Spanish rice, or Mexican rice, is a delicious tomato-based rice pilaf with garlic, onions and savory spices. This recipe is super simple, just add the ingredients to your rice cooker and stir, then hit the start button—you’ll have a delicious side dish on the table with minimal effort! Serve it with my ground beef turkey tacos or Instant Pot shredded beef tacos.
My husband grew up in Arizona and enjoyed Spanish rice at church potlucks and family gatherings, so he often has cravings for this dish. With the convenience of a rice cooker, this dish can be made in no time! The flavors of Spanish rice are bold, but not overpowering, and pair perfectly with most Mexican main dishes. It’s also mild enough that my whole family can enjoy, including the kiddos!
Ingredients & notes
Rice - Use long grain rice like jasmine rice.
Chicken Broth – This boosts the flavor and provides a savory, rich taste. You may use low sodium chicken broth, or water if you prefer to keep this dish on the lighter side.
Canned Diced Tomatoes - I like the chunky tomato texture you get when using diced tomatoes with some of the tomato juice. If you don’t want the chunks, just use tomato sauce.
Aromatics - Garlic and onion
Butter - for a savory flavor.
Seasoning - Chili powder, cumin, oregano. Add more chili powder if you like it on the spicy side.
Equipment
Rice Cooker- I use a Tiger JBV- S series. It’s great for our family of four and cooks up to 3 cups of rice for large parties.
Instructions
1). Wash the rice and drain well in a strainer.
2). Add the rice to the pot, along with the chicken broth, diced tomato with some of the canned juice (do not drain), garlic, onion, butter and seasoning. Stir the ingredients together.
3). Press the “cook” button and walk away!
4). When the rice is done cooking (about 50 min for me), fluff the rice with a fork.
Serve with your favorite Mexican dish like tacos, grilled seafood, taquitos, enchiladas, and more!
Pro Tips
- For Jasmine rice: 1 cup rice to 1 cup broth and 1 cup diced tomatoes and sauce
- For Basmati rice: 1 cup rice to ¾ cup chicken broth and ¾ cup diced tomatoes with sauce
- After you rinse the rice, make sure to drain the water very well—give it a few hard shakes in the strainer to take out as much water as possible. Too much residual water may make the dish mushy.
- For a spicier kick, add additional chili powder.
- Stir up all the ingredients well in the pot to ensure even distribution of flavors.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Frequently asked questions
Technically, Spanish Rice is made with saffron, and Mexican rice is traditionally made with tomatoes, cumin and oregano. However, for many living in the Southwest and Texas, Spanish Rice and Mexican rice are interchangeable and refer to the same dish.
Long grain rice, this includes jasmine and basmati rice. Any long grain rice will work, just make sure to check what the rice to liquid ratio is, to prevent your dish from being too mushy, instead of light and fluffy.
Rice becomes mushy when there is too much water in the pot. To prevent this, make sure to drain the rice really well after you rinse it, and measure the correct amount of liquid to the rice.
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Rice Cooker Spanish Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Jasmine rice Or long grain rice. Use US measuring (dry) cup
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup canned diced tomatoes with sauce
- ¼ cup onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Rinse rice in a mesh strainer. Make sure to shake out excess water well.
- Add the rice to the pot, along with the chicken broth, diced tomato sauce (do not drain the sauce), garlic, onion, butter and seasoning. Stir the ingredients together.
- Set rice cooker to cook or start (depending on the cooker functions) and walk away!
- When done, fluff with a fork and serve.
Notes
- Measuring cup used is the standard US measuring cup, not the cup that came with the rice cooker.
- For Jasmine rice: 1 cup rice to 1 cup broth and 1 cup diced tomatoes and sauce
- For Basmati rice: 1 cup rice to ¾ cup chicken broth and ¾ cup diced tomatoes with sauce.
- After you rinse the rice, make sure to drain the water very well—give it a few hard shakes in the strainer to take out as much water as possible. Too much residual water may make the dish mushy.
- For a spicier kick, add additional chili powder.
- Stir up all the ingredients well in the pot to ensure even distribution of flavors.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
- Cooking time will vary, depending on your rice cooker.
Kathy Stephens
This turned out great!! I didn't have diced tomatoes so I used a can of Rotella the flavor was great . Thank you for a great recipe.
Shalie
you think I could do this with 12 cups rice?
Kaylie
Wow, that's a lot of rice! I've never cooked that much at once, but if you have a rice cooker that can handle that much volume, I don't see why it wouldn't work. To be safe, maybe try 6 cups of rice first, and if that goes well, then bump it up to 12 and try? Let me know how it goes, sounds like an epic party is in your future!
Sue S
Very good. It was easy and flavorful. I would make again. I think it would freeze perfectly. I freeze rice and reheat by placing a wet paper towel on defrosted rice for 30-60 sec and check. Turns out as if fresh made
Megan A
This was so good! I have been needing a good recipe for Spanish rice in the rice cooker because of how much rice we eat and plain rice gets boring. I used fire roasted diced tomatoes instead of regular because that's what we had and will continue using fire roasted because of how delicious it turned out. Definitely a new go-to recipe. Leftovers were used to make stuffed bell peppers with ground beef mixed in. It was perfect!
Natalee
I love this idea so resourceful
Amy
So quick, so easy, and SO good, I love this recipe and it's my new go-to for Spanish rice!
Kaylie
I'm so happy you enjoyed! Thanks for sharing!
