This colourful ground Beef and Rice recipe will be a terrific addition to your ground beef recipes collection! It’s like a pilaf, except loaded with more veggies and packed with more flavour.
I’m a big fan of beef mince – it’s economical and convenient (no chopping!). And this is a great quick way make turn a packet of beef mince into a complete meal!
Ground beef and rice
Flavoured rice. Seasoned beef. AND veggies.
All made in ONE POT.
How handy is that?? This ground beef and rice recipe is a complete meal, with barely any chopping. Full of bright colours, plenty of nutrition, simple and fast to make.
And it tastes SO GOOD!!!
This ground beef and rice is a quick recipe that’s full of flavour and a complete meal in one pot!
I’m a big fan of rice in all forms. Chicken and Rice, rice soup, risotto, flavoured rices (Mexican Red Rice is a firm favourite along with Mushroom Rice!), Arancini balls.
In fact, I’m yet to meet a rice dish that I don’t like!!
But as regular readers know, I’m a rice snob. I may be Aussie, but I’ll always be a rice snob owing to my Japanese background. Dry bread and over cooked veggies I can handle.
Mushy rice – I can’t stomach it.
Rice. Snob. 🍚
So cooking rice in one pot like I do with this ground beef recipe (along with all sorts of other stuff) means getting the liquid to rice ratios right (and using the right rice) so you end up with perfectly cook fluffy grains of rice that have soaked up all that flavour.
See? Fluffy. Not soft and mushy!!!
How to make it
This is made like a pilaf, starting off by sautéing onion and garlic for the flavour base. Then the beef and capsicum/bell peppers are added, then the rice and liquids and seasoning.
Give it a good mix, plonk the lid on and leave it to do its thing.
No peeking! It’s one of the biggest rice cooking mistakes – if you peek, steam escapes which affects the rice cooking process!
We can never have enough ground beef recipes for quick dinners!
Today’s Beef and Rice recipe is intended to be a quick, no fuss (yet super tasty!) midweek meal. Hence why it’s made in one pot, with ground beef, a combination of fresh and frozen veggies and a mound of baby spinach. Minimal chopping, yet plenty of flavour, a complete meal.
No need for toppings or garnishes. I actually don’t even know what I’d dollop on top. Maybe sour cream or yoghurt. I personally don’t think it needs it because the rice is well seasoned, but it’s optional! – Nagi
PS Foodie translation: Ground beef = beef mince, though I’ve noticed some butchers in Australia nowadays are starting to call it ground beef.
PPS This recipe will work well with any ground / mince meat. Pork, chicken, turkey, even lamb.
And more One Pot Ground Beef / Mince recipes
-
Cheeseburger Casserole (Homemade Hamburger Helper)
-
Chili Mac – mash up of Mac and Cheese with Chilli Con Carne, so good!
-
Asian Beef and Ramen Noodles – one skillet, 15 minutes
-
Taco Soup – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it, it’s amazing!
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Browse all One Pot recipes and Ground Beef / Mince recipes
Beef and rice recipe
Watch how to make it
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Beef and Rice with Veggies
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion , diced (any type)
- 1 red capsicum / bell pepper , diced (large)
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 500g (1 lb) ground beef (mince) , lean
- 2 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp EACH cumin, black pepper
- 1 tsp each onion powder, dried oregano (or other herb of choice)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 1 1/4 cups (225g) long grain white rice , uncooked (Note 1)
- 2 cups (500 ml) beef broth , low sodium
- 2 cups (300g) diced frozen veggies , I used corn, pea, carrot mix (Note 2)
- 3 big handfuls baby spinach (~ 90g/3 oz) , or other leafy greens (Note 3)
Instructions
- Heat oil in large pot over high heat. Add onion, capsicum and garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add beef, cook until brown, breaking it up as you go.
- Add tomato paste, salt, pepper, onion powder, oregano, cumin and cayenne pepper. Cook for 1 minute.
- Turn heat down to medium. Add rice and beef broth, mix well. Add frozen veggies and bay leaf, then stir.
- Place lid on, lower heat to medium low so it's simmering gently. Cook for 12 - 15 minutes (might even take longer) until all liquid is absorbed (tilt pot to check). The rice should be just cooked, but will be wet.
