Easy Dutch Oven Spanish Rice (Instant Pot Option)
The perfect side to accompany any Mexican food, this dutch oven Spanish rice is a staple in our home. With variations for either cooking in a dutch oven on the stove or in an instant pot, it’s perfect for a dinner party or potluck!
Taco Tuesday (or any other day of the week) is always a big hit at our house. But my personal favorite Mexican dinner is our layered chicken enchilada casserole with a side of this Spanish style rice.
This easy Spanish rice recipe contains simple ingredients and it only takes a couple of minutes of hands-on time. Serve it as an easy side dish or as part of a main dish with refried beans or black beans and meat of choice (we like chicken thighs or ground beef).
What Do you Need?
My favorite thing about this recipe is that it requires only a handful of ingredients that we always have in the pantry. Get rid of the processed Spanish rice packets and opt for this homemade Spanish rice recipe instead!
But before we get to that, let’s break down the difference between long and short grain rice.
As the name implies, long grain rice is considerably longer than short grain rice—about 4-5 times longer. Long grain rice is typically less starchy and produces a fluffy rice that doesn’t clump together. Short grain rice is a starchy rice that results in a mushy rice with a very creamy or sticky consistency.
For this Mexican rice recipe, we like to use a long grain white rice but you could use a brown rice as well.
The Ingredients and Substitutions
Cooking fat (olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, or lard)
Onion (or onion powder)
Garlic (or garlic powder)
Long grain Rice
Chicken Stock (beef stock or vegetable broth work too)
Tomato Sauce
Salt
Cumin
Paprika
Cayenne Pepper or red pepper (optional) depending on how spicy you like it.
How to Make Spanish Rice in a Dutch Oven and Instant Pot
The beauty of this easy Mexican rice recipe is that it can easily be adapted for a dutch oven or instant pot depending on your needs and preferred cooking process.
The idea is simple—sauté your diced onion and minced cloves of garlic in a little bit of oil. If you are using a dutch oven, do this over medium heat on your stove. For an instant pot, use the sauté feature.
Once the onion and garlic are nice and fragrant, add in the uncooked rice, stock, tomato sauce, and spices.
Stir everything together with a wooden spoon.
For dutch oven Spanish rice, we bring the mixture to a light boil then put the dutch oven lid on and transfer it to a 225°F oven for 20-30 minutes.
For an instant pot, after all of the ingredients have been added, put the lid of the instant pot on and cook at high pressure for 7 minutes. It will take ten to fifteen minutes for the pressure in the instant pot to build up.
Once it’s finished, you can either let the instant pot quick release or naturally release.
Dutch Oven Spanish Rice Recipe
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
1-2 tbsp cooking fat (olive oil or avocado oil)
1 onion, diced
3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 cups long grain rice
3 cups chicken stock
1 cup tomato sauce
2 tsp salt
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Directions:
1. Heat dutch oven over medium heat.
2. Sauté onion and garlic in cooking fat for 3-4 minutes until soft and fragrant.
3. Add rice, stock, tomato sauce, and spices to the mixture.
4. Bring to boil, stirring gently with a wooden spoon so nothing gets stuck to the bottom of the pan.
5. Once boiling, cover with lid and place in a warm oven at roughly 225°F for 20-30 minutes to finish cooking.
Alternatively, if you’d like to avoid the oven, you could cook for an additional 10-20 minutes (roughly) on the stove, stirring regularly, until the rice is fully cooked and fluffy.
Instant Pot Variation:
1. Using the sauté feature of the instant pot, cook garlic and onion in cooking fat.
2. Once soft and fragrant, add rice, stock, tomato sauce, and spices.
3. Put lid on and set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
4. Once done, either quick release or let naturally release to serve when needed.
How to store and reheat?
Our whole family loves this one so we like making large batches of this delicious rice to have for leftovers the next day. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days in the fridge. Or, you can freeze it for up to 6 months and thaw as needed.
More of our favorite sides:
Quick and Easy Sourdough Discard Cornbread
No Peel Crockpot or Instant Pot Applesauce
Gluten Free Latkes
Cornmeal Porridge
Easy Dutch Oven Spanish Rice (Instant Pot Option)
The perfect side to accompany any Mexican food, this dutch oven Spanish rice is a staple in our home. With variations for either cooking in a dutch oven, slow cooker, or instant pot, it’s perfect for a dinner party or potluck!
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp cooking fat (olive oil or avocado oil)
- 1 onion, diced
- 3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups long grain rice
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 2 tsp salt
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp paprika
- Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
Instructions
- Heat dutch oven over medium heat.
- Sauté onion and garlic in cooking fat for 3-4 minutes until soft and fragrant.
- Add rice, stock, tomato sauce, and spices to the mixture.
- Bring to boil, stirring gently with a wooden spoon so nothing gets stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Once boiling, cover with lid and place in a warm oven at roughly 225°F for 20-30 minutes to finish cooking.
Alternatively, if you’d like to avoid the oven, you could cook for an additional 10-20 minutes (roughly) on the stove, stirring regularly, until the rice is fully cooked and fluffy.
Notes
Instant Pot Variation:
1. Using the sauté feature of the instant pot, cook garlic and onion in cooking fat.
2. Once soft and fragrant, add rice, stock, tomato sauce, and spices.
3. Put lid on and set to high pressure for 7 minutes.
4. Once done, either quick release or let naturally release to serve when needed.
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