Ground Beef and Rice Skillet Dinner

Looking for an easy weeknight meal? This ground beef and rice skillet dinner is quick, delicious, and be customized to meet your specific dietary needs.

I don’t know about you, but I’m often in need of quick and easy weeknight meals, and this Ground Beef and Rice Dinner is one of my favorites!

I love it for several reasons, including it’s simple ingredient list, how easily it comes together, and how versatile it is. I’ll share some ways to modify it below!

Ground Beef and Rice Dinner

This meal is a great potluck recipe, meal prep option, and a perfect choice for meal trains.

It’s also a great recipe to make using pantry ingredients!

I’ll share a full recipe card below!

In short, here’s how to make this easy beef dinner recipe.

First, gather your ingredients. For this meal, you’ll need the following:

-1 lb lean ground beef

-1 medium yellow onion, diced

-1 medium red bell pepper, diced

-3 cloves garlic, minced

-1 teaspoon salt

-1 teaspoon pepper

-10 oz can Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies – Undrained

-1 ½ cups beef broth or stock

-1 cup long grain rice

-1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

-1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese

-Chopped fresh parsley for garnish if desired

In a large skillet, start by browning your ground beef. Add garlic, salt and pepper and stir over medium heat. Drain and return to the stove at medium heat. 

 Next, mix in the garlic, onion, and peppers. Continue to cook for another 3 to 4 minutes to soften the onions and peppers.

Add the undrained Rotel, rice, beef broth and Worcestershire Sauce to the skillet and stir until well combined. 

Bring rice and beef mixture to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Simmer for another 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Remove from the heat and sprinkle generously with your cheese.

Cover the skillet and let the mixture rest for 5 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted.

If desired, garnish with chopped parsley. Enjoy!

Let’s answer some frequently asked questions about this beef and rice dinner recipe.

Can I Use Ground Turkey or Chicken Instead of Beef?

Yes! I often replace the beef with either ground turkey or chicken.

I prefer ground turkey, and I always look for the 99% fat free option, if available.

You can almost always sub in your favorite ground meat for ground beef. This is one of my favorite recipe hacks to make my meals a little healthier (by avoiding red meat).

Can I Sub in Brown or Basmati Rice?

Subbing in a different rice can be a little harder, because, for example, brown rice needs a while longer to cook.

While I won’t say you can’t sub in another variety of rice, you may have to play with the recipe and timing to get it exactly right.

Can I Serve Over Noodles?

If you prefer noodles to rice, just leave out the rice and adjust your beef broth (you probably won’t need any since there will be no rice to cook). After the beef is cooked and veggies are tender, your beef mixture should be ready to serve over noodles of your choice.

Also, check out this Easy Beef Stroganoff for another noodle-based meal option!

Can I Use Other Vegetables?

One great way to up the fiber of a skillet meal is to experiment with adding more veggies.

While this recipe calls for onion and bell pepper, you can easily add in diced zucchini, yellow squash, corn or carrots to up the veggie count!

How Do I Make this Meatless?

Make this recipe meatless by omitting the meat, and adding in a can or two of your favorite beans.

Thanks so much for reading all about our Ground Beef and Rice Skillet Dinner.

Have a great day!