This looks absolutely delicious. I've tried several of your recipes, with great success - I really love your website! Which of the three do you recommend, the tomato paste, fresh tomato, or cooked tomato?

Could this be converted to use *brown rice*?

Hi Sean, you can use brown rice (adjust the cooking time accordingly) in place of long grain white rice. It will have a different flavor as brown rice has its own distinctive flavor.

Our family's Mexican rice is something I have been trying to get exactly right for quite a while. The recipe is a little different than yours -- I finally got it right when my grandmother gave up two secrets that she had left me without for months ... 1) brown the rice uncomfortably long - until it's about to burn and 2) add a squeeze of lemon at the end.

Interesting how families do things just a little differently when it comes to recipes. I am sure there could be an entire book with various family Spanish rice recipes. How about those people that add peas to their rice???

Now, I realize this is a stupid question, but I've seen Spanish rice recipes that use cooked rice and I've seen Spanish rice recipes that use uncooked rice. In reading this recipe (and your response about the brown rice) I'm thinking that you're using uncooked rice? Sorry to be so dense, but this could make a huge difference! If I were just messing around and making a Spanish rice recipe, I'd probably start with cooked rice, but . . . ??? Please ease my pitiful little mind! I'm anxious to try this recipe!

This is what we call, "Hoosier" Spanish Rice. Been making this for my family for over 50 years. In a Large Cast Iron skillet. I brown, Kalbaska Sausage, cut in small pieces, with chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, red and green, a bit of Garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until onions and peppers are tender and saugsage partially done. Then I add fresh, small cubed, tomatoes, lightly saute'ed. Then I add my uncooked rice, about two cups, browning ever so slightly. After all cooked together, I then add water, about three cups and simmer until rice gets fluffy. Stirring occassionally. When water boils down and rice is tender, I continue cooking a little, in order to dry up most of liquid ( needs to be fairly dry ).Make sure all ingredients are throughly mixed. It is oh! so good. Served with toasted bread or even heated Taco shells. Maybe a salad and glass of cold sweet tea. It is very filling. Make sure and make a lot, as it is better the next day. To warm up, just pop in Microwave for a minute or two. They will all come back for more. Enjoy this very inexpensive dish. Just judge for yourself as to the amount of each ingredient, in order to feed your family.

For color and flavor grind a pinch of saffron into the recipe while cooking

This sounds yummy. Just one question. The ingredient list calls for tomato paste but the directions say add tomato sauce. Which should it be? Thank you.

Hi T - the ingredient list lists paste OR diced tomatoes OR cooked tomatoes. We use what we have on hand. Consider any of those as fulfilling the requirements for the directions calling for tomato sauce.

wonder if we can use rice cooker to make spanish rice?

Gigi - I used my rice cooker (after browning the rice, onions and garlic in a skillet per the recipe), and it turned out great.

In my family we refer to the original recipe as Mexican rice and Barbara's version as Midwestern Spanish rice - though we use bacon instead of Kolbase. The latter is a very flexible dish - you can add browned hamburger to make it a more filling dish, for example, or coarse grate veggies like carrots or zuccini (i.e. not strong tasting) and you barely know they are there while adding nutrition. Any form of tomatoes can be used - even tomato juice or half tomato soup+ half another form. Got a couple of stalks of celery you need to use up? Saute them good and throw them in. I've made both recipes with brown rice - they're good but distictly different in taste than with white rice. Of course, nutritionally brown rice is vastly better. I rarely make it exactly the same way twice - I'm trying Kolbase next! And I'm planning to try it with V8 juice or jalapenos soon.

Genuine spanish rice is "paella valenciana".

Loved it, loved it, loved it. I added cilantro as well the 2nd time and it was great.

My grandma swears that the key to her Spanish Rice is to make sure the liquid you add to the sauteed rice is "hot, hot."

Re: "...genuine Spanish rice..."

"French dressing" is not French, any more than what the Spaniards call "Russian salad" is Russian.

