This super satisfying Mediterranean beef rice bowl has plenty of shortcuts built in to streamline your weeknight dinner rush. Loaded with easily-spiced ground beef, garlicky yogurt sauce, hummus, brown rice, pickled red onion, feta, veggies, and more, leftovers make the best lunch the next day.
Curiosity led me to do something I shouldn't have done*, which was seek out the restaurant inspection scores for all of our usual spots.
*(I kid! I'm a food safety stickler. Once I realized these scores and notes were online I had to know.)
Our neighborhood Mediterranean restaurant with perfect take-out options? Not so perfect after all. In fact, quite awful...repeatedly. You can't unknow something like that, and I couldn't in good conscience go back.
So! This Mediterranean beef rice bowl is my answer to our missing quick, really tasty, satisfying Mediterranean weeknight dinner option, now made at home.
I'll be the first to admit that all-in it does take longer than take-out, but depending upon your shortcuts of choice, not by that much!
Why We Love This Mediterranean Beef Rice Bowl
- It's busy day ready. You can make all of the components from scratch, buy nearly all of them at the store so you're simply cooking beef and quick rice and assembling the bowls, or pick and choose depending upon how much time you have to make dinner.
- It's super customizable. Lots of ways for you to make this one your own.
- The flavors. You've got hearty brown rice as a base, with lean and spiced up ground beef, fresh tomatoes, juicy cucumbers, tangy feta, garlicky Greek yogurt sauce, creamy hummus, and bold red onion rounding out the meal. So many of my favorite Mediterranean flavors present and accounted for.
Ingredients You'll Need
Seasoned Ground Beef
The most cooking you'll need to do is prepare the seasoned ground beef. Similar to making taco meat at home, you'll cook and crumble the ground beef, then add water and dried seasonings and simmer until the water evaporates. This produces juicy, flavorful meat.
And yes, dried seasonings! Dried dill, dried oregano, salt, and pepper are all you need. If I can skip chopping fresh herbs on a weeknight (and not worry about timing my purchase of them so they don't get slimy before Mediterranean beef bowl night), I'm going to do so.
Other Bowl Ingredients (With Weeknight Shortcuts)
Much of what else you need can be prepared from-scratch or store-bought for extra convenience. When I first started making this bowl I'd often make the yogurt sauce and hummus myself, but
- Brown rice: Use an instant variety to save 30-ish minutes of cook time.
- Hummus: A tub of store-bought hummus saves you from having to wash the food processor.
- Yogurt sauce: This one is fairly simple to stir together, but on really busy nights I'll pick up a store-bought tzatziki dip, often in the case right next to the hummus.
- Tomatoes: If it's not fresh tomato season I'll look for "Campari tomatoes" at the store as I've found them to have the best flavor even when it's off-season.
- Cucumber: I slice up the remaining half of cucumber from making the yogurt sauce.
- Feta: For the best flavor I recommend against using fat-free.
- Pickled red onion: Easy steps are in the recipe card below, but a time or two I've used jarred pickled red onion.
- Pita bread: Not entirely necessary as this Mediterranean beef bowl has rice as its base, but a nice touch. I'll usually go with whole wheat.
- Sriracha: This is optional but inspired by the spicy red sauce accompanying the massive kebab wraps at The Kebab Shop in San Diego we used to house a million years ago and haven't forgotten about since. I think it ties it all together!
Easy Recipe Steps
To be honest with you I didn't take a picture of my pot of cooked brown rice because how boring can you get?! That's usually the first thing I cross off the list with this beef rice bowl recipe.
Prepare yogurt sauce.
If not buying tzatziki sauce, add yogurt, chopped cucumber, garlic, olive oil, dried dill, salt, and pepper to a bowl.
Chill and let the flavors meld.
Stir, taste and adjust seasonings, then refrigerate while you prepare the rest of the meal.
Cook the ground beef.
Crumble and fully cook ground beef in a skillet, then add dried seasonings and water. Cook for several minutes until the water has reduced.
