Bulgur Wheat makes a great replacement for ground beef in dishes like tacos, chili, casseroles. Learn how to easily use it as a ground beef substitute!
While some people eliminate or reduce the amount of beef in their diet for health, religious or ethical reasons, many others do so because of economics – beef can be an expensive part of a grocery budget.
An easy way to replace ground beef in recipes is to substitute bulgur wheat. Bulgur is a quick-cooking type of whole wheat, commonly used in Middle Eastern cooking, that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried, and ground.
Bulgur wheat offers 7 grams of fiber in a serving (1/4 cup uncooked), which only has 140 calories and half a gram of fat. That’s a lot of nutrition packed into those little grains.
How to Substitute Bulgur Wheat for Ground Beef:
Bulgar wheat makes a great stand in for ground beef in dishes like tacos, chili, casseroles, “meat” sauce for pasta, etc. When using bulgur wheat, one cup uncooked will replace about 1 pound of ground beef.
How to Prepare Bulgur Wheat
Preparing it is very easy. In a medium-sized saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil with 1/2 tsp salt. Stir in 1 cup of bulgur, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. This makes about 2½ cups of cooked bulgur.
Bob’s Red Mill Red Bulgur / Hard Wheat
If you’re hesitant to jump in and totally “de-meat” your recipes, you can start by replacing just half of the ground beef with the prepared bulgur. It will really stretch the meat in your recipes, saving you money and making them healthier.
You can find bulgur wheat in the natural foods section of your supermarket or at your local health food store. Many health food stores will even sell it in bulk.
I like to order mine from Amazon. They sell several versions of Bob’s Red Mill in a variety of sizes at great prices. An average package contains just shy of 5 cups, which means it would replace 5 pounds of ground beef. That usually means the equivalent of only about $1.25 per pound!
One of my favorite recipes to make with bulgur is this Vegetarian Tamale Pie Recipe. Mario LOVES this recipe and actually likes it better with the bulgur than with the ground beef. You can also try this yummy Stretch Your Beef Sloppy Joe recipe.
If you make a recipe using bulgur, I would love to hear how it turns out and how your family likes it!
trishden says
That sounds great, only thing is we are all on gluten free, so I won’t be using it. Thanks anyway for sharing.
trishden948(at)yahoo(dot)com
Deborah Hogue says
I am going to have to try this just to see how it goes over. Anything to help stretch the food dollar! Thanks
MoonRae says
I also have never heard this tip but it sounds great and in tacos and such I don’t think my husband would even notice as long as I use some ground beef. Thanks for the links to the recipes, they sound great
Sharon
lunrei@yahoo.com
Gina Brickell says
How does it taste? Would you notice the difference if you substituted? Do you think my family would notice if I swapped it? It sounds great, but that’s my main concern.. It will have been wasted $ if nobody likes it and won’t eat it…
tstasko says
interesting—does it have the same consistency as meat and does it have a wheat taste? My kids are so picky so I’m wondering if they would detect t
Sherry says
I’ve never tried bulgar wheat, but we eat so much meat in my house I think I’m going to give it a try. Thanks for posting!
Leah CB says
Boy oh boy we eat a lot of ground beef at our house. I would really love to give this try. Like others my husband would have to be no where near the kitchen. I tried using ground turkey before in sloppy joes, tacos, and such and he hated it. Ground beef really is going up in price too. Next shopping trip I’m going to sneak some in, hehe.
Colleen Boudreau says
This is great, I’m going to have to try it.
Megan says
This would be really interesting to try! I’ve never eaten it before.
RCase says
When I clicked on the link for this article I wondered if you knew about bulgar wheat! My mom used to do this and now I do the same with my family.
Coupon High says
Great Idea. I’m going to be like Katrina though and have to hope my husband doesn’t notice
Marthalynn says
I had never thought of this! I love Bob’s Red Mill, too! Unfortunately, I can’t implement this tip because we’re a GF household but I’m going to forward it on to my mom. She’s always interested in ways to stretch her food budget and increase nutrition!
cmtaylor120 says
This new, I had not heard of this. I will give it a try.
Katrina Rains says
I’ve never used this but am interested to try. I might have to sneak off to the health food store so my husband doesn’t notice 😉 haha, he would NEVER approve of this if he knew 😉
Becky says
I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. It really works! See here.