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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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I made this recipe tonight, it turned out good, yes there was a bit of burnt rice but for the most part it was delicious. I didn’t add the carrots but I added the peas and also added a 1/3 frozen corn at the end.
This is an excellent recipe, but requires two important modifications:
1. Use 2 cups of water, not 1 1/2.
2. Use the Rice setting on the Instant Pot.
It tastes great, but not for the insta-pot. I’m not the only person who had their Insta-Pot turn off because the rice was burning. I had to open it up, add water and switch to the “Rice” option. Tasty, but it was mush by the time the rice had cooked.
There’s not enough water in the 1x recipe for the instant pot to get to pressure. DO NOT make this recipe! All you get is burnt uncooked rice
How many does this serve? I need 60 portions for a youth group!
This recipe serves 6 (Decent size portions!)
This was a quick and easy recipe. I didn’t read the comments before making it, but I did add 1/4 cup more water, from experience. The 2 issues I had were: the rice itself started breaking when stirring it in the oil at first. While cooking for 4 minutes on pressure setting, the bottom burned. When eating, the rice was cooked, but not fluffy as I expected with 4 minutes cook time, as noted in the recipe. I have liked other recipes I tried from this site. Maybe stating what size instant pot to use would be good. Mine was a 6qt.
No, four cups of rice did not cook in 4 minutes. It did not cook in 8 minutes. It is a giant mess. Your 3x recipe is a mess.
Followed recipe completely and kept burn message on IP. Tried to finish it on the stove but it was one big mess. Taste wise it is really good but it looked nothing like a rice in the picture.
It tastes good, but I burnt some rice on the bottom of my instant pot by putting it on pressure cook. Maybe its just because this is my first time cooking the the instant pot!
Absolutely delicious!!! I make a double batch often.
What exactly did you do when making the rice in the insta pot? What size of insta pot did you use? Many people used the insta pot and it did not come out. They had to throw away because of it being a mess!
I tripled this recipe and then made 2 batches for a large party. Used Sazon Goya instead of the tomato bullion because I couldn’t find it at my grocery store. Came out perfectly and received many compliments!
I did everything the recipe called for except for some small changes and it came out almost perfect. There was a tiny bit of burnt rice at the bottom but I think next time if I add some more water that won’t happen. I did not add carrots or peas, I added 1/4 extra cup of water and 1/4 extra cup of tomato sauce. Next time I will do 1/2 cup extra of water. I did the 1x serving size.