Mexican cuisine is one of my favourites and with Cinco de Mayo coming up I have been thinking about Mexican recipes for my menu. Mexican style rice is a staple side for any Mexican themed meal and it was about time that I updated my goto recipe for Mexican rice that I originally posted back in 2009. This rice is so easy to make! It’s basically rice that is cooked the tomatoes, to give it the red colour, along with some extras, like onions, garlic and cumin for flavour and jalapeno peppers (or chili powder) for some heat. You simply saute the veggies, add the rice, tomatoes, and broth, and cook it like you would normally cook rice. Once the rice is ready I like to add some cilantro and a hit of lime juice to brighten it up a bit. You can optionally add more veggies like peas, carrots, and/or corn, and no matter how you make this Mexican style rice it is sure to disappear quickly from plates, so make lots!
Mexican Rice
A quick and easy Mexican style red rice that is the perfect side!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground (optional)
- 1 cup long grained rice
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth or water)
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I like fire roasted)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped (optional)
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (optional)
directions
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the onio and cook until tender, about 3-5 miutes before adding the jalpen, garlic, and cumin and cooking until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the rice, mix in the broth, tomatoes, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer, covered, until the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender, about 17-20 minutes.
- Mix in the cilantro and lime juice and enjoy!
Option: Omit the jalapeno pepper or replace it with, or add 1/2 teaspoon chili powder or cayenne to taste. (I like chipotle chili powder for the extra smokiness.)
Option: Replace the canned tomatoes with 1 cup diced fresh tomatoes!
Option: Add frozen peas, and/or diced carrots, corn, etc!
I love mexican rice but have never made it before. I think I will have to give this a try.
I would love this Kevin! It looks so good! Just think what you could do with this recipe!
Wow,thats my fav rice too kevin..
I love cooking rice like this, it’s so creamy. I usually add some finely diced carrot, red bell pepper, and Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce, sooo good.
delicios, Kevin. I can eat it just like that.
Cheers,
Elra
this is so nice… a perfect side dish with your grilled meat… thanks kevin… 🙂
Kevin,this rice look similiar like tomato rice the Malay cook..but tomato rice have cinnanmon and star anise in it!oh yes brown rice is much healthier,love it!
I cook Mexican food often, but I never cook rice. I never knew how, until I saw your recipe. Now I can make it. So no one has to ask me, where is the rice?
You should definitely let the rice brown first in the oil before adding the chicken stock (to make it more authentic).
I love making mexican rice with Jasmine rice. It adds a nice subtle flavor. (ooh, with cilantro too).
Mmm…I haven’t had Mexican rice in a long time, I had always made it with a can of corn, I love the way corn taste with the broth plus it is a smaller vegetable that works out really nice with the small grain rice.
Great dish Kevin! Thanks for sharing!
I love that kind of fragrant rice! Yummy!
Cheers,
Rosa
Looks delicious! I love flavoured rice esp with tomatoes!
My mom used to make this and would add ground beef to it. We would eat it with homemade bread and butter. Yummy. Thanks for the flashback!
My first visit here. Wow!! You put out some amazingly beautiful plates of food!!
¡Olé! Muy delicioso.
I’ve never made a Spanish rice that I liked – maybe I’m just pickier being from Texas? Who knows – I’ll definitely have to give your recipe a go because it certainly does look good!
Hmm My husband does like brown rice more thatn white rice.
Never made this before. Thanks!
I love flavored rices! And you remind me to dig out my cumin… I knew there’s been something missing, lately!
Now that’s my kind of rice – I could live on it! Sounds and looks lovely.
Looks delicious and definitely right up my alley. I think I would take it a bit spicy.
the rice at mexican restaurants is the one thing i can do without, but i like your spin on it.
This looks 100x’s better than the out of the box variety!
Qué delicioso se ve todo, Kevin.
I love Mexican rice and often serve it with Chicken Enchiladas, but I’ll have to try your Turkey Pipian.
Thanks for recipe, it looks go good!
That looks like my kind of Mexican rice. I love flexibility on dishes like these so that I can adjust the heat for the kids and my husband can add hot sauce at the table.
Ooooh! I love Mexican rice. This sounds super flavorful!
That looks good, I have tried to make it once and it turned out badly!
I’m going to have to give this a try, I am not at all happy with my attempts at Mexican rice!
Ok too funny. I was just telling my husband I needed to find a recipe for Mexican rice a few days ago. I’ll definitely try this.
Mexican rice is by far one of my favorite comfort foods! This looks beautiful!
This looks like it’s going to be my go-to recipe for Mexican rice!
Love following your blog! Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
As a bona fide Mexican American who grew up w/aunts and grandmas and a mom who make awesome rice, I wanted to share w/you their secret for enhancing what you just posted (w/the exception of cooking it in a rice cooker–never!).
The secret is to brown the rice (till golden) in the hot oil w/all the sauteed veggies–and *then* add the broth and other liquids.
Frying the rice a bit is the key to the nutty taste of restaurant quality Mexican rice.
Nice job on the spices, btw–very authentic!
I really want to make this, but I always have very bad luck with brown rice NOT cooked in a steamer~~on the back of my bag of brown rice, it says to cook for 50 minutes~~I just wonder if this will get finished cooking in 20 minutes?~~not doubting your recipe, I just REALLY want to try it, and I want to make sure it turns out right~~help!
Leslie: I would go with what your rice package says and start checking on it regularly starting a little before the 20 minute marker to make sure that the liquid has not all disappeared. Do some regular taste tests to test for the doneness of the rice.
Just got a rice cooker. How would I do this in a rice cooker?
Anonymous: To make this in a rice cooker, follow steps 1&2 then mix everything up and place it into the rice cooker on the normal cooking cycle.
made this tonight! It turned out great.I browned the rice before adding the greenpeppers and jalapeno. I also added carrots and baby corn. It became a meal on its own =)
Thank you for the recipe, I'm posting on Monday with a link to you.
A friend and I made this to serve with cheese enchiladas. Thanks for the recipe, it turned out incredible! I also browned the rice as suggested by others and the texture was perfect. I also added some corn and subbed the chicken broth for vegetable broth to make it vegetarian-friendly.
It was delicious, I'm looking forward to trying out some of your other recipes. Thanks again!
I like adding black beans!
Sorry, this is neither Spanish Rice or Mexican Rice. Our Mexican family does not use garlic or tomato products for old school traditional Mexican rice. Tomatoes, lime and anything acidic causes the rice not to cook in the proper time, ( 15 to 20 minutes). Mexican rice is meant to accompany other more spicy dishes. If you want a fluffy rice that does not stick together, it needs to be dry (or oil) roasted in the pan until it is an opaque white color, then add the liquid. I use Better Than Bouillon chicken paste (no MSG). Mexican rice gets it red color from the chili powder, not tomatoes. Since Mexico has garlic as big cash crop these days, it is being used often in recipes unlike recipes of old which never used it. Also, Emeril, who is Italian uses garlic in his Mexican recipes just as he does all the Italian food he cooks. That doesn’t make it right. If you like this version, fine but it is not traditional Mexican.
Thank you for this delicious recipe! I made this today along with spiced chicken thighs – fabulous!
I do wonder has anyone made and eaten this rice?
I used to serve a similar great side dish along my Mexican meals. This is an awesome side dish with grilled, baked or stewed meat. Did not change a thing as it is perfect, fragrant and so Yum, Yum… delicios! Thank you Kevin, I love your cuisine! Mémé
I love this rice! Thank you!