This Arroz Rojo, or Mexican Red Rice, is a quintessential part of Mexican home cooking. The perfect red rice should be light and fluffy and perfectly seasoned. Everyone (even kids) loves this versatile, family-friendly side dish that will rival your favorite Mexican restaurant with its authentic flavors.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
It’s good enough to eat plain. Although Mexican rice is usually served as a side, our kids, from the 1-year old to the 13-year old, eat this by the bowl as their main dish. It’s full of wholesome, simple ingredients, including lots of veggies, so this is one time where I can accept defeat.
It’s a perfect side dish that rivals anything you’ll ever get in a restaurant AND it’s highly adaptable – you can use whatever blend of veggies you want! I often swap carrots for bell peppers in the summer.
Because this makes a large pot of rice, I usually make this at the start of the week, so that I can take leftovers to work. I like taking a flour tortilla and some shredded cheese so I can microwave a quick quesadilla to eat with the rice. And if you work from home, try topping leftover rice with a fried egg.
Ingredients
- Rice: Long grain white rice is traditional, and I often use Jasmine rice because we always have it on hand.
- Garlic: I use fresh garlic cloves, but in a pinch, garlic powder will work too.
- Sautéed onion: White onion is the most traditional, but you can use yellow onion.
- Carrots: I like to use fresh carrots in this recipe because by the time the rice has cooked through the carrots are nice and tender without being mushy, but you could use a frozen vegetable medley in a pinch and just add it all when you’re meant to add the peas at the end.
- Tomato sauce: Some recipes go through the process of making a homemade tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, but it’s an extra step I don’t have time for when I’m trying to make 1 or 2 other dishes. Some recipes also use tomato paste for a more concentrated flavor. Experiment once you get the hang of the recipe and adapt to suit your preferences!
- Chicken stock: Some recipes use water and bouillon cubes to create flavor, and while this is the most budget-friendly, chicken stock contains more nutrients and has fewer unhealthy additives.
- Frozen green peas: An optional, but nice way to add a little color and added, natural sweetness to the rice.
Variations & Substitutions
- Swap the diced carrots for red bell pepper.
- Swap the peas for green beans.
- Swap the chicken stock for vegetable broth.
- Add cooked, diced potatoes in with the frozen peas at the end.
- Add some chili powder, diced jalapeno, or serrano with the onions and carrots for spicy Mexican rice.
- Mix in a can or black beans at the end to make a full meal out of your rice.
How to Make Mexican Red Rice
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onion, 2 finely chopped carrots, and 3 cloves of minced garlic. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes until translucent (not browned / golden).
- Add the 2 cups of dry, unwashed rice to the saucepan, stirring constantly, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until some of the rice starts to turn a golden brown color.
- Add the 8-ounce can of tomato sauce and cook, stirring and scraping and then add the 4 cups of stock, give it all a good stir, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, undisturbed for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can give the pot a quick check to see if all the water has been absorbed. If it hasn’t, give it another 5-10 minutes. But if it has, sprinkle the frozen peas over the top of the rice and cover the pot again, removing it from the heat. Let it sit, covered, for another 5 to 10 minutes, before fluffing with a fork to mix in the peas and separate the grains of rice. Serve warm.
Tips & Tricks
Skip the bouillon. You’ll notice this rice doesn’t use chicken bouillon cubes, which you will find in some recipes. Instead, I use chicken broth and season the liquid before I cover it to taste. This gives me total control over the saltiness of this dish without the additives found in bouillon cubes.
You’ve got to TRUST. 18-20 minutes, no peeking! And when I say low heat, I mean I set my burner to its lowest setting and walk away. High heat = scorched rice at the bottom of the pan.
Steam is the secret to fluffy, evenly cooked rice. Bonus, it starts to loosen any rice that may be sticking to the pan. I add my frozen peas to the top of the rice at the end of its 20 minute cook time (stealth mode), and then cover it all again. No stirring. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
If any rice DOES end up sticking to the bottom of the pan, don’t fight with it. Fill the pan with water and let it sit. It should all come gliding off.
Embrace the crispy bits. If any rice DOES end up sticking to the bottom of our pans, my son and I will scrape it off. We love clay pot rice, where the rice at the bottom gets sort of brown and crispy, and if it sticks just a little bit you get the same effect from your Mexican rice. I don’t recommend doing this with a non-stick pan, but if you’re using stainless steel or something like that, go for it!
Avoid mushy rice by ensuring you are using a long grain rice, use a 1:1 water to rice ration, and not stirring (keep that lid on your rice!) during the cook time.
Serving Suggestions
We eat this regularly and we eat this with everything. In Mexican restaurants, you’ll most commonly find this served alongside refried beans, which is always a welcome addition to a meal, but if you’re looking for a flavorful, Mexican main dish to serve with this flavorful rice dish, try:
Storage
- Fridge: This rice will keep for up to 3 days in your fridge stored in an airtight container.
- Reheating Instructions: To reheat in the microwave, simply add some rice to a microwave-safe bowl and cover with a damp paper towel. Reheat for a minute, stir, and then reheat in 30 second bursts until rice reaches desired temp.
Buen provecho!
📖 Recipe
Arroz Rojo (Mexican Red Rice)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 carrots finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups rice long-grain white rice – unrinsed
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 4 cups chicken broth vegetable broth or water
- Salt to taste
- ½ cup frozen green peas
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onion, 2 finely chopped carrots, and 3 cloves of minced garlic. Cook for 4 – 5 minutes until translucent (not browned / golden).
- Add the 2 cups of dry, unwashed rice to the saucepan, stirring constantly, and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until some of the rice starts to brown.
- Add the 8-ounce can of tomato sauce and cook, stirring and scraping and then add the 4 cups of stock, give it all a good stir, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, undisturbed for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can give the pot a quick check to see if all the water has been absorbed. If it hasn’t, give it another 5-10 minutes. But if it has, sprinkle the frozen peas over the top of the rice and cover the pot again, removing it from the heat. Let it sit, covered, for another5 to 10 minutes, before fluffing with a fork to mix in the peas and separate the grains of rice. Serve warm.