"Spanish rice" is a traditional dish, and just because it isn't actually Spanish doesn't mean it is somehow illegitimate.

BTW, Spanish rice bears no resemblance to paella, valenciana or otherwise. It's closer to what the Spaniards call "Cuban rice" (minus the egg, plus some veggies.)

I recently obtained a recipe for a very traditional version of this dish from a friend who got it from her mother, grandmother, and so on. It calls for sofrito, which is a heady mixture of red and green peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, etc.; adobo, which is a seasoning containing pepper, garlic and onion powders, and other spices; pigeon peas; and olives. I made it for a recent get-together at which the main dish was fajitas, and it was a big hit with all age groups. My kids took the cold rice to school for their lunches the next day.

Hi Elise! I LOVE your blog.

My auntie has been trying to make spanish rice, and it just never comes out the same way twice. Normally she will make a small batch first and test it on her family (lucky them! hehehe) but when she doubles the recipe the rice comes out mushy. Hopefully that will not be the case with your recipe, but do you have any insight on what she might have been doing wrong in the past?

To Corey - don't mean to stray off topic, but to get the facts straight: what the Spanish call "Russian salad" is, in fact, a Russian salad. It's called "Salat Olivie" in Russian. However, sometimes Spanish will replace the bits of salmon with tuna.

Simply simple! It couldn't sound easier to make thanks for not complicating such a simple dish this was a big help for someone like me so white washed! thanks!

This is great! I made it to go along with burritos and quesadillas and some fresh guacamole. The only thing I did different was to add a couple chopped anaheim peppers from our garden. It was a hit. Thanks for the recipe!

When my mom makes Spanish Rice, I think browns the rice in oil and then blends the tomato (which she peels after letting it cook on foil on the stove), onion, garlic, chicken broth and other ingredients in a blender. Then she just mixes the new liquid into the rice and lets it cook.

It's delicious.

I've been looking for the perfect Spanish rice recipe for a long time. Well, I found it, and my family loves it!! Thanks a bunch!!

The key to cooking ANY rice and keeping it from becoming MUSH is, once you add the liquid DO NOT stir it for any reason. Cover it and let it cook until it is done.
P.S. I loved the recipe! For those of you whom like a little "KICK" instead of the tomato sauce, paste, or cooked tomato try adding a can of Rotel {Brand Name} tomato with green chilis. you can get Rotel with cilantro too if you like. When purchasing the Rotel make sure you look at the label, it comes medium regular hot and extra hot.

I constantly have a problem when cooking rice. I just made a pot of spanish rice with pigeon peas....the taste was great, but not all of the rice cooked completely and the rice kind of stuck together. Help...any ideas?

Celeste

I just tried your recipe and OH my god. It's so delicious. And I even used it with Ready Rice, which is all I had on hand. I used two bags, but took them out of the bags to saute them as instructed, and just added the amount of broth per bag as recommended on the Ready Rice package. THANK YOU! I have been looking for a good Spanish rice recipe for ages. This'll go great with the beans I've been cooking all day. Mmmmm!

I learned how to make this down in Acuna Mexico from a friend and the recipe was very similair to this, only difference (and I consider it very important) is to add Tomato Bullion (Knorr makes it, and it usually comes in the jar only, not cubed), it's not available in American stores up North (where I am now) but you can get it at Mexican markets as well as H-E-B, if you're in Tx.

The tomato bullion adds alot of flavor, color and some saltiness (so I don't use salt).

Help!
Really need some advice about cooking rice. I can't seem to get the rice to cook through and through. I never take the top off........4 cups of broth or water (steaming) to 2 cups of rice, stir, restart boiling process, lower and cover. What am I doing wrong. My family loves rice so I use the pre-cooked bags of rice, but would prefer using the regular kind. I follow the recipes in my cookbooks to the letter with no success.

Celeste

This recipe was perfect. I had guests and needed something to go with fajitas. They were so impressed. Thank you thank you thank you!

