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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.
Greetings, The instructions don’t provide information about the preparation of the garlic and Jalapenos for inclusion at step 4. Do I chop or mince the garlic? Do I remove the seeds from the peppers? Do I chop the peppers?
Hi Janet, sorry for the confusion on this! The ingredients themselves say how those should be prepared. For example it says “4 cloves of garlic, minced” and “1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded, and minced.” Are you seeing this on your end? I hope so, that’s where it shows (not in the instructions). So sorry for the confusion! Please let me know if you need anything else!
The recipe states in the ingredients how to have the jalapeño & garlic prepped. HTH! Merry Christmas!
THANK YOU for a Spanish rice recipe that actually works! Previously, I used a different recipe claiming to be “authentic” restaurant style, and it was a gummy mess (WAY too much liquid). A real Spanish rice pilaf recipe is not easy to find for some reason. Seriously, thank you 🙂
I have never commented on a recipe before and I feel compelled to do so today. This rice was DELICIOUS!! I loved it and wanted to eat the whole batch. My husband loved it and even my super picky 6 and 8 yea old daughters ate it. Of course, my 6 year old ate it grain by grain, but whatever.
I used only 1/4 of a jalapeño in hopes my kids would still eat it and it had great flavor. I didn’t have low sodium stock, so cut the added salt at the end. I also didn’t have long grain, so used basmati. It was SO good. I checked it at the halfway cooking mark and it was done, so I just kept it out. Not sure what I may have done, but it tasted delicious and I can’t wait to make it again!!
Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Meggan. I am excited to try this recipe. I’ve never made rice in the oven before, love that I won’t have to watch over a pot. My only concern is the vegetable oil. I am avoiding it because along with gluten and dairy, I have eliminated soy from my diet and vegetable oil is 100% soybean oil. What would you suggest as an alternative?
Thank you,
Holly
Hi Holly! I totally understand your concern. I would use olive oil. I meant to update the recipe to say that, because that’s what I always use too. Thanks for the reminder and the question!
This rice was FABULOUS! Thanks for sharing!
Do you think this would work without using the oil. I always sauté with veggie broth as I avoid oils in my diet.
Hi Renee, I’m honestly not sure. It would be worth a try! You could also skip the sautéing part entirely and just cook rice the way you normally would, with the tomato mixture. I’m not sure if the rice would be stickier that way, but I’m sure it would still be tasty. Good luck!
If using the rice cooker do I still add water to it like the rice cooker instruction says to?
Hi Alicia, no, you just follow the instructions and use chicken broth in place of water (or you could use water, it would still be good). But, you use 2 cups of broth (or water) per the recipe, not whatever your rice cooker would say. Because the rice is toasted in the pan in advance, the rice-to-liquid ratio is 1-to-1 vs. if you just put the rice in for steaming. Does that make sense? Thanks for your question! Let me know if you need anything else.
I want to mention I use drained, pureed Rotel instead of the tomato/onion/jalapenos. It seems to work out great and is faster when I don’t want to spend time chopping veggies. I just throw the extra puree into my cheese dip instead of discarding.
Great idea Lauren! Thank you! I had tried the recipe using just regular diced tomatoes and their flavor was too strong, but maybe with the onion and jalapenos in the Rotel it would taste better. I’m sure it would. Can’t wait to try! Thanks again.
Hi Meggan! I’m eager to try this recipe next time we have tacos! Question, do you think the tomato and onion concoction would freeze? I noticed you said “discard any remaining,” but I buy expensive produce. 😛 I’m not much for food waste!
Hi Kaylee! I hear you on produce! You could definitely freeze any excess. However, I don’t usually have extra. It’s just that sizes of onions and tomatoes may vary, so if you use GIANT ones and end up with 3 cups of the mixture it would be too much. But generally it’s a tablespoon or so, and maybe even nothing. 🙂 But yes! Thank you for not wasting food! I love that.
Hi Meggan, I am not sure if anyone asked you this but do you think I can get away with using canned tomatoes in a pinch? I don’t have any fresh and I have all of the other ingredients. I really want to try it at least this one time until I get to the store. Just wondering before I waste my time. Thank you in advance.
Hi Ruth, yes absolutely! Someone even commented below that they used just tomato sauce. I think it changes the flavor, but not in a bad way. I think 1 (14 ounce) can tomatoes would probably do the trick (the tomato sauce person used just an 8 ounce can). Or you could use a 28-ounce can and pour off any excess. You won’t be wasting your time! I’d love to hear what you think. Thanks Ruth!