- Remove from heat. Quickly toss spinach on top of the rice and put the lid back on. Leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- Fluff rice and mix through wilted spinach with a fork. Adjust salt if desired. Serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
I drive 100km to the outskirts of Sydney just to take Dozer to this dog wizard, Neil Barnsley of Animal Holistic Therapies. “Enthusiastic” playing + abnormally long legs for a Golden Retriever + being double jointed = regular “active dog” injuries. Whereas conventional vets order costly X-rays (that are only useful if they know where the injury is) or being unable to provide an exact diagnosis, will give a general instruction to keep him quiet (easier said than done!!!), Neil Barnsley has a 100% hit rate in pinpointing exactly where and what Dozer’s ligament/joint/muscle injuries are, through touch alone.
It’s fascinating to watch. Truly a dog genius. And (much) better value than normal vets too – a standard consult is $60, and there’s no expensive medication or Xray costs because he’s a natural therapist!
PS Yes that’s Dozer getting acupuncture. Not even I’VE had acupuncture!!!!🤣
I made this tonight for an easy healthy dinner. For the veggies I used 1 cup of frozen peas and beans then added 1 cup of fresh diced carrot, eggplant and zucchini. It was a very large amount of food so I will freeze a lot of it. We did enjoy it very much
So easy and so yummy
Yum !! this recipe was so simple and quick to prepare. Great for weekly meal prep to divide up. Also very versitle as did not have many veggies or onions and still turned out great. Love that it’s one pot as well.
Always a hit in this house and takes just moments to prepare. If you’re really efficient, you can do the whole thing with frozen pre-chopped veg – onion, garlic, peppers and mixed peas, corn and carrots! No chopping needed at all.
Just here to say this was lovely and I love your recipes, every single one of them has been a hit! Thank you!
This was a delicious easy dinner and a total win for me as my whole family absolutely loved it. I have four kids and an elderly dad so it can be very difficult finding a dinner that gets the thumbs up from all! Thanks Nagi. Just in case it didn’t make enough to fill all 7 of us, I decided to top everyone’s with a fried egg and I can height my recommend that too! 🤩
I absolutely adore this recipe ! It gets make weekly in my household and everyone loves it
This is my go-to mid-week meal. Just love how wholesome and easy it is. Thanks for making our lives easier Nagi!
It must just be me based on the review comments. I feel lik my rice is no where near cooked enough following the instructions so I’m cooking it for a lot longer which then requires more liquid. I love this dish but just not sure what I’m doing wrong if everyone else seems to be ok with the initial cook time…
I had the same experience.
However my old gas stove seems to cook faster than it should at medium low.
All the liquid was absorbed but rice was nowhere near cooked.
Added more stock and cooked longer.
Still not really happy with rice texture and starting to stick to bottom of pan.
However does taste very good.
Hi,
Mine was the same. I added more beef stock, turned the heat off & put the lid back on & left for about 5ish minutes & it was perfect.
Cooked this for the first time last night. We live on a catamaran and just wanted something quick and easy to cook with beef mince. Used lots of veggies pumpkin, carrot, green beans, cauliflower, capsicum, celery, zucchini. It was superb ….Thankyou
This was splendid. I took a few liberties and melted some Mexican blend cheese on top and served it with corn chips, coriander, guac and sour cream. Will DEF make this one again!
Hi Nagi, I have made this recipe a few times now because it is so simple and soooo delicious. My husband and I both really enjoy it. It is great that you can use pretty well any vegetable you have on hand. Very nutritious too! Thanks for such easy and delicious recipes!
Delicious! Perfectly cooked rice with the most delicious flavour.
5 stars for another brilliant recipe.
Omg this ROCKS! I accidentally put a whole teaspoon of cumin in instead of a half of one and it have it a real Mexican rice vibe. Not mad at all. Brilliant as usual Nagi! x
Thank you Nagi for this wonderful one pot comfy dish! I added a dash of turmeric for colour and chilli powder for some heat 👌
Finely something tasty, bold ! I just added slightly more salt and cayenne pepper… I also did it with beef pieces instead of minced but it’s due to my husband preferences…
Tastes a lot better when you make this topping… zest and juice one lime and mix it into half a container of sour cream. Add a dollop on top of each bowl!
My fiancee and I love this recipe. We tend to swap in pak choy or bok choy for our veggies, and we also love it with a runny fried egg on top. Om nom nom
The easiest and greatest recipe for a quick meal and then leftovers for rest of the week. Flavors are great and really healthy.