Great recipe! Thanks!

Celeste, I used to not be able to make rice either. Until I stumbled on my own little secret. As long as you use regular rice (not instant or similar), use 1 cup of water per 1/2 cup of rice. Do NOT follow the instructions on the bag. Once the water and rice are in a pot, turn your stove top on very low. My stove top's highest setting is 7, so I set it at 1.5 - 2. Cover and let cook. It will reach a boil and stay at that point after a while. Do not stir the rice at all. Once you cannot see any water in the pot the rice is done. It is fluffy and does not stick. Perfect rice every time without using a non-stick agent such as oil.

To this recipe I added about 1/4 c. of diced green peppers. It added a little flavor and color...

I just got my mom's rice recipe today (we had it practically once every week when I was growing up- I don't know how it is possible that I can't do it by memory!). It took her ten years to learn how to make it so that it tasted like her Mexican mother-in-law's! We put LOTS of garlic salt and cumino in it. Before my mom and I went vegetarian, we also put this Mexican spice in it. I forget the name, but it was something "con pollo."

I'm so happy I found your recipe as I love to eat Spanish rice with my burritos. Even my picky husband said "WOW, this is great." My son also was very happy after he ate a bowl of the rice and said it was really good. I guess this recipe is a keeper!

I've been making this recipe for about a month now and it's fantastic. I grew up in El Paso, Texas eating Mexican food, New Mexican food, and Tex-Mex, and spanish rice is a comfort food for me. I like my rice with deep tomato flavor and with the smoky hint of cumin, so in addition to chopped tomatoes I add a little bit of tomato paste and about 2 tsp. of cumin. I'm going to serve this to friends from home next time I visit and I know they will love it.

I grew up in West Texas--El Paso. My friend made wonderful rice or sopa as she called it. She started with cooked rice. She cooked it in Caldo de Pollo. She then sauteed it in lard with onion, garlic, coriander and cumin. I have lately been using Sofrito instead of Caldo de Pollo and it is delicious.

I love this recipe! My partner loves Mexican food and I am Chinese and know nothing about Mexican food. I wanted to make rice to go with a pack of Carnitas I purcharsed at Costco. I made this rice for her and later made it for my Mexican friend who only eats her sister's Spanish rice and she had SECONDS, THIRDS, FOURTHS of my rice. She couldn't get enough of it! I've been using this recipe whenever I make Mexican food like tonight I made it to go with Pork and Green Chilies stew. I used long grain Jasimine rice from the Asian supermarket, brown it as long as I can before burning it and I used double the garlic.
Thank you very much for this wonderful recipe!

Hey, this recipe looks great! Does anyone know the conversion amounts for the cups in the recipe? Thanks a lot

I love this recipe. I use rice oil to brown my rice--that makes sense right. You can get the oil very Hot. My kids like this alot.

I'm from Bolivia, and for me this isn't spanish rice, is "everyday rice". That's the only way I make rice and I love it. I like to add chopped green peppers or thinly sliced scallions, it's always a hit with my family.
Love your blog!!!!!!

Great recipe! Easy to do and just delicious! Thank You!..

I love this reciepe. I used fresh tomatoes, and fat free chicken broth. It was delicious, healthy, and easy to make. Went great with my chicken enchildas. Since then I have made it with fish and chile rellenos. Thanks again for such a YUMMY rice.

One of the most flexible recipes in the world. What can't you put with onions, garlic and tomatoes? Try some cumin, hot red pepper, peas, pine nuts, bits of chicken. If you like it and got some, put it! Wait! Got it. No strawberry ice cream!

I made this last night, it was sooo good. The only change I mad was replaced the chopped tomatoe with a 15 oz. can of chopped tomatoes. I counted the juice as 3/4 c. of the water the recipe called for. Excellent! I served it with chicken soft tacos, some of us used the rice in the taco.

Your mom is the best. We love her/your recipe. I've made this recipe 4 times in the past 2 weeks. It is the absolute best! Thank you so much!