Taco Rice Skillet - This change up to Taco Night will have your entire family excited about dinner!
Before I tell you about this Taco Rice Skillet, let me tell you one important thing about the photos. Usually, I try to take my time and make my pictures all nice and drool-worthy. My family usually waits very patiently (sort of) but man, these photos stink. You know why? Because I couldn't beat them off of this meal. It smelled so good they just were on my case about digging in. So, there you have it, a good meal, but not-so-good photos. Oh well.
Okay, here we go.
I think I mentioned not too long ago that my kids finally tried tacos and now they are madly in love with them. They expect tacos once a week, usually on Tuesdays, of course, for Taco Tuesday. I'm game most of the time, but as I have said before, I'm kind of getting sick of plain old tacos.
For a while now, I've been trying to keep Taco Tuesday going, but without the actual tacos. That sounds confusing, doesn't it? What I mean is I'm making taco-ish dishes like Taco Meatloaf, Taco Pizza, Taco Pasta ,Taco Salad and now we have a new favorite, this One Pot Taco Rice Skillet.
There are so many good things about this meal. For starters, it's a one pot meal so you're not dirtying up a bunch of pans. Oh, and how about that fact that it tastes awesome, it's easy to make and the best thing for me is that my kids actually will eat it. My husband did go back for seconds too, so don't be fooled into thinking this is only a kid meal.
Another great thing about this Taco Rice Skillet is that if you have leftovers (which is doubtful because it's so yummy), you can reheat and pop it inside a wrap for a burrito - instant lunch. Don't you love when you can have two different meals out of one? I do. Next time I make this Taco Rice Skillet, I will double it so I can have enough for us all to have burritos.
Last quick note. I really, really, really wanted to stir black beans into this. I knew the kids wouldn't be on board. I say, if your family eats beans, totally add the beans!
Do you have any taco-ish style dishes you want to share with me? I'm open to suggestions.
Taco Rice Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ Cup diced onion (sweet onion)
- 2 cloves garlic , chopped or minced
- 1 ounce taco seasoning
- 1 Cup salsa
- 1 Cup white rice (not instant)
- 2 ¼ Cup beef broth/stock
- 1 Cup shredded cheese , cheddar or Mexican blend
Optional garnishes
- Chopped green onions
- Sliced jalapeno
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Olives
- Cilantro
Instructions
- In a large, non-stick, skillet over medium/high heat, brown the meat. After a few minutes of the beef cooking, add in the onion. Cook until beef is cooked and onion is soft. Add in garlic and cook 1 minute, stirring. Stir in taco seasoning, rice, salsa and beef broth/stock. Bring just to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to a simmer.
- Allow to simmer, covered for about 20-25 minutes, until rice is cooked. If too much liquid remains, allow to simmer a few more minutes un-covered.
- Sprinkle cheese over the top. You may want to cover to help the cheese melt.
- Remove from heat and garnish with desired toppings.
Notes
Nutrition
My kids prefer their tacos (and Taco Rice Skillet) rather plain without too many toppings. Some topping ideas I think would be great are:
- chopped cilantro
- sour cream
- guacamole
- chopped green onions
- olives
- sliced or chopped jalapeno
The Food Hunter says
one pot meals are always a favorite at our house and this looks to yummy not to try
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Quick, easy and delicious - that's always a winning combo!
Lora @savoringitaly says
It's super hard to take great photos with everyone waiting to dig in...I think you got some good ones! I would add beans to it for my my portion. Super fun summer dish!!
Kelly @ Nosh and Nourish says
Looks delish, and I'm with your fam... I'd want to dig in IMMEDIATELY 🙂
Sarah @ The Chef Next Door says
I think your photos look great! They are making me drool, so that's saying something. 😉 But I'm right there with you, my kids are usually chomping at the bit to eat, so I feel like I have to snap photos pretty quickly!
foodyschmoody says
Yeah, Ive never been one of those "cook dinner in the morning for the great light" kind of bloggers. I'm making dinner for my family first and if the photos happen, it makes it to the blog.
Kim Beaulieu says
This looks seriously scrumptious. I'd eat the heck out of it. Who cares about beautiful photos if the food taste freaking incredible. I think sometimes we put way too much pressure on ourselves as bloggers. It's okay to rush photos when the family wants to eat. I mean look at this, I can just imagine how great the smell was and how hard it would be to wait. Ha.
I love taco-ish recipes. I do a taco rice, taco salad, taco pie, taco sloppy joes, and even taco shepherd's pie. Same with fajitas. I try to make everything fajita-ish. Ha.
foodyschmoody says
Oh Taco Sloppy Joes might be the next thing I can get the picky kids on board for. Thanks!
Rhonda says
That looks delish!
I make a Mexican rice dish that is really good, and can even be stuffed into baked potatoes.
1 1/2 lbs ground beef browned and fat drained.
1/2 small sweet onion minced.
1 green bell pepper , chopped fine.
1 8oz. Can tomato sauce.
1 can Rotel
3 cups shredded cheese.
1 cup of cooked minute rice.
* brown beef with onion, pepper. Drain fat.
Add tomato sauce and Rotel. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer 10 minutes.
Stirring often.
Then add 1 cup of cheese to mixture combine well, then add your cooked rice and again combine well.
Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese and bake 350 degrees for 20/25 mins, or till bubbly.
Serve with chips, or stuffed into a potato.
Can be topped with any topping you like ...tomato, sour cream, taco sauce, green onion, avocado, guacamole, list is endless.
Hope you give it a try and like it.
Lori says
I made this for dinner tonight in the instant pot, mainly so I could get a shower while it was cooking. It is delicious. Thank you for sharing.
foodyschmoody says
Love my instant pot. Glad it was easily adaptable! I'd love to hear how you adapted it.
Lori says
The rice I had on hand was bismati, so I followed your instructions with my IP on saute, then added the rice and broth, set it to manual high pressure for 3 minutes. When that was done I let it do a natural pressure release, took about 20 minutes, added the cheese and let that melt and dinner was done.
foodyschmoody says
Oh, I love that you changed it up into an IP recipe. I actually just experimented doing the same this week but w/ brown rice and ground turkey. I'm hoping to get the recipe up soon! Enjoy!