One pot Mexican Red Rice (aka Arroz Rojo) – simple ingredients make for powerful flavours! Set this rice to cook on a side burner as your prep your main meal. Add to meal prep lunches, tacos, burritos, salads and other Mexican inspired cuisines. Gluten Free + Vegan/Vegetarian Option – just use veggie stock! 

Controversial opinion time: a good Mexican red rice is better than Chinese fried rice. Thoughts?

Though to be fair, a more accurate statement would be that whatever rice I’m currently eating is my favourite and right now I can’t get enough of this stuff. 

How to Make: Mexican Red Rice

Altogether this rice takes about 30ish minutes to make – most of that time hands off. After the initial prep of gathering and chopping your veggies it’s a fairly quick and straight forward process. 

Like most promising recipes, start out by sautéing your onion and garlic in a bit of oil along with the jalapeño. Cook that mixture for a few minutes on a medium heat to soften the veg before adding the tomatoes and mix it altogether. 

Next up, stir in your rice, cook another couple of minutes before finally adding the stock. Bring to a slight boil then reduce down to a simmer, cover and let cook for about 15-20 minutes until the liquid has evaporated. 

In one last step, turn off the stove top, leave the lid on and let the rice sit for a final 10 minutes to fully evaporate any lingering liquids resulting in a more fluffy rice.

Tips & Substitutions

• You can make this Mexican rice using brown rice can be used in place of white rice but you will need to increase the cook time from 15 minutes to 35-40 minutes.
• Basmati can be used in place of the long grain white rice without any other changes to the recipe.
• You can use 2 tablespoons tomato paste in place of the fresh tomatoes.
• You can leave out the jalapeño if you’re sensitive to spicy food.  
• Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock for vegan/vegetarian friendly Mexican red rice.

And that’s it!

Easy, Mexican Red Rice that comes together all in one pot with ingredients that you can easily find by shopping your own kitchen cupboards.

Serve this as a side to your favourite Mexican inspired dishes or top up with some spruced up adobo black beans and guacamole to enjoy as the main star. 

Yield: 6 servings

Mexican Red Rice

4.8 Stars (12 Reviews)

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 10 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

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One pot Mexican Red Rice (aka Arroz Rojo) - simple ingredients make for powerful flavours! Set this rice to cook on a side burner as your prep your main meal. Add this rice to meal prep lunches, tacos, burritos, salads and other Mexican inspired cuisines. Gluten Free + Vegan/Vegetarian Option - just use veggie stock! 

Ingredients

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• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 3/4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste - this will vary depending on how salty the stock you use is)
• fresh cilantro

Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.

Instructions

1. Warm the oil in a large cooking pot over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and cook for about 4-5 minutes until soften.
2. Stir in the tomatoes. Cook another couple of minutes.
3. Stir in the rice and coat fully with the tomato mixture. Add the stock and salt and stir well to combine. Cover and let cook 15 minutes or until the liquid is fully absorbed. 
4. Remove the pan from the heat, leave the lid on and let rest 10 minutes. Any excess moisture will evaporate in this time leading to more fluffy rice.
5. Finally, fluff up with a fork and serve. Top with fresh cilantro if desired and enjoy!

Notes

Recipe adapted from Rick Stein's: The Road to Mexico

• You can make this Mexican rice using brown rice can be used in place of white rice but you will need to increase the cook time from 15 minutes to 35-40 minutes.
• You can use 2 tablespoons tomato paste in place of the fresh tomatoes.
• You can leave out the jalapeño if you're sensitive to spicy food.  
• Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock for vegan/vegetarian friendly Mexican red rice.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1 cup
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 153Sodium: 686mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 2g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© A Saucy Kitchen, Sarah Nevins

Course: Sides Cuisine: Mexican

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