Instant Pot Mexican Rice

Instant Pot Mexican Rice is an easy, flavorful way to prepare rice right in the pressure cooker! This Pressure Cooker Rice is made with simple ingredients and makes a perfect side dish for all your Mexican dishes!

Instant Pot Mexican Rice

This Mexican Style Instant Pot Rice is the easiest, most flavorful way to prepare rice in the Instant Pot. It makes the perfect side dish for tacos, burritos and enchiladas, or can be used as a base for delicious burritos bowls.

The Instant Pot is my preferred way to prepare rice. It works a lot like a rice cooker, in that every grain of rice cooks evenly and rice turns out fluffy and tender. You can say goodbye to crunchy or mushy rice using when making rice using an electric pressure cooker.

While plain rice is great, Instant Pot Mexican Rice is the BEST! And it is exactly what your next Mexican meal needs! With just a few basic pantry staples and the pressure cooker, you can have a great side dish that will spice up taco night perfectly! This Instant Pot Mexican Rice makes a great addition to my collection of Healthy Instant Pot Recipes.

How to Make Instant Pot Mexican Rice

1. Measure rice into a colander and rinse well. Rinsing the rice helps to remove starch to prevent clumping, and will improve the flavor and texture of this Mexican rice.
2. Turn Instant Pot to Saute and allow to heat up until pressure cooker reads “HOT.” Once heated, add in oil, onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes, then turn Instant Pot OFF.
3. Pour in chicken stock and scrape up any browned bits on bottom of inner pot. This is a really important step to prevent a burn warning. Then add in seasonings and stir well. Add in rinsed rice and gently push the rice down to completely submerge it in the stock. Top with tomato sauce, but DO NOT stir in the tomato sauce.
4. Place the lid on pressure cooker and set to cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Once the cook time has elapsed, let the pressure release naturally all the way.
5. Remove lid and fluff rice with a fork, while stirring in the tomato sauce. Using a fork helps to separate the grains of rice and make the entire dish nice and fluffy.

Recipe Variations

• If you want to use brown rice, follow the recipe as stated but for perfect Instant Pot Brown Rice, increase the cook time to 22 minutes on High Pressure.
• In place of chicken stock, use vegetable stock to keep this vegetarian.
• Omit the jalapenos for less heat.
• If you are really in a hurry, omit sauteing the onions, jalapeno, and garlic. This helps to develop flavor for the rice, but you can add the ingredients right into the rice without sauteing without sacrificing too much flavor. You can also omit them completely from the recipe.
•  If you would like, add in up to 1 cup frozen corn, peas, and carrots to the Instant pot before pressure cooking.
• This recipe can be cut in half if using a mini or 6 quart Instant Pot if desired. For an 8 quart Instant Pot, this recipe cannot be halved.

Storage and Freezing Instructions

Mexican rice is best served immediately. To store any leftovers, let rice cool for 20 minutes and then place in a sealed container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

To reheat the rice, add in a splash of water or stock to loosen up rice and heat in 1 minute intervals in the microwave until warmed through.

Serving Suggestions

Mexican Rice and beans are a must have for any Mexican recipe. We’ve got tons on the site for you to try, and here are some of our favorites:

• Instant Pot Chicken Tacos
• Chicken Enchilada Casserole
• Mexican Sopes Recipe
• Slow Cooker Creamy Taco Ranch Chicken
• The Best Shrimp Fajitas

Recipe

Instant Pot Mexican Rice

4.86 from 7 votes

An easy recipe for Instant Pot Mexican Rice that is full of flavor!

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 minutes mins

Total Time 33 minutes mins

Servings 8

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Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ cup small onion diced
• 1 jalapeno seeded and minced, optional
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups long grain white rice rinsed well
• 2/3 cup tomato sauce

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Instructions

 

• Turn Instant Pot to saute and let heat up. Once heated, add in oil, onion, jalapeno, and garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes.
• Turn Instant Pot OFF.
• Add in stock and scrape up any browned bits on bottom of inner pot.
• Add in seasonings and stir well. Add in rice and gently submerge rice into stock. Top with tomato sauce but do not stir tomato sauce into rice.
• Place lid on the Instant Pot and be sure vent knob is pointed to sealed.
• Cook on HIGH pressure for 3 minutes.
• Let pressure release naturally all the way.
• Remove lid and fluff rice with a fork, while stirring in the tomato sauce.

Notes

• Feel free to use vegetable stock in place of chicken stock.
• In place of salt and seasonings, you can use up to 2 tablespoons taco seasoning.

Keyword Instant Pot Rice, Mexican Rice

Nutrition

Calories: 199kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 4gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 622mgPotassium: 186mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 342IUVitamin C: 8mgCalcium: 20mgIron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of "Yellow Bliss Road" is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.

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