Are you ready to recreate the vibrant, scrumptious experience of eatery-style Mexican rice right in your kitchen? This form brings the authentic taste of Mexican cookery to your table using the convenience of an electric pressure cooker, making the process briskly and lightly than ever ahead.

This Instant Pot Mexican rice delivers impeccably ethereal grains invested with rich tomato, garlic, and sweet spices, landing that classic eatery-quality flavor. Whether you’re planning a casual weeknight regale or a gleeful gathering, this protean side dish pairs beautifully with a variety of Mexican dishes.
Serve it alongside crisp potato tacos, sizzling fajitas, or a hearty vegetarian enchilada dish for a complete and satisfying meal. The pressure cooker system not only speeds up the cooking time but also locks in all the vibrant flavors, ensuring every bite is deliciously tender and full of tang.
With this quick and reliable approach, you can enjoy an eatery-style Mexican rice experience anytime without the need for lengthy preparation or complex methods. It’s a must-try form that brings warmth, color, and authentic taste to your dining table with minimum trouble.
About This Recipe
Are you ready to recreate the vibrant, scrumptious experience of eatery-style Mexican rice right in your own kitchen? This form brings the authentic taste of Mexican cookery to your table using the convenience of an electric pressure cooker, making the process briskly and lightly than ever ahead.
This Instant Pot Mexican rice delivers impeccably ethereal grains invested with rich tomato, garlic, and sweet spices, landing that classic eatery-quality flavor. Whether you’re planning a casual weeknight regale or a gleeful gathering, this protean side dish dyads beautifully with a variety of Mexican pets.
Serve it alongside crisp potato tacos, sizzling fajitas, or a hearty vegetarian enchilada dish for a complete and satisfying mess. The pressure cooker system not only speeds up the cuisine time but also locks in all the vibrant flavors, ensuring every bite is deliciously tender and full of tang.
With this quick and reliable approach, you can enjoy an eatery-style Mexican rice experience anytime without the need for lengthy medication or complex ways. It’s a must-try form that brings warmth, color, and authentic taste to your dining table with minimum trouble.
Ingredient Notes
Then’s a look at the crucial constituents for making Instant Pot Mexican rice, all closest masses you can fluently find at any grocery store.

- Rice: Long-grain rice is stylish for ethereal, promised grains. I use basmati rice because it’s what I generally have on hand, and it works impeccably. A pivotal step is irrigating the rice well to remove redundant bounce. This prevents the rice from getting sticky or chunky and ensures a light texture.
- Jalapeño: This adds a mild heat and fresh flavor. You can acclimate the quantum to your spice preference. For lower heat, remove the seeds and modes, as they hold utmost of the spice.
- Chili: Greasepaint Important note for Indian culinarians — American chili greasepaint is different from Indian red chili greasepaint. The American interpretation is a mild mix of colorful chilies with added swab and seasonings, while Indian chili greasepaint is pure ground chili and important gamy. For this form, use mild American chili greasepaint for the authentic flavor and balanced heat.
- Vegetable: Broth Numerous cafes use vegetable broth for Mexican rice, but I prefer vegetable broth to keep it submissive. Rather than store-bought cartons, I use ‘ Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base’ — a concentrated paste you mix with hot water to make fresh broth anytime. It’s accessible and adds great depth to the rice.
- These simple constituents combine painlessly in the Instant Pot, producing vibrant, scrumptious Mexican rice with ethereal, tender, and impeccably separate grains. This easy form is perfect for a quick side dish that dyads well with tacos, fajitas, or masses — bringing a succulent taste of Mexican-style cuisine to your home kitchen.
How To Make Instant Pot Mexican Rice?
1. Start by turning on your Instant Pot and selecting the sauté setting. Pour in a bit of cooking oil and permit it to warm until it gets to be shining hot. Once prepared, include finely chopped onions, minced garlic, and diced jalapeños in the pot to begin building the flavor base.
2. Sauté the blend for around 2 to 3 minutes, mixing regularly. Proceed cooking until the onions end up delicate and translucent, and the sharp, crude scent of garlic vanishes. This step discharges the fragrant flavors basic to the dish.
3. Next, include the completely washed rice to the pot. Mix ceaselessly as you sauté the rice for 4 to 5 minutes. Toasting the rice this way improves its nutty flavor and makes a difference guarantees the grains stay isolated after cooking. Be watchful to keep blending so the rice doesn’t adhere or burn at the foot of the pot. After this, switch off the sauté mode.

