Beef & Pepper Rice Bowls

Beef and pepper rice bowls on small hot pad.

Beef & Pepper Rice Bowls come together in 30 minutes with ground beef, peppers, and a quick soy-garlic sauce. Perfect for weeknight dinners, no fancy techniques or ingredients, and it's just as tasty as take out!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Asian

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 25

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 482kcal

Author Karly Campbell

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small yellow onion
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes more or less taste
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

Instructions

Add the rice to a pot along with 3 cups of water or broth and butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and cover the pot with a tight fitting lid. Let cook for 15 minutes and then turn off the heat without removing the lid. Let sit for 10 minutes undisturbed.
While the rice is cooking, add the beef to a large skillet over medium heat and let brown a bit before beginning to break it up.
While the beef is browning, dice the onion and peppers and mince the garlic.
Once the beef is partially browned and you’ve broken it up into small crumbles, add the onion, peppers, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
Drain any excess grease from the pan.
Add the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, and garlic powder to the pan and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes or until the peppers are as soft as you’d like.
Uncover the rice and fluff with a fork. Divide into 4 bowls and top with the beef mixture.

Notes

Rice: We included instructions for stove top rice, but I usually use my Instant Pot Jasmine Rice recipe here. Easy peasy! You can also use minute rice or the microwave pouches of rice for a shortcut. No judgement.

Spice: Around ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes is right where I like this, but it does have some kick! Reduce it down if you’re feeding littles.

Sauce: We’re keeping it ultra simple and pantry friendly with soy sauce, brown sugar, and vinegar for a salty, tangy, sweet situation. Our Korean BBQ sauce (or store bought Japanese BBQ sauce - we like this one) is also tasty - just add enough to coat the beef and flavor everything. Teriyaki sauce is also a good saucy option.

Veg: We’re keeping it simple with onions & peppers here, but you could also grab a bag of stir-fry veggies at the store. We like the ones near the salad in the produce section. They cook in minutes and often come with a little pouch of sauce.

Serving: Pretty much required to serve this next to our Asian cucumber salad. Sorry, it’s the law.

Nutrition