What Is Beyond Beef?
Beyond Beef is Beyond Meat's answer to the ground beef aisle — a plant-based product sold in a 1-pound roll or chub that's meant to stand in for ground beef in tacos, chili, bolognese, meatballs, and burger patties you shape yourself. It's a different product from the pre-formed Beyond Burger patty, though the two share a lot of the same DNA. The current recipe, reformulated in recent years, leans on avocado oil instead of the coconut-and-canola blend older versions used, and Beyond Meat markets it as "the beef with better benefits" — lower saturated fat, zero cholesterol, and comparable protein to conventional ground beef.
Real ground beef prices have been brutal in 2026, with some reports putting conventional ground beef at $6 to $9 a pound depending on region and fat content. That's narrowed the price gap with plant-based alternatives considerably, which makes this a good moment to ask whether Beyond Beef is actually worth reaching for — nutritionally, ethically, and on flavor.
Beyond Meat has positioned Beyond Beef as one of its flagship products since the company's shift toward "next-generation" recipes that trade coconut oil for avocado oil, a change driven largely by nutrition criticism of earlier formulas that leaned hard on saturated tropical fats. It's sold refrigerated, not frozen, in most grocery stores — usually right alongside or near the conventional ground beef case rather than tucked away in a separate "plant-based" freezer section, which is itself a small signal of how mainstream these products have become.
Ingredients
The current Beyond Beef ground formula lists:
Water, pea protein, avocado oil, natural flavors, rice protein, lentil protein, 2% or less of methylcellulose, potato starch, pea starch, potassium lactate (to preserve freshness), faba bean protein, apple extract, pomegranate concentrate, potassium salt, spice, vinegar, vegetable juice color (with beet).
A few things stand out. First, there's no soy and no gluten-containing grains, which puts it ahead of some competitor products (like Impossible's soy-based formula) for anyone avoiding those allergens. Second, the protein blend is stacked — pea, rice, lentil, and faba bean proteins working together to hit a meat-like amino acid profile and a springy, fibrous bite. Third, the red color and "bleed" effect come from beet juice concentrate rather than the heme/soy leghemoglobin trick Impossible uses, which is part of why the two products cook up differently (more on that below). Methylcellulose is the binder doing most of the work holding everything together as it heats, the same plant-derived thickener used in a lot of processed vegan meats.
If you're checking a product against your own dietary restrictions rather than taking any brand's word for it, running the ingredient list through the spvegan.com ingredient checker is a fast way to flag anything that needs a second look.
Is Beyond Beef Vegan?
Yes — Beyond Beef is 100% vegan. Every ingredient in the current formula is plant-derived: pea, rice, lentil, and faba bean proteins for structure and protein; avocado oil for fat and mouthfeel; methylcellulose (a plant-based cellulose derivative) as a binder; and beet juice, apple extract, and pomegranate concentrate for color. There's no dairy, no egg, no honey, no gelatin, and no animal-derived flavoring — including no carmine, which sometimes sneaks into red-colored foods.
Beyond Meat states the product is produced without animal products and it carries no meat, dairy, or egg allergen declarations on the label. It's also certified Kosher and Halal, which is a reasonable secondary signal (though not a substitute for checking ingredients yourself) that no animal-derived inputs are hiding in the formulation. As with any packaged food, cross-contact during manufacturing is a separate question from the ingredient list itself, but on ingredients alone, this is an unambiguous vegan product.
Nutrition Facts: Beyond Beef vs. Impossible Beef vs. Real Ground Beef
Here's how a 4-ounce serving of Beyond Beef stacks up against Impossible's ground beef and conventional 80/20 ground beef:
| Nutrient (per 4 oz) | Beyond Beef | Impossible Beef | 80/20 Ground Beef (cooked) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 230 | 230 | ~300 |
| Total Fat | 14g | 13g | ~20g |
| Saturated Fat | 2g | 6g | ~8g |
| Cholesterol | 0mg | 0mg | ~95-100mg |
| Sodium | 310mg | 370mg | ~85mg |
| Carbohydrates | 8g | 9g | 0g |
| Fiber | 2g | 5g | 0g |
| Protein | 21g | 19g | ~28g |
| Iron | 4mg (20% DV) | ~25% DV | ~2.8mg |
The saturated fat difference is the headline number here: Beyond Beef comes in at just 2g per serving, a third of what Impossible Beef carries and a quarter of what real 80/20 ground beef delivers. That's the avocado oil reformulation doing its job — earlier Beyond recipes that leaned on coconut oil ran considerably higher on saturated fat. Both plant-based options land at zero cholesterol and roughly similar calories to conventional beef, though real ground beef still edges ahead on raw protein-per-ounce and comes with zero carbs, since it's not built around starches and binders. Sodium is the one place all three plant-based-vs-animal comparisons tend to look worse for the substitutes, and Beyond Beef is no exception at 310mg — worth factoring in if you're watching sodium closely.
