How to Make Mexican Rice
When it comes to Mexican cooking, tacos, burritos, enchiladas and other main courses tend to take center stage, in your mind and on the table. But to truly complete a Tex-Mex feast, you should learn how to make Mexican rice...without reaching for a boxed mix or heat-and-serve pouch.What makes this rice dish Mexican? Onions, garlic, whole-kernel corn, tomatoes, and green chilies -- some of the staples of Mexican cuisine. Then it's topped with Monterey Jack cheese and baked to hot, melted goodness.
You can serve it with any Mexican entree, of course, but this Mexican rice recipe is so good you might find it becomes the favorite side dish to many of your everyday meals -- watch out Italy, France, and Spain!
Transcript
Hey, everyone. I'm Judith. Well, today I'm gonna be showing
you how to make Spicy Mexican Rice, a really fantastic
accompaniment to any entree. So, what you'll need for this
is 3 tablespoons of butter; 1 small chopped onion; 1
clove of garlic, minced; 1 1/2 cups of long-grain rice,
uncooked; 1 can or 15-ounces of whole-kernel corn, drained; 2
cans or 10-ounces of diced tomatoes with green chilies; 2
cans or 14.5-ounces of chicken broth; 1 teaspoon of ground
cumin; 1/2 teaspoon of salt; and 1 cup or around
4-ounces of Monterey Jack cheese, grated. Alright, fantastic. This is
a really be flavorful rice dish which I just love
making. So, first of all we preheated our oven to
350-degrees Fahrenheit. That's getting nice and hot for our rice.
Now, we have a large Dutch oven to the side
of this. We're gonna put it to a medium-high heat
and first of all, we're gonna melt our butter into
the bottom of that pan. When the butter has melted,
in goes our chopped onions and our minced garlic and
our rice. So, we're gonna cook that with the onions,
the garlic, and the rice until the rice gets nice
and brown. Keep stirring so it doesn't stick to the
bottom and all of those flavors get infused together. Once
the rice is brown, we'll be back with the rest.
So, our rice has browned really nicely. The idea here
is putting the rice in without any liquid so it
got a really nice color on it and it just
goes with that Spicy Mexican Rice feel that we're aiming
for, so lovely brown rice. Now, after that, let's add
in our broth. Just turn down the heat if it's
on too high. Our diced tomatoes go in there too
and our lovely corn, a staple in Mexican's cuisine, and
in goes the cumin, that lovely Mexican spice, and the
salt. So, just give that a bit of a whirl
like so. Now, we want to bring that to the
boil. Once it starts boiling and bubbling up, we're gonna
reduce the heat to a low. We're gonna put the
cover on and we're gonna simmer that for 20 minutes
until all the liquid is absorbed into the rice. Well,
our rice is just about done now. All the liquid
is practically absorbed into it and it's very nice and
tender and just-- look at that, full of color and
full of flavor just the way we want it. Now,
you can eat it like that if you want but
what we're gonna do is bake it with some nice
cheese on top. So, spoon out your rice unto a
3-quart baking dish like this all the way and just
look how beautiful that looks. Oh, fantastic. I mean this
is a dish in itself but, of course, served with
some-- some chicken breast-- mostly chicken or something like that.
Oh, it just be divine. So, we'll spread that out
unto our baking dish. Last few bits right here, alright.
Now, as I said earlier, our oven is pre-heated to
350-degrees Fahrenheit. So, that's nice and hot for our rice.
Let's not waste any of it. We'll get the last
few remnants. Fantastic. Voila! Spread that around. So, last but
not the least, la pista resistance, the cheese. So, just
get a handful of the cheese and we're gonna sprinkle
that all on top of that rice dish like this.
Beautiful. Obviously, we got a little bit more cheese. Put
it on there. Be generous with the cheese. Alright, so
that is gonna go in the oven now at 350-degrees
Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Well, our Spicy Mexican Rice is
done. We've taken it out of the oven. It's been
in there for 15 minutes. All of that beautiful cheese
has melted into the rice and that just looks fantastic.
And as I said, that can be an accompaniment to
some beef or chicken or just with some salad like
that. It's a meal in itself. So, there you go
everyone, really delicious, warm, and inviting with a nice Mexican
kick. That's how you make Spicy Mexican Rice.
What You'll Need
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice, uncooked
- 1 can (15-ounce) whole-kernel corn, drained
- 2 cans (10-ounce) diced tomatoes with green chilies
- 2 cans (14.5-ounce) chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (4 ounces) Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Step By Step
1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2
In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and rice. Cook until rice is browned, stirring often.
3
Stir in corn, tomatoes, broth, cumin, and salt. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and cook for 20 minutes, or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
4
Spoon rice into a lightly greased 9-x-13-x-2-inch baking dish. Top with shredded cheese
5
Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
Needless to say, it's worth knowing how to make Mexican rice. Whether you're throwing a Cinco de Mayo party or cooking a weeknight meal for your family, adding this dish to your repertoire can be key to ensuring your Tex-Mex meals stand in a class all their own.
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