This ground beef, zucchini, and rice skillet is a delicious, one pan way to use up some of the best summer produce. This easy dinner features perfectly seasoned lean ground beef, sweet tomatoes, and buttery zucchini all cooked with fluffy rice and cheese.
I love a good skillet meal.
Generally skillet meals are easy to make and mean easy clean up.
And that is definitely true of this ground beef, zucchini, and rice skillet.
This summer skillet meal gets me out of the kitchen so I can make the most of the good weather and sunshine.
And it is chock full of all the fresh garden produce I grow so I get to use up the veggies from my garden and feed all that good stuff to my kids.
Ingredients
To make this you’ll need:
- Ground beef– Lean ground beef. If you don’t like ground beef, you could substitute ground turkey or chicken instead.
- Veggies– Diced onion, diced bell pepper, cubed zucchini, and seeded and diced roma tomatoes
- Seasoning– Minced garlic, Cajun seasoning, dried basil, dried thyme, dried marjoram, salt and pepper
- Broth– The recipe calls for chicken broth but you could sub veggie broth or beef broth instead.
- Rice– Jasmine or basmati
- Cheese– Shredded cheddar
How to Make
This ground beef, zucchini and rice skillet is so easy to make and can be on the table in well under 30 minutes!
To make it, cook the ground beef in a large skillet set over medium high heat until the beef’s crumbled and cooked through with no more visible pink.
Then, strain the meat to remove excess grease and return the meat to the skillet.
Stir in the remaining ingredients, except the cheese.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer.
Cover and cook for 12-16 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is fluffy.
Once the rice is fluffy, take the skillet off the heat, and sprinkle the cheese evenly out overtop.
Cover the skillet and let sit just until the cheese has melted.
Serve and enjoy!
Storing leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheat in the microwave until warmed through.
Tips and Tricks
- If you like your zucchini on the firmer side, wait to add it to the skillet until the last 5 minutes of cook time.
- Want more protein in this one pot meal, but still want to keep things on the healthier side? Add a drained can of black beans to the mix.
- Prefer more veggies in the mix? Fresh mushrooms, canned corn, or even some yellow squash would all be delicious additions.
- Like a little heat? Stir in some crushed red pepper flakes.
Other Ground Beef Skillet Meals
This ground beef, zucchini, and rice skillet is a summer staple that you can throw together on the busiest of days.
Make it and enjoy!
Looking for other ground beef skillet meals?
Try these:
If you’ve tried this GROUND BEEF, ZUCCHINI, AND RICE SKILLET or any other recipe on the site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!
Ground Beef Zucchini & Rice Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 large onion peeled & diced
- 1 green pepper seeded & diced
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
- 1 pinch dried basil
- 1 pinch dried thyme
- 1 pinch dried marjoram
- salt & pepper to taste
- 2 medium zucchini cubed
- 4-5 large roma tomatoes seeded & diced
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup jasmine rice basmati also works
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a large skillet, or Dutch oven, set over medium high heat. Cook, stirring often and crumbling the meat, until the beef's cooked through with no more visible pink- roughly 5-6 minutes.
- Strain the meat to remove excess grease, then return to the skillet.
- Add the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT the cheese, to the skillet and stir to evenly combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then immediately reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Cover and cook for 12-16 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the rice is fluffy.
- Remove the skillet from heat, and sprinkle the cheese evenly out overtop. Cover, and let sit just until the cheese has melted.
- Serve warm & enjoy!
Notes
- If you like your zucchini on the firmer side, wait to add it to the skillet until the last 5 minutes of cook time.
- Want more protein in this one pot meal, but still want to keep things on the healthier side? Add a drained can of black beans to the mix.
- Prefer more veggies in the mix? Fresh mushrooms, canned corn, or even some yellow squash would all be delicious additions.
- Like a little heat? Stir in some crushed red pepper flakes.
Nutrition
recipe adapted from Julie’s Eats & Treats
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