These simple ground beef tacos are our go-to on busy weeknights! Perfectly seasoned, juicy, and ready in minutes. Add your favorite toppings, pile them high, and dinner’s done before you know it!

There’s just something about taco night, isn’t there? It’s fun, easy, and everyone gets to make their tacos just how they like them.

There’s a lot going on in life lately. I don’t know how I missed the adulting adult children memo, but it’s actually harder (imho) to parent adults vs small children. It’s a different hard as there’s a lot of moving parts with college, life, etc. and with a high schooler and elementary school child as well I’ve been digging in deep for quick and easy dinner ideas that can reheat well for leftovers too. So I’m back to the basics, ground beef tacos!

What Makes These Tacos So Good

Quick and Easy: The taco filling comes together in about 20 minutes with simple pantry ingredients, making this an easy dinner you can pull off even on busy nights.

Restaurant Flavors at Home: A boost of tomato paste and water gives the seasoned beef that saucy, rich texture you get from your favorite taco spot…no dry beef crumbles here!

Family Friendly: Mild enough for picky eaters but flavorful enough to impress grown-ups.

Budget Friendly: A pound of ground beef stretches to feed a family of 5. Thanks to the seasoning and sauce, and hearty toppings (like lettuce and cheese) make every taco satisfying.

Meal Prep: The seasoned beef reheats beautifully, making leftovers perfect for nachos, taco bowls, burritos, or taco salads the next day or throughout the week.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Taco Beef

• Ground Beef: The hearty base of the taco filling. Browns and develops flavor while absorbing the seasoning for juicy, flavorful meat.
• Taco Seasoning: Adds the bold, classic taco flavor with a balanced mix of spices like chili powder, cumin, and paprika. It seasons the beef and builds depth. You can make our homemade recipe or use a store-bought blend.
• Water: Simmered with the seasoning to help it evenly coat the meat and create a saucy mixture that keeps the beef from drying out.
• Tomato Paste: Intensifies savory, tomato-rich flavor while thickening the sauce so it clings to the beef and doesn’t drip out of the tacos.

Tacos

• Lettuce (Romaine): Adds freshness, crisp texture, and cool contrast to the warm meat keeping each bite feeling balanced instead of heavy.
• Tomatoes: Juicy and slightly acidic, they brighten up the tacos and add moisture and color.
• Red Onion: Brings sharpness and crunch that cuts through rich flavors and wakes up the whole taco.
• Cheese (Colby Jack, Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack): Melts

I had this Stick of Butter Rice at a friend’s house years ago and have never stopped thinking about how good it was. It’s creamy, savory, and packed with flavor. When I recently came across the recipe again, I knew it was time to share it here.

Why settle for plain white rice when you can have something creamy, rich, and full of flavor? This butter rice has the perfect texture, never mushy or dry, and it’s easily one of my favorite rice recipes. The best part is, there’s no need to wait for water to boil or stand over a hot stove.

If you love this recipe, we also have a version made with beef broth that’s just as good.

Ingredients You’ll Need For Stick of Butter Rice Recipe

This buttery rice comes together with just a few pantry staples. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Long Grain White Rice: Basmati rice or jasmine rice works especially well here. They stay fluffy and hold their shape, which is key for the perfect texture. 
• Dry Onion Soup Mix: This gives the rice a deep flavor with barely any effort. It adds a savory, salty kick with little flecks of onion throughout.
• Chicken Broth: Using broth instead of water adds richness and extra depth.
• Unsalted Butter: The star of the show. Butter makes the rice creamy, tender, and incredibly satisfying. Using unsalted helps control the saltiness from the soup mix.

These four ingredients work together to make a side dish that’s anything but basic. Stick of Butter Rice is cozy, flavorful, and the perfect accompaniment.

How to Make This Recipe:

Stick of Butter Rice is one of those recipes that’s almost too easy to be this good. It’s a no-fail side dish that everyone loves.

1. Preheat: Set your oven to 425°F and spray an 8×8-inch baking dish with nonstick spray.
2. Mix: In a large bowl, stir together rice, soup mix, and chicken broth. Pour into the prepared baking dish.
3. Top: Slice butter into pieces and place evenly over the top of the rice mixture.
4. Bake: Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
5. Uncover: Remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes to allow the top to brown.
6. Fluff: Remove from the oven and gently fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

What to Eat With Stick Of Butter Rice

This rich, flavorful rice makes the perfect side dish for a variety of meals. Serve it alongside 

Piled high with crispy pork, rice, black beans, corn, crunchy cabbage, and a generous squeeze of lime, this Carnitas Bowl is everything I want in one simple package. Twenty minutes. That’s all it takes. How can I say no?

