A No-Fuss Meal: French Onion Skillet Dinner

When we go out to dinner, I love to order a big bowl of French onion soup. The rich broth topped with melty cheese and crunchy toast is the perfect comfort food. I don’t make soup at home very often, but I do make a lot of rice dinners. I knew that marrying together the richness of French onion soup with hearty rice and simple ground beef would make for a perfect weeknight meal that was bursting with flavor.

This skillet dinner is prepared in just one dish, so clean up is minimal. There isn’t a lot of prep-work involved and the whole dish is ready, from start to finish, in just 25 minutes. This meal has quickly become a family favorite.

Here’s what you’ll need for this recipe: a packet of dry onion soup mix, grated Gruyere cheese (if you don’t have Gruyere cheese on hand, mozzarella makes a nice substitute), Progresso beef broth, diced onions, long grain white rice and a pound of ground beef.

Add the ground beef and onions to a 12-inch skillet over medium high heat and cook, stirring often, until the meat is crumbled and no longer pink. Drain the fat from the pan.

Once the meat is cooked through and the grease has been drained, stir in the onion soup mix and beef broth. Give everything a good stir to make sure it’s well combined.

Bring the broth to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the skillet and cook for 15 minutes or until the liquid has absorbed and the rice is tender. You’ll want to stir once about halfway through cooking.

Remove the dish from the heat and stir.

Sprinkle the grated Gruyere cheese over the top of the rice mixture and cover with the lid. Let it sit for about 2 minutes to melt the cheese.

Remove the lid and dig in.