Taco Bowl Recipe

Turns out tacos are not just for Tuesdays! This taco bowl is a customizable and easy recipe that we know you’ll love! 

Our taco bowl recipe is veggie-forward and emphasizes whole ingredients for added flavor, with no unnecessary ingredients. This taco bowl recipe can be changed to fit your dietary needs or to suit whatever ingredients are available near you.

How to make taco bowls

While we certainly didn’t coin the term “taco bowl,” we do think we’ve perfected it. We cook well-seasoned ground beef along with bright toppings like jalapeno, mango, and avocado on a base of crunchy romaine lettuce and Spanish-style rice for a super hearty dinner you can throw together anytime.

A taco “bowl” is essentially anything you’d love to have in a taco, in a bowl! (Another term for these is burrito bowls!) And you can have a little more fun with the toppings since a bowl lends to a lot more space than a small tortilla.

Our taco bowl is far from authentic but packs a lot of flavor and is nutritionally balanced. You can also use more lettuce as the base and call it a taco salad.

Ground beef taco bowl ingredients

Rice

For these taco bowls, we like to use simple long-grain white rice with a tomato base for that Spanish style. You could also use brown rice, cauliflower rice, or cilantro lime rice.

Lettuce

We opted for chopped romaine lettuce. We like that it’s crunchy and holds its crunch against the heat of the other ingredients. Of course, you could substitute your preferred green. Kale and spinach are more nutrient-dense and could be used raw or sauteed here, too.

Protein

In this recipe, we like classic ground beef with taco seasoning. You could use ground turkey, lean ground beef, ground chicken, sauteed lentils, tofu, black beans, or a combination of any of these. Regardless of what you choose, don’t shy away from using spices to keep this recipe flavorful—if you don’t want to make homemade taco seasoning, simply use a pre-blended one from the grocery store. The most common taco seasoning spices are ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, or cayenne pepper.

Sauteed veggies

We sauteed sliced yellow onion and multicolored bell peppers in neutral oil with a pinch of salt to give this recipe some added mass and nutritional value with limited calories. You could also use zucchini, string beans, roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli, or whatever other vegetables you like.

Toppings

We love a sweet and spicy combo like mango salsa and jalapenos. You could also go simple with a little bit of guacamole and hot sauce. Other favorite toppings include sour cream, salsa, pico de gallo, fresh lime juice, crumbled tortilla chips, fresh cilantro, chopped tomatoes, or grated cheddar cheese. If you’re dairy-free, try a dollop of Greek yogurt instead of sour cream—it tastes almost identical!

Taco Bowl Recipe

Turns out tacos are not just for Tuesdays! This taco bowl is a customizable and easy recipe that we know you’ll love!

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Total Time 45 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Mexican

Calories 457 kcal

Ingredients

  

Meat:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 tbsp neutral oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• Taco seasoning to taste (we used salt and pepper, ground cumin, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne/chili powder). A good rule of thumb is 2 tablespoons of taco seasoning for every pound of ground beef.

Rice:

• 1 cup white rice, rinsed
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• 1 cup water or chicken broth
• 2 bell peppers, sliced and sauteed
• 1 yellow onion, sliced and sauteed
• 1 cup per person chopped romaine lettuce (or another chopped lettuce)

Optional Toppings:

• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 mango, diced
• Salsa, hot sauce, sliced jalapenos for heat
• Fresh cilantro
• Sour cream

Instructions

 

• Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
• Add a neutral oil and allow to get hot, then add the diced onion and taco seasoning spices.
• Cook for 5 minutes, then add in the ground beef. Cook until the taco meat is fully cooked through. If you want to keep the ground beef mixture warm, place it in oven-safe bowls and keep it in the oven in a warming setting.
• Rinse rice until water runs clear.
• Heat a medium saucepan and add the rinsed rice and liquid. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cover with a lid. Cook until the liquid is completely absorbed. If you have one, you can use a rice cooker.
• Prepare your other toppings: wash and cut lettuce, cut and saute veggies, slice mango and jalapeno, or any of your other favorite toppings.
• Once you have your prepared toppings, you can serve them separately for a build-your-own-taco bowl or plate them up and enjoy them right away!

Nutrition

Serving: 0.33of recipe; without optional toppings; using water for the riceCalories: 457kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 35gFat: 26gSugar: 8g

Keyword tacos

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