Easy Mexican Rice Recipe

4.25 from 4 votes

Here's my healthy easy Mexican rice recipe. It's quick to make using a microwavable rice cooker while you chop any veg prep. Then it's as simple as doing a little sauteing.

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: fried rice, rice, tomato

Servings: people

Calories: 358kcal

Author: Vikkie Lee

Equipment

Ingredients

Cooking oil spray
320 g long grain rice
500ml water
1 chicken stock cube
26 g ginger peeled and grated
1 onion
1 red onion
50 g tomato puree
200 g chopped tomatoes (Half a tin)
50 g sweetcorn
50 g frozen peas
½ teaspoon chilli powder
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Fresh herbs I used lemon balm from my garden patch

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Wash and rinse the rice, using a sieve, then place in a rice cooker and pour water in until just covered, including the stock cube and microwave for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, do all of you veg prep while your rice is cooking.
Return to the rice cooker, add sea salt and pepper before stirring and microwave for another 5 minutes or until cooked.
Back to the vegetables: spray a large frying pan with cooking oil spray, and saute the onions, garlic, red peppers and giver all together for 5 minutes over medium heat. You'll need to do this while stirring here and there.
Now add the tomatoes, puree and spices, then stir until everything is coated and cook for about a minute.
Add the peas and sweetcorn and cook for another 2 minutes, then add the rice and any juices from the rice cooker too.
Continue stirring and cooking for a final 3 minutes or until the juices are disappeared, then top with jalapenos and fresh herbs before serving.

Notes

What Goes With Mexican Red Rice?

Above, you can see I enjoyed mine with roasted and skinless salmon. But together, you could eat chicken and Mexican rice or with lean ground beef. In fact, any other meat could be eaten on the side. It is also great as a:

Mexican rice burrito or burrito bowl
Yorkshire pudding wrap
Tortilla bowl with salad or enchiladas
Taco filling
A filling for stuffed peppers or stuffed tomatoes
Unofficial Slimming World tomato salsa

Could I Cook it in a Multicooker Instead?

Yes, I've often cooked rice dished in the multicooker, like my paella here. I would simply use your multicooker first to saute your veg first. Then once you've washed your rice, add it along with everything else to the pot.

Close and cook for 10 minutes. Note, you won't find it that much quicker as it will take time to heat up anyway.

Also, if you do cook it in a slow cooker or crockpot, then please let me know how you get on!

What If I Don't Have a Rice Cooker?

If you don't have a rice cooker or you want to dump everything in a pot, then:

Follow all of the frying pan methods first, but using a deep saucepan instead
Wash and rinse your rice and add to the pan
Add the stock and water and simmer with a lid on for about 25 minutes.
Remove the lid and add the lemon, herbs and oil if you want to enhance the flavour

Is this Mexican Rice Healthy?

With the Mexican rice calories being an average of 358 between 4 people, I personally think it is healthy. It's also perfect for Slimming clubs as it uses cooking oil spray when frying. And it contains vitamin A, C, calcium and iron.

If you'd like to reduce your calorie intake even more, then you could:

Swap the rice for cauliflower Mexican rice
Use brown rice instead of white *which will require more water and cook for longer

Can Mexican Rice Be Made Ahead?

Any rice dishes are better to be eaten immediately to prevent the risk of food poisoning. Uncooked rice contains Bacillus cereus, a bacteria that can continue to survive even when rice is cooked.

So it's important that you don't leave your cooked rice to sit at room temperature for long. If you do need to leave your rice to cool, then the NHS suggest:

leaving it for no longer than 1 hour
When reheating, check that it's steaming hot
And don't reheat more than once

Nutrition