Cilantro Lime Rice

I make Mexican food for dinner at least once a week, and my family always requests easy cheese enchiladas, hearty chile colorado, succulent Instant Pot carnitas, and this simple, but totally satisfying cilantro lime rice. Cilantro lime rice is a classic dish that’s been made popular by restaurants, and the good news is that it couldn’t be any easier to make. All you need is a handful of ingredients and about 20 minutes to produce perfect rice.

Ingredients for Cilantro Rice

The ingredients for this recipe are a simple blend of long grain rice, olive oil, juice from limes, fresh cilantro, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper.

How do you make cilantro lime rice?

Start by cooking the rice in a little olive oil until it’s lightly toasted. Next, add fresh garlic and cook for one more minute. Add cumin, water, salt and pepper, then bring the mixture to a boil. Cover the pot, then cook until the rice is tender. Stir in fresh cilantro and lime juice, then fluff the cooked grains with a fork and serve.

Tips for the perfect dish

Long grain rice works best for this dish. You can use standard long grain rice, or Basmati rice. It’s important to use fresh lime juice, as it has a much better flavor than the bottled kind. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled to serve a crowd. You can use brown rice for this recipe, but you’ll need to add more liquid and increase the cooking time to 40 minutes.

Flavor Variations

This rice is great as-is, but you can add other ingredients to change up the flavors or even turn it into a main course offering.

Vegetables: Try adding some colorful veggies such as diced tomato, corn, red bell pepper, roasted green chiles, green onions or diced zucchini. Protein: Make it a main course by adding black beans, ground beef or turkey, diced grilled chicken or pinto beans. Cheese: Try stirring in a sprinkle of shredded cotija, cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese. Spices: You can add other seasonings to your rice such as chili powder, crushed red chili flakes or ground coriander. Broth: Swap out the water for chicken broth or vegetable broth for even more flavor.

You simply can’t go wrong with this rice. It’s packed full of flavor and is always a hit with both kids and adults.