Mexican beef and rice
A one-pot arroz with seasoned beef, tomato-red rice and sweet little vegetables, cheap enough for any night of the week.
- 45 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $2.50 a serving
- 490 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
- 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1¾ cups water
Each serving has about 490 calories, 28 g protein, 52 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $2.50 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 yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No frozen mixed vegetables? Frozen peas or frozen corn or frozen green beans work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear. the onion and pepper and the garlic.
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.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Heat a large pot with a lid over medium-high and cook the beef, onion and pepper 7 to 8 minutes, breaking up the beef, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
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.
Add the rice and stir 2 minutes, until it smells toasty.
Medium-high heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: Toasting the rice in the beef fat is what gives Mexican rice its nutty flavor.Stir in the garlic, cumin, chili powder and salt for 30 seconds.
Medium-high heat
Pour in the tomato sauce and water, in the bouillon cube, stir once, and .
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
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 the heat to low, and cook 18 to 20 minutes without lifting the lid, until the rice is tender and the liquid is gone.
Low heatTimer: 19 min
Dolly’s tip: No peeking. Every look lets the steam out, and steam is what cooks the rice.Take it off the heat, scatter the frozen vegetables on top, cover again, and let it sit 5 minutes.
Timer: 5 min
Fluff and stir everything together, then serve with cilantro and lime.
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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