High Mountain Signature · fitness
Ground Beef Taco Bowls, 5-Day Meal Prep
This is the bowl I actually eat five days a week when training's on. Not the sexiest thing you'll cook, but it's the one that keeps the wheels on the wagon — 45 grams of protein, real food, ready in the fridge before Monday hits. Our ground beef does the heavy lifting; the rest is just being organized about it.
The Ranch Family
Ranch cooks · Northern Utah
The Story Behind It
We started building this bowl during calving season a few years back — long days, cold hands, no time to think about lunch. Anything that couldn't be eaten one-handed and reheated in three minutes didn't make the cut. Ground beef is the workhorse cut on our ranch and in our kitchen, and 85/15 gives you enough fat to carry the spice without going greasy after a day in the fridge. The trick to meal prep isn't the cook itself — it's the discipline to undersalt and to keep the acid and the crunch out of the container until the last minute. Do those two things and you've got food that tastes cooked-today on Friday.
Ground Beef Taco Bowls, 5-Day Meal Prep
Sunday afternoon on a sheet pan, five days of high-protein lunches already handled.
- Total75 minServings5DifficultyEasyVibefitnessModefitness
Method
- 1
Cook the rice with intent
Rinse 1.5 cups jasmine rice under cold water until it runs clear — three or four passes, no shortcut here. Combine with 2 cups water, a pinch of salt, and one peeled garlic clove in your medium saucepan. Bring to a boil uncovered over high heat, then drop to low, cover, and set a timer for 15 minutes. Do not lift the lid, no matter what. When the timer goes off, kill the heat and let it steam covered another 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, fish out the garlic clove, and spread the rice across a sheet pan to cool. The garlic clove is doing more work than you think.
- 2
Roast the peppers and onions
Heat the oven to 425°F. Slice 2 bell peppers and 1 large yellow onion into 1/2-inch strips — thicker than you think, because they'll shrink. Toss on a sheet pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon cumin. Spread in a single layer with air between the pieces or you'll steam instead of roast. Slide into the oven for 22-25 minutes, tossing once at the halfway mark. You want char on the edges and give in the middle — not soggy, not raw. Pull them and let them sit; do not dress them further.
- 3
Sear the ground beef
In a small bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon chili powder, 2 teaspoons cumin, and 1 teaspoon each smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, and kosher salt. Heat your 12-inch cast iron over medium-high until a drop of water skitters and vanishes. Break 2 lbs HMM ground beef into the dry pan in 4-5 flat patties — do not stir. Let it sit undisturbed 3-4 minutes to build a real crust. Break it up with a wooden spoon, scatter in the spice blend, add 1/3 cup water, and cook another 5-6 minutes until the water has cooked off and the fond has redistributed through the meat. Pasture-raised beef has flavor of its own — don't drown it in salt. Taste before adding more.
- 4
Simmer the black beans
Drain and rinse two 15-oz cans of black beans thoroughly — the aquafaba is not our friend here. Transfer to a small saucepan with 1/3 cup water, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a bare simmer over medium-low and cook 5-6 minutes. With the back of a fork, gently mash about a quarter of the beans against the side of the pan. That's how you get body and creaminess without adding starch or flour. Kill the heat and let them sit.
- 5
Finish the rice with cilantro and lime
Zest 2 limes directly over the cooled rice on the sheet pan, then juice them — you should get roughly 1/4 cup of juice. Pour the juice across the rice, add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (use the stems, they have more flavor than the leaves), and fold gently with a rubber spatula. Taste one grain. If it tastes flat, it needs a pinch of salt, not more lime. If it tastes tinny, wait five minutes and taste again — the acid needs a moment to settle in with the starch.
- 6
Assemble and store
Line up 5 32-oz containers. Divide in this order, layered flat: about 2/3 cup cilantro-lime rice on the bottom, 1/3 cup black beans, a generous scoop of roasted peppers and onions, and roughly 6 oz of ground beef on top. That's the whole bowl. Do not add avocado, cheese, salsa, sour cream, or fresh cilantro at this stage — they'll either turn or make everything below them soggy by Tuesday. Let the containers cool uncovered on the counter for 15 minutes, then lid and refrigerate. Good for 5 full days.
