Rice with Mexican Dish & Taco Crunch
The taco shell isn't the vessel — it's the finish. Crumbled over a plate of brown rice and Tex-Mex spiced beef simmered with diced tomatoes, bell pepper, green beans, and corn.
Paprika, cumin, and chili powder build the base. The green beans and corn go in at the end — just enough time to warm through without losing their snap.
Ingredients
- brown rice 3 ounces
- green beans (frozen) 0.75 cup
- taco shell 1 piece
- red onion 0.25 piece
- bell pepper 1 piece
- corn 2 ounces
- olive oil 1 tablespoon
- paprika (ground spice) 1 teaspoon
- ground cumin 0.5 teaspoon
- chili powder 1 pinch
- 96% lean ground beef 3 ounces
- diced tomatoes 6 ounces
Method
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
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Cook the rice according to the instructions on the package until done.
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Boil the green beans in a pot of water for about 6 minutes until al dente. Warm the taco shell in the oven as per the package instructions.
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Dice the onion and chop the bell pepper into small pieces. Rinse the corn in a colander with cold water and let it drain well.
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Heat the oil in a pan. Sauté the onion for 2 minutes, then add the bell pepper along with the paprika powder, cumin and chili powder. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Next, add the ground beef and the diced tomatoes. Stir everything together. Let it simmer on low heat for 4 minutes, stirring regularly. Stir in the green beans and corn and heat for an additional 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
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Serve the rice on a plate alongside the Mexican dish. Crumble the taco shell over the top.
Those green beans go from boiling water straight into the pan with olive oil — and that sequence actually matters. Boiling destroys more than half their vitamin C, but their lutein stays completely intact because it’s fat-soluble and doesn’t leach into cooking water. The olive oil in the pan then provides the fat your body needs to absorb that lutein (Delchier et al., 2012).
Behind this recipe
Can I use white rice instead of brown rice?
Yes. A 2025 meta-analysis pooled data from 11 resistance training studies and found no significant difference in muscle growth between higher and lower carbohydrate intakes. Your muscles genuinely cannot tell the difference between brown and white rice — pick whichever you enjoy more.
Is 97 grams of carbs a lot for one meal?
It’s on the higher end for a single serving, mostly from the 84g of brown rice. Whether that fits your day depends on your total daily targets, activity level, and how you distribute your meals. The 13g of fiber in this plate slows digestion, so the carbs don’t hit your bloodstream all at once.
Why boil the green beans separately instead of adding them raw to the pan?
Frozen green beans release a lot of moisture when they thaw and cook. Adding them straight to the pan would dilute the tomato-beef simmer and turn a concentrated stew into a watery mess. Boiling them separately for 6 minutes gets them to al dente, drains the excess water, and lets you add them to the pan at the end for just 2 minutes of warming.
