Simple Taco Bowls

Tasty taco bowls are a healthy, satisfying lunch or dinner! This flavorful Tex-Mex recipe is simple to customize for your personal taste buds.

When you're craving a mountain of flavors and want something that's both healthy AND hearty, bowl recipes are a great option!

We love making chicken rice bowls and salmon rice bowls. Those are great when we're in the mood for dinners with Asian flavors. When we're craving bold Mexican flavors instead, these taco bowls make for the perfect simple weeknight meal!

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🌟 Why this recipe works

These tasty taco bowls are one of our favorite meals. They're sure to become part of your regular dinner rotation too, for so many reasons!

Simple – This is an simple dinner that is simple enough for beginning home cooks and pro chefs alike.
Customizable– The whole family can easily choose their own favorite taco toppings to customize their taco bowls how they like.
Meal Prep– This is a great recipe to make on Meal Prep day. It's simple to portion out to individual portions of rice, taco meat, and toppings for the rest of the week.
Great for leftovers – These taco rice bowls are one of the favorite ways to use up leftovers from taco night.
Less mess – Let's face it: tacos can get downright messy. These are your favorite tacos in bowl form. Less mess!

🛒 Ingredient notes

These simple taco bowls

Ground meat – We use ground beef for our taco bowls. You can also make turkey taco bowls by substituting ground turkey for the beef. You could also use ground chicken. Or, for a richer depth of flavor, make our Pressure-cooker Mexican Shredded Beef.
Beans – We use black beans in this recipe, but you can also use pinto beans, kidney beans, or a mix of chili beans if you prefer.
Brown rice – Go ahead and cook your rice first. We love the flavor of our Pressure-cooker Cilantro Lime Brown Rice, but you can use any white rice instead. If you want to go low carb, you can use cauliflower rice.
Pico de Gallo – Use our homemade pico de gallo recipe or use store-bought pico de gallo or even salsa verde.
Avocado – Slice up some fresh avocado to top the taco bowls.
Cheese – The recipe calls for shredded cheddar cheese. You can substitute Mexican cheese mix, Mozzarella cheese, Colby Jack cheese. We use the favorite dairy-free cheddar-style shreds to keep this dairy-free.
Crema– We like to add a dollop or drizzle of avocado cilantro lime crema to the taco bowls. It adds some creaminess to the dish. You can leave this out if you like.
Cilantro – These Mexican rice bowls definitely call for some chopped fresh cilantro. It adds a nice brightness to every bite. Substitute with parsley if you prefer.
Taco seasoning – We've got a great homemade taco seasoning on the blog that's perfect for this taco bowl recipe! But you can use store-bought seasoning, or your own blend of chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, and other herbs.
Toppings – You can add any other favorite toppings, such as sliced red onion, sour cream, diced bell peppers, jalapeños, chopped romaine lettuce, sliced black olives.

✅ Step-by-step instructions

You'll find a full list of ingredients along with more detailed instructions for making this simple taco bowl recipe in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. But here are step-by-step photos for all you fellow visual learners out there!

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add the ground beef.
Cook the beef until it's simply cooked.

3. Add the corn, beans, and seasonings to the pan. Stir and cook for a 2-3 minutes.

Assemble beef taco bowls

4. Add your cooked rice, divided evenly between four bowls.

5. Top with the ground meat, beef, and corn mixture.
6. Add the fresh pico de gallo, salsa, or salsa verde – whichever you choose to use.
7. Add whatever shredded cheese you like.
8. Complete the bowl with your favorite toppings like sliced avocado.

👩🏻‍🍳 Recipe FAQs

Is this a healthy meal?

This is a hearty and healthy meal. If you'd like to make it even healthier, swap out cauliflower rice for brown rice, ground turkey or ground chicken for the ground beef, leave out the cheese and crema, and load up with even more vegetables.

Can We make this ahead of time?

You can make the components ahead of time, then assemble once you are ready to eat. For instance, you can cook the ground meat mixture and the rice separately, cool down, then store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When you are ready to eat, simply assemble your taco bowls and heat up in the microwave.

What's the best way to store leftovers?

Allow the food to cool down, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 or 4 days.

🍽 Serving ideas

Some of our recipes that would be great to use in these taco bowls:

Pico de Gallo or Mango Pico de Gallo
Avocado Cilantro Lime Crema
Pressure-cooker Mexican Shredded Beef
Corn with Basil Lime Butter
Pressure-cooker Cilantro Lime Brown Rice or Garlic Rice
Homemade Taco Seasoning

These beef taco bowls are a complete meal on their own. But they're also great to serve alongside other Tex-Mex dishes.

Try enjoying these with Elote Dip (Mexican Corn Dip) or Air Fryer Corn Ribs.

🍷 🥂 Drink pairings

The perfect pairing for these tasty taco bowls? A margarita, of course!

Enjoy this recipe along with a Spicy Mango Margarita, Cantaloupe Margarita, Yuzu Margarita, or Champagne Margarita.

🍳 Kitchen tools and equipment

Ready to make this simple taco bowl recipe? Here are the kitchen tools and equipment you'll need:

Large skillet– Use a large non-stick skillet or other large skillet to cook the ground meat, corn, and beans mixture.
Wooden spoon– Use a wooden spoon to stir the ingredients as they cook.

More Tex-Mex recipes

Did you make this recipe? Don't forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card, and if you truly loved it, please leave a comment further down on the page. Thank you!

Taco Bowls

By Marlynn Schotland Prep Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 10 mins Total Time: 25 mins Servings: 4 servings These taco rice bowls are perfect for meal planning, and great for any lunch or dinner!

Equipment

1 Large Skillet

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pound ground beef
1 can (15 ounces) black beans
2 cups corn
2 Tablespoons taco seasoning, plus more as needed
1 cup brown rice, cooked according to package directions
1 cup pico de gallo
1 large avocado, peeled, pitted, and sliced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
optional: cilantro lime crema , or sour cream

Instructions

Add olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the ground beef and cook simply until browned.
Add the black beans, corn, and taco seasoning. Stir, and cook for about 2 minutes, simply until the beans and corn are heated through. Taste, and add more taco seasoning if you would like.
Divide the cooked rice between four bowls.
Top with the beef, beans, and corn mixture.
Then add toppings like pico de gallo, sliced avocado, shredded cheese, and cilantro crema or sour cream.

Notes

Makes approximately 4-5 servings. Homemade recipes: You can use plain rice or our cilantro and lime brown rice recipe. Use storebought or homemade taco seasoning, pico de gallo, and cilantro lime crema. Topping Options: In addition to the toppings we use, you can use any of your favorite taco toppings, like sliced jalapeño, shredded lettuce, pickled red onion, chopped tomatoes, sliced black olives, and more!

Nutrition

Calories: 870 kcal, Carbohydrates: 80 g, Protein: 39 g, Fat: 46 g, Saturated Fat: 16 g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 20 g, Trans Fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 109 mg, Sodium: 667 mg, Potassium: 1099 mg, Fiber: 12 g, Sugar: 9 g, Vitamin A: 964 IU, Vitamin C: 13 mg, Calcium: 262 mg, Iron: 5 mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.