Pressure cooker Mexican rice is a great side dish made in your Instant Pot, Crockpot Express or Ninja Foodi. Tender Spanish rice everyone will love.
If you haven’t tried pressure cooker Mexican rice yet it is easy to throw together as an Instant Pot recipe and full of flavor. You don’t have to have this brand though, any electric pressure cooker will work. (affiliate links present)
- It’s on our list of easy Ninja Foodi recipes too. Serve it with air fryer flautas, air fryer burritos or with chicken on the side.
Any way you serve it up it’s just wonderful.
Let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- This is a great InstaPot cookbook and set of wooden utensils are great to grab too.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should still deglaze pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the pressure cooker I have and use for all recipe creations.
When it comes to great Mexican food you don’t always have to go to a restaurant to get it. It’s actually kind of fun to learn to make things on your own like the Instant Pot refried beans we made recently too.
We make Instant Pot white rice all the time! BUT it is sure nice to mix things up a bit.
Instant Pot Mexican rice
- Long grain white rice
- I haven’t made this with brown rice yet
- Tomato sauce
- Chicken broth
- Or water but broth has a lot more flavor
- Onion and garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
- Cumin
Optional add ins would be 1/2 cup of diced onion and a can of diced chiles are great as well.
- Like I said, if you don t have an Instant Pot you can use any brand. We have a Mealthy we use too. Many times we use a few to make an entire meal.
Is there a difference between Spanish rice and Mexican rice?
Not really.
- The only main difference is that Spanish rice typically uses saffron vs. cumin which is added here.
- Main ingredients are basically the same. Of course everyone has their own tweaks they make and you’re free to call this whatever you’d like. 😉
Is Mexican rice healthy?
Yes!! It is a healthy low-fat side dish for sure. Added to our list of cheap Instant Pot recipes it costs very little too.
Pressure cooker Mexican rice
You’d need to gently stir a few times so it doesn’t burn but just cook long enough for rice to be tender.
Can you double the recipe?
- I prefer to make 2 batches, I think it comes out better.
- Would only work in an 8 quart pot. Remember to never fill past 3/4 full max mark on inside of pot.
Instant Pot Mexican rice
- Add all ingredients except onions and rice
- Stir together well, then add onions and stir again
- Sprinkle in uncooked rice and submerge into liquid, do not stir
- Close lid and steam valve to sealed position
- Set to high pressure cook for 7 minutes
- short cooking time I know
- Allow to naturally release steam for 10 minutes when done
- Lift lid and fluff rice with a fork
- Serve!!
Done in just about 15 minutes it’s perfect for pot lucks or pairing with Instant Pot tacos!
What goes good with Spanish rice?
- Of course we love steaming tamales in Instant Pot.
- Instant Pot Mexican pizza and our Instant Pot Mexican chicken and rice.
- You can alter our pressure cooker chicken taco bowls to include this rice instead of white rice.
- Make Instant Pot taco meat and homemade pinto beans inside small tortillas.
- Instant Pot enchiladas would be a great pair.
Then if you’re looking for more pressure cooker Mexican recipes we have a casserole that’s great too.
Something new is in town!!
- You can melt a layer of cheese on top of this when it’s done with this pressure cooker air fryer lid! It takes this from good to amazing.
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Pressure Cooker Mexican Rice
Ingredients
- 2 c white rice uncooked
- 1 c tomato sauce
- 2 1/4 c chicken broth
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 onion diced, optional
Instructions
- Add all ingredients other than your onions and rice and stir. Add onions and stir. Then sprinkle uncooked rice on the top and gently submerge into the liquid. Do not stir or you may receive the burn message.
- Close the pressure cooker lid and set the valve to sealing, then select the pressure cook setting to high for 7 minutes.
- Allow to naturally release steam for 10 minutes when done, then release pressure valve and lift lid.
- Use a fork to fluff rice, stir and serve. Turn pot off. Best if served immediately.
Chantry
Saturday 5th of February 2022
This is one my of go-to's for my kids. They LOVE it!
The Typical Mom
Monday 7th of February 2022
yeah
Missy
Friday 18th of June 2021
Made it! Always looking for a Mexican rice recipe and found it! Had to tweak it because I had only brown rice, and no sauce. So…. I used brown rice and increased cook time to 25 minutes, substituted 1 cup Rotel with tomatoes and chiles and omitted the onion. Delicious!
Jennifer
Friday 19th of March 2021
I’m normally not a fan of using the Insta pot, but I was in a pinch for a quick dinner. This was so easy and turned out really tasty. Definitely keeping this recipe in the rotation!
Carla H
Monday 8th of February 2021
The Mexican restaurant here doesnt use any form of tomato in their rice. So I have always considered that Mexican rice and the one with tomato Spanish rice. Either way, its all good!
Pam
Sunday 12th of July 2020
How can I make this in a crockpot I don’t have an instant pot?