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Learn the secret to making restaurant-style Mexican Rice at home. It’s always perfect: tender, delicious, never sticky. Whether you are making dinner for the family or feeding 100, this recipe works every time and it tastes exactly the way you want it to!
Meggan’s notes
If you’re craving restaurant-style Mexican Rice at home, this is the perfect tutorial for you. As a classically-trained chef (and the wife of a life-long line cook who was born and raised in Mexico), I’ve made Mexican rice all the possible ways it can be made. I’ve settled on this method for perfect Mexican rice that is easy to make and easy to freeze.
The secret to perfect Mexican rice is to puree fresh tomatoes and onions. Then, follow a standard pilaf-style method where you toast dry rice in oil (this is exactly how they make it in Mexico). Finally, my personal secret is to bake the rice in the oven. You can make it on the stove, too, but I love how easy it is to pop a huge casserole dish full of rice in the oven until it’s fluffy, tender, and oh-so flavorful.
Make a large batch so you have plenty to freeze for future meals. Be sure to cool the rice quickly (I like to spread it out on a rimmed baking sheet), then pack into freeze-safe bags and freeze for a few months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator or defrost in your microwave. I follow this routine religiously so I can easily pull out a tasty, flavorful side dish any night of the week.
Table of Contents
Mexican Rice Recipe Ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
- Tomatoes and onions: So many readers love using their favorite salsa instead of the tomato/onion mixture. You can even use canned tomatoes, Rotel, or a couple cans of El Pato tomato sauce, a zesty tomato and chili purée found at Mexican grocery stores. As long as you have two cups of liquid, you’re good to go.
- Rice: Any long-grain white rice (including Basmati and Jasmine) work well here. To substitute brown rice, add 10 minutes to the baking time.
- Tomato paste: If you don’t want to open a small can of tomato paste, look for a tube at the grocery store. In Mexico cooks use one cube of Consomate brand tomato bouillon instead of tomato paste.
- Cilantro: Or substitute parsley. In truth, no one in Mexico ever does this (but let’s be honest: they would never make rice in the oven, either).
How to Make Easy Mexican Rice
This method starts the rice on the stove, but finishes it off in the oven. You need a heavy Dutch oven or stock pot with a lid that’s oven safe.
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor or blender, puree the tomatoes and onions until smooth. Measure 2 cups of puree, pouring off and discarding any excess.
- In a large Dutch oven or a 3-quart saucepan, heat oil until shimmering. Add the long-grain rice and sauté, stirring frequently, until light golden in color, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato mixture, broth or water, tomato paste, and salt to taste (I like 1 ½ teaspoons). Simmer and bring to a boil.
- Cover (or transfer to a baking dish and cover) and bake until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Stir halfway through baking time.
- Fluff rice with a fork. Fold in cilantro or parsley (if using) and season to taste with salt. Serve with lime wedges.
Mexican Rice Recipe Variations
- Yield: This Mexican Rice recipe makes about 6 cups rice, enough for 12 (1/2-cup) servings.
- Jalapeños: If you want, stir in 1-2 minced jalapeños peppers with the fresh garlic. They don’t do this in Mexico, but it adds a great flavor.
- Peas and carrots: Sometimes in Mexico, they add ¼ cup frozen peas and carrots midway through cooking. You can use storebought veggies or homemade peas and carrots.
- Stove-top: You can also make Mexican rice on the stove (that’s what they do in Mexico). After the rice comes to a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest possible temperature on your stove, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes.
- Rice cooker: Follow the steps in the recipe below exactly as written through Step 4. Once you bring the rice to a boil, transfer it to your rice cooker (coated with nonstick spray). Close and seal the rice cooker and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions. For white rice, it took 33 minutes in mine (nearly the same as the oven) and there was no stirring needed. For brown rice, it takes about 50 to 55 minutes. Find my best Rice Cooker picks here.