Jan
This was fantastic! We made this for dinner last night as the base for burrito bowls...we topped it with shrimp, onions, avocado, cheese, corn, chilies, tomato, black beans, and crushed lime tortilla chips. So good!
Kaylie
Wow that sounds like a great dinner! So happy my Spanish rice recipe made it to your dinner table!
jack burton
Rotel is the way to go. A dash of Worcestershire sauce amps up the flavor also. I use a small packet of Salzon Goya seasoning instead of chili powder. Better depth of flavor and better for almost all Mexican dishes.
Kaylie
Great! Glad you were able to make some delicious substitutions!
Bon
Delish! I didnt have canned tomatoes so i used tomato paste and added more water. The flavors were perfect! This is my new go to recipe 🙂
Kaylie
Amazing! I love all these substitution ideas!
Marian
If your using long grain rice what is the chicken broth and tomato ratio.
I saw ratios for Basmati and Jasmine but not long grain. Thank you
Kaylie
Hello, long grain rice is listed in the recipe card. You can use the same ratio listed. 1 cup chicken broth
and 1 cup canned diced tomatoes with sauce.
Tawny
I follow the instructions however, my Rice didn’t cook
Kaylie
Sorry to hear, did you check if your rice cooker fully cooks the rice with other recipes?
Beth
my kids are very sensitive to spice. any tips on how to keep the yummy flavor but with zero spicy heat?
Kaylie
Hi Beth, for this recipe I would take out the chili powder. It is still pretty flavorful without the heat!
Kristin
I’ve made this a lot now. We love it! Just a couple of subs have worked nicely for us. I make a cup of broth with half chicken bouillon granules and half tomato-chicken bouillon granules (Knorr). For the tomatoes, I use one can of fire-roasted Rotel. For the onion, I just dump in a tablespoon of dried minced onion. Use my little Zojirushi to cook it on the white rice function, and it’s yummy every time! Thank you!!!
Kaylie
Wow so helpful with all these tips!
Kerry
Followed the recipe as is and it was perfect! Topped it with sautéed shrimp with Mexican seasoning for a quick dinner. It's a keeper!
Kaylie
That sound so yummy!
Amma
I usually do 2 rice cooker cups of jasmine rice and 2 cups of water based on the inner portion of the rice cooker. How to do the recipe based on 2 rice cooker cups?
Kaylie
I have not tried it using the rice cooker cups, following my recipe with the 1 cup measurement will get you the best results. Thanks!
Veronica Stankovich
I’ve made this two times and it turned out perfect. The next two times, it turned out mushy and some of the rice undercooked. I am not sure what I am doing wrong as I have done this the same way the every time. I see it says one cup of tomatoes with juice, but what happens if you don’t pour enough of the sauce, or if you pour too much of the sauce in the measuring cup? I usually dump the can of tomatoes with sauce directly into the measuring cup. I have to be doing something wrong, any ideas?
Kaylie
Hello Veronica,
Can you please confirm that it was diced tomatoes with sauce you were using? If you are measuring 1 cup of the diced tomatoes and sauce, with the additional 1 cup of chicken broth then the rice should come out fully cooked. I am not understanding how the rice can be mushy but some undercooked? If you have a multi function rice cooker, please check that the setting is for white rice.
Aaron
Delicious, I swapped the diced tomato for canned tomato sauce because it was around. Worked out great.
Kaylie
So glad this worked out for you!
Taylor
Do we need that specific rice cooker to make this recipe? I'm currently trying it with my Cuisinart rice cooker, and I followed your ingredients & liquids 1:1. But my rice cooker keeps thinking the rice is "done", when it's barely been cooking. I'm not really sure what to do! 🙁
Kaylie
Hi Taylor, you don't need this specific rice cooker, have you tried pressing the cook button again?
Taylor
Yes I did numerous times, but it would keep going back to the "keep warm" setting after a few short minutes. I ended up moving it onto the stove to attempt to save it, and it did not turn well. 🙁
Kaylie
I am so sorry to hear that! I found this site that might troubleshoot for the issue you are experiencing. Hope it helps! https://townfood.com/technical-resources/electric-rice-cooker-troubleshooting/
Taylor
Thank you for the link, but fortunately my rice cooker doesn't have any electrical issues, and it makes rice perfectly when I use the proper measurements! Next time if I make this recipe, I will try it out with rice cooker cup & liquid measurements!
Denise
The taste is fine, but I had to finish my rice in the microwave. I don't have a fancy rice cooker, so that may have been the issue. I'll pass on this method next time.
Haley
Thank you sharing this recipe! I made a double batch and it got eaten up so fast that there wasn’t any left for me to use for batch matching freezer burritos. I made it with some off brand Rotel the first time, this time I used fire roasted canned diced tomatoes. It’s really delicious and goes well with whatever you pair it with, as a side, layered taco bowls, burritos, it’s all good! And it’s definitely a weekly recipe for me now, it’s so easy to make!
Kaylie
Love the variation and glad you liked it!
Megan
this is a fantastic recipe. I now make it all the time. thank you 🩷
Kaylie
Thank so much!
Kristine
I was skeptical, but this came out perfect. I did add a full 15 oz can of diced tomatoes. Will use this often.
Kaylie
Amazing! Thanks for that note!
Tony
Amazing recipe! Just recently purchased a rice cooker and wanted to try Spanish rice in it but wasn’t sure it could be done. Found your recipe and it has the best flavor in any rice I’ve ever had. This will now be part of the usual rotation. Did adjust recipe slightly by adding black pepper with all the other spices.
Kaylie
So happy to hear this! I love to hear all the variations!