Restaurant Style Mexican Rice - The Recipe Critic (2024)

This Mexican rice is so easy to make! Simmered until tender in broth, salsa, and a mix of spices gives it a ton of flavor, perfect for adding to any fiesta.

If you’ve had Mexican rice at your favorite Mexican restaurant, it can be intimidating trying to recreate it at home! But let me assure you that this easy Mexican Rice comes together quickly, with no chopping and just a quick simmer on the stove. It’s perfect for serving with thesechicken fajitas, thesesteak fajitas, or thesesalmon fajitas!

Mexican Rice

Restaurant-style Mexican rice is a cinch to make at home, and once you try it you may not want to go back to plain old rice on the dinner table! It’s loaded with flavor but with one of my favorite shortcut ingredients, it’s made completely without chopping (which means it’s quick to prep as well!).

Instead of crushed or diced tomatoes like many recipes call for, we’re adding salsa as part of our cooking liquid for a couple of reasons. The salsa gives our rice a ton of flavor, way more than if we just used plain tomatoes. It adds seasoning, spice, tomatoes, peppers and onions in one cup, and it’s an ingredient most pantries are never without. If you prefer, or you don’t have salsa, you can substitute the salsa for canned diced tomatoes and add in a little more spice.

Ingredients to Make Mexican Rice

These ingredients are simple and you probably already have most of them at home! Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements.

• White Rice: I like to use long grain white rice in this recipe.
• Chicken Broth: Use low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth) to add flavor to the rice.
• Tomato Salsa: Just grad a jar of this at the store to make this easy. You can easily make this rice mild, medium or hot depending on the salsa that you choose.
• Seasonings: Garlic powder, cumin, salt,chili powder(reduce the amount for milder flavor), onion powder and black pepper

How to Make Mexican Rice

This Mexican rice tastes like it’s from a restaurant! You can pair it with just about any Mexican dish so this will definitely become a staple side dish in your house!

1. Combine: In a medium skillet, stir together rice, broth, salsa, garlic, cumin, salt, chili powder, onion powder and pepper.
2. Simmer: Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until about half of the liquid is absorbed.
3. Cover: Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until tender, about 8-10 more minutes, stirring occasionally.