- Big batch rice: For enough Mexican Rice to feed 25 people, use an 8-quart stock pot, triple the ingredients, and add 10 minutes to the baking time (40 minutes total).
- Baked white rice: If you love cooking rice in the oven as much as I do, check out my Baked Rice recipe which is even easier than this one. I make batches just to keep in the freezer. It’s great for quick fried rice or side dishes any night of the week.
- Cinco de Mayo: Planning your own Fiesta? Add this to another Mexican Dish! Discover my full menu of Cinco de Mayo recipes including Chicken Fajitas, Carne Asada, Birria, Tacos al Pastor, Chicken Tinga, Strawberry Margaritas, or Copycat Chipotle Burrito Bowls.
How to Store Homemade Mexican Rice
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Can you freeze Mexican Rice?
Spread the cooked rice out on a rimmed baking sheet to have the rice cool it quickly. Then, scoop it into a freezer bag. Then, when you need a quick side dish, just pull a bag of rice out of the freezer, defrost, and reheat. It works like a dream!
How to Serve Mexican Rice
Serve Mexican rice on the side of all of your favorite Mexican foods like Carne Asada, Tacos al Pastor, Shrimp Fajitas, and Chicken Tinga. Or, pack it into soft flour tortillas with scrambled eggs, cheese, and hot sauce for an epic breakfast burrito. I also love to eat it by the bowl topped with sour cream. It’s also delicious in your next burrito bowl.
Frequently Asked Questions
To omit the oil completely, follow the recipe as written, making this change for Step 3: Instead of heating oil in a pot, toast the dry rice (un-rinsed) on high, stirring CONSTANTLY, until about half the rice is lightly browned. Keep your eye on it; you need to keep it moving so it doesn’t scorch. Continue the recipe as written, stirring in the garlic. The rice will bake up perfectly, separated and fluffy, as if you had used oil.
Follow the recipe as directed, swapping the chicken broth for water or vegetable broth.
I find that rice cookers help make the fluffiest rice and when we rounded up the best rice cookers, our top pick was my personal favorite: The Aroma Housewares Rice Cooker. It’s compact, super simple, and does exactly what it’s supposed to do without fail. My sisters, Erin and Meredith, each have the same one, and we all love it. Not to mention, it has over 58,000 reviews. That’s a whole lot of rice!
You can check out the rice cooker variation for Mexican Rice below. Also, Rice cookers can cook polenta beautifully without stirring it for a million hours. It’s not just a one-job appliance, so I hope you find many uses for one of my favorite cooking gadgets.
More authentic Mexican recipes
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Easy Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 4 Roma tomatoes cored and quartered (see note 1)
- 1 onion peeled and quartered
- 1/3 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
- 2 cups long-grain white rice (see note 2)
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups chicken broth or water
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste or one cube Consomate tomato bouillon (see note 3)
- Salt
- minced fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish (see note 4)
- Lime wedges for serving
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a food processor or blender, puree the tomatoes and onions until smooth. Measure 2 cups of puree, pouring off and discarding any excess.
- In a large Dutch oven or a 3-quart saucepan, heat oil until shimmering. Add the rice and sauté, stirring frequently, until light golden in color, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Stir in garlic until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomato mixture, broth or water, tomato paste, and salt to taste (I like 1 ½ teaspoons). Bring to a boil.
- Cover (or transfer to a baking dish and cover) and bake until the rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Stir halfway through baking time.
- Fluff rice with a fork. Fold in cilantro or parsley (if using) and season to taste with salt. Serve with lime wedges.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Tomatoes and onions: So many readers love using their favorite salsa instead of the tomato/onion mixture. You can even use canned tomatoes, Rotel, or a couple cans of El Pato tomato sauce, a zesty tomato and chili purée found at Mexican grocery stores. As long as you have two cups of liquid, you’re good to go.
- Rice: Any long-grain white rice (including Basmati and Jasmine) work well here. To substitute brown rice, add 10 minutes to the baking time.
