This simple, easy Spanish Rice with Ground Beef skillet 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!
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I discovered this easy Spanish 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!
Why This Spanish Rice with Ground Beef Recipe Works
Simple Ingredients – Nothing fancy required! Made with staples that you probably already have in your kitchen.
Budget-Friendly – This is a super frugal recipe and you can make it even cheaper if you buy your beef and rice in bulk!
Quick & Easy – A one-pan recipe that is ready in just 30 minutes.
Kid-Friendly – Because it’s made with minimal ingredients, kids tend to love it. A great recipe for picky eaters!
Spanish Rice with Beef Ingredients
- Ground Beef. You could also swap it out for ground turkey or ground chicken.
- Onion.
- Bell Pepper. This is optional but if your family likes peppers, it’s adds a nice touch of flavor.
- Salt.
- Jasmine or Long Grain Rice. Remember to always rinse your rice before cooking it!
- Black Pepper.
- Tomato Juice.
- Water.
- Shredded Cheese. We prefer sharp cheddar but regular cheddar, Mexican blend, monterey jack or colby jack all are delicious too.
How To Make This Recipe
STEP 1: Brown the ground beef, diced onion, and bell pepper in a large skillet.
STEP 2: Add salt, pepper, uncooked rice, water, and tomato juice. Stir to combine, then cover for 20 minutes to simmer. Cook just until the rice is soft and add more water if needed.
STEP 3: Sprinkle the cheese on top and allow it to sit until it’s melted. Stir it in if you prefer.
Helpful Tips and FAQs
- How to Store: Spanish beef and rice can be kept in the fridge for up to 4 days when stored in an airtight container. To reheat you can warm it on the stovetop or microwave it. You may need to add a little water to separate the rice.
- Using White Rice: If you chose to use regular white rice you will probably need to decrease the amount of water to 1.5 cups. I don’t recommend using brown rice.
- Want more flavor? Add a little chili powder, cumin or garlic.
More Easy Main Dish Recipes You’ll Love
- Sour Cream Chicken Skillet Enchiladas
- Easy Mexican Rice Bowls
- One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice
- Easy Ground Beef and Rice Skillet
- Crockpot Tamale Pie
Easy Spanish Rice with Hamburger
Ingredients
- 1/2 to 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1/2 c. diced bell pepper optional
- 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 (cheddar, Mexican blend, Monterey Jack, Colby Jack)
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 sit until melted. (You can also stir the cheese into the rice if you prefer.)
Steffani D.
Brown rice is all I have on hand…is that a complete deal breaker or do you have any advice on how to make it work?
Lydia Beiler
I’m pretty sure you can use it but you will need to add more liquid (could just use water) and also allow more time for it to cook. I would probably start with the recipe as is and just watch it closely and then add more liquid as needed until the rice is fully cooked. I hope it turns out well for you!
Rebecca N
I am on staff at a group home and in charge of planning the menu. We are in a budget crunch, and this popped up for me–the only thing is there is no nutritional info. I have a diabetic kiddo who we need to count carbs for. cant find anything similar to get ballpark for carbs…help!
Lydia Beiler
Hey Rebecca! Could you maybe try plugging the recipe ingredients into a free online nutritional calculator? If you Google, there are different ones available. I’ve used MyFitnessPal successfully in the past myself. I hope the kids enjoy the recipe and that it can help you stretch your budget a bit more!
Elizabeth Menon
This recipe was really good. I used leftover ground beef from the previous night and it still turned out delicious! It was easy to make and extremely flavorful. I served with lots of green onions.
Lydia Beiler
Ah, the addition of green onions would add really great flavor! So glad that you enjoyed it and that it gave you a way to use up that leftover ground beef.
Linda
Last week we had your Spanish Rice & Ground Beef Skillet. Everyone enjoyed it.
I appreciated that it was simple and that I had everything already at home to prepare it.
I love your website and delicious cost cutting recipes. Thank you!
ThriftyFrugalMom
So glad that you all enjoyed it, Linda! And thanks for your kinds words and for taking the time to let me know. That means so much!
Brooke Parr
Love how easy it is to make. We live in TX so I added fresh garlic and jalapeños w the peppers and onions. It’s on the skillet right now simmering… I’m trying out your whole Aldi’s meal plan this week and this is my first recipe tonight. Thanks for the ideas! Troubling times w inflation. I had quite a bit of stuff on hand like meat, rice.. ect. and my grocery bill came out to $55, so not bad! I usually have this stuff on hand so it’ll probably become a staple.
Have you thought about adding a can of diced tomatoes?
Many blessings and looking forward to the other recipes (:
Lydia Beiler
Those additions sound really tasty, Brooke! I never thought of adding a can of diced tomatoes but I think it would be really delicious. I’m also delighted to hear that you are trying the Aldi meal plan too. I hope it makes your life a little bit easier!
Brooke Parr
Super delicious! I am making it again tonight so I came back to make sure to get the recipe right. I think this was my favorite out of all the meals for the week. I’m newly married …on a budget, so I hope I can help some other newly wed out and pay it forward like you!
Blessings!
Liz
I was searching for recipes for hamburger meat and came across this one, I’m in the process of making right now. The only thing is that I don’t have onion or ther pepper, my family doesn’t like either so that’s good. I did add spices and I also didn’t have tomato juice so I used tomato sauce instead. So we’ll see how it turns out.. Thank you for this!!
ThriftyFrugalMom
I love that you figured out how to tweak it to make it work with what you had on hand and what would fit you family’s taste! How did it turn out, Liz? I’m especially curious if you needed to add any water to the tomato sauce to get the rice to cook enough.
Melissa
I made this tonight and all of my kids loved it! These days that’s a grand miracle. Thanks for sharing!
ThriftyFrugalMom
A grand miracle. Ha! I totally get that. 🙂 So glad that it was a winner with everyone!