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When you need a flavorful yet easy dinner recipe, this Thai basil beef is bound to freshen up your weekly routine. Who doesn’t love a quick and easy skillet meal? Sometimes you just want to crack open a box toss everything together with ground beef and call dinner done.

This recipe is almost as easy as simply mixing ingredients right out of a box yet tastes way better. First of all, you don’t use any flavor packets with this recipe. Everything is fresh, yet easy to prepare. Secondly, it’s Thai, which is not a cuisine you are likely to find among the Stroganoff and Cheeseburger flavored skillet meals. This Thai basil beef recipe is bound to freshen up your weekly routine without stressing you out.

Thai Basil is one of those flavor profiles that I find completely irresistible. Clean flavors, lots of crunch, and a little bit of spice are what characterize the perfect Thai dish for me. This recipe is very low key, but you can really bulk it up and give it that unmistakable Thai quality by incorporating some thin carrot strips and chopped peanuts into the mix just before you take off the heat.

Some Additional Tips on Cooking Thai Basil Beef

When preparing this dish, brown your beef while you do your dicing and chopping. The only thing you have to prepare before the beef is the diced shallots. Get your thin slices of scallions, too. Then, measure out your other ingredients to be added to the ground beef. Before you add to the beef, be sure to drain the excess fat and return the skillet to the burner. The recipe calls for juice and zest from one lime, but it’s a nice touch to add a lime wedge to the dish when completed, so add that to your grocery list if you want extra points for presentation.

Spicy Thai Basil Beef

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 15 min

Yield: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 Lb ground beef (85/15)
• 2 shallots (diced)
• 1 red pepper (deveined/diced)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 Habanero chilies (thinly sliced)
• 2 TBSP fish sauce 
• 1 TBSP brown sugar
• 1 lime (juiced and zest)
• 1 C basil (preferably Thai basil)
• 2 green onions ( thinly sliced)
• 1 package Uncle Ben’s Ready Jasmine Rice
• Cast iron skillet
• Cooking spray

Directions:

1. Prep the skillet with cooking spray.
2. Add ground beef and shallots to the skillet cooking for about 10 minutes on medium to high heat or until meat is completely cooked.
3. Add the red pepper, garlic and chilies to the meat mixture. Continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring to mix. Slowly add the fish sauce, sugar, lime and basil. Cook for about a minute or until the basil begins to wilt. Taste to make sure you like the flavor or add to correct it.
4. Follow the directions of the back of the rice package and make the Jasmine rice. 
5. Serve the Thai Basil Beef over the Jasmine Rice.

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