Easy Mexican Rice Recipe

This casual Mexican Rice look is the cleanable broadside crockery for tacos, enchiladas, burrito bowls, grilled chicken, and each your favourite Mexican-inspired meals. It turns elemental pantry ingredients into a fluffy, savory broadside the full household volition love.

What Is Mexican Rice?

Mexican rice, sometimes called Spanish rice, is simply a flavorful broadside crockery made by lightly toasting achromatic atom earlier simmering it with tomatoes, broth, onions, garlic, and spices. Toasting the atom gives it a somewhat nutty spirit and helps the grains stay abstracted and fluffy arsenic they cook.

Although the names Mexican atom and Spanish atom are often utilized interchangeably successful the United States, this tomato-based atom is particularly communal alongside Mexican and Tex-Mex meals.

Why You’ll Love This Mexican Rice Recipe

This homemade Mexican atom is flavorful without being overly spicy, making it a large enactment for kids and adults. It besides uses inexpensive pantry staples and comes unneurotic successful 1 cookware for casual cleanup.

It is also:

• Fluffy and flavorful
• Easy to customize
• Naturally dairy-free
• Simple to marque vegetarian
• Perfect for repast prep
• Freezer-friendly
• Delicious with astir immoderate Mexican-inspired entrée

The Secret to Fluffy Mexican Rice

The astir important measurement successful this Mexican atom look is to toast the atom earlier adding the liquid. Cooking the grains successful lipid until they go lightly aureate adds spirit and helps forestall the atom from becoming sticky oregon mushy.

Rinsing the atom is besides important. It removes excess aboveground starch truthful the cooked grains enactment fluffy and separate.

Once the broth has been added, debar stirring the atom oregon repeatedly lifting the lid. Keeping the cookware covered allows the atom to navigator evenly successful the trapped steam.

Tips for Making the Best Mexican Rice

Use long-grain achromatic rice

Long-grain atom creates the lightest and fluffiest texture. Jasmine atom tin besides work, but it whitethorn person a softer texture and somewhat antithetic flavor.

Rinse and drain the atom well

Rinse the atom until the h2o is mostly clear, past let it to drain thoroughly. Excess h2o tin impact the liquid ratio and marque the finished atom excessively soft.

Toast until lightly golden

The atom does not request to go acheronian brown. Toast it conscionable until immoderate of the grains statesman to look aureate and odor somewhat nutty.

Keep the lid closed

Opening the lid releases steam and tin interfere with the cooking process. Wait until the atom has finished simmering earlier checking it.

Let the atom rest

Resting the covered atom for 5–10 minutes allows the remaining moisture to administer evenly. This makes the atom easier to fluff and improves its texture.

Kid-Friendly Tips

This look has plentifulness of spirit without a batch of heat. For children who are delicate to spice, trim oregon omit the chili powder.

You tin besides blend the herb sauce, onion, and broth earlier adding them to the cookware if your children similar atom without disposable pieces of onion.

Adding peas, carrots, corn, oregon finely diced doorbell peppers is an casual mode to see other vegetables. Let children take which vegetables they would similar to adhd to their rice.

Mexican Rice Variations

Add vegetables

Stir successful frozen peas, carrots, corn, diced doorbell peppers, oregon chopped zucchini. Frozen vegetables tin beryllium added during the resting time, portion caller vegetables should beryllium sautéed with the onion.

Add beans

Mix successful drained and rinsed achromatic beans oregon pinto beans aft the atom has cooked to crook it into a much filling broadside dish.

Make it spicy

Add minced jalapeño, cayenne pepper, crushed reddish capsicum flakes, oregon a spoonful of chopped greenish chiles.

Make it vegetarian

Use rootlike broth alternatively of chickenhearted broth.

Add other herb flavor

Replace portion of the broth with further herb sauce, diced tomatoes, oregon blended caller tomatoes. Keep the wide magnitude of liquid astir the same.

Add protein

Turn this broadside crockery into a implicit repast by adding shredded chicken, seasoned crushed turkey, taco meat, oregon cooked shrimp.

How to Store Mexican Rice

Allow leftover atom to chill earlier transferring it to an airtight container. Store it successful the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Reheat idiosyncratic portions successful the microwave with a tiny splash of broth oregon water. Cover the atom with a microwave-safe lid oregon damp insubstantial towel to assistance reconstruct moisture.

You tin besides reheat it successful a covered skillet implicit debased heat. Add a tablespoonful oregon 2 of broth and disturbance occasionally until warmed through.

Can You Freeze Mexican Rice?

Mexican atom freezes well, making it a convenient enactment for repast prep.

Allow the atom to chill completely, past spot it successful a freezer-safe instrumentality oregon resealable freezer bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Thaw it overnight successful the refrigerator oregon reheat it straight from frozen. Add a splash of h2o oregon broth earlier reheating truthful the atom does not adust out.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did my Mexican atom crook retired mushy?

Mushy atom is usually caused by excessively overmuch liquid, excess h2o near connected the rinsed rice, predominant stirring, oregon cooking it for excessively long. Measure the ingredients cautiously and debar lifting the lid portion the atom simmers.

Can I usage brownish rice?

Yes, but brownish atom requires much liquid and a longer cooking time. Follow the liquid ratio and cooking instructions connected the atom package, portion keeping the herb condiment and seasonings for flavor.

Can I usage infinitesimal rice?

Instant atom is not recommended for this cooking method due to the fact that it requires a antithetic magnitude of liquid and cooks overmuch faster than regular long-grain rice.

Can I marque Mexican atom up of time?

Yes. Prepare the atom up to 3 days up and store it successful the refrigerator. Reheat it with a splash of broth oregon h2o earlier serving.

Is Mexican atom spicy?

This mentation is mild and family-friendly. Chili pulverization adds warmth and spirit alternatively than important heat. You tin omit it for an adjacent milder crockery oregon adhd jalapeños and cayenne for a spicier version.

More Mexican-Inspired Recipes:

• Mexican Street Corn Salad
• Cilantro Lime Rice
• Homemade Salsa
• Homemade Guacamole
• One Pot Mexican Quinoa