Fragrant, comforting, and easy to serve as a complete meal, Vegetarian Mexican Rice is a vegetarian Mexican main course made with basmati rice, olive oil, and small red onion in about 40 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 15 minutes
  • Cook time: 25 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 2
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients

  • 1 cup basmati rice
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 small red onion (chopped)
  • 1/2 jalapeno pepper (chopped)
  • 2 garlic cloves (chopped)
  • 3 tablespoons yellow corn
  • 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 cup crushed canned tomatoes
  • 1.5 cups vegetable broth or water
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
  • salt (to taste)
  • black pepper (to taste)

Method

  1. Rinse and soak rice in enough water for 15-20 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  2. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add chopped red onion and cook for a minute. Then add chopped jalapeno and cook for a minute.
  3. Add chopped garlic and cook for another minute.
  4. Add yellow corn and mix. Add cumin powder, salt, pepper and mix. You may also add some cayenne pepper at this point to increase the heat.
  5. Add the soaked rice to the pan and saute for 2-3 minutes.
  6. Add crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth or water and mix. Lower the heat to medium low.
  7. Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower heat to low and cover and cook for another 5-10 minutes or till rice is soft and done.
  8. Switch off flame and let the rice remain covered. Remove cover after 10-15 minutes.
  9. Fluff with fork, add cilantro and lime juice.
  10. Serve vegetarian mexican rice as a side or main dish and enjoy!

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.