is the highest caloric count, but the fat in grams is relatively equal to 70/30 and 80/20. There IS a mg difference between these, but not large enough to make that big of a difference (according to the USDA). As you get leaner, the fat content shrinks significantly going all the way to 6.4 g in 95/5. The protein content however does increase at the same rate.
So, as always do what you will with this information. Hopefully this helps with any confusion or with making a decision on which one you want to buy! I leave you with one last pun:
Why did the two cows fight?
They had a lot of beef.