4. Presently, include freshly chopped tomatoes along with a spoonful of tomato paste to the pot. Mix everything together to mix these tomato components equally with the rice and sautéed vegetables.
5. Blend completely, making sure the tomatoes and paste are well joined, giving the rice its wealthy and vibrant tomato flavor.
6. Season the blend by sprinkling in salt, freshly ground black pepper, ground cumin, chili powder, and dried oregano. These spices bring profundity and warmth, creating that characteristic Mexican rice flavor.
7. Pour in the vegetable broth, following, mixing carefully. Utilize your spatula to scrape the foot of the pot to release any browned bits stuck to the surface. This anticipates the Instant Pot from activating a burn warning and makes a difference mix all flavors seamlessly.
8. Secure the lid onto the Instant Pot and guarantee the steam discharge valve is set to the fixing position. Set the cooker to manual pressure mode at high pressure for 4 minutes. When the cooking cycle completes, permit the pressure to release normally for 5 minutes, some time recently perform a quick discharge to vent out any remaining steam.
9. Once the pressure is completely released, open the lid carefully. Utilize a fork to tenderly lighten the rice, isolating the grains without smashing them. Finally, embellish with crisply chopped cilantro to include a shinning, new note and a pop of color. Your delightful and soft Moment Pot Mexican rice is presently prepared to serve!

Expert Tips For Instant Pot Mexican Rice
One of the most important yet frequently overlooked ways of making eatery-style Mexican rice is irrigating the rice completely before cooking. This simple step plays a major part in icing your final dish has light, ethereal grains rather than a sticky, floundered texture. Irrigating helps remove the face bounce that naturally fleeces rice grains. However, this bounce turns sticky during cooking and causes the rice to come mushy, if not irrigated off. Run the rice under cold water, swishing it around with your fingers, until the water runs nearly clear this is a small trouble that yields big results.
Next comes hotting the rice, which brings both texture and a strengthened flavor profile to the dish. When the irrigated rice is added to hot oil and sautéed, each grain becomes coated in oil and begins to develop a slightly golden color. This light hotting step, which takes about 4 to 5 twinkles, adds an awful nutty aroma and a rich, warmish taste that elevates the overall dish. It’s a hand step in numerous traditional Mexican rice fashions and shouldn’t be skipped.
Once you’ve heated the rice, it’s essential to turn off the sauté function incontinently. Leaving it on can beget the rice to start sticking to the bottom of the Instant Pot liner, which could lead to a dreaded burn notice once pressure cuisine begins.
Incipiently, after adding the vegetable broth, take a moment to scrape and deglaze the bottom of the pot. This means using a rustic ladle or spatula to gently loosen any bits of food that might be stuck to the face. These bits are scrumptious, but if left attached, the Instant Pot may interpret them as burning and stop the cuisine process. Deglazing ensures cooking and prevents any interruptions during pressure cooking.
Following this way not only improves the texture and taste of your Mexican rice but also helps insure a smooth and trouble-free Instant Pot cuisine experience.
Storage & Reheating
One of the great effects about this Instant Pot Mexican rice is that it stores well, making it ideal for mess fix or enjoying leftovers throughout the week. After the rice has cooled fully, transfer it to a watertight vessel and place it in the refrigerator. It’ll stay fresh for up to 3 to 5 days, depending on the rainfall and how cold your fridge is. However, it’s stylish to consume it within three days to maintain newness and flavor, if you live in a warmer climate.
Still, this rice can also be firmed, if you’ve made a larger batch or simply want to store it for longer. Pack it in freezer-safe bags or holders in individual portions. It’s stylish to consume the frozen rice within one month for optimal texture and taste. Beyond that point, the rice begins to lose its humidity and can come dry and slightly coarse when reheated.
Reheating your rice the right way is crucial to keeping it soft and scrumptious. When reheating from the refrigerator, place the asked portion into a microwave oven-safe coliseum. To help the rice from drying out, cover it with a damp paper kerchief — this traps brume and adds humidity back into the grains as they warm. toast it in the microwave oven until the rice is completely hot.
Still, you have two options: you can either microwave it directly from firmed ( just increase the time slightly and stir half through), or you can thaw it overnight in the fridge and also overheat as you would with cooled rice, if reheating from firmed.
With these simple storehouse and reheating tips, you can enjoy impeccably ethereal and scrumptious Mexican rice indeed on your busiest days.
Serving Ideas For Mexican Rice
This flavorful and fluffy Mexican rice is incredibly versatile and pairs beautifully with a variety of dishes, making it a staple side for any Mexican-inspired meal.
Serve it alongside your favorite tacos—whether it’s crispy potato tacos, spicy paneer tacos, or classic black bean versions. It also complements hearty salads like a vegetarian taco salad, adding extra texture and depth to your bowl.
For a complete Mexican feast, pair this rice with enchiladas, empanadas, or sizzling fajitas. It’s also a fantastic addition to dishes like air-fried quesadillas or baked casseroles, such as a vegetarian enchilada casserole. The tomato-rich flavor of the rice balances out cheesy or spicy mains wonderfully.
Beyond serving it on the side, you can also use this Mexican rice as a filling for burritos, or layer it into your favorite burrito bowls with beans, grilled veggies, guacamole, salsa, and more. It makes a great base that soaks up flavors and keeps your bowl hearty and satisfying.
Whether you’re planning a weekday dinner or a festive get-together, this Instant Pot Mexican rice is the perfect accompaniment that brings color, comfort, and bold flavor to the table.
