Easy Mexican Rice
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If you want the best, easy Mexican rice recipe, “easy” doesn’t begin to describe how quick and simple this recipe really is. Long-grain rice soaks up stock, sauce, and spices to become this beautiful, red-hued, carby side dish that’s great at any time of the year. I love Mexican food, and this simple rice is a must at meals.
While this does go best with other Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes, don’t limit yourself to making this only when you’re having Mexican food. You can have this with plain meatloaf or chicken breast meals, too. It’s really just tomato and mildly spiced rice, and that’s a very versatile combination.
About the only things you can’t really use this rice for are fried rice or the little molded shapes like you find in bento boxes, although no one’s going to stop you from experimenting. Unfortunately, the long-grain rice might not stick together well enough for those molded shapes to actually keep those shapes.
Pack this in lunches (with proper refrigeration and reheating) or freeze some for future meals. It’s so easy to make that you can cook batches ahead of time for meal prep, and it’s so tasty that you’ll be very happy you made the recipe!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This easy Mexican rice for beginners is a simple dish that anyone can put together. Do you have a teen who’s about to go off to college? Teach them this recipe before they go.
- This family friendly easy Mexican rice is also good for people who don’t like overly spicy food. You can adjust the amount of seasonings and dial back the chili powder, for example.
- This is one of the cheapest recipes around. You can get the rice, tomato sauce, stock, and other ingredients without spending a lot of money.
- This is simply a delicious side dish! The tomato, chili powder, and cumin really work well together!
Ingredients Needed To Make Mexican Rice:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Vegetable oil: Use something that doesn’t have a strong taste. In other words, a lot of olive oils, for example, wouldn’t be the best choices. If the oil has too strong a flavor, it will affect the flavor of the cooked rice.
Long-grain white rice: Rice that’s short-grain tends to cook up rather sticky. Arborio and Japanese short-grain rices are not appropriate for this dish. Stick with long-grain rice so that the finished dish is light and fluffy.
Chicken stock: You can use chicken stock or broth, and if you don’t like chicken broth or don’t have any on hand, you can use vegetable or beef broth in a pinch. The flavor of the rice might be a bit different, but it will cook normally.
Tomato sauce: If you don’t have tomato sauce, try using tomato paste mixed with water and herbs. Tomato passata is not a good substitute, unfortunately. Also, do not substitute pasta or pizza sauce for this. You want regular tomato sauce only. Adding heavily flavored sauces is going to change the flavor of the rice completely.
How to Make It
Step 1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice and cook for four minutes or until translucent, stirring regularly. Be careful not to let the rice burn. You’re not trying to create popcorn-style rice! You’re just cooking the rice grains in a different way for a few short minutes.
Step 2. Add chicken stock, tomato sauce, chilli powder, garlic salt and cumin. Bring to a rapid boil. That’s it for the ingredients. This is a recipe where you really just dump things in the same pot with a couple of extra steps thrown in.
Step 3. Stir the rice once and cover with a lid. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for 25 minutes. Take off the lid and allow the rice to stand for a few minutes before fluffing it with a fork and serving. You want the rice to absorb all of the stock and sauce, and the best thing you can do is leave the rice alone as it cooks. You will need to stir it that one time to ensure there are no clumps of one ingredient hanging out in the pan. Other than that, keep an eye on the stove, but don’t mess with the rice too much.
Enjoy! So yummy.
Tips for Success
Have all your ingredients ready to go before you begin cooking. Open cans, measure spices, and so on. That saves you a lot of aggravation as you no longer have to try to juggle ingredient preparation with cooking.
Avoid using short-grain rice. Try to use long-grain as it doesn’t become that sticky after cooking.
Storage & Reheating
Leftover Mexican rice should go in the fridge within two hours of it being cooked. You can also freeze the rice.
For refrigerator storage, place the rice in an airtight container. Don’t just toss it in a bowl because as the rice cools, it can harden if not protected from the environment. Make sure the rice has cooled down, and that it hasn’t been more than two hours since you finished cooking it. Never leave rice out for longer than that as it can become a source of intense food poisoning. Use up the refrigerated rice within a couple of days.
To warm up the rice, place it in a microwave-safe container with a little bit of water and heat on medium power, checking it every 30 seconds. Or, you can place it in a saucepan with a little water and butter and heat it over medium heat. Keep it covered except for a couple of times when you should stir the rice.
You can freeze rice, too; wrap individual portions in freezer-safe plastic wrap and store in a freezer bag for up to three months. To reheat, remove the plastic wrap and place the rice in a microwave-safe container with a little water. Cook on high until warmed through, about two to three minutes.
Serving Suggestions
This healthy easy mexican rice version is a great side for Mexican or Tex-Mex meals. Serve it with this Mexican Squash (Calabacitas) recipe, as well as these Baked Beef and Bean Enchiladas. It would also be a great side dish for this Chicken Taco Soup or these Taco Stuffed Tomatoes. With homemade easy Mexican rice ideas for Mexican meals are very easy.
Notes
This simple easy Mexican rice meal looks a lot like Spanish rice, so is there a difference other than in the name? Yes, there is. Mexican rice and Spanish rice get their color from different spices. In Spanish rice, the rice is more golden than red, and you’ll taste saffron or turmeric. In Mexican rice, the color is more reddish and comes from tomatoes, while a lot of the flavor comes from ground cumin. You’ll also find that different types of rice are used in each country.
If you try this recipe, please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!
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Easy Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 8 oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Instructions
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add rice and cook for 4 minutes or until translucent, stirring regularly.
- Add chicken stock, tomato sauce, chilli powder, garlic salt and cumin. Bring to a rapid boil.
- Stir rice once and cover with lid. Turn the heat down to medium low and cook for 25 minutes. Take off lid and allow to stand for a few minutes before fluffing with a fork and serving.
Nutrition
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