Spanish Rice Recipe With Ground Beef

Mireille · 05/19/2022 at 5:34 am

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Cook, this rice dish with beef, rice, onion, peppers, broth, and tomato sauce. Just 25 minutes later you have a great dish. So, are you ready to learn how to make Spanish rice with ground beef? Let’s get started!

What You Need For This Recipe

To make this Spanish rice recipe you need several ingredients that you should put on your grocery shopping list:

Beef – use ground beef or a combination of beef and pork ground beef
Rice – I use a long-grain rice like Basmati rice
Bell pepper – add sweet red bell pepper
Tomato sauce – you can use canned tomatoes, frito tomato sauce, or fresh tomatoes
Small onion – finely dice
Garlic – mince fresh garlic
Seasoning – add chili powder
Tomato paste – to give the rice that beautiful orange/red color
Cumin – to add flavor to the rice
Chicken broth – to cook the rice
Salt and pepper – to taste

Note that the full ingredients list, including measurements, can be found in the recipe card below.

How To Make Spanish Rice With Ground Beef

Preheat a cast-iron skillet to medium-hot. Add the ground beef. Brown the beef by breaking it up with a wooden spoon. This takes about 5 minutes.
Dice the onion and bell pepper. Then mince the garlic and add it all to the skillet. Stir continuously until soft and translucent. Now add chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir it through before adding the tomato paste.
Then add the (Frito) tomato sauce to the skillet and stir it through the ground beef mixture. Stir in the rice before adding 1 cup of the chicken broth. Bring the broth to a boil and then reduce the heat.
Now cook the Spanish rice on a low simmer for 15-20 minutes without a lid. Stir the rice occasionally to avoid the rice sticking to the skillet.
When water evaporates too fast (all the liquid is gone and the rice is still hard) add the additional broth. The rice should absorb all the broth and liquids.
Ready to serve.

Spanish Rice With Ground Beef Recipe

Just like Mexican rice, you can find a million versions and varieties. This rice recipe is very easy to make. Like always this recipe is a starting point and you can easily adjust it to your liking.

You can switch up the protein in the recipe and replace the ground beef with ground turkey or chicken. This recipe works best when you prepare it with long-grain rice like Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Basmati is my favorite rice to use as it is easy to cook and will get nice and dry. In Spain, rice used for recipes like paella is usually a small and thick type of rice like risotto rice.

Can You Make Spanish Rice Ahead Of Time?

Yes, you can this rice recipe ahead of time. The flavor intensifies when you prepare it a day or two in advance. When you bake the rice, it will be less wet and almost toasted when you bake it in a skillet, which is something that I like.

You must heat the rice all the way through before serving.

How To Store Spanish Rice

If you made a big batch or have leftover rice there are a couple of ways to store it. Always let your rice cool completely before taking the next step:

Refrigerator – you can store rice in the refrigerator. Put it in an airtight storage container or a ziplock bag. You can keep it for up to 3 days
Freezer – rice freezes well so if you want to keep it longer a freezer is a great place. Let the rice cool and put it in an airtight container or put it in a ziplock bag. Flatten the bag so it thaws easily. Label the container or bag and freeze for up to 2 months

How To Reheat Spanish Rice

You have several ways to reheat Spanish rice:

Skillet – you can reheat the Spanish rice in a skillet. Preheat the skillet to medium and add the rice. Stir often to prevent the rice from sticking to the pan. Heat until the rice is warmed through. Do not heat on high as the rice sticks to the pan easier and not all rice is warmed
Oven – you can also heat Spanish rice in the oven. Heat the oven to 375℉. Put the leftover rice in an oven dish and cover with foil. Heat for 10 minutes. Remove the foil and stir the rice. Heat for another 5 minutes or until the rice is warmed through
Air Fryer – if you have a small amount of leftover Spanish rice, you can reheat it in an Air Fryer. Put the rice in a cake pan and cover with foil. Preheat the Air Fryer to 350℉ and warm the rice for 7-8 minutes. Stir the rice and heat for another 2-3 minutes
Microwave – you can also heat in the microwave. Put the rice in a microwave bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and heat for 1 minute. Stir the rice and check if it is warm else heat in 30 seconds bursts

Why Is My Rice Not Properly Cooked?

There are several reasons why your rice doesn’t turn out as it should. Most likely there are two possibilities. Your rice is undercooked and still hard or your rice is mushy and too soft.

When your rice is still hard the rice has not been cooked long enough. So, heat your skillet to medium and let the liquid simmer so the rice can absorb all of it. Add more water if needed

When your rice is mushy and sticky your rice is probably cooked with too much liquid. Rice should just be submerged in water, cooked, and evaporated into the liquid during the cooking process.

Serve Ground Beef Spanish Rice With

Mexican recipes go great with this rice dish so you can serve it with:

More Rice Recipes

If you love rice dishes take a look at these easy recipes:

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Spanish Rice With Ground Beef

Mireille

Serves: 4 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes

A great dinner or side dish, Spanish rice with ground beef has it all. Make it a skillet. Spanish rice is done in less than 30 minutes.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1 cup long-grain rice like Basmati rice or Jasmine rice
1 sweet bell pepper
200 ml (Frito) tomato sauce
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon cumin
1½ cups chicken broth
Pinch of salt
Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Preheat a cast-iron skillet to medium-hot. Add the ground beef. Brown the beef by breaking it up with a wooden spoon. This takes about 5 minutes. Drain excess fat
Dice the onion and bell pepper. Then mince the garlic and add it all to the skillet. Stir continuously until soft and translucent
Add chili powder, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir it through before adding the tomato paste
Add the Frito tomato sauce to the skillet and stir it through the ground beef mixture
Stir in the rice before adding 1 cup of chicken broth. Bring the broth to the boil and then reduce the heat to medium
Cook the Spanish rice on a low simmer for 15-20 minutes without a lid. Stir the rice occasionally to avoid the rice sticking to the skillet. Add the remaining chicken broth if the rice absorbs the liquids really fast
The rice should absorb all the broth and liquids
Ready to serve

Notes

When water evaporates too fast (all the liquid is gone and the rice is still hard) add a little bit of extra water (¼ cup of water)