Greek ground beef meal prep bowls
Lemony oregano beef over rice with crunchy cucumber, tomato, feta and tzatziki, packed into four lunches that keep 4 days in the fridge.
- 40 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $4.68 a serving
- 590 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1¼ cups long-grain white rice
- 1¼ lb 90/10 ground beef
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 cucumber, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- ¾ cup tzatziki
From your pantry
- 2 cups water
- 1¼ tsp salt, divided
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 590 calories, 39 g protein, 59 g carbs and 22 g fat, and costs about $4.68 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No 90/10 ground beef? 85/15 ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No red onions? White onions work.
- No feta cheese? Goat cheese works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice until the water runs mostly clear. Put it in a with the water and ¼ teaspoon salt and over high.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
While it cooks, heat a large over medium-high and cook the beef and onion 7 to 8 minutes, breaking up the beef, until no pink is left.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic, oregano, cumin, pepper and remaining 1 teaspoon salt for 1 minute, then take it off the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
Medium heat
the cucumber, the tomatoes and the red onion.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Divide the rice and beef among 4 containers. Add the cucumber, tomatoes, onion and feta to one side, and spoon the tzatziki into small lidded cups.
Dolly’s tip: Keeping the tzatziki separate stops everything going soggy.Refrigerate up to 4 days. To eat, warm the rice and beef in the microwave and add the cold toppings after.
Food safety: Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot, 165°F.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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