The Best Mexican Rice
Once you know how to make The Best Mexican Rice, you will never resort to that stuff from a box again! Making this Mexican rice recipe from scratch is not only delicious, it’s super easy too! It’s all made in one pot and ready in about 30 minutes.
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Many years ago, I got a recipe for Mexican rice from a co-worker in San Diego. Her Hispanic family cooked homemade tamales, rice, enchiladas, etc., and it was all prepared from scratch!
Knowing she was an expert in making authentic Mexican food, I asked her to share with me how to make real Mexican rice.
She explained her methods to me and with my notes, I went home and made it for myself. That was about 20 years ago!
Since then, I have tweaked the recipe a little bit and made it my own – The Best Mexican Rice.
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Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):
- Vegetable oil
- Long grain white rice
- Onion
- Tomato
- Garlic
- Jalapeno
- Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor
- Vegetable or Chicken stock/broth
- Tomato paste
- Spices (cumin, salt, pepper)
- Cilantro
A couple of things that make this recipe special:
- Toasting the rice in oil. This gives the rice a wonderful flavor!
- My secret weapon for flavor is Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor (shown below). This specific bouillon is essential because of the tomatoey, salty flavor it adds to the rice.
I have made this rice at least a hundred times over the years and never have bought another box of Mexican rice again. It’s like spaghetti sauce – once you make it homemade, there’s no going back!
How to store Mexican rice
Once cooled, store Mexican rice in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Looking for more Mexican recipes? Here are some favorites:
- Smoky Slow Cooker Mexican Black Beans
- The Best Carne Asada
- Easy Homemade Salsa
- Pickled Mexican Hot Carrots (shown below)
- Easy Slow Cooker Chile Colorado
- Roasted Tomato Habanero Salsa
NOTES:
- Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor can be found in the Hispanic aisle of some grocery stores. You can also order it HERE from Amazon.
- If you don’t use it already, I highly recommend the metal tubes of squeezable tomato paste. It stays fresh for quite a while in the refrigerator and you’ll always have tomato paste at your fingertips.
The Best Mexican Rice
Equipment
- sauce pan
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cup uncooked white rice
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 jalapeno chopped (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped tomato
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 1/2 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp Knorr Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavor or vegetable bouillon
- Salt & pepper as needed
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Add oil and rice to a saucepan, stir to thoroughly coat the rice in vegetable oil. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until rice is lightly browned and toasted. It goes from light brown to burnt quickly, so stir often and keep your eye on it.
- Once the rice has attained a golden color, add tomato, onion, garlic, chicken stock, cumin, tomato paste, Knorr bouillon, and if desired, jalapeno. Stir and taste the liquid for needed salt and pepper. Because of the bouillon, the broth might seem a little salty, but the finished product does not come out as salty.
- Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, put the lid on the saucepan and cook for 18 minutes or until rice has absorbed the liquid.
- Gently fold in the fresh cilantro and serve. Enjoy!
Did you make this recipe? Rate it & let me know in the comments below! ♥
I also have a fun Facebook group for us foodies to share recipes and talk about food. I’d love to have you! Request to join HERE. Cheers!
Flavorful Eats is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Perfect with Kaylen’s Smokey black beans
This is the BEST Mexican rice I’ve ever had!! Thank you for sharing the recipe!! I still remember making it with you and having no idea what the measurements were, haha!!