Cheesy, meaty and hearty this Slow Cooker Cheesy Taco Rice has lots of flavor from corn, picante sauce, tomatoes, beef, brown rice and cheese. This recipe will quickly become a weeknight favorite.
Get the INSTANT POT Cheesy Taco Rice recipe here

Slow Cooker Cheesy Taco Rice
What an easy recipe! And it tastes so good. My whole family loved this recipe and the only words said were, “is there more?” I’ll definitely be making this again soon. We even got to use fresh garden tomatoes which are my favorite thing in the whole world.
Rice–I used brown rice because that’s how we roll in the Petersen household. I don’t love how white rice turns out in the slow cooker so I wouldn’t try that.
Beef--I used a very lean ground beef that didn’t have any grease on it after I browned it. If your beef has more fat you’ll probably need to drain a bit of the grease off.
Picante sauce–I buy the big jug of Pace’s picante sauce at Costco and we use it for cooking and eating with tortilla chips, quesadillas etc. I like the mild version since I’m not a big fan of spice.
Taco seasoning–sometimes I buy the big jar of McCormick’s taco seasoning from Costco. It seems less potent than my homemade version or even the taco seasoning in the bulk section at Winco. 2 tablespoons of the more potent taco seasoning was plenty for this recipe.
More Slow Cooker Beef Recipes You’ll Love…
Slow Cooker Ground Beef Stroganoff
Slow Cooker Madras Lentils with Ground Beef
Slow Cooker Beef and Cheddar Potatoes
What Slow Cooker Did You Use?
To make Slow Cooker Cheesy Taco Rice I used my Ninja Auto-iQ 6 Quart Slow Cooker.* My favorite feature of this slow cooker is that it has a stove top function. This is perfect for sauteing or browning before you slow cook. Use the stove top function for browning the ground beef!


Slow Cooker Cheesy Taco Rice
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 2-3 hours
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 4–5 hours 1x
Description
Cheesy, meaty and hearty this Slow Cooker Cheesy Taco Rice has lots of flavor from corn, picante sauce, tomatoes, beef, brown rice and cheese. This recipe will quickly become a weeknight favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef (or ground turkey)
- 2 Tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 1/2 cups boiling chicken or beef broth
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
- 1 cup picante sauce (I used mild)
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- 1 large tomato, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium high heat. Add in the ground beef. Break up the ground beef. Add in 1 Tbsp of the taco seasoning. Brown the ground beef for 5 minutes. Transfer the meat to the slow cooker.
- Pour the broth on top of the beef. Sprinkle the rice evenly over the ground beef and broth. Sprinkle the remaining 1 Tbsp of taco seasoning on top of the rice. Layer the picante sauce and frozen corn on top.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 hours, or until rice is tender. (Remember all slow cookers cook differently).
- Sprinkle in the cheese, tomato and cilantro. Stir. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and enjoy.
Notes
To make gluten free: make sure your broth and taco seasoning are gluten free.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Mexican
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Would you say is the amount per serving?
I’d say about a cup
In wonder if jasmine rice would work?
You could try it. I haven’t had the greatest results with white rices. But if you do try it, it will get done quicker than the brown rice.
Hi Karen, This looks delicious. I do have a couple of questions. 1) What type of brown rice do you use? (I always buy the minute rice “white”). 2) Also, have you ever tried canned tomatoes with green chilies in this? And if so, would you drain them or not? Thank you so much for any help you can give me. Have a wonderful and blessed day. 🙂
I use long grain brown rice. The canned tomatoes would probably be tasty. I would not drain them.
If you use Minute Rice you’ll need to get some brown rice. It tastes so much better and requires more liquid and much longer cooking time, so I wouldn’t try substituting. There is even converted brown rice, so make sure you get the plain kind.