Robyn Stone
Spanish Rice Recipe – Spanish Rice is a well-loved side dish. But this family favorite Spanish Rice with Beef recipe is a delicious main dish ready in under 30 minutes!
One of my favorite dishes to order when we go to our local Mexican restaurant is their Spanish rice. Well, along with the chips, salsa, queso dip, and guacamole! Ha!
Their Spanish rice though always just goes perfectly with whatever I order for my entree – from enchiladas to whatever their specials are for the day.
But, as much as I love their Spanish rice, it still doesn’t really compete with the version that my Mama has made since as long as I can remember. While theirs is served as a side dish, Mama’s was always the main attraction, served with a salad or beans.
Her Spanish rice is made with ground beef that takes it to a whole new level!
I love that it comes together in less than thirty minutes and just takes one skillet to prepare. We also love to prepare this for a camp style meal as well. No wonder Mama loved making this recipe so much! It’s an all-around favorite for sure!
Spanish Rice Recipe
How to Freeze Spanish Rice
Once cooked, allow to cool completely. Portion into freezer-safe container(s) and freeze up to 3 months.
To serve, thaw in the refrigerator overnight, reheat and serve.
Here’s her Spanish Rice Recipe with Ground Beef. So simple, I think you’ll love it, too!
Skillet Spanish Rice with Ground Beef Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies
Instructions
- Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently. Drain and set aside.
- Drizzle olive oil into the skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and rice, stirring frequently until rice is lightly browned. Add ground beef, oregano, chili powder, cumin, salt, black pepper, water, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
Sounds delicious! Bookmarked! 🙂
Spanish rice! I forgot about that (my soon to be ex-husband doesn’t like rice)! Thanks for reminding me! Now I’m going to pit your version against my mom’s! Yum!
Too funny!
What a coincidence, I just made a version of this last night. I used a shortcut, and used the fajita sauce instead of the herbs.
Great timing…hubby has been wanting me to try a new Spanish Rice recipe. Going to make this tonight!!
Looks and sounds good.  My husband’s mom always put cooked, crumbled bacon and shredded cheese on top too near end of baking time.
This looks so flavorful and comforting!
sounds good to me.I’ll try it soon.Thank You
I made this for dinner tonight, and my family really enjoyed it. The rice had an almost crunchy texture to it, which was rather nice. Thank you for sharing this easy dish.
I just made this for dinner – very delicious and filling! It was super easy to pull together, too. I used brown rice instead of white because of personal preference and thought it all worked out great.
For extra zip, throw in a bag of crushed doritos or the like as the last ingredient
And beans..lots of beans. ..
how would this be with brown rice and ground turkey? I think I am going to try it. This sounds wonderful but having had bariatric surgery I can not have white rice.
I think it would be delicious, Catina!
Tried this and it was fabulous! I traded out all the different spices N added 2 tbs. Of taco seasoning N a half cup of shredded cheese on top. Loved it. My son put his on nachos N added sour cream. Can do alot with this recipe. Yummy!
I just made this, but left made it moderately spicy as I want the 3 yr old to eat it. I just tasted it and it’s great! Will most likely add some hot sauce and dried chilies to my plate, but it was easy and it’s super tasty. I used brown rice and I left out diced tomatoes with green chilies as I did not have any in the pantry.
I grew up eating this. My mother always made a huge skillet of it so there would be leftovers. She then used the leftovers to stuff bell peppers. She poured a small can of tomato sauce over and around the peppers and baked them in a 350° oven until the peppers were tender.
My wife and I made this together and it was super easy….very filling and we served it was tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream. It was a great ‘what’s for dinner—I’m too tired to cook’ recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!
EVEN EASY TO MAKE WITH KIDS RUNNING IN AND OUT GETTING IN THE WAY
Delicious!!! I added chicken sausage to make it more like Jambalaya, so good.
First comment I read said rice was slightly crunchy and they liked that.
Rice was slightly crunchy and I didn’t like that.
Not sure exactly what to do to it so the rice being crunchy. I dont want mushy rice either. Maybe skipping the light browning of the rice?
