This simple, easy rice and ground beef recipe makes a great 30 minute dinner, perfect for those nights when you need to get food on the table fast. It’s inexpensive but tasty and is a meal the whole family will love!
I discovered this easy rice and ground beef recipe in the early days of our marriage. Back when I was still figuring out how to cook and struggling to make our very small grocery budget work, yet determined to do it because I desperately wanted to meet our goal of paying off our mortgage in 5 years.
I grew up in a meat and potatoes kind of family that rarely ate rice, so not only was eating it somewhat new to me, I also wasn’t familiar with good recipes that used it. But I knew that it was a frugal pantry staple and was super versatile, so I started looking for easy rice recipes that I could add to our menu and hopefully stretch our grocery budget as a result!
This simple beef and rice recipe was one of the first that I tried. It caught my eye because it didn’t use a lot of meat, which is often one of the biggest grocery expenses, and the rest of the ingredients were inexpensive things that I had on hand- including tomato juice which I can myself.
Even though it is a simple dish without a lot of extra flavor, we really liked it! And it’s been a regular on my frugal menu plans ever since.
In fact, I’m not really sure why I waited so long to share it with you all here! I think it was mostly because it’s such a basic recipe that I wasn’t sure people would even want to try it. But, I’ve learned that sometimes simple is the best and I’ve discovered that many of you feel the same way. So, here it is, in all it’s simple, delicious glory. 🙂
So if you’re looking for an inexpensive, basic recipe that will satisfy your family, but be easy on your grocery budget, this recipe is perfect for you! It’s also great for nights when you need to get dinner on the table fast! It’s called Speedy Spanish Rice and Beef Skillet for a reason you know. 🙂
One more thing. Since I know you all love a good money saving tip as much as I do, I wanted to let you know about a way that I’ve found to get quality ground beef and chicken for a good price. It’s through a company called Zaycon Fresh and they frequently have ground beef for less than $3/lb. and boneless, skinless chicken breast for around $1.69/lb or less. My best suggestion is to sign up for a Zaycon Fresh account here, which will automatically put you on their email list where they give you all the details about their promotions. Then when they run a sale, you won’t miss out and can get in on the amazing deals they have that will allow you to get quality meat inexpensively! Yay!
Happy cooking, friends!
Speedy Spanish Rice and Ground Beef Skillet
30 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1/2 to 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1/2 c. diced bell pepper (opt.)
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 c. Jasmine or long grain rice, uncooked
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 2 c. tomato juice
- 2 c. water
- 1 c. shredded cheese
Instructions
- In a large skillet, brown meat, onion and bell pepper. Add remaining ingredients, except cheese. Cover and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is soft. Add more water if needed. Top with cheese and let set until melted. (You can also stir cheese into the rice, if you prefer.)
Notes
* If you prefer more flavor, you can add some chili powder as well.
* Brown rice does not really work in this recipe. If you use plain white rice, you will probably need to cut back the water to just 1 1/2 cups.
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