Ground beef is popular as a relatively cheap and quick-cooking form of beef. One of its most well known uses is in hamburgers or Cottage Pie in Britain. It is an important ingredient in meatloaf, sloppy joes, taco, and Midwestern cuisine. Italians use it to make meat sauces, for example, lasagna and spaghetti bolognese. In the Middle East it is used to make spicy kofta and meatballs. The Scottish dish mince and tatties uses it along with mashed or boiled potatoes. In Lancashire, particularly Oldham, minced meat is a common filling for rag puddings. The Dutch slavink consists of ground beef (half beef, half pork) rolled in bacon.
Raw lean ground beef is used to make steak tartare, a French dish. More finely diced and differently seasoned, it is popular as a main course and as a dressing in Belgium, where it is known as filet américain ("American fillet").
Picadillo is a Spanish term for ground beef, and is a common ingredient in several Latin American cuisines. Picadillo with chili and finely diced onion and potato is a common filling for tacos and gorditas in Mexico.