Mexican Rice
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<Restaurant-style Mexican rice made right at home! The best side dish for tacos, burritos, enchiladas + so much more. So good!
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This Mexican rice has been our go-to side dish again and again in our house. It’s been tested, perfected, and made at least a hundred times since 2014 when this recipe was first posted. HUNDREDS, I tell you.
why i love this recipe
- One pot meal. A true one pot meal, the rice soaks up all the flavors of the tomato-infused broth with cumin and chili powder for that extra kick of flavor. Not to mention, one pot means less dishes, less clean up!
- Clean out the fridge meal. This is a great recipe to throw in any lingering veggies that need to be used up ASAP.
- Pairs well with many dishes. Mexican rice can be served alongside so many dishes, pairing well with chicken, seafood, carne asada, enchiladas, tacos and burritos to name a few.
- Freezer-friendly. This recipe is very freezer-friendly and can be kept for 3 months, making it great for meal prep.
You can serve as is or alongside some tacos or enchiladas. Personally, I love it as a main dish, digging my way in with my favorite tortilla chips.
tips and tricks for success
- Rinse the rice prior to using. Using a fine mesh strainer, rinse the rice under cold water to remove any excess starch.
- Toast the rice. Toasting the rice beforehand will add a nutty richness to the rice. Watch out for burnt grains.
- Make it vegetarian. Vegetable broth can be used for the chicken broth.
- Gently fluff. Fluff the rice using a fork to gently separate the grains without breaking them, never stirring. Stirring will lead to mushy rice.
Tools For This Recipe
Large cast iron skillet
Mexican Rice: Frequently Asked Questions
Tomato sauce, in the US, is tomato puree typically cooked down for a thick, smooth consistency with a relatively sweet flavor. Passata is simply uncooked tomato purée. You can use passata in place of tomato sauce, but it is not a completely equal substitute.
You can substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.
You can omit the cilantro altogether or substitute parsley.
Yes! You can freeze the leftovers in individual freezer bags, thaw overnight, and reheat on the stovetop or microwave, adding a splash of broth or water as needed.
Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 ½ cups basmati rice
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 cup corn kernels
- ½ cup diced carrots
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ¼ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in rice until toasted, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in tomato sauce and vegetable broth, and bring to a simmer, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in corn, carrots, peas, chili powder and cumin; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until rice is cooked through, about 13-16 minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro, if desired.
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really delicious
I love cooking mainly because I love food. Your recipe was delicious. I appreciate getting the basics of a recipe and tweeking it to my taste. There is no reason to criticize your recipe as it is a contribution to the home chefs of the world. Keep up the great work.
Thanks awfully much appreciated thanks again
Swapped the tomatoe sauce for a can of chopped tomatoes. Added extra chilli and cumin and left out the carrot. Did it in a rice cooker just changed the amount of liquid I needed. Turned out perfect.
Any Basmati rice should be washed thoroughly until the water runs clear, and then soaked for up to half an hour before cooking once drained….therefore the rice doesn’t need as much liquid to cook it and it cooks very quickly, about 6 -8 minutes, watching closely towards the end….nobody likes gluggy rice..
This recipe was delicious, I added a very small scotch bonnet chili as we like quite spicy food…Thank you for sharing this recipe, will make again minus the carrot…nobody was a fan of that 🙂
I made tonight following recipe. It was ok. If I make again I would probably sauté rice first. Then onions, carrots and garlic at end. Maybe add some tomato paste too before adding liquids.
I’m only leaving this review to comment on the complaints about the Liquid not being adequate to cook the rice. You need to know how to cook rice for this. It has nothing to do with Chungah’s recipe. You don’t just pour water in rice and boil it off, you turn the heat totally down as soon as it bubbles. Turn it all the way down and a little liquid will steam a lot of rice, and keep all the flavour in too.
