The Turkey Baster Hack For Easily Removing Grease From Ground Beef

Draining the excess grease from ground beef is important for a few reasons. Not only are you preventing your dinner from becoming overly oily, which can mess with the taste and texture, but it also lets you cut out any extra fat if you want to keep your meal as lean as possible. And yet, this crucial step can quickly become a big pain. Since we want to avoid pouring grease down the drain, it's often recommended to dump your cooked ground beef into a colander placed on top of a wide bowl. Luckily, there's an easier way to get rid of your extra oil that doesn't involve dirtying two big dishes and potentially splattering hot oil all over the place.

As long as you own a turkey baster, you have all you need to efficiently siphon oil away from your ground beef. Simply slide the cooked meat to one section of the pan and gently angle the dish so that the grease collects on the other side. Then using your turkey baster, suck up the oil so you can later dispose of it properly.

While siphoning grease from ground beef with a turkey baster is as easy as it sounds, there are a few tips you'll want to keep in mind for maximum success. If your pan is still on the stove as you're sucking up oil, the grease will likely be piping hot. While the tube of the baster can handle those temperatures, the bulb likely can't — so if you have more oil than can fit in the tube, dispose of it before going back in for more. While this method can remove most of the excess fat in your pan, you may want to quickly run a paper towel over the dish after you're done in case there's any that the suction can't quite get to.

After you've siphoned all your oil, it's key to discard it properly. Once you've basted away, dump your grease into a glass or metal bowl or cup. To make this process even easier on yourself, line it with foil first. Then place your container in the fridge to let the fat cool and harden, at which point you can take it out and throw it away wrapped in the tin foil. When it comes to cleanup, all you'll have to take care of is the baster and some residue in the small container that held the grease.