Instant Pot Mexican Rice
This Instant Pot Mexican Rice recipe is packed with flavor and is so simple to make. It’s the perfect side dish for tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and more.
For more delicious Mexican inspired Side Dish Recipes, be sure to check out my Copycat Chipotle Guacamole, Avocado Corn Salad, and Mexican Black Beans.
Tacos or enchiladas are on regular rotation at our house, and on those nights I love to make Instant Pot Mexican Rice to eat on the side.
To be honest, my kids tend to eat more of the rice than they do the main dish! That’s a true testament to how delicious this Mexican Rice recipe is.
I absolutely love Mexican Rice because it’s chock full of flavor from the diced onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, and fresh cilantro.
It’s also really easy and effortless to make in the Instant Pot; just sauté the onion and garlic, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes. Easy peasy! The result is a perfectly cooked pot of Mexican rice that is perfect for serving as a side dish or as a main course.
Ingredients for Instant Pot Mexican Rice
- olive oil
- onion
- garlic
- chicken broth
- tomato sauce
- basmati rice
- Spices: cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper
- fresh cilantro
How to Make Mexican Rice in the Instant Pot – Step by Step
A full list of ingredients, measurements, and instructions are located in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Rinse and drain rice
Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold water. Drain well.
Step 2: Sauté onions and garlic
Select the sauté mode on the Instant Pot and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the diced onion and cook for 5 minutes, until soft. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
Step 3: Add remaining ingredients
Cancel the sauté mode, then add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, drained rice, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Stir.
Step 4: Pressure cook
Place the lid on the pot and flip the valve to “sealing.” Cook over manual high pressure for 12 minutes.
Step 5: Quick release
Once the time is up on the Instant Pot, perform a quick release. When all of the steam has escaped and the pin on the lid has dropped, open the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and serve.
Tips and Notes
- Rinse your rice. It’s important to rinse and drain the rice under cold water to remove any excess starch before cooking. This will lend to rice that won’t stick together and get gummy once it’s cooked.
- For a vegetarian/vegan alternative, substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
- Substitute the tomato sauce with crushed tomatoes, or with diced tomatoes for a chunkier texture.
- Fresh cilantro can be substituted with dried cilantro if needed, or left out entirely if cilantro isn’t your thing!
- Some delicious additions to your Instant Pot Mexican Rice would be frozen corn or peas, some drained and rinsed black beans, or a small can of diced green chiles. These can all be added in step 4 with the chicken broth, tomato sauce, rice, etc.
- If you’re in a hurry, you can skip the sautéing step and just add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 12 minutes.
- To make your Mexican Rice into a full meal, you can add cooked chicken, beef, or shrimp.
FAQs
The tomato sauce in this Mexican rice can be replaced with crushed or diced tomatoes or even enchilada sauce.
Yes, all of the ingredients in this Instant Pot Mexican Rice recipe are gluten free!
Any leftover Mexican Rice can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for four days. You can also freeze the leftovers in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before re-heating.
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment and rating below. I love to hear from you and always appreciate your feedback!
Recipe: Instant Pot Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 2 cups long grain white rice, (like Basmati) rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 Tablespoon fresh cilantro , chopped
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
Instructions
- Rinse the rice in a strainer under cold water. Drain well.
- Select the sauté mode on the Instant Pot and add the olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add the diced onion and cook for 3-5 minutes, until soft. Add the minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until fragrant.
- Cancel the sauté mode, then add the chicken broth, tomato sauce, drained rice, cumin, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Stir.
- Place the lid on the pot and flip the valve to “sealing.” Cook over manual high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Once the time is up on the Instant Pot, allow the pot to naturally release for five minutes before performing a quick release to the remaining pressure. When all of the steam has escaped and the pin on the lid has dropped, open the lid and stir the contents, then fluff with a fork. Sprinkle with freshly chopped cilantro and serve.
Notes
- Rinse your rice. It’s important to rinse and drain the rice under cold water to remove any excess starch before cooking. This will lend to rice that won’t stick together and get gummy once it’s cooked.
