
Taco cauliflower rice skillet
Lean taco-spiced beef, peppers and cauliflower rice under melted cheese, a high-protein, low-carb skillet that tastes like taco night.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $4.40 a serving
- 420 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free

Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1¼ lb 90/10 ground beef
- ½ yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lb 4 oz frozen cauliflower rice
- 1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles
- ¾ cup shredded cheddar
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (optional)
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 420 calories, 38 g protein, 17 g carbs and 23 g fat, and costs about $4.40 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No 90/10 ground beef? 85/15 ground beef works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No frozen cauliflower rice? Riced cauliflower works.
- No shredded cheddar? Cheddar cheese or Mexican blend cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No plain Greek yogurt? Plain yogurt or sour cream works.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the onion and pepper and the garlic.
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 with a lid over medium-high and cook the beef, onion and pepper 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: 8 min
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, chili powder, cumin, paprika and salt for 30 seconds.
Medium-high heat
Add the frozen cauliflower rice and the tomatoes with their juice, and cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until the cauliflower is tender and most of the liquid is gone.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Cook off the liquid so it tastes like a skillet, not a soup.Scatter the cheese over the top, cover, and cook 2 minutes on low, until .
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Low heatTimer: 2 min
Serve with a dollop of yogurt and cilantro.
Dolly’s tip: Plain Greek yogurt stands in for sour cream here, with extra protein.

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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