An easy and highly adaptable Tex-Mex ground beef and rice bowl with a tingly (but still mild) sauce freshened up with a couple splashes of citrus.
Meal prep doesn’t get much simpler than this. Ground beef, veg, sauce, rice. Done. Delish.
And like most rice bowl dishes, it’s easily adaptable for macros. Need more protein? Add more beef. Doing the low-carb thing? Subtract some rice.
I’m using a yellow onion, bell peppers, black beans, and corn, but literally any of your standard Tex-Mex veggies will do. Poblano peppers, red or green onions, and pinto or kidney beans all work as substitutes. For toppings, try tomatoes, extra green onions, or cheese.
There’s one little hiccup in this recipe around mincing the chipotle peppers: It’s much easier if you have a stick blender. That said, it’s no problem mincing them with a knife. It’ll just make a bit of a mess on your cutting board.
Topping this rice bowl with a couple dollops of plain sour cream works just fine, but I usually cut sour cream with a bit of water to make it more spreadable, which also mellows the tanginess. In this case, I cut it with lime juice instead of water, which makes it spreadable but also gives it a little citrusy kick. To do this, start with about a cup of sour cream in a bowl, stir in about a tablespoon of lime juice, and taste. Add more juice to make it thinner, or add more sour cream if you’ve gone too far.
This meal prep makes about six servings — five meal preps for the work week and one chef snack.
Enjoy!
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Tex-Mex Beef & Rice Bowl
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
An easy and highly adaptable Tex-Mex ground beef and rice bowl with a tingly (but still mild) sauce freshened up with a couple splashes of citrus.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ lbs ground beef
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (plus ~2 tablespoons of the sauce)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 1 cup beef or chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 ½ cups corn (frozen, canned, or fresh)
- 1 15-oz can black beans, drained
- 2-3 tablespoons lime juice
- 4 ½ cups cooked rice (~1 ½ cups uncooked)
- 1 cup sour cream
Instructions
Prep the sauce base:
- With a stick blender, blend the chipotle peppers, 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce, tomato paste, honey, cumin, paprika, oregano, and cocoa powder. Set aside until needed. (See notes section if not using stick blender.)
Chipotle Beef and Veggies:
- In a large pot or skillet, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and red and yellow bell peppers with a large pinch of salt and cook until soft and some browning has developed.
- Add the garlic and cook for about 90 seconds.
- Add the ground beef along with the salt and black pepper, break it up, and cook until browned through.
- Stir in the sauce base and cook for a minute or two.
- Pour in the broth and orange juice and simmer until the sauce thickens and clings to the meat.
- Stir in the corn and black beans and cook until heated through.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the lime juice. Taste and adjust for seasoning. Add more salt/honey/lime as needed.
Assembly:
- Divide the rice evenly into 6 portions (about ¾ cup each), top with the beef and veggie mixture.
- Add toppings of your choice.
Sour Cream with Lime Juice
- Add 1 tablespoon of lime juice to about 1 cup of sour cream and stir until smooth. Add more lime juice to thin the sour cream more. Add more sour cream to thicken it back up if you went too far.
- Portion the sour cream mixture into 6 separate small containers — one per bowl. Don't add it now if meal prepping. Add it fresh after microwaving when ready to eat!
Notes
If you don’t have a stick blender, just mince the chipotle peppers with a knife and add them to the pot along with the other ingredients at the appropriate step in the recipe.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Cuisine: Tex-Mex
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