Beef and Rice Skillet Dinner
No half hour dinner ever really takes 30 minutes, but this comes close. Ground beef, vegetables and rice are combined in one skillet for a fast, tasty, easy-cleanup dinner. For best results use a large 12 skillet with straight sides and a tight fitting lid. I dont like canned beef broth, so this recipe calls for canned chicken stock instead. If you have homemade stock of either type, use that.
No half hour dinner ever really takes 30 minutes, but this comes close. Ground beef, vegetables and rice are combined in one skillet for a fast, tasty, easy-cleanup dinner. For best results use a large 12 skillet with straight sides and a tight fitting lid. I dont like canned beef broth, so this recipe calls for canned chicken stock instead. If you have homemade stock of either type, use that.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 lb ground beef, extra lean
- 1 large white onion finely chopped
- 3 stalks celery finely chopped
- 1 bell pepper, green finely chopped
- 1 bell pepper, red finely chopped
- 4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled crushed
- 1 dash ground cayenne pepper
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 2 3/4 cups no sodium chicken broth or more, as needed
- Carbohydrate 51.7952600546198 g
- Cholesterol 40.2563228375 mg
- Fat 12.8683299275447 g
- Fiber 2.87318123167528 g
- Protein 15.9651570228031 g
- Saturated Fat 4.64227000634408 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (265g)
- Sodium 246.862038072678 mg
- Sugar 48.9220788229445 g
- Trans Fat 1.87356323355073 g
- Calories 392 calories
Step-by-step
- Heat a 12" skillet over medium high heat. While the pan pre-heats finely chop the onion and start prep on other vegetables. I like to seed and chop the bell peppers now as well, because they take the longest prep.
- Once pan is at full heat (5-10 minutes), add the oil and ground beef. Break the beef in smaller bits with a spatula or spoon, but try to let the pieces brown a bit before stirring. Cook for 4-5 minutes until most of the pink is gone. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and onion to the beef and mix well.
- While the onions start to cook, chop the celery. After the onions have started to soften, about 3-4 minutes, add the celery and bell peppers. Cook for another 2-3 minutes while you measure the spices and finish chopping the peppers.
- In a small bowl or ramekin, measure your spices. Crush the oregano as you put it in the bowl to help release the oils. Combine the paprika, oregano, bay leaf, and salt and pepper.
- Add the crushed garlic, and bowl of spices to the pan, mixing well to coat the vegetables. Cook for 30 seconds or so to let the spices heat up (this helps to release flavor). Add Worcestershire sauce.
- Check your package of rice to find out what ratio of liquid you need. Most packages will list the amount of liquid for 2 cups of rice, it can be anywhere between 3 to 4 cups. Measure out the equivalent amount of broth, but use about 3 tablespoons to 1/4 less (the vegetables release moisture and if they release too much the rice will be soggy).
- Add the rice to the pan, and mix well, then add the broth an turn the heat up to high to bring to a boil. As soon as the broth is boiling, cover, reduce heat to low or medium low to maintain a simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes until rice is tender.
- Remove from heat, fluff with a fork or spatula and remove the bay leaf. Cover with lid, let stand for 5 minutes, then serve.
The ingredient list fails to mention that the pan size dictates whether the starches gelatinize correctly or turn into porridge. Using a heavy twelve-inch skillet with straight sides ensures the thermal mass required to brown extra-lean ground beef without steaming it, while a tight-fitting lid traps the steam necessary to hydrate the long-grain white rice evenly. When the meat hits the preheated oil, resist the urge to stir constantly; allowing those protein strands to develop direct contact with the hot metal creates foundational savory depth through the Maillard reaction. Crushing dried oregano between your fingers directly into the spice blend breaks open the glandular trichomes, releasing fat-soluble aromatic compounds that would otherwise remain trapped in the dried leaves.
Disaster strikes this dish most frequently when cooks blindly follow standard package liquid ratios without accounting for the water released by the heavy load of onions, bell peppers, and celery. Because those vegetables purge moisture during the simmer, reducing the added chicken broth by roughly three tablespoons prevents the rice grains from becoming waterlogged and mushy. Toasting the garlic and spices for exactly thirty seconds in the fat-coated pan opens up their volatile oils, but exceeding that window burns the minced garlic and introduces acrid bitterness to the entire skillet. Maintaining a strict low-to-medium-low heat during the twenty-to-twenty-five-minute simmer guarantees the steam cooks the interior of the rice kernels before the bottom scorches against the cast iron or stainless steel.
Home cooks often substitute canned beef broth for the chicken stock specified here, yet commercial beef options frequently pack excessive sodium levels that imbalance the seasoning of the whole dish. Homemade bone stock works wonderfully if available, provided you monitor its salt content before adding the designated half teaspoon.
