This kid friendly Easy Ground Beef and Rice Skillet recipe takes just 7 basic ingredients, is budget friendly and deliciously satisfying! What’s not to love?! One of our favorite simple ground beef recipes.
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Skillet meals such as my Creamy Sausage and Potatoes and Speedy Spanish Rice and Ground Beef Skillet have been making an appearance on our menus ridiculously often the last several weeks.
It’s partly because it’s just so incredibly hot that I don’t feel like baking anything (and we have no grill). Partly because I just haven’t been in the mood to spend much time in the kitchen and skillet meals are the best for being fast and easy.
And it’s also partly because I have a bunch of skillet meal recipes that we simply really like and I know that they’ll always be a win with the kids for dinner. So, it just kind of feels like a no-brainer to make them often right now!
This Ground Beef and Rice Skillet is another one of the recipes that has been getting made a lot too.
I actually considered calling it Busy Day Beef and Rice Skillet because it’s one of those recipes that I find myself falling back on when I’m having a crazy day, don’t have much time for dinner prep and just need a simple, family-friendly meal.
Other than frying up the ground beef, it’s really a hand’s off dish. And I love that!
It’s is also a great recipe for using up leftover cream cheese. Anyone else struggle to know what to do with just a couple of ounces of cream cheese? Unfortunately, more times than I care to admit, mine would end up getting thrown out because it got moldy. (Clearly, I need to do better at following my own advice regarding how to avoid food waste!)
That is until I discovered this recipe! Now, leftover cream cheese is just my sign that it’s time to make this super easy ground beef recipe. 🙂
And don’t be scared to experiment! Recently, I only had 2 oz. of cream cheese so I added a big spoonful of cottage cheese to make up for the missing ounce and it ended up being very tasty. I’m guessing that you could also sub sour cream for a little bit of the cream cheese too.
I also love that this Easy Ground Beef and Rice Skillet is budget-friendly! I mean, who can’t appreciate that? 🙂 In fact, going by Aldi’s prices, you can make this whole recipe for right around $5. That means it costs less than $1.00 a serving!
One more thing. Because this is made with just a few simple, basic ingredients, using a quality, flavorful pasta sauce is key to giving it a good flavor.
I originally made it with just plain old tomato sauce, and while it was good, I discovered that it’s a lot tastier if the sauce is seasoned well. I often have the Classico Roasted Garlic pasta sauce on hand and it is my favorite for this recipe!
Easy Hamburger and Rice Skillet
Easy Ground Beef and Rice Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 c. onion, chopped
- 1 c. uncooked long grain rice
- 2 1/2 c. water
- 1 tsp. salt
- 3 oz. cream cheese, cubed
- 2 c. pasta sauce/tomato sauce (see Note below)
- 1 tsp. chili powder
Instructions
- In skillet, cook ground beef and onion until browned; drain.
- Stir in rice, water and salt. Cover and simmer until water is absorbed; about 15 to 20 minutes.
- Stir in cream cheese, pasta sauce and chili powder.
- Cover and heat through.
Notes
Other main dish recipes you’ll enjoy:
Judith Canales
Had my doubts about the recipe, but I really liked it, didn’t have any onions so I used fresh cut up garlic.The cream cheese and chili made it good 😊
Lydia Beiler
It is such a basic recipe that it seems like it can’t be that good. But it really is surprisingly delicious, isn’t it? I love that you worked with what you had and used garlic instead of the onion. I bet that flavor was tasty!
Scarlet
I love easy recipes like this one that taste great, are easy to make, and easy on the pocket book. Thanks for this great beef and rice skillet recipe! It came out so well.
Danielle
I’m going to make this over the weekend. Could I replace the water for beef broth to add more flavor? I would also like to add some veggies. Do you think bell peppers and corn would work well? I can’t wait to try this!
Lydia Beiler
Yes, I think those things would all work well. Just be aware that adding the beef broth may increase the salt content, so you may want to reduce the salt by a bit and adjust to taste.
K
Will this recipe be lacking if I do it without the cream cheese?
Lydia Beiler
Yes, I think with a recipe this simple you really will need it for it to be good. I know some people have used cottage cheese instead…maybe that is an option for you?
Jacqueline
I’m going to try this recipe tonight. I was wondering if i would be able to add some vegetables in there? Like bell peppers and maybe carrots? Cant wait to try it.
Lydia Beiler
I’m guessing you already made this Jacqueline- sorry I didn’t get a reply done sooner. I think bell peppers would work fine! Carrots take a long time to cook though so unless you shredded them, I don’t think that they would get done in time.
Becca
This is SO good, even my picky husband loved it!
My mom was visiting, also tried it and took the recipe to make for her and my dad!
Lydia Beiler
Yay for this getting the picky husband’s approval! Thanks for letting me know that you all enjoyed it, Becca.
Maria Olga Webb
We didn’t enjoy this
Lydia Beiler
I’m sorry to hear that, Maria.