This Restaurant Style Mexican Rice is light, fluffy, and perfectly seasoned, with little bits of soft-cooked potato and carrot throughout. It tastes just like the rice you get at a favorite Mexican restaurant and makes an excellent side for tacos, burritos, or any Mexican-inspired meal.
If you enjoy this recipe, try making Cilantro Lime Rice as another bright, complementary side for a Mexican-style menu.
There’s a small Mexican restaurant we visit often, and one of the things that keeps me coming back is their incredible rice. I spent many visits trying to figure out why their rice tasted so good and eventually recreated it at home. This version has become a regular in my kitchen.
Table of contents
- The Best Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
- How to Make Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
- FAQ and Valerie’s Tips
- What to Serve with Mexican Rice
The Best Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
Often called “red rice,” traditional Mexican rice gets its color from tomato sauce or tomato paste and its depth from a blend of warm, savory spices. For this recipe, I use a simple taco-style seasoning to echo that classic flavor profile without overpowering the rice.
An important part of the texture and flavor is the addition of vegetables. Small bits of onion, diced potato, and carrot add subtle sweetness and body to the rice. You can easily swap in other vegetables—frozen corn or peas (thawed), mushrooms, zucchini, or bell pepper all work well if you prefer.
Rather than cooking the rice in water, this version uses chicken or vegetable broth for richer flavor. If you like to control sodium and strength, a concentrated reduced-sodium bouillon or homemade broth lets you adjust the taste precisely.
How to Make Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the rice and toast it, stirring occasionally, until the grains turn lightly golden—about 3–4 minutes.
- Reduce the heat slightly, then add the diced onion, potato, carrot, and minced garlic. Season with taco seasoning and salt. Cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes so the vegetables soften a bit and the spices bloom.
- Stir in the tomato sauce and cook for a minute, then slowly add the chicken or vegetable broth while stirring to combine.
- Return the pan to medium-high to bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes without lifting the lid.
- Remove the skillet from the heat and let it rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and garnish with cilantro if desired.
This toasting step is the key to fluffy, separate grains: it cooks off some surface starch and helps the rice absorb flavor more effectively.
FAQ and Valerie’s Tips
Restaurants often fry the uncooked rice briefly in oil, which toasts the grains and intensifies flavor. Combined with a blend of spices, diced vegetables, and the use of broth instead of water, that method produces richer, more flavorful rice.
Use long-grain white rice for the best texture in this restaurant-style recipe.
Lightly toasting the rice in oil before adding liquid reduces surface starch and helps grains stay separate. Simmer gently with the lid on until the liquid is absorbed, then rest before fluffing with a fork.
This recipe is mild as written. If you want more heat, add chopped serrano chiles or red pepper flakes to taste.
This recipe delivers light, fluffy, savory rice with tender vegetable bites—one of the best homemade versions of restaurant-style Mexican rice.
What to Serve with Mexican Rice
This rice is a versatile side and pairs well with many Mexican-inspired mains. A few favorite combinations:
- Use it as a base for burrito bowls with shredded Mexican beef or slow-cooked shredded pork with beans.
- Serve it alongside green chile chicken smothered burritos or other saucy burritos.
- Make chicken-and-rice burritos using tender shredded chicken from a crock pot roast.
- Mix into a vegetarian bowl with black beans, roasted vegetables, and avocado.
Restaurant Style Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 ½ cups long grain white rice
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 large carrot, diced (approximately ½ cup)
- 1 Yukon Gold potato, diced (approximately 1 cup)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon homemade taco seasoning mix (or store-bought blend)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
- Fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add rice and cook, stirring occasionally for 3–4 minutes, until the rice is lightly golden.
- Reduce heat to medium and add the onion, potato, carrot, and garlic. Season with taco seasoning and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce and cook, stirring, for a minute or two. Then slowly stir in the chicken or vegetable broth.
- Return heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover the skillet, and simmer for 25 minutes.
- Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, covered. Fluff with a fork, garnish with cilantro if desired, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
| Carbohydrates: 35 g
| Protein: 5 g
| Fat: 6 g
| Sodium: 331 mg
| Fiber: 2 g
Nutrition information is an estimate calculated from generic ingredients; use your ingredient labels for the most accurate values.
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This post was originally published on January 11, 2014. It has been updated with new text and images.