5 Ingredient Mexican Rice

All great Mexican or Tex-Mex recipes are great alongside a classic side dish, like this Mexican rice!

To me it tastes very similar to the flavorful, yet simple, rice you get as a side at your local Mexican restaurant.

But the best part about this recipe is that it’s made with just 5 ingredients, and they’re mostly pantry staples that you probably have on hand already!

That’s not to say that you can’t add your own flair to this recipe, and I’ve detailed the different ways you can switch this up to make it your own in the “variations” heading down below.

What do I need to make this recipe?

• Vegetable oil – you can absolutely use olive oil, avocado oil, or a somewhat neutral oil for this instead.
• Yellow onion – I prefer yellow onion, but a white onion will also work well.
• White rice – I highly recommend you use long grain white rice (not minute rice or any other type), as that’s what this recipe was developed and tested with.
• Chicken broth – reduced sodium is best, so you can control the salt content.
• Salsa – use your favorite! I typically use my homemade salsa, chi-chi’s, or sometimes pace picante sauce.

How to make 5 ingredient Mexican rice?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Cook onion. Give this a head start in the pan, for just a few minutes, until soft and translucent.
2. Toast rice. Adding the rice to the pan and cooking it in the oil with the onion helps brown the rice slightly, giving a little nutty flavor.
3. Add broth and salsa. Give this a good stir, then bring it to a boil.
4. Simmer. Once it comes to a low boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.
5. Fluff and serve. Using a fork really gives the grains of rice separation, so they’re not all stuck together.

Variations of this recipe

• Oil – you can use just about any oil that you prefer, although I recommend vegetable oil, or avocado oil, since they can be cooked at a higher temperature without burning.
• Onion – during testing, I found that using a real onion (versus dried onion flakes or onion powder) yielded the best flavor. However, instead of a yellow onion, white can be used.
• Broth – I definitely prefer to use reduced sodium broth, but if you’d like to keep this side dish vegetarian, you can use vegetable broth instead of chicken.
• Salsa – feel free to use your favorite brand and heat level, or you can whip up a quick batch of homemade salsa!
• Other veggies – this is a place where you can add your favorite veggies… peas, corn, carrots, mixed vegetables (all frozen), or whatever you prefer in your Mexican rice.
• Garlic – try adding a few cloves of minced garlic if you’d like to deepen the flavor a bit.
• Other spices – this recipe is intentionally kept “seasoning free”, to keep the ingredient amount low, and since there’s plenty of flavor from the onion and salsa. But if you don’t mind adding some additional ingredients, go ahead and toss in some of your favorite spices. Mexican oregano is a favorite of ours!

Making Mexican rice ahead of time

I think that rice tastes best when made fresh, since it can dry out.

However, you can make it ahead of time if you’d like. Just when reheating, add a splash of water/chicken broth to liven it back up.

You can also prep ahead a little bit by chopping the onion (keep it refrigerated), measuring out the salsa (keep it refrigerated), and measuring out the dry rice.

Freezing

Rice can also be frozen for long-term storage. Let it cool completely, then add to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months.

Thaw, then reheat as desired.

Storage

Leftover rice should be refrigerated in an airtight container and enjoyed within 3-5 days.