The Best Mexican Rice Recipe

Mexican rice is probably one of the best versions of rice in the world; right up there with Hainanese chicken rice, fried rice, and paella. Who doesn’t know and love Mexican rice? It’s actually super easy to make at home and way healthier than buying those bags of premade rice that account for 80% of your daily sodium. If you ever wanted to amp up taco night, mexican rice and refried beans are the low hanging fruit.

Cooking Notes

Frying the rice is probably the most vital step here to getting that restaurant texture. Let it get really nutty and brown, it’ll improve the final dish. I also have a range of tomato sauce here, from 1/2 cup for those who don’t really like tomato sauce to 1 cup for those who do. 1 cup is better. Full disclosure: I just use the whole can. What can I say, I love tomatoes.

Ingredient Notes

Mexican oregano can be found in the mexican aisle for much cheaper than the usual oregano, and it’s larger and tastier than the usual stuff too.

Look for a tomato sauce with very few ingredients, like tomatoes, salt, garlic and onion, and nothing else. Trader Joes does a really good one.

For long grain rice, we just usually use jasmine, but any rice you can find at the grocery store will be the right kind, unless you’re buying some kind of high end Japanese rice, which also might work.

What do you need?

A nonstick pan with a lid.

Garnish

Serve with refried beans, green chile, and tacos or enchiladas.