It was edible but fairly bland besides the crunchy rice. I only made it once so I can only guess or sugest tweaks. Maybe slightly more spices or green chilies?
If you have ever under cooked white rice by 15 percent or so, thats what this rice was like.
Not sure my results with this particular recipe were good enough to experiment with tweaking this recipe to my liking.
Good luck if you try it. Expect it to be slightly bland with slightly crunchy rice.
Hi TJ,
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe. It is one of my favorite recipes my Mama made when I was growing up.
I’ve not had a problem with my rice being crunchy – it always gets done when I use this recipe.
You are definitely welcome to add more chilis/spices to your dish if you wish…I leave it where those that want it hotter can add more heat to their taste.
Thanks so much!
I made this recipe last night and my family and I loved it. I have no idea how anyone’s rice came out crunchy. Long grain white rice cooks in 20 minutes. Maybe they forgot to add the water.
I love this meal and will add it to my regular rotation.
Thanks so much, Shelley! I’m thrilled you and your family enjoyed it! My family has loved this for years! xo
Very good! I used ground pork instead of ground beef, and added a small can of mild chili’s since I didn’t have tomatoes with chili’s. This recipe s a keeper!
Glad you enjoyed it, Pat! Thanks!
Can you use minute rice with this recipe? Or is instant rice too mushy?
Increase rice to 1 1/4 cup for instant.
This recipe is well known in the south as Texas hash. My mother never used anything but instant rice for anything..lol
I used riced cauliflower instead of rice. My husband loves it!
Thanks so much Marlea! xo
Delicious it a keeper. Thanks for sharing. Stuffed it in some bell peppers. Family loved it.
Just like mom used to make! It was a little bland, so I doubled the chili powder and cumin. Love the idea of topping with cheese and serving with tortilla chips. Maybe a couple of avocado slices?
Hi Sheron,
Sorry it was too bland for you. I didn’t make it really spicy so ones that don’t like spicy food could eat it and ones that like it a little more hot could add more spices. Serving it with avocado slices sounds good. Thanks!
My rice is crunchy or undercooked, and I’m not sure why. I added the water and let it cook forever, but the liquid stopped absorbing and the rice just seemed undercooked. What am I doing wrong? My kids still liked it a lot – I topped with cheddar cheese which is always popular. But I thought the rice would be more tender.
I’m sorry your rice was undercooked, Ali. I use long grain white rice. I have never had a problem with the rice being crunchy; it’s always tender so I’m not sure why it happened. Did you let it come to a full boil before reducing the heat then covering it to simmer? I let my rice get very lightly browned before adding the other ingredients. Hope this helps!
I made this for my boyfriend and I last night and it was such a flavorful, simple, filling, and craveable week night meal!
Thank you, Ari. I’m so glad you and your boyfriend enjoyed it.
Just like Mama made. Loved it!
I too had trouble with my rice being under cooked but I think it’s because I used too much beef which meant there wasn’t enough liquids to cover my rice. I added more water and cooked an additional 10 mins and it was perfect. My husband loved it, it was easy & definitely a keeper. I’ll just know next time to add more water or cover if necessary. I made no changes to the recipe, used flour tortillas and mozzarella cheese and enjoyed immensely.
I’m so happy you and your husband loved this, Lori. It has been a favorite around my house for years. Thanks
I added a small bag of corn and it came out GREAT!!!!
Thanks, Tara.
This is the perfect recipe for homemade Spanish Rice with Ground Beef. This is one of my husband’s favorite meals and when I was still working I used packaged Spanish Rice and added the ground beef. However, making it homemade using this recipe he likes it even more. Thank you!
Thank you, Renita. I’m so glad your husband loves this. xo
This is one of my favorite recipes ever. I’ve made it for years now and I just love it, delicious every time! I make it exactly like your recipe except I add black beans and cheese at the end to give it sort of a Mexican twist. I can’t rave enough about this recipe.
Thanks, Eva. I am so happy you like this recipe. It has been a favorite since I was a little girl.
Was simple and very delicious
Thanks, Robert!