- Tomato paste: If you don’t want to open a small can of tomato paste, look for a tube at the grocery store. In Mexico cooks use one cube of Consomate brand tomato bouillon instead of tomato paste.
- Cilantro: Or substitute parsley. In truth, no one in Mexico ever does this (but let’s be honest: they would never make rice in the oven, either).
- Yield: This Mexican Rice recipe makes about 6 c. rice, enough for 12 (1/2-c.) servings.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Best homemade Spanish rice ever!!!! I’ve tried other recipes and they were not good at all. My whole family is loving this recipe. Thank you!!!!
This came out perfectly fluffy and authentic tasting with no changes to the recipe. It was a great addition to our Mexican Restaurant at Home meal!
Wanting to serve this at a baby shower. What would be the best way to keep the rice warm for serving? Could it be kept warm in a crockpot?
Hi Ann! I think it would be fine reheated in a crock pot. Because it’s cooked pilaf-style (where you toasted the grains in the beginning), that really helps it from getting overly mushy/sticky down the line. I’ve reheated leftovers many times and haven’t had any problems. Good luck, I hope your guests love it! Thanks for your comment. – Meggan
Awesome recipe
Sounds great, but not a complete recipe. Who uses pictures to reveal ingredients instead of a list and quantity?
This author needs to stick to kiddie books with lot of pictures and very little written word. Not competent
This is a joke, right? Surely a joke? Please scroll to the next recipe card next time; you’re clearly not competent to use the internet. -Meggan
Meggan, I love this recipe and so does my family, thank you! I’ve been using it monthly for the last year now. I think I’m going to make this rice in my instant pot this time instead of baking it.
Mr. Warmenhoven, word of advice, just about every online recipe has an introduction to show readers the author’s personal relationship to the dish to include pictures. You needed to navigate further into the article for the ingredient list/quantity and recipe, or click the “Jump to Recipe” button located right below the recipe title. This is common in all online recipes. It’s unfortunate your arrogance, malicious comments, and belittlement of a successful blogger and chef, prevented you from cooking and enjoying some of the best Mexican rice you’ll ever eat. Shame. Maybe stick with hard-copy recipe books?.
YOU IS REALLY DUMB. “JUMP TO RECIPE” see listed ingredients with exact quantities. You must be an angry angry person to be so rude when you didn’t even make sure you were right before posting. Eek how embarrassing!
This must be some kind of joke. You can’t even submit a comment, Mr. Warmenhoven, without first getting to the ‘real’ recipe. If this is the way you get your jollies, you need to get a life.
Can this Mexican Rice be frozen?
Hi RuthieJo! I haven’t tried that with this exact recipe, but I’ve frozen other rice dishes with no issues. I think it would work just fine. Thanks! – Meggan
The absolute best mexican rice recipe! I also usually cut the recipe in half and it sill turns out perfectly.
Thank you so much Lane! – Meggan
I owe you a HUGE Thank You! I make mexican once a week…. Refried beans from dry beans, chili rellenos, and mexican rice. It takes a couple of days for me to get all the parts ready. The rice is always such a tragic disappointment. I’ve tried so many techniques, and have been desperate for a simple recipe that wasn’t mushy. This was sooooo good and EASY! I halved the recipe and used a cup of puréed salsa. I am so pleased with this recipe. Thank you for making our mexican night The Best!
Hi May! You’re welcome! I’m so glad this recipe was a hit! Your lineup sounds absolutely delicious! – Meggan
Hello, quick question . so there’s a total of 4 cups of liquid that went in? 2 cups from the tomato puree plus the 2 cups of stock.
Hi Mary, yes that’s correct! – Meggan
I am not a very good cook and I making this recipe for the first time and instead of using it with tomatoes and onions I just use salsa and it turned out wonderful thank you
Sounds great Anna, so glad it went well. Thanks! – Meggan