Taste and Texture
Loose, unformed, straight out of the package, Beyond Beef looks convincingly like ground beef — pinkish-red, marbled, with a texture that breaks apart the way meat does rather than the mushy crumble some earlier-generation plant proteins had. Where it separates from Impossible's version is in how it behaves in the pan: Beyond Beef doesn't "bleed" the same dramatic red the way Impossible's heme-driven formula does, and it doesn't render fat the same way real beef does, so dishes that depend on that rendered-fat flavor (a smash burger, for instance) will taste noticeably leaner and less rich.
Where it performs best is in dishes where the meat is one ingredient among several and gets seasoned hard — tacos, chili, bolognese, stuffed peppers, meatballs drowned in sauce. In those applications the protein blend holds together well, browns reasonably, and picks up spice and aromatics the way ground beef does. Used plain, on its own, with just salt, it reads distinctly "plant-based" — a slightly sweeter, less fatty flavor than beef, and a texture that's a bit more uniform since there's no connective tissue or fat pockets breaking up the bite. It's a genuinely usable ground beef substitute, not a beef replica in the strictest sense.
A few cooking notes worth knowing before the first attempt: it releases noticeably less liquid than ground beef as it cooks, so recipes that call for draining fat after browning mostly don't apply here — there isn't much to drain. It also cooks fast, since it's already been through some processing to get to its shelf-stable-ish form, so a few extra minutes in the pan past what a beef recipe calls for can dry it out rather than improve it. Crumbling it by hand into a hot, oiled pan and leaving it mostly undisturbed for the first minute or two gives the best browning; stirring immediately tends to keep it soft and pale instead of developing any crust. It also freezes and reheats acceptably in sauced applications like chili or bolognese, though texture holds up better in dishes that are already wet than in anything meant to be crisp.
How Beyond Beef Compares
| Product | Best For | Key Allergens | Saturated Fat (4 oz) | Typical Price (16 oz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beyond Beef | Tacos, chili, meatballs, sauced dishes | None of the top 9 declared | 2g | ~$6.99–$8.99 |
| Impossible Beef | Burgers, dishes wanting a beefier bleed/sear | Soy | 6g | ~$6.99–$8.99 |
| 80/20 Ground Beef | Anything needing rendered fat flavor | None (animal product) | ~8g | Varies — recently $6–$9+/lb amid record beef prices |
The price gap that used to make plant-based ground "the expensive option" has mostly closed in 2026, since real ground beef prices have climbed to some of their highest levels in years. That changes the calculus for a lot of home cooks who were previously choosing real beef on price alone.
Who Should Buy Beyond Beef?
Beyond Beef makes the most sense for people cooking dishes where ground "meat" gets broken up, seasoned, and mixed with other strong flavors — taco night, a big pot of chili, bolognese, stuffed vegetables, or meatballs. It's also the better pick over Impossible for anyone specifically avoiding soy or trying to cut saturated fat as low as possible while still wanting something that cooks and browns like ground beef. Households doing a partial or full swap away from red meat for health or environmental reasons will find it an easy, low-effort substitution in existing recipes rather than a recipe overhaul.
It's a worse fit if what you actually want is the sear, fat render, and juiciness of a smash burger or a steak-like eating experience — that's a job better suited to a dedicated patty product or Impossible's beefier profile. And if sodium is a specific concern, it's worth comparing labels rather than assuming any of these products is automatically the lighter option.
It's also worth a mention for anyone easing a household into eating less meat rather than cutting it out entirely — because Beyond Beef browns, seasons, and behaves close enough to ground beef in mixed dishes, it tends to be one of the lower-friction swaps for skeptical partners or kids compared to whole-food substitutes like lentils or mushrooms, which change the texture of a dish more dramatically even if they're arguably just as nutritious.
Final Verdict
Beyond Beef does what it's designed to do: it slots into ground-beef recipes without asking the cook to change technique, it holds up in high-heat cooking, and it meaningfully undercuts real ground beef and its own competitors on saturated fat while still landing at zero cholesterol. It won't fool anyone into thinking it's beef when eaten plain, and it doesn't chase the dramatic sear-and-bleed theatrics some rivals go for, but as an everyday ground-beef swap for tacos, chili, and sauced dishes, it's one of the more competent plant-based options on the shelf — and with real ground beef prices where they are in 2026, it's no longer even the more expensive one.
Rating: 8/10
