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This Instant Pot Mexican Rice recipe is my favorite side-dish for any Mexican food we eat! I perfected this recipe while living in Mexico– it's completely authentic– and I've adapted it to cook perfectly in the Instant Pot! The end result is Mexican rice that is so perfect, easy and delicious I may never go back to the stove-top version!
If you're a follower of TBFS you may already know that I'm a crazy huge fan of Mexican food. I have soooo many delicious Mexican recipes on my site–probably more than any other type of cuisine–because I LOVE it!
My husband and I lived in Puebla, Mexico for a few months when we were first married. I learned to make several authentic recipes while we lived there, but this Authentic Mexican rice is the one I use the very most. (You can check out some photos from our time there, and the story, here).
I've adapted my recipe to make Instant Pot Mexican Rice, and it turns out PERFECT. I love the way the instant pot cooks rice. You don't have to worry about mushy or gloopy rice. It's fluffy and tender, and exactly how rice should be!
Mexican rice is made of long-grain white rice, tomato, onion and garlic. In Mexico it is also often cooked with diced peas and carrots.
The chef who taught me to make Mexican rice used Tomato bullion cubes for extra great flavor, and to get that perfect orange color that you’re looking for. They should be easy to find at your local grocery store, in the Mexican food aisle.
You could even buy the granules instead of cubes (use 2 teaspoons). I buy tomato boullion at Walmart, in the Mexican food aisle or you can find them on Amazon.
How to make Mexican Rice in the Instant Pot:
Rinse the rice under water until the water runs clear. Drain well.
Turn instant pot to the saute setting. Add oil and rice and stir often, until the rice starts to get slightly golden.
Add tomato sauce, minced garlic, onion, tomato boullion and diced carrots.
Stir well. Add water and stir, making sure the boullion cubes are dissolved.
Turn instant pot off. Secure lid and turn valve to sealed position.
Turn on to Manual or High Pressure, and cook for 3-4 minutes (3 minutes for tender to the bite, or 4 minutes for softer rice).
When timer beeps, allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes.
Remove lid and add peas. Gently fluff the rice with a fork (don't stir it).
Place IP lid over the bowl and allow rice to rest for a few more minutes before serving.
Can I substitute brown rice?
Yes! To substitute brown rice, add ¼ cup additional water and cook on high pressure for 22-24 minutes (22 for low elevations, 24 for higher). Once the timer beeps allow the pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes before removing the lid and fluffing with a fork.
Don't own an Instant Pot? No Problem!
If you don’t own an instant pot yet, you can make Authentic Mexican Rice on the stovetop with this recipe.
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Instant Pot Authentic Mexican Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups long grain white rice
- 1/4 cup oil, (vegetable or canola oil)
- 1 teaspoon garlic, , minced
- 1/4 medium onion, , finely diced
- 1/4 cup tomato sauce, , or 2 pureed tomatoes
- 2 tomato bouillon cubes, ,finely chopped*, or 2 teaspoons granulated
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 carrot, , diced
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1/3 cup frozen peas
Instructions
- Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Drain well.
- Turn Instant Pot to saute. Once hot, add oil to the bottom of the pot.
- Add rice and saute, stirring often, until lightly golden, about 5 minutes.
- Add garlic, onion, tomato sauce, salt, tomato bullion and carrots and stir to combine.
- Add water and stir well, making sure the bullion cubes are dissolved.
- Turn instant pot off. Secure lid and turn valve to sealed position.
- Turn on to Manual or High Pressure, and cook for 3-4 minutes (3 minutes for tender to the bite, or 4 minutes for softer rice).
- When timer beeps, allow pressure to naturally release for 10 minutes.
- Remove lid and add peas. Gently fluff the rice with a fork (don't stir it).
- Place IP lid over the bowl and allow rice to rest for a few more minutes before serving.
Notes
Don't own an Instant Pot? No Problem!
If you don’t own an instant pot yet, you can make Authentic Mexican Rice on the stovetop with this recipe. Find my tips (and step-by-step photos) for cooking perfect mexican rice, above in the post.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Just making sure I’m reading this right: 3-4 minutes for white rice; 24-26 for brown? Is that correct?
We don’t own an Instant Pot so it would be great if you could give instructions for making this in a slow cooker.
She addresses this with a different recipe in the write up leading into the recipe.
It burned in my instant pot as well…
I tried this recipe tonight and followed the directions to a “T!” It was fantastic! We have pretty discerning palates, and I will be making this often… Thank you so much for the recipe!
Have you tried with larger quantities? I would like to make for a team dinner and am considering tripling or quadrupling the recipe. Any advice?
Yes, I have and it works great!
I like the flavor of this recipe a lot, but even using the instructions to a T, I consistently get a burn warning in my IP Duo 10-1. It seems like the tomato sauce burns on the bottom every time. The rice itself comes out great, but there’s that burned layer on the bottom.
I ended up with a burn error and rice scorched to the bottom of my instant pot. I could not complete the process. I was able to salvage most of the un-scorched rice and finish off on stove top. The consistency wasn’t quite right at that point, but the flavor was good (why I gave 3 stars instead of 1).
Same but I noticed early so I shut it off. Needed about 2 more minutes so I ran it again for 0 minutes and used a hand timer to turn off in 2 minutes. This saved my rice honestly but at the VERY bottom it did get a lil toasty burned which ironically didnt taste burned ! I saved it separately to eat for bf with some eggs.
I’ve made this recipe half a dozen times now and it has turned out great nearly every time. I prefer the 4 minute cook time, 3 was a little too firm for my taste.
The one snag I did hit. When frying the rice in the instant pot stainless sleeve, the rice would start sticking to the bottom after only a minute or so, making it impossible to get the golden color. So instead, I fried the rice in a non-stick skillet first, then dumped the contents into the instant pot and continued with the recipe.
To get around this and keep the recipe a truly one-pot dish, I purchased the ceramic coated non-stick liner for the instant pot, this works a treat.
Other than that great recipe.
This was easy and absolutely delicious!
Thank you for posting this recipe!
Can this recipe be doubled? I have an 8qt IP. If so would the cooking time change or cooking time can stay the same?
Yes, you can double the recipe for an 8qt. Everything stays the same. Enjoy!