This Mexican mince and rice recipe is a family favourite, easy to make, has mild Mexican flavours and lots of ways you can serve it!
Why This Recipe Works
- All cooks in one pot!
- Cook once for two different meals
- Fun kid friendly ways you can serve this easy dinner.
Ingredients you will need
To make my one-pan Mexican Mince and Rice you will need minced beef, onion, carrots, tinned tomatoes, spinach leaves rice, and corn kernels. You will also need spices/herbs (paprika, cumin, oregano, and garlic powder) and then either some stock or water.
Ingredient Substitutes
- Minced beef: Minced lamb and minced pork also work in this recipe (the flavour will of course be different, but still nice). If you want to use minced chicken you will need to add an extra tablespoon of oil as minced chicken is very low in fat and the dish ends up a bit dry without the extra oil.
- Spinach: Frozen spinach works just fine too!
- Spices: You can substitute my spice suggestions with your favourite Mexican/taco/nacho/buritto spice mix.
I am an ambassador for Countdown supermarket, they support my blog by providing ingredients for recipe creation and testing. I used macro organic tomatoes, and frozen corn from their range in this recipe, they also stock taco seasoning which you can use to make this Mexican mince. .
Step by step instructions
Below are illustrated step-by-step instructions to make Mexican mince and rice, if you prefer just the written instructions then head straight to the printable recipe card below.
Prep: Grate carrot and dice the onion
Step one: In a large lidded saucepan or dutch oven heat the oil. Saute onion, and grated carrots until fragrant and starting to brown.
Step two: Add mince, salt, and the Mexican seasoning spices, cook until browned.
Step three: Take 1 can of tomatoes and the spinach, blend them, i.e. make a savory smoothie with them, (yes it will look gross but trust me)
Step four: Add the smoothie to the browned mince, along with the second can of tomatoes, rice, and water/stock. Stir, cover and gently simmer for 15 minutes
Step five: Add the corn
Cover and simmer for another 5-10 mins, the liquid should be absorbed and rice tender
Serve
Top Tips
My favourite tip for this Mexican mince and rice recipe is to save the leftovers and serve them in a different way the second night. The mix makes a great quesadilla, taco or wrap filling.
Mince Recipes
I use mince quite often in family meals, I find it kid-friendly, economical and a good vehicle for carrying a lot of vegetables. Here are 3 of my family's favourite healthy mince recipes for kids
- Mince Curry- Beef and Coconut
- Ultimate Lasagne
- Burgers made with no breadcrumbs and no egg
- Spag Bol - A veggie loaded recipe
- Instant Pot Spaghetti Bolognese - Another one pot recipe!
One-Pan Mexican Mince and Rice
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large Onion
- 500 g mince
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons paprika
- 2 Tablespoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- chili flakes This is optional, if you would like more spice add ½ a teaspoon to 2 teaspoons depending on how much heat you want.
- 200 g carrots 2 x medium carrots
- 2 x 400g cans tomatoes
- 80 g spinach you can use frozen too
- 1 Cup rice
- 1 Cup water
- 1 Cup corn kernels frozen totally fine
Instructions
- In a large lidded saucepan or dutch oven heat the oil. Saute onion, and carrots until fragrant and starting to brown.
- Add mince, salt and the mexican seasoning spices, including the optional chili flakes cook until browned.
- Take 1 can of tomatoes and the spinach, blend them in a blender, i.e. make a savory smoothie with them, (yes it will look gross but trust me).
- Add the smoothie to the browned mince, along with the seond can of tomatoes, rice and water/stock. Stir
- Cover and gently simmer for 15 minutes (make sure you reduce the heat).
- Add the corn
- Cover and simmer for another 5-10 mins, liquid should be absorbed and rice tender
- Serve
Notes
Ingredient substitutions
- Minced beef: Minced lamb and minced pork also work in this recipe (the flavour will of course be different, but still nice). If you want to use minced chicken you will need to add an extra tablespoon of oil as minced chicken is very low in fat and the dish ends up a bit dry without the extra oil.
- Spices: You can substitute my spice suggestions with your favourite Mexican/taco/nacho/burrito spice mix.
- Spinach: Frozen spinach works just fine too!
Annabel says
Can't wait to make this! Is this dish freezer friendly?
My Kids Lick The Bowl says
yes it freezes and reheats well
Mama Brightbook says
This is going on my meal plan for this week! What rice did you use? I have some jasmine rice in the cupboard, I wonder if that will work…
My Kids Lick The Bowl says
I tend to use basmati rice
Kim says
I made this tonight for myself and my two year old. Super easy and hardly any dishes! Love a one pot wonder. We had ours in a wrap with avocado and cheese. Was super tasty and plenty left for the freezer!
My Kids Lick The Bowl says
Sounds great!