Seemingly simple, I’ve been on the search for a quick and easy Mexican rice dish to serve with fajitas, tacos, and other zesty Mexican-inspired dishes for a long time.
This is the one. It comes together in no time which makes me thrilled since I can’t bring myself to spend hours on a side dish. And it tastes fantastic – subtle tomato and garlic flavor with the warm spices of cumin and the fresh bite of cilantro and lime. Since stumbling upon this recipe, I’ve served it several times to rave reviews. Paired with cornbread and these fajitas or these fantastic chipotle chicken tacos, it makes a completely perfect meal.
Mexican rice – I’m so glad I found you. I’ll be making you for forever.
Mexican Rice
Printable Version with Picture
Printable Version
*Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of long grain white rice
2 cups of low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of lime juice, from about 1 lime
1/2 cup of freshly chopped cilantro
2 teaspoons cumin
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS:
In a medium-sized pot, add rice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir. Cover the pot, lower the heat to low and simmer for 17-20 minutes. Remove from heat and keep the pot covered for 5 more minutes.
While the rice is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook the onions in the hot oil for 10 minutes, until translucent and starting to brown. Add the garlic to the skillet and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the tomato paste and cumin and cook for another minute or two. Mix in hot, cooked rice, lime juice and cilantro. Mix until well combined. Season to taste with salt. Serve immediately.
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from Homesick Texan
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
This is wonderfully simple. I grew up eating what we called Spanish rice. I remember it as tomato and rice and onion. That’s probably simplistic, but my mother did not use cumin or jalapeno or anything other than white bread.
This recipe looks great. I’m always looking for a “go to” recipe for rice like this one.
Thanks for sharing it!
I really like my Mexican Rice recipe, but your picture looks so great, I’m going to try yours next time. Thanks!
Mmmm! I LOVE cilantro. Looks yummy.
Seriously, Mel, when are you publishing a cookbook? Your recipes are exactly what I love to eat. Are you on Twitter? I’d love to spread the love by tweeting about you!
Mel-How did you know that I have been on the hunt for a foolproof Mexican rice? It looks like I found it! Perfect to serve at my next Mexican/Tex-Mex themed party!
I just made your “the best choc chip cookies.” They were AMAZING! Best recipe EVER! I was so happy, thank you so much!
I have been totally guilty of shaking the Mexican rice mix out of a box for a while now, but I’ve always wanted to know how to make it. This recipe is the perfect thing to get me started! Thanks for sharing, Mel. It looks so delicious!
The best part about Mexican rice (well any kind of rice, as far as I’m concerned) is frying the rice first in oil until golden brown. It gives another depth of flavor! My mom is from Mexico and I have learned how to make rice from her.
The flavor in this rice with the cumin and lime sound good. I want to try it!
I bomb this style of rice with every recipe I have tried. Nice, easy and wonderful, your recipes are always perfect. I can’t wait to try it! Thanks Mel!
THANK you SO much for sharing this! I too have been on the hunt for easy and good mexican rice and its always a fail! We have tacos or fajitas atleast once a week and I just gave up on the rice because everything that I tried was horrible! Just wish I would’ve seen this yesterday since we had tacos last night..haha Oh well guess we need fajitas now
Yumm! I’ve wanted a great Mexican rice dish for so long! Thank you!
Thanks for this recipe! I always struggle with side dishes because I too don’t have a lot of time to spend on sides. I typically serve Vigo Yellow Rice with Mexican inspired dishes but as much as we love it and it tastes great I get bored with it. Can’t wait to add this to the rotation.
Thank you SOOO much for this! I love mexican rice but have never found an easy, yummy recipe for it. You have made my day! Thanks Mel!
I just posted a Spanish Rice last week too! Mine looks pretty close, don’t you love finally being able to make a resteraunt Mexican rice at home!?!? It was something I had tried to achieve for quite awhile.
I look forward to trying this recipe. I love Mexican food! I am in the habit of asking for recipes when I go to restaurants. I once made the mistake of asking how some Spanish rice was made at a certain restaurant. The manager told me essentially that what I was tasting was lard, and that the flavor of the rice and black beans was from being cooked in lard! Aaah! For some reason, I cannot handle the idea of cooking with lard (I know its authentic for some Hispanic cooking…. I’m sorry) and so I have been on the hunt for a good recipe for Spanish rice with no lard. Muchas gracias!
