This quick and easy one-dish taco rice skillet can be made with just 8 simple ingredients. Hearty beef, onion, poblano pepper, and corn are combined with rice and topped with cheese. It is a delicious dinner your family will love, and using instant or leftover rice means you can have dinner on the table in about 20 minutes!
I enjoy making dinner for my family, but I need most of my dinner recipes to be quick and easy. My family’s life is busy, so I need low-stress dinner ideas with a few ingredients and simple instructions.
So I always keep ground beef on hand because there are a large variety of quick and easy dinners you can make with ground beef, like dirty rice or meatball soup. This taco rice skillet dinner is a simple dinner that is perfect for my family’s on-the-go busy lifestyle.
This post was originally compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.
Why You Will Love this Taco Skillet
- You can make it fast, in only 20 minutes.
- Since it is a whole meal in one pan, there aren’t many dishes to wash.
- It has all the taste of tacos with less mess and fuss.
- This meal uses simple pantry ingredients so that you can throw it together at the last minute.
Love easy one-pot meals? Try Instant Pot Jambalaya, Keto Lasagna Skillet, or Air Fryer Kielbasa with Potatoes!
Key Ingredient – Quick Cooking Rice
The key to making this meal quick and easy is using quick-cooking rice. Cooking rice from scratch isn’t difficult, but it does take 30 minutes.
So I always keep packets of microwavable rice in the pantry for days when I don’t have 30 minutes to spare. One packet of microwavable rice yields 2 cups of rice, the perfect amount for this recipe.
You can also use leftover rice in the recipe. And the type of rice doesn’t matter – brown rice, white rice, rice with extra seasoning, use whatever type you have!
Remaining Ingredients
This recipe has only a few simple ingredients, most of which I always have on hand.
Ground beef – This also works well with ground pork, ground chicken, or ground turkey.
Onion
Pepper – I prefer to make this with poblano pepper because they are a little bit spicy. But bell pepper or even jalapenos will work if you want your taco skillet to be extra spicy!
Taco seasoning – Since this is a quick and easy dinner, I use premade, packaged taco seasoning. Select mild or spicy, depending on your preferences.
Tomato – Use either fresh or canned diced tomatoes. Drain the tomatoes before adding if you are using canned.
Frozen corn – The corn adds some color and texture to the final dish.
Cheese – Shredded cheddar cheese or taco cheese melted on top makes the dish extra tasty!
How to Make a Taco Rice Skillet
1. Brown the Meat
Brown the ground beef in a cast iron skillet or another large frying pan. I prefer 93% lean ground beef for this meal.
If you use ground beef with a higher fat percentage, you will probably want to drain some of the fat off after the meat is browned.
Because I used a lower fat beef, I could skip that step. Browning the meat takes about 10 minutes.
2. Add Pepper, Onion, and Spices
Once the beef is brown, add the onion, poblano pepper, and taco seasoning to the cast iron skillet and cook the mixture for another five minutes.
This is the step where you can easily adjust the spiciness of the dish to suit your family’s preferences. If your family likes it hot, pick a spicy taco seasoning or add in a jalapeno pepper!
3. Simmer
Once onion and poblano pepper are cooked, stir in a diced tomato or drained tomatoes along with frozen corn. The corn doesn’t need to be thawed first since it will cook quickly in the dish.
Quickly heat the rice in the microwave or stir it in if you use leftover rice. Add it to the skillet and let the tomatoes, corn, and rice simmer for about 5 minutes.
4. Top with Cheese
Finally, spread a layer of shredded cheddar cheese on top of the skillet. The cheese melts in a couple of minutes, leaving the taco rice skillet covered with a nice layer of gooey melted cheese.
How to Serve the Taco Rice Skillet
You can serve the dish as is, right out of the skillet. Or you can add some tasty taco toppings to the skillet to make it even better. Here are some easy ideas for topping off the dish:
- Diced tomatoes
- Pickled jalapenos
- Sour cream
- Guacamole
- Tortilla chips
- Pickled onions
- Olives
Quick and Easy Dinner Ideas
Every meal doesn’t have to be a huge gourmet dinner that takes hours to cook! Treat yourself and your family to homemade good food fast by using shortcuts in the kitchen like using shortcuts. You can spend less time cooking and more time making family memories.
Taco Rice Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice microwave rice or leftover rice
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ onion
- 1 poblano pepper
- 1 package taco seasoning 1 ounce
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1 tomato
- ¾ cup cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and stir to break up. Cook, stirring, until no longer pink, about 10 minutes.1 pound ground beef
- While the ground beef cooks dice the onion and poblano pepper. Add them to the ground beef along with the packet of taco seasoning once most of the pink is gone and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.½ onion, 1 poblano pepper, 1 package taco seasoning
- Add the corn and tomato to the skillet and stir to mix well. If using leftover rice add it now, otherwise let the mixture continue to cook while you make the rice.1 cup frozen corn kernels, 1 tomato, 2 cups rice
- Follow the package directions and nake the rice in the microwave for 90 seconds.
- Add the heated rice to the skillet and stir to mix it all together. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
- Put the cheese on top of the skillet and cook for 2 minutes to let the cheese melts.¾ cup cheddar cheese
- Serve the taco rice skillet as is or add any taco toppings you like – sour cream, guacamole, pickled jalapenos, olives and tomatoes are all delicious.
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Nutrition Information
Nutrition facts are estimates.
I fried potatoes, onions in separate skillet and set aside. When the taco rice skillet was done I heated some flour & corn tortillas. I then let my family build themselves burritos. I had olives,cheese,chive,sour cream and shredded lettuce.
Also, when just the two of us I use the recipe above and crumble cheese Doritos on top and add condiments. If I am in a hurry I just scoop a serving and use the Doritos and eat like a dip.
Sounds delicious! I like the idea of adding potatoes.
1-2 small zucchini are my favorite sneaky vegetables on taco night. They suck up that taco flavor and everybody sucks dinner down. (If you have any vegetarians/ vegans, you can just make zucchini the same way you make the ground beef and serve separately. Also good for a Meatless Monday entree)
I’m going to try to substitute cauliflower rice for regular rice in this recipe because my son says he doesnt like rice.