Description
The best Mexican style rice bursting with savory tomato and garlic flavor cooked to perfection just like your favorite Mexican food restaurant.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 4 roma tomatoes, halved
- 1 onion, quartered
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 2 Tbs tomato paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
- 2 Tbs oil (I like avocado, but olive or vegetable oil works, too)
- 1 15.5 oz can petite diced tomatoes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F
- Rinse 2 cups long grain white in water until the water runs clear. You want to remove the excess starch from the rice before cooking. Then thoroughly drain the water from the rice and set aside.
- Place the four halved roma tomatoes, 1 quartered onion, and 4 cloves of garlic on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet and roast in the 425F oven for 20 minutes until the vegetables are fragrant and starting to caramelize.
- Place the roasted vegetables into a blender with 2 Tbs tomato paste, 1 tsp salt, and 2 cups stock and blend until smooth then set to the side.
- Place a dutch oven that has a lid (I use at least a 4 quart or larger dutch oven) on the stove over medium high heat. Add 2 Tbs oil to the dutch oven along with the 2 cups long grain white rice that you rinsed earlier and stir continuously for approximately five to eight minutes so that the rice gets toasted / fried in the oil. This helps to improve texture and flavor. Don’t walk away from the rice because you don’t want it to burn. The rice is ready for the next step once it’s fragrant and just a touch of golden color has developed.
- Next, pour the tomato mixture from the blender into the dutch oven with the rice. The liquid will sizzle and splatter a bit which is normal. Then add in the 15.5 oz can of petite diced tomatoes (do not drain!) to the dutch oven and stir everything together until mixed.
- Bring the rice mixture up to a simmer and then cover it with a lid and place it in the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and allow the rice to cook in the oven for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes of cooking, remove the dutch oven from the oven and remove the lid and stir the rice so that the tomatoes and sauce that have gathered on the top are redistributed throughout. Then replace the lid back on the dutch oven and put it back in the oven for 15 minutes to finish cooking the rice.
- After 15 minutes the rice should be done cooking. Remove it from the oven, fluff it one more time and enjoy!