This ground beef and rice skillet combines taco seasoned ground beef with black beans, golden corn, cilantro lime diced tomatoes, and two types of rice to create a massive dish with tons of flavor. Thanks to using half “real” rice and half cauliflower rice, you get a huge bang for your buck in terms of calories per serving. Each massive 300-gram serving has 27 grams of protein with just 36 grams of carbs and 335 calories!
If you’re a fan of my infamous creamy taco soup, I think you’ll dig this recipe!
Ground Beef and Rice Skillet Recipe Walkthrough
Unlike the taco soup, this recipe uses a homemade taco seasoning in place of taco seasoning packets. If you’d like to use the latter to save time, you’re more than welcome. There’s no chef shaming around here!
As for the ground beef seasoning, I used the blend of spices from my baked beef tacos.
- paprika
- ground chipotle peppers (or chili powder)
- garlic powder
- cumin
- salt and black pepper
Cooking the Ground Beef
Like I ranted about in my sweet chili ground beef and brussels sprouts recipe, I think adding spices to the exterior of ground beef before going in the skillet allows the spices to bloom and develop a crust on the beef. This creates a ton of flavor but if you wanted to throw the beef in and add the spices as it cooks, it’ll still turn out fine.
One difference between this ground beef and rice skillet and the brussels skillet I mentioned above is the exclusion of oil here. I wanted to keep the fat under control but if you’d like to add a tablespoon of oil to the skillet before cooking the beef, that will only add about 20 calories per serving.
Adding the Beans, Corn, and Tomatoes to the Cooked Ground Beef
If you skip the oil and have some sticking on the bottom of your skillet, that’s okay. The juices from this trio will allow you to deglaze the skillet (scrape all the crispy bits from the bottom).
You’ll want to cook this for a good 8-10 minutes or until there’s very little liquid remaining. If you’re having trouble reducing the mixture, increase the heat and give it a few extra minutes.
Worst case, you end up with soup, and I guess that’s not all that bad.
Adding the Rice, Cheese, and Finishing in the Oven
The recipe calls for cauliflower rice and a packet of ready rice. You’re more than welcome to use all cauliflower rice or all “real” rice. You will, however, want to use a rice that’s cooked since we’re adding it in at the end. If you throw instant rice in at the end, you’ll have some crunchy rice!
If you wanted to use something like instant rice, you could probably add it in the step with the corn, black beans, and diced tomatoes. I haven’t tested it, but I imagine the rice would cook enough in the juices.
You could also use other grains like the quinoa in my Mexican beef and quinoa skillet or chopped tortillas like in my Tex Mex ground chicken casserole.
After your stir everything together, top with shredded cheese and pop the skillet in the oven to melt everything together. It’s serving time!
The recipe card below suggests fat free Greek yogurt and hot sauce, but you could definitely spice things up with my creamy jalapeño dip, avocado salsa, or the lime vinaigrette and spicy crema from my Tex Mex ground beef and shaved brussels sprouts recipe.
And speaking of Tex Mex, you could always throw this ground beef and rice in a tortilla and make something like my cheesy black bean quesadillas.
That about covers it. If you have any other questions about this ground beef and rice skillet, drop a comment below.
Tex-Mex Ground Beef and Rice Skillet
Ingredients
For the Seasoned Ground Beef*
- 1 lb Ground Beef, 96/4
- 1 Tbsp Paprika
- 2 tsp Ground Chipotle Peppers, or chili powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
Add to the Cooked Ground Beef
- 15 oz can Black Beans
- 15 oz can Whole Kernel Corn
- 10 oz can Mexican RO-TEL, diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 12 oz bag Frozen Cauliflower Rice**
- 9 oz packet Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice Original
- 3/4 C 84g Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 400F and microwave both bags of rice. Set aside.
- Heat a large 12" skillet over medium-high heat.
- Mix the spices for the ground beef in a small bowl. Coat both sides of the ground beef with the spices, gently pressing the spices into the surface. Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook for 1-2 minutes on the first side before flipping, crumbling, and cooking another 4-5 minutes until no pink remains.
- Add the corn, beans, and RO-TEL to the skillet (all undrained) and stir. Cook for 8-10 minutes until very little liquid remains in the skillet.
- Add both packets of rice to the skillet, stirring to fully incorporate. Top with the shredded cheese and bake for about 5 minutes to fully melt the cheese. Serve with freshly chopped cilantro, fat free Greek yogurt, hot sauce, or your desired toppings.
This is a staple in my house. It meal preps and freezes really well. We use it as-is, on salads, in tacos, or with nachos.
We Loved this recipe! We ended up using rice and cauli rice to end up with a larger serving result and had lots of leftovers that we continued to enjoy through the week!
Made this last night for a little taco Tuesday change up and it was soo good! First time making it and will definitely make again.
I think this is one of the most versatile recipes of Masons! I have used normal rice, banza rice, banza pasta, ground turkey/chicken/beef, and different add ins. I have eaten with chips, alone, and in a pita/wrap. It is so easy to meal prep and freezes great, and the family loves it!
This is one of my favorites to serve to guests! Delicious and quick to make so I’m not in the kitchen the entire time. I like to add the cauliflower rice with the canned items (the step before), so that it cooks longer and won’t be as liquidy. Serve it with some avocado and chips- you won’t regret it!
A great way to get a ton of volume and feel full! The use of both rice and cauliflower rice is amazing and delicious!
Used ground turkey and instacart forgot to grab my ready rice, but this was still bomb! Threw it together in less than 30 minutes and made enough for lunch and dinner the next day. Topped with velveeta and Louisiana hot sauce. Will try with the spices instead of taco seasoning next time.
I love this recipe because I can sneak in Cauliflower and my “I hate cauliflower family members don’t seem to notice. It’s sneaky that way. I love this as a stand-alone dish but it’s also awesome as a taco filling (sometimes I do the baked tacos with this recipe}. Such a versatile recipe!
Super easy one skillet recipe! Goes great in burritos, over nachos or just by itself! Freezes super well and great for meal prep!
This is a great recipe that takes little to no time. I was very surprised to see you add all the canned goods undrained. However, once you make it you will see how much this adds to the depth of flavor you get from the dish. Like the tips say, it it’s watery give it more time or increase the heat. I add a little more cheese then it calls for and always fresh grated for that killer melt!
This is another one that is just as good or better when reheated the next day.