This Simple Trick Will Help You Get Twice as Many Meals From Your Ground Meat

Mixing cooked brown rice into your ground beef or turkey instantly ups the volume and brings with it some pretty great health benefits too.

By

Victoria Seaver, M.S., RD

Updated on August 9, 2022

platter of wraps from the five spice turkey lettuce wraps recipe

As food prices continue to tick up, we're all looking for ways to keep grocery bill in check. Focusing meals on affordable pantry items and organizing your shopping list to stay on budget are a couple of tricks to help tackle inflation at the grocery store. But I have another tip for omnivores—make the most of your ground meat.

Ground meat tends to be more affordable plus it freezes well and is a versatile, quick-cooking protein. The next time you go to make a batch of meatballs, burgers, meatloaf or taco filling, try this simple trick to make your stash of ground beef, turkey chicken or pork (or your plant-based meat alternative) go twice as far—mix in cooked brown rice!

Brown rice easily takes on the flavors from the meat and spices and the texture is so similar that it's hard to even tell it's in there. You'll immediately increase the volume and by mixing in this healthy whole grain, you'll up the fiber content of your meal, which has some pretty amazing benefits.

Fiber slows down digestion, which means you'll feel fuller for longer after your meal; it also boosts gut health and makes your bathroom routine more regular. Plus, research shows that a diet high in fiber is associated with a decreased risk for heart disease, diabetes and certain types of cancer. Great, right?

So, how exactly should you go about doing this? This tasty recipe for Five-Spice Turkey & Lettuce Wraps (pictured above) suggests adding 1/2 cup instant brown rice per pound of ground meat but the last time I made this, I probably mixed in closer to a cup (maybe even a little more). I did add a little extra spice mix and it turned out just as delicious as I remembered it being and there was so much of the turkey filling, I ended up freezing half after my husband and I ate it for lunch and dinner for what felt like a week.

Recipes to Try

Chances are you have some brown rice stashed away in your pantry, so the next time you pull a package of ground meat from the freezer, plan on cooking up some rice to mix in. Try this trick with these easy ground meat recipes.