Maybe this is a dumb question, but would this work with brown rice?
Andrea – yes, I think it probably would but you would definitely need to keep an eye on and adapt the cooking time and liquid to rice ratio.
This is a timely post. I made Spanish rice last night along with your baked chicken taquitos and my family loved it! This recipe is only two small ingredients different than the recipe I used, but we’ll try this one next time! Oh, how we love you! Thank you for all your recipes…. And time… And work!
this is so funny cause i just made mexican rice yesterday and was searching your site to see if you had a recipe for it…the one i used was too much work, and had to many ‘things’ in it for my kids. thanks, must be on the same wavelength
Forget a side dish…slap some shredded chicken, black beans and diced tomatoes in there…put it in a tortilla with a little cheese and sour cream, and you’ve got yourself a meal!
This is such a flavourful rice and I like the simplicity fo the recipe. bookmarking this for later use. Thank you so much for sharing it. Have a great weekend.
Blessings, Kristy
I LOVE it! I have been looking for a yummy mexican rice recipe since I can’t stand the out-of-box-version. I was just thinking this week, “I need to check Melanie’s website, I bet she has a great mexican rice recipe!” And as I opened your blog today, there it is! Thank you! I will be adding this to my list of favorite recipes!
Tried this recipe and it really is great. It works well using Tilda basmati rice; very long grains which make it extra fluffy.
i cant wait to try this for my next taco night!
Foolproof recipe. I somehow messed up almost everything (cooked onion too long. Burned cumin to the pan. You get the idea.) and it still came out great! We had Tracey’s dinner it sounds like–shredded chicken, this rice, black beans, etc. in tortillas. Awesome! Thanks for the great recipe!
LOVING this! I don’t do cilantro, but will happily swap it out for parsley. Can’t wait to try this!!!
I LOVED this recipe!! Thank you so much for posting!
My boyfriend and I frequently make tacos al pastor with homemade tortillas and fresh pico de gallo. It’s our go to for impressing friends. The one missing ingredient is good Mexican rice. You may have just solved all of our problems. Thanks for sharing!
Mel, just wanted to let you know I made your green chile enchiladas and mexican rice last night for a dinner party and they were a huge hit! Thankfully I have lots of leftovers so I can enjoy more today. Your recipes are consistently tasty and simple. Thank you!
This is very good rice. I did fry my rice in a little bit of oil first before adding the broth. The thing I like about this is the tomato paste. I made a similar rice recipe before but it had diced tomatoes in it. My kids would always pick them out. So now I can get the flavor and color without bits of tomato. Thanks!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all of your recipes!! I cooked this last night and it was great. I love the flavors and how the lime and cilantro make it so fresh. I had one problem though, my rice was all mushy and sticking together. I thought I cooked everything like the recipe said to… Must be user error. In any case, if you know what I did wrong please help me! I love these flavors enough to make it again and again… I just need help with the mushy factor. Thank you!!
Loved this with your chicken fajitas and guacamole salad. Such a tasty meal! I will definitely make this rice again…and again!
Made this tonight with brown rice, and it worked great! (I find that sometimes brown rice doesn’t make the best Mexican or Spanish type rices, but this one was delish.) For anyone who is wondering, I followed the recipe except I threw my brown rice in a rice cooker with two cups of chicken broth (then added when instructed).
Thanks!
I just returned from a pastor’s retreat where I cooked for 19 people. I made this on the first night we were there. It was delish! We had something every day from your website. Mexican rice, pumpkin choc chip muffins, cornbread and honey butter and I made homemade rolls for Italian beef using your roll recipe. It was all awesome. I didn’t even try the Mexican rice recipe before I got there because I trust your site so much. I am so particular about where I get my recipes, but because I have tried so many of your recipes and loved them, I completely TRUST your taste. Thanks so much for your site!
I am trying this recipe tonight. Can I do the chicken broth part in a rice cooker? I have never used chicken broth in mine so I am not sure if it will work.
Marcy – I don’t own a rice cooker so I’m not sure how chicken broth fares when used in it but my guess (and don’t hold me to this) is that it should be fine.
Oooh Lala! Lime and cilantro brought so much flavor and freshness to the rice. Its was so good that I can eat the rice on its own! =) (that’s how much I loved it!) My kids and hubby even asked for seconds and I had a third! We paired this with your Honey Lime chicken enchilada for our Cinco de Mayo dinner. Thank you for another awesome recipe! =)
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