- For a vegetarian/vegan alternative, substitute the chicken broth with vegetable broth.
- Some delicious additions to your Instant Pot Mexican Rice would be frozen corn or peas, some drained and rinsed black beans, or a small can of diced green chiles. These can all be added in step 4 with the chicken broth, tomato sauce, rice, etc.
- If you’re in a hurry, you can skip the sautéing step and just add all of the ingredients to the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes.
- Any leftover Mexican Rice can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for four days. You can also freeze the leftovers in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before re-heating.
Flavor is great. I followed the recipe as written, doubled tho, and my pot would not pressurized. Had to add almost 2 more cups of water to get it to pressurize and not stick to the bottom.
The flavor was good but I had to cook it twice as long and add another cup of broth for the rice to be tender and not half raw. I followed the recipe exactly as written so I’m not sure what happened.
The only Mexican rice recipe I will ever use. SO FLAVORFUL!!! So good. Literally perfect.
I added a small can of Rotel and followed the 2x recipe exactly. The rice came out mushy and easily broke while fluffing.
How should I adjust? No Rotel (less moisture) and shorter cook time?
Any suggestions?
Hi David, yes the Rotel probably added too much moisture. I would leave that out next time.
Any good conversion for slow cooker? I have the Ninja 3-in-1
Hi Sarah, I wouldn’t recommend cooking this in the slow cooker. The slow cooker just doesn’t get hot enough to cook the rice properly.
Great recipe. I just made it exactly how it’s written except I subbed granulated onion and garlic powder since I didn’t have any fresh on hand. The texture is spot on and the flavor is great. As a personal preference, next time I’m going to use less tomato sauce (maybe halve the amount) and tweak the spices (maybe halve the chili powder and cumin). For those reading the reviews, this rice is perfect as-is, I’m just trying to replicate a local restaurant’s flavors so some tweaks are in order!
This is so full of flavor. We loved it as a base for our burrito bowls.
would it work to cook this in a rice cooker?
Hi Laura, I have not tried making this in a rice cooker so I’m not sure how it would turn out. If you try it, please let us know!
When I saw this recipe I wanted to make it for dinner that night but didn’t have the onion, garlic or tomato sauce on hand and couldn’t get out to the store due to a heavy rain storm that day. ⛈️😕
Subbed in some onion powder, garlic powder. and in place of the tomato sauce I pureed 1 C. of jarred salsa with my immersion blender (could also use a pitcher style blender or food processor)
I did add a can of diced green chilis as one of the suggested “add ins” in the post. I also cut the chili powder to 1/2 tsp. (for a 2 year old)
This easy, delicious, and family approved “Mexican Rice” is now my “go to” side dish for all the Mexican meals I make!!! 🇲🇽 🌮😋
*Note…if you ever need to sub the tomato sauce with pureed salsa as I did…
If you are using a very thick salsa you might need to add a small amount of chicken broth or water to make it the consistency of tomato sauce 😉
I made this as my first ever instant pot rice recipe. It made a nice quantity for a family and was loved by all. I’ll definitely make this again.
It was my first time making this and I really liked it! Had so much flavor and so much easier on an instant pot!
This is one of the easiest mexican rice recipes I’ve ever made!
I’m looking forward to making this Instant Pot Mexican rice. What suggestions do you have for reheating? I would like to make it a day ahead or early in the day on the day needed. Thanks!
Great question! Add the rice to microwave safe bowl and add about a Tablespoon of water per cup of cooked rice. Break any clumps up with a fork, then microwave for about a minute. The water helps bring back some moisture to the rice before you reheat it. Hope that helps!
This rice looks exactly like Nando’s rice! I eat rice every day, so would love to try this recipe 😍.
I love how this mexican rice came out! So fluffy and full of flavor. Will be keeping this recipe to make again with enchiladas! So good!
I love Mexican rice but feel I never make it right. I need to try this recipe!