Nutritional Information: Beef

Beef has many nutritional benefits. In particular, it is an excellent source of:

B-complex vitamins, such as niacin and vitamin B12
Iron
Potassium
Phosphorus
Protein
Zinc

However, beef can also contain large amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol. While beef is a wonderful part of a healthy diet, the key word is “part”—beef should be eaten in moderation, no more than 1–2 times per week.

How to Make Beef Healthier to Eat

You can limit the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in the beef you eat in a variety of ways. These include:

Choose lean cuts of meat: Beef cuts from different parts of the cow have different qualities, including different amounts of fat. By buying only lean cuts, you can reduce the amount of fat in the beef you eat. A lean cut of beef is a cut that contains no more than 10 grams of fat per 3.5 ounces of beef. To be considered lean, ground beef must be marked as 95% lean. For details on which cuts of beef are lean, see Cuts of Beef.
Grill or cook on a rack: Rather than let the beef cook in its own fat (which will melt in the heat), cook the beef on a grill or on a rack in a roasting pan so that the fat drips away from the beef.
Trim the beef: Remove any visible fat before the meat is cooked, and eat only the lean meat. When trimming the meat, though, do not trim away the beef’s marbling, which is the name given to the streaks of fat in the muscular portion of the meat. The marbling helps make the meat more tender, flavorful, and juicy. It does not significantly increase the fat content of cooked beef because most of it melts as the meat cooks.
Defat the sauce: When beef is cooked in a way that produces a sauce, a layer of fat will form on the top layer of the sauce. Defat the sauce by spooning away this layer.