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you already know how I feel about carnitas. I have been making them on repeat for well over a decade, and that shows no signs of slowing down. My slow cooker carnitas are the set-it-and-forget-it version for busy days, and these traditional Dutch oven pork carnitas are what I make when I want to go all out. Both are fantastic. And, both leave me with a fridge full of pork that I’m happy to use in new in delicious ways each time we have leftovers.

Carnitas Bowl

Growing up in the Southwest, I’ve eaten my fair share of burritos and tacos. And, I will never turn them down. But, every now and then I crave something a little different. And a bowl satisfies that craving perfectly by letting each ingredient shine on its own.

This carnitas bowl recipe is what happens when leftover pork carnitas meet a really good bowl. Rice on the bottom, all the good stuff piled on top, lime squeezed over everything. It just works.

Wait, you didn’t make carnitas yesterday, or last week, or pull them out of the freezer this morning? That’s ok. Don’t sweat it. Just make them now!

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This Chicken Caprese Sandwich has chicken breasts, with tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, all tucked into a warm ciabatta roll slathered with pesto. It’s fresh and full of flavor and checks every box. It all comes together in one bite, exactly the way a caprese sandwich should.

This recipe is one we’ve been making and tweaking for years, ever since friends first introduced it to us. I love a good caprese, but let’s be honest, not all caprese sandwiches are created equal. Some are good and simple, and others are the kind that make you forget all conversation at the table. This chicken caprese sandwich is firmly in that second category.

Many of you have loved our balsamic glazed caprese sandwich, but this version actually came first. It’s easy to adapt, whether you make it with chicken, vegetarian, or gluten-free, and it’s been a go-to ever since. However you make it, this is one sandwich worth keeping in your rotation.

Ingredients For Chicken Caprese Sandwiches

This Caprese Chicken Sandwich is the perfect solution for turning leftover chicken breasts into something fresh, flavorful, and exciting. Transform your leftovers into a meal that is anything but ordinary.

• Skinless Chicken Breasts: juicy, grilled base for the sandwich
• Olive Oil: used to cook the chicken and add richness
• Garlic: lightly infuses the oil for extra flavor
• Pesto: Made from fresh basil leaves, herbs, kosher salt, black pepper, pine nuts, and parmesan. Adds classic basil flavor and moisture
• Fresh Mozzarella: Slices of Fresh Mozzarella Cheese melt over the chicken for a creamy caprese layer. It really has to be fresh mozz…it’s just soooooo much better for this type of sandwich!
• Roma Tomatoes: fresh tomato slices that balance the richness
• Balsamic Vinegar Glaze: A sweet, tangy drizzle of balsamic glaze is the perfect finish to the sandwich
• Ciabatta Rolls or Kaiser Rolls: sturdy, toasted rolls perfect for caprese sandwiches

All the measurements and details can be found in the recipe card below.

Hot, crisp, juicy pork is tucked into warm tortillas to make these Carnitas Street Tacos. Topped simply with crunchy shredded cabbage, red onions, fresh cilantro, and plenty of lime, these tacos are street food at its very best. This has been one of my family’s favorite meals for several years now, and I never get tired of making it.

This recipe uses one of my most essential ingredients for meal prep, pork carnitas. The meat is incredibly tasty and easy to make, and it’s why people always end up coming back for seconds. My family loves this meat so much that I’ve even got a shortcut for making pork carnitas in the slow cooker.

Carnitas Street Tacos

I have to give credit to one of my amazing friends here, because Sandra actually introduced me to these tacos over 10 years ago. She made them for us during a girls’ weekend and we all fell in love with them immediately. I’ve been making them ever since.

As I’ve played with adapting this recipe over the years, I’ve found that simple is best. The sharp flavors of the cabbage and red onion are brilliant with the savory pork. Add in a drizzle of lime and fresh cilantro, and each taco packs so many layers of flavor. This is my favorite way to eat them, hands-down.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Tortillas – While classic street tacos are made with corn tortillas, I prefer flour tortillas for the taste and texture when heated. Both flour and corn work well though. 

The Meat – I fill each taco with a portion of pork carnitas.

Cabbage – I top the meat with finely shredded green cabbage for extra crunch. Iceberg lettuce w