- 7
Reheat and top at serve
Reheat covered in the microwave 2:30 at 80% power, or dump the container into a skillet with a tablespoon of water and warm over medium heat for 4 minutes, stirring once. Slice half an avocado directly over the top. Crumble a scant ounce of cotija. Hit it with your favorite hot sauce, a wedge of fresh lime, and a pinch of chopped cilantro if you have it around. This is the whole point of the recipe — a cold container becomes a hot, layered, restaurant-tasting bowl in three minutes.
Chef's Pro Tips
- →Undersalt by 15% across the board. Salt concentrates in the fridge over 5 days, and Friday's bowl will taste like the ocean if Sunday's was seasoned perfectly.
- →The rice has to be fully cooled before it goes in the container. Warm rice steams, steam condenses, and by Wednesday everything below it is a swamp.
- →Avocado, salsa, sour cream, fresh cilantro — none of it goes in the container. Ever. Top at serve, non-negotiable.
- →If your grocery stocks both 85/15 and 80/20, take the 85. Pasture-raised beef doesn't need the extra fat to carry flavor, and the crust sets up cleaner in a dry cast iron.
- →Sub cauliflower rice for the jasmine and you drop 30g of carbs per bowl without touching the protein. Warm it in the beef pan after the meat comes out — free flavor.
Perfect Sides
Quick-pickled red onions
Slice one small red onion paper-thin, drop into a jar with 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp salt. Refrigerate 30 minutes minimum; keeps a full week. A tablespoon on the bowl at serve wakes up the whole thing.
Start while the rice steams — ready in 30 minutes, holds a full week.
Cast-iron charred corn, cotija-style
One ear of corn per bowl, kernels cut off and charred hard on the dry cast iron for 3-4 minutes after the beef comes out. Toss with cotija, Tajín, and lime. Adds about 5g protein and a smoky crunch that plays well against the roasted peppers.
Right after the ground beef comes off the skillet — the pan is still ripping hot.
Blistered jalapeños
Cut 4-5 jalapeños in half lengthwise, char on the dry cast iron for 3 minutes per side until the skin puckers and blackens in spots. Store separately in a sealed jar. One half per bowl at serve for heat and grassy bite.
Anytime the cast iron is empty and still hot.
Pairings
Beer
Modelo Especial or Pacifico (Mexican lager)
Light body cuts the fat of the ground beef, and the subtle corn note in the lager mirrors the char on the roasted peppers. If you're deeper into craft beer, a mild American brown ale hits the same notes with more body.
Wine
Unoaked Tempranillo — a Rioja Joven, served with a light chill
Bright cherry fruit with no oak to fight the cumin and smoked paprika. A dry Provence rosé is the fitness-friendly backup — lower alcohol, still enough acidity to cut the beef fat.
Non-alc
Topo Chico with fresh lime and a Maldon salt rim
Reads like a skinny margarita without the sugar or the tequila. The mineral bite from the water and the salt on the rim mirror what a good cocktail does to your palate between bites.
Shopping List
Your Beef Classic Box is already in the fridge — this is for everything else.
Butcher (High Mountain Meats)
- · 2 lbs Ground Beef, 85/15
Produce
- · 2 bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow)
- · 1 large yellow onion
- · 1 small red onion (for pickled onion side, optional)
- · 1 head garlic
- · 1 large bunch fresh cilantro
- · 5 limes
- · 5 firm avocados (to ripen on the counter)
- · 1 jalapeño (optional, for topping)
Pantry
- · Jasmine rice (1.5 cups)
- · Black beans, 2 (15-oz) cans
- · Chili powder
- · Ground cumin
- · Smoked paprika
- · Garlic powder
- · Onion powder
- · Dried oregano
- · Kosher salt
- · Olive oil
- · Rice vinegar (for pickled onions, optional)
Dairy
- · Cotija cheese, 4 oz (feta is a fine backup)
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