Mexican Rice is the perfect side dish with any Mexican main dish. There are a lot of variations possible with this dish and this recipe is a great starting point.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Mexican Rice while in Mexico:

Brown the Rice First

To start this recipe we want to brown the rice kernels in some oil. We’ll start by adding a couple tablespoons of oil to a saucepan over medium heat. We want to get the oil hot before proceeding.

Rinse the Rice and Cook For 5 Minutes

After the oil heats up we will add our rice. It’s a good idea to rinse the rice first and make sure you shake off as much excess water as you can. You will want to stir this to coat all the rice with the oil and cook the rice for about 5 minutes until it starts to brown a bit.

Add Garlic

Next we’ll add our garlic. You will want to peel and chop this pretty well before adding it. How much you use is up to you. We like quite a bit of garlic in most everything so we are using four cloves here.

Add Cumin and Salt

Also at this time we want to add the cumin and salt to our rice. We’re using about a half teaspoon of each but just measuring in the palm of our hand instead of trying to be exact.

Cook and Stir

Now we want to stir this in well and let it cook some more. We need to stir this frequently so the rice browns evenly and none of it burns. When we sauté the rice like this before adding liquid it adds a lot of flavor to the end result. When it is ready it will be a nice even golden brown color.

Add Chicken Broth and Tomato Sauce

Once the rice is browned we will add our liquids. First we’ll go in with our chicken broth and then with our tomato sauce. You know how we feel about these ingredients. We like the homemade versions, we’ve shared our recipes for tomato sauce and chicken broth, and we almost always have some on hand. We made this Mexican Rice video and recipe when we were in Puerto Vallarta and had to buy these ingredients at the market. That works fine as well but it’s not the same.

Stir and Cook

Now we’ll stir this in and then we want to bring this pot to a boil. Once it starts to boil reduce the heat, cover it and let it simmer for about 15-25 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed. Let sit on the stove for about 10 minutes after it’s cooked.

Add Cilantro

Now we have a pot of fluffy Mexican Rice. The only thing left to do is to add some cilantro. We like to chop it fairly well before adding it to the pot. Once we stir that in our rice is ready to serve.

This is a great side dish for many Mexican meals. When we were in Puerto Vallarta we made this Mexican Rice with Camarones a la Diabla, served it with a little fresh pineapple and it was delicious.

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