Mince Bake with Vegetables and Brown Rice
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This mince bake recipe incorporates brown rice and plenty of vegetables, making it a frugal, filling and healthy one-dish dinner.
Cross between a spaghetti bolognese, a lasagne and a rice casserole, this mince bake (or ground beef casserole for US readers) is filling, frugal and nutritious.
It’s an almost one-dish meal but you can serve it with a side salad, which is nice in summer or some crusty bread or even some garlic bread.
To cook, start by putting the rice on to boil. Brown rice usually takes around 40 minutes to cook but you can save time if you’re using leftovers. A rice cooker can make this step super easy too.
Meanwhile, brown the mince, cook the onion and garlic, add the vegetables and then the passata.
Passata, which you can find in the pasta sauce section of the supermarket, is a tomato puree made from cooking tomatoes with salt and then straining. It gives this dish a rich tomato flavour, but you can also use tinned tomatoes instead and add a little tomato paste or you can use your favourite bottled pasta sauce.
Let it all simmer so the vegetable cook and the flavours all nicely meld together. Don’t worry if it’s a little liquid – we still have to add the rice.
Once the mince mix has simmered, add the cooked rice and stir through.
At this point, you can divide your mix into batches and freeze for later. Or if you want to eat now, spoon the mince mixture into a casserole dish. Then top with plenty of tasty cheese.
Bake in the oven until the cheese is nicely melted and golden.
Enjoy!
Mince Bake Variations
What’s great about a mince bake is its flexibility. And frugal recipes demand flexibility so you can cook with what’s in season and what you have on hand.
My version uses brown rice. But what if you don’t have brown rice or don’t want to use it?
Substitute with white rice or pasta.
When it comes to the vegetables, use whatever you have in the crisper. Other vegetable options include spinach, cabbage, cauliflower even beans like cannellini or kidney beans.
Double the recipe and save time
The reason I love this dish so much (besides the fact that the kids will eat it without complaining) is that I can double or triple the recipe easily and freeze it for easy meals in the coming weeks.
For a frugal version, double the rice and vegetables without doubling the mince. Meat can be the most expensive ingredient in a meal and stretching it out with extra vegetables saves money and adds the extra nutrients from the veggies.
For us, the recipe as is, without doubling, will give us three meals. That’s a family of four with two middle school children. To round the meal out, I add some salad and garlic bread.
How to freeze mince bake
This dish can be frozen in batches, saving you time.
To freeze, make the mince bake up to step six in the recipe below.
Divide into meal size batches and put in the fridge to cool.
You can freeze the mince bake in either freezer-safe containers or zip-lock bags or silicone zip-lock bags.
Don’t forget to label your container before placing in the freezer! Everything has a tendency to look the same once frozen.
If you use zip-lock bags to freeze your mince bake, flatten them out and place on a baking tray. Place them in the freezer until frozen. The frozen meals can then be stacked or placed upright in a basket, saving you space in the freezer.
To cook, defrost the mince bake and place in a casserole dish. Cover with cheese and then reheat at 180°C until the cheese is melted and golden and the mince is steaming hot in the middle, approximately 30-40 minutes.
Beef Mince Bake with Brown Rice and Vegetables
Beef mince casserole with brown rice, vegetables and crushed tomatoes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown rice, uncooked
- 500g ground beef (mince)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil for frying
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 carrot, diced or grated
- 1 zucchini, diced or grated
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- 1/2 cup frozen corn
- 5 button mushrooms, sliced
- 1/2 capsicum, diced
- 1/2 tsp. each of dried oregano and basil
- 1 700g bottle tomato passata*
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup grated cheese
Instructions
- Boil rice according to packet instructions (This can be made ahead of time).
- Meanwhile, heat half the olive oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Brown mince. Remove from pan and drain in a colander if needed.
- Add the remaining oil and sauté the onion and garlic until translucent.
- Add the carrot. zucchini and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes.
- Return mince to the pan and add peas and corn and stir in the tomato passata, herbs, and salt and pepper. Add approximately 1/2 cup of water to the passata bottle, give it a shake to get the rest out and pour that into the mix.
- Simmer for 15 minutes until reduced slightly and the vegetables are cooked.
- Stir in rice. (Cool and freeze at this point if freezing).
- Pour into a casserole or baking dish and top with cheese.
- Bake at 180°C (375°F) for 30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden.
Notes
Instead of passata you can use an 800g tin of crushed tomatoes and (if you like) a tablespoon of tomato paste.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 611Total Fat: 36gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 139mgSodium: 400mgCarbohydrates: 28gFiber: 4gSugar: 6gProtein: 45g
Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, serving size or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Looking for more mince recipes?
While some may think of these as poor man's steak, these beef rissoles hold their own by being full of flavour. You can also hide a few veggies in them too, great if you need your kids to eat more veg.
Hi Melissa
This looks an interesting and hearty meal made with mince! Just wondering is the tin of tomatoes a small one or a large? I have whole, chopped with herbs and puree’ in my pantry to use up – they are all small tins.
thanks
Kaye
I just use a small tin of tomatoes (400g) – it’s makes for a dry (or not saucey) dish especially with the rice, but then it’s easier to scoop.
This recipe is exactly the type of thing our family would enjoy, thanks.
Thanks Melissa. It sounds lovely. I’m going to try it out this week.
Kaye
Bit confusing when it says a bottle of passata and then I see others are using a tin of tomatoes. Hope it works out ok with the passata
You can use either. It’s interchangeable. Passata is basically pureed tomatoes and salt, so not much different. I made this recipe the other night and substituted the passata with red wine, beef stock and tomato paste because I had those leftovers from a beef stew I made the week before. Which is the point of frugal cooking. It’s not an exact science. Use up what you have on hand.