Beef Rice Chickpea Taco Bake

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Beef rice chickpea taco bake is an easy dish to serve for dinner. A base of ground beef, rice, and chickpeas is first cooked in a frying pan. Then it’s added to hard taco shells with cheese and baked to slightly crispen. Each taco is topped with lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, guacamole, and sour cream for a deliciously easy meal.

All-In-One Dinner Recipe

This is an easy way to create taco night! It’s so easy to make these. And if you choose a good quality hard taco shell you’ll be taking a healthy step. I like to use organic taco shells because they’re made with simpler ingredients, less salt and fewer preservatives. This beef rice taco bake is totally delicious and gluten-free!

Recipe Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for these tacos:

• Hard Taco Shells – You’ll need 10 hard taco shells. The ones with a flat bottom will stand up easier in your baking dish. I had a dish with grooves on the bottom which held my taco shells in place nicely.
• Ground Beef – You’ll need 1 lb of lean ground beef.
• Rice – You can use brown rice or white rice. I used short grain brown rice in a rice cooker. You’ll need 1 cup of cooked rice. Leftover rice works great for this recipe!
• Chickpeas – This recipe uses ¾ cup chickpeas.
• Cheese – Any kind of cheese will work. I used 1 ½ cups of shredded cheddar cheese.
• Spices – Spices used to flavor the ground beef are cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, paprika and onion powder.

Taco Bake Topping Ideas

For these tacos, you can add any toppings you’d like:

• Shredded Lettuce – Thinly slice 1-2 cups of lettuce. You could also use spinach, mixed greens, parsley or cilantro.
• Cherry Tomatoes – I used 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, quartered. You could use any style of tomato you want.
• Salsa – Salsa or hot sauce always taste great on tacos!
• Guacamole – I made a quick guacamole by mashing a ripe avocado in a bowl with a fork. I added a drizzle of olive oil, some sea salt and pepper. You can also use store-bought guacamole.
• Sour Cream – I drizzled sour cream over top of each taco. This is optional.

How To Make Beef Rice Tacos

These tacos are simple to make and can be prepped in about 20 minutes. Here’s a quick overview with the full recipe at the bottom of this post.

• Cook Rice – If you haven’t already, you’ll need to cook the rice in advance. I typically use a rice cooker. This recipe uses 1 cup of cooked rice (about 1/2 cup of uncooked rice). Leftover rice works great here too!
• Cook Beef – In a frying pan over medium-high heat, cook the chopped onion and garlic for 1-2 minutes. Add in the ground beef and break apart into smaller pieces. Cook until the beef is no longer pink. Mix in the spices, chickpeas and cooked rice.
• Make Tacos – Place the tacos in a casserole dish (flat bottom tacos work the best) and scoop the ground beef mixture into each one. Top with shredded cheese then bake for 4-6 minutes.
• Add Toppings – Remove from oven and add your favorite toppings including shredded lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

More Taco Dinner Recipes

• One Pot Taco Pasta – Everything is cooked in one pot (including pasta) for quick and easy clean up.
• Chicken Lentil Taco Soup – An easy soup cooked in instant pot or slow cooker.
• Sweet Potato Taco Bowl – A yummy bowl full of flavor and colors.
• Taco Salad Casserole – A beautiful casserole that will fill a hungry family.
• Ranch Taco Chicken Salad – An easy salad loaded with veggies, chicken and homemade ranch.

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