How Do You Choose The Best Ground Beef At The Grocery Store?

Trying to navigate the meat section of your grocery store can make your head spin, especially when it comes to exactly what the labels on various packages of ground beef mean. The easiest path to grabbing what you need so you can get on with the rest of your day is pretty simple. It comes down to two key areas: The fat content of the meat, and the cut of beef that the butcher used to make it.

The starting point for deciding which ground beef to buy should be what exactly you plan on using the meat for. If you're looking for the best type of beef to make juicy grilled burgers, go for a package with a fat content of between 20% and 40%. In some cases where the fat content may not be labeled, an easy rule of thumb is to look at the name of the cut and to remember that ground chuck usually has a higher fat content than ground sirloin, which is typically the leanest, with ground round landing in the middle between these other two. Another quick trick is that generally, the redder the meat, the leaner it is.

The fat content for the ground beef you'll find at the grocery store runs from around 30% fat to 10% or less. If the label says "lean" then it can't have more than 22.5% fat. Similarly, when you see "extra lean" on the label, the beef must be no more than 15% fat.

Why does the fat content matter? Because fat equals flavor. Like a good burger, meatloaf is another dish where fat plays an important role. If you want to avoid the dry, boring meatloaf, go for ground beef that has at least 15% fat. But with fat comes grease, so if you're planning to make something like oven-baked meatballs, you may want to opt for leaner ground beef. If, for some reason, the lean/fat ratio isn't listed, you can still make a solid determination of fat content based on how the package is labeled.

Now, let's break down the various types of ground beef you're most likely to find at the grocery store by the cut they come from. Knowing which cut is which can also be helpful if you plan to buy a solid slab of meat at the store and have it ground by the butcher on the spot. Some people like to choose their own blend of meat or have it ground fresh — and that's doable if you know which cut will best suit your needs.

The three big ones, as mentioned above, are ground chuck, ground round, and ground sirloin. Chuck has about 15% to 20% fat and comes from the shoulder area of the cow. Ground round comes from the animal's hindquarters and typically has a fat content of around 10% to 15%. Ground sirloin comes from the mid-back and is the leanest, typically 10% fat or less. If the label only reads "ground hamburger" or "ground beef" without specifying anything else, it's made up of various pieces left over after the butcher trims off other cuts. Both designations can't have more than 30% fat content.

If you're opting for healthier ground beef options, then go for ground sirloin because of its low fat content. You may choose ground sirloin for non-dietary reasons as well. In dishes like soups or stews, where there's already plenty of moisture from the other ingredients, ground sirloin imparts delicious beef flavor without the grease of other cuts.