This is amazing! Rice dishes have never been a fave for me but I’ve been trying to throw in some variety and dishes with ways to add veggies for my 3 little boys. This is delicious and gets eaten up every time I make it. It’s nicely adaptable too and I’ve thrown in various veg on hand and omitted others on occasion. Thank you!! I also never write reviews but his warranted the 5 stars from me 🙂
Great recipe – I threw in south chipotle sauce too. Bloody lovely. I never write reviews.
Do you have Instant Pot directions for this recipe?
Recipe looks delicious; however we Texans prefer a bit more spice than your hybrid Korean mixture. We would use a lot more chili powder (preferably pure ground chilies, not that mess that Gebhearts sells), some added cumin, no carrots please, peas are ok. We would also substitute canned Tomatoes and Green Chilies instead of the vegetable broth and moderate the fresh tomato accordingly. I do not intend to fault your recipe; just wanted to make you aware of what REAL Mexican rice might be like.
ema39
“Hybrid Korean mixture”…questionable choice of words. To answer your question, you can adjust all recipes to your liking, Eugene.
This is why, although I cook very well, I could never be a food blogger. Kudos on exercising class and restraint.
This is a variation of Mexican Rice. There are so many different recipes. Don’t knock it saying that Texan Mexican Rice is the most authentic. TexMex is a variation of Mexican and New Mexican. The real deal is Mexican and the small, old Spanish towns in New Mexico. Real Mexican Rice is called Spanish Rice de Mexico. It has rice, onions, garlic, fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce, green bell peppers, no corn, no peas, water (not chicken broth), no cilantro, and salt and pepper (no cumin or chili pepper). Adding in a ton of spices muddies up this side dish. Mexican rice is supposed to be a “cool” element on the plate when your mouth is hot from something like enchiladas.
will it work with microwave rice ?
Made this tonight. As always, so good!
I made a few minor adjustments. I cooked the carrots with the onion and garlic. I omitted the peas because my husband doesn’t like them. And I added the cilantro into the rice when I added the tomatoes. Fantastic!!
****Just a suggestion!!****
But maybe you could also try using tomato bouillon! (the Knorr brand makes a pretty good one)…instead of the tomato sauce + vegetable broth. It’s how my mom makes her rice. 🙂
The recipe must use instant Basmati. My dish took 40 minutes to cook too. Every Basmati Rice I have used say to cook for 40 minutes. This recipe should stipulate instant Basmati Rice if wanting the recipe to cook in 15 minutes.
I use basmati rice a LOT and have never ever ever had to cook it for 40 minutes…. It’s one of the quickest cooking rices out there. Try Royal Basmati. For every cup of rice use 1.5 cups of water. When the rice nd water come to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low and the rice will be done in no time.
My boyfriend and I love this recipe! However, we doubled the amount of broth and also didn’t use peas or carrots but added bell pepper. We also quadrupled the spice. It has become a staple in our meal rotation!
Wow! Another great recipe of yours that we love! I had to do some modifications based on what I had on hand. I had to use Italian style tomatoes in place of tomato sauce. I bet having regular would be even better! I had to sub basmati for instant rice (I know! I know!), BUT it actually worked! I toasted it like you did, and when I covered it I reduced the time down to 5 minutes. I LOVE this recipe. I’m going to use this from now on instead of the horrible pre-packaged rice mixes at the store. Thank you so much!
Wow. .. This Mexican Rice I cooked is delicious! Thanks for the recipe. Won’t be the last time I cook it. ..
I need to make this for a company party, like for 50+ people. Would the best way be to cook in batches & increase cooking time or should I cook up the garlic, onion, toast the rice and throw everything into a rice cooker?
Unfortunately, I cannot answer with certainty as I have never used a rice cooker for this recipe. It may be best to cook in batches. But as always, please use your best judgment.
Im Mexican and hubby Persian, I often use Basmati rice and love the idea of brings our rice together (Persian love Basmati). Question: I typically use chicken broth but only have beef broth, so you think that would be ok? Also, should i soak rice? perhaps that will help with the time to cook? Thank you!
Yes, beef broth should be fine! Although I don’t think you need to soak the rice. But as always, please use your best judgment.