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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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Delicious and easy to prepare rice! I used a small food processor and minced the garlic, onion, and two Roma tomatoes all together for an easy prep. I followed the recipe exactly and the rice came out perfect. No burned rice here!
NOT ENOUGH LIQUID TO GET TO PRESSURE! This dish will burn unless you add a lot more liquid. Prob not worth doing in the instant pot unless you like scrubbing burnt rice off it.
Thanks, used jasmine rice as it has lower starch content so skipped rinse. Followed recipe otherwise using tomato/chicken bouillon powder usually found on the Hispanic section. I also threw in a bay leaf as who ever gets it in their rice is lucky for the night lol. I just added frozen peas and carrots before closing up the instant pot and it turned out great. Nice way to free up a burner for fluffy rice. Thank you for the recipe!
I love this recipe, but every time I try to double it, the rice is undercooked. Have you cooked more than 1.5 cup of rice using this recipe in the instant pot? Any tips? Thank you!!!
I have made this rice on the stove top many many times. Delish!
Last night I tried this instapot recipe and it was HORRIBLE! I had to throw away the whole recipe! How do u keep it from burning!
I sure wish I would have read your comment before I tried it today.. my kept burning too! Ruined my dish to take over to dinner date..anyone have a cure?
Typos corrected!
This rice is amazing! I made it for the second time last night, and only had one tomato bouillon cube left. I used 8 oz tomato sauce in place of the other one, subbing for part of the water. Big mistake. I got the burn notice twice in a row and had to finish it on sauté mode with a lid. All that to say this recipe was perfectly developed for IP so please don’t go rogue like I did!
Whenever it says to sauté in the Insta pot I do it on the stove and a fry pan. Then I transfer it to the Insta pot and continue with the recipe. That way I never get a burn notice!
Mine burns every time I try this recipe. I even tried sautéing it in a different pan and moving it to the instant pot, but it still burns.
Honestly, the best rice! Not too mushy. My sig other is the PICKIEST person on the planet about rice and he loves it.
Thank you for is recipe!
I have made this instant pot Mexican rice many times. The flavor is great! I have learned (the hard way) that I must add a lot more water – almost double – or I get a burn warning on my instant pot.
Alright so I NEVER EVER EVER comment on recipe pages but I absolutely had to comment in this. I followed the recipe exactly but my rice started sticking to the IP during the toasting step so I did the whole “deglaze” thing once I added the water. I knew that too much water had evaporated and too much rice had gotten stuck. Sure enough, literally 5 seconds before it would have come to pressure, I get the stupid burn notice. I was one of the first people I know to buy an IP and in total I’ve gotten maybe 3 burn notices in my life. I said “forget” it, let’s see what happens. So I turned it off and left it for 14 minutes (4 mins cook time and 10 NPR). Worst case, I have to start over. Well let me tell you, this was the best rice I have ever tasted. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, and even with the rice cooker setting, I somehow manage to screw up rice every time I try. I don’t know if I’ll make rice any other way ever again. THANK YOU! This recipe is incredible. ★★★★★