Rice, tomatoes, fresh cilantro, green bell pepper, fresh onion, and ground beef are cooked in a sweet-spicy sauce before being baked with Cheddar cheese. Instead of using standard canned tomatoes, cayenne, and jalapeno peppers, substitute Ro-Tel®. You can use any other cheese or a Mexican cheese blend in place of the extra Cheddar that I have added. Use of the alternative components will spice up your life, so beware.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper
- 1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®)
- 1 cup water
- ¾ cup long-grain white rice
- ½ cup chile sauce
- 1 (4 ounce) can sliced black olives, or to taste
- 2 tablespoons sliced jalapeno peppers, or to taste (Optional)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (Optional)
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef, onion, and green bell pepper in the hot skillet until beef is browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes; drain and discard grease.
- Stir beef mixture, diced tomatoes with green chile peppers, water, rice, chile sauce, olives, jalapeno peppers, garlic, salt, brown sugar, ground cumin, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and black pepper together in a large pot over medium-low heat.
- Bring beef-rice mixture to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors blend, about 30 minutes. Stir in 1 cup Cheddar cheese. Transfer mixture to a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish and press down firmly. Top with remaining 1 cup Cheddar cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until cheese is melted and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes. Top with chopped cilantro.
- The original recipe called for using a 2-quart casserole dish which I upgraded to a 2 1/2-quart casserole dish because of the addition of the optional ingredients. I did not want to overfill a 2-quart casserole dish.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 430 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 26 g |
| Cholesterol | 92 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 27 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1075 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 24 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This recipe was delicious! I replaced the Ro-Tel with a can of diced tomatoes, the green pepper with a can of diced medium green chilies, used ground turkey instead of beef and omitted the black olives because my husband doesn’t like them. I added a little medium salsa to use up a jar in my refrigerator and cut the salt in half. Otherwise I followed the recipe and it came out great. I’ll definitely make it again. I know it sounds like I changed the whole thing but I kept the other ingredients as written and just tweaked the recipe. That’s the point of Allrecipes and leaving reviews.
Very tasty! I had a fresh tomato so I subbed that for 1/2 can of the Rotel. Suggest 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water though. Family loved it!
This was really good! I will cut back the cheese to 1 cup though, just to try to keep it healthier. Next time I’ll replace the olives and jalapenos with corn. I used plain diced tomatoes because I didn’t have Rotel. Also, instead of chile sauce I used taco sauce.
Excellent! It does need a bit more water while simmering.
Delicious! I added fresh sliced mushrooms, used salsa & home made chilli sauce in mine.
Pretty good. It seemed to need a little extra water to cook the rice. I added some corn. Black beans could be a nice addition. I was out of cumin so added some chili powder. I used tomato instead of chili sauce as am cooking for an almost 1 year old and a spice phobic teen. I used 1.5 cups cheese & my teen said she’d like more cheese, but then she is a cheese nut. I needed to add hot sauce to taste at the table.
This was great! My 2 year old loves rice and ground beef, so I was looking for something he would like. He had 2 helpings and loved it. I made it mild and didn’t add the chili sauce, but it was still amazing. I will definitely make this again!
this was awesome!! I used chicken broth, instead of water (and actually added up to an extra cup of water as needed, while cooking). i didn’t use rotel, just small diced tomatoes is all i had. at the end, i added some corn and big dollop of sour cream and mixed it all together,. the taste was amazing. had a nice hint of spice from the red pepper. i loved it.
I did not like this dish
excellent! i substituted the ground beef with firm tofu, and it worked well.
Can’t go wrong with this one.
I tweaked this using sriracha, 1 cup mild salsa, 1/2 c water, large can of corn, diced green chilis, chopped 1 garden tomato. Browned extra beef in garlic and taco seasoning early in the day and made the rest later. Added extra cheese (my family likes things cheesy)!! Served with sour cream and the new Keebler jalapeño cornbread crackers. Yum!!! Everyone loved it – and if you’re going to cook – don’t you want everyone to love it?? Enjoy!
It’s a winner! Good mix of flavors. I lined the casserole dish with tortilla chips for a little shell. Also had some sour cream on the side for a cool taste with the dish. Good stuff. And more importantly, hubby liked it! Following the directions it’s mild. I used the original style Rotel. If you want a kick, I suggest more cayenne or hot Rotel.
This was a great weeknight meal. Easy, tasty and you can improvise with whatever ingredients you have on hand.
This is a tasty recipe…my family all came back for seconds commenting on how good it was. It looks like a lot of ingredients but I just sliced and diced everything, measured all of the dry ingredients into a small bowl, and pulled the rest of the ingredients out of the pantry before I started browning the meat. Everything went fast after that. I like spicy and my family does too, but not as spicy as me, therefore I left out the sliced jalapenos and used Hot Rotel Tomatoes instead. I used a cup of cheese in the mix but probably closer to a 1-1/2 cups on top; served it with sour cream (a must) and tortilla chips. The next day I used the left overs for burritos, perfect and didn’t need additional cheese. Will make again, thanks for sharing.