Assemble bowls.
Add cooked rice to a bowl and pile the beef, yogurt sauce, hummus, tomato, cucumber, and feta on top. Top with a sriracha drizzle if you'd like some heat.
Tips and Tricks
- Beef fat percentage: Since the fat is drained off the beef, I don't find that it matters much which lean/fat percentage kind you buy.
- Draining fat with less mess: Use a turkey baster to suck up liquid fat from the skillet and transfer to a bowl to discard in the trash later. I love this method because you don't have to pour the beef out of the skillet, which always seems to cause fat drips to get on the bottom of the pan (my big pet peeve). Be careful in case the hot grease splatters.
- Storing leftovers: It's best if you store the leftover components separately so you can just heat up what needs to be heated up (beef, rice) when it's time for lunch.
Note: The photos in this post were updated in August 2026 from its initial publish date in 2017. It's the same recipe we love - just with added tomatoes!
More Weeknight Dinner Stars
Did you enjoy this recipe? I’d love for you to leave a star rating and a comment review in the recipe card below!
Loaded Mediterranean Beef Rice Bowl
Ingredients
For the yogurt sauce:
- ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt full- or reduced-fat recommended (1 5.3-ounce cup)
- Half of a cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced or pressed
- ¼ teaspoon dried dill
- Salt and pepper to taste
For the pickled red onion:
- Red onion sliced very thinly
- White wine vinegar
For the beef:
- 1 pound ground beef any percentage is fine
- 1 Tablespoon dried dill
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ⅔ cup water
For serving:
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
- Hummus
- Crumbled feta full- or reduced-fat recommended
- Cucumber slices
- Pita wedges
- Sriracha (optional)
Instructions
For the yogurt sauce:
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. If you'd like a smoother consistency you can use a food processor to pulse to combine instead. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, etc. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
For the red onion:
- Slice as much red onion as you like and place it in a shallow bowl. Pour just enough white wine vinegar over top to cover them, and let them sit as you prep the rest of the recipe.
For the beef:
- Add beef to a skillet set over medium-high heat. Brown the beef, breaking it up into smaller pieces and crumbles as it cooks, until no longer pink. Drain the fat, and place the beef back in the skillet.
- Once back on the stovetop, even scatter dried dill, salt, dried oregano, and black pepper over top of the beef.
- Raise heat to high and pour water over top. Once the water begins to bubble, reduce heat to low and let the beef simmer until the water has reduced.
To serve:
- Scoop about half-cup of brown rice into each bowl. Spoon beef over top, along with red onion, hummus, cucumber slices, and feta. Drizzle yogurt sauce and sriracha (if you like) over top. Garnish with pita wedges.
Video
Notes
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Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as an estimate. As it can vary due to many factors (brands used, quantities, etc.), we cannot guarantee its accuracy.
Food Safety and Nutrition Disclaimer
Nora says
This was amazing, the flavor of everything together was delicious, this has been added to my recipes.
Alyssa says
I'm so happy this was a hit, Nora! Thanks for letting me know your thoughts.
Karen says
Made this for dinner this evening and it was sooooo good. This is our new favorite ground beef recipe - definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing it!
Alyssa says
You're very welcome, Karen! So glad you liked it!
Santini says
My partner will definitely love this one! I can't wait to try this! Thank you so much for sharing!
Alyssa says
You're welcome, Santini. I hope you enjoy!
Joanie says
My husband and I loved the flavors in this dish. I loved the fact that it was so easy to put together. I also found the cream sauce to be so delicious, I could see using it on chicken too.
Nellie Tracy says
This is exactly what I was looking for in dinner tonight! Absolutely delicious!
Lynn says
Wow! This was delicious. We made it tonight but used ground chicken thigh. We added sliced red pepper and fresh mint and oregano to the top but otherwise made as is. Will definitely make it again. Fast, easy and packed so much flavour. Thanks for the recipe.