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Last week we had chicken tacos for dinner and normally that’s all we would have, but since my sister and niece were here, I wanted something to go with it and I love this easy homemade Spanish rice recipe.
Easy Homemade Spanish Rice for a Mexican Side Dish
- Melt 2 T. butter with 2 T. olive oil in a frying pan.
- Add 1 c. chopped celery, 1 large chopped onion, and 1 chopped green pepper (I was out of celery and green pepper and it was still good with just the onion.)
- Sauté until tender-crisp.
- Add 1 c. organic brown rice, stir 1 minute.
Add the following ingredients:
- 2 c. chicken stock
- 1 can organic tomato paste
- 1 can (14.5oz.) organic diced tomatoes, undrained (I use the kind with green chilies and it gives it a nice bite.)
This will look like there’s a lot of liquid, but it will soak up as it bakes.
Bake at 350* in a buttered glass bowl for 1 hour or longer, you never know with rice. Allow up to an hour and a half and then if it gets soft sooner, keep it in a warm oven.
Serve as a side dish or Kent loves it inside his tacos or fajitas.
***Add browned ground beef to make into a main dish!
This comes out very moist and flavorful! If you have a favorite Spanish rice recipe, let us know how yours is different?
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Thanks for the recipe . . . my family loves Spanish rice and I have had a hard time get it “right” for them. Of course “right” means just like the prepackaged side dishes.
Does anyone have a good “dirty rice” recipe? My family loves Zatarin’s Dirty Rice.
And this is a holdout that I continue to buy once every 5-6 weeks. I do cook the mix in beef or chicken stock and buy the low sodium version — but I would love to nix the mix altogther.
Jeanne -
Try Budget101.com for a copy-cat recipe for Zatarain’s rice. I use them all the time for replacing processed food mixes for rices, etc. They have salad dressings, and a lot of other categories. The replacements I have found on this website are truly great tasting too. But I’ll replace white rice with brown rice and other unhealthy ingredients. My kitchen is well stocked on spices too, thanks to Costco, so I can easily approximate the taste of store bought foods. Hope all of you are warm!
Paula in NE
Emeril’s recipes always come out great for me
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/dirty-rice-recipe/index.html
I would use brown rice
Paula,
Thanks for the idea . . . I have all the spices already, just have not been able to find the right ratio. Except for the boxed rice mix all other rice I use is brown rice that has been soaked and cooked in homemade chicken stock.
Ann Marie, thanks for the link to the recipe . . . have you ever made this recipe?
Jeanne
Ann Marie, that has chicken livers. I’ve been wondering how to break into the arena of organ meats. I may have to try this.
Hi Kel — Thanks for the recipes! I ended up making the chicken tacos and spanish rice yesterday. They were both DELICIOUS. We all really liked the rice. I’m glad to now have a homemade recipe for that! Parents coming in to pick up their kids were asking what smelled so good and asking if they could have the recipes! Thanks again!
I love Spanish rice and I just cook mine on the stove, but baking it sounds great. One thing I add that wasn’t in your recipe is a bit of cumin powder. Just gives it a bit more of that “Mexican” food flavor.
Having chicken nachos for dinner tonight thanks for the inspiration!!
Lisa
We tried this last night and it was delicious!
I use this recipe and everyone LOVES it! With beans and cheese it’s almost a meal in itself:
http://www.polymathamy.com/2009/06/recipe-south-of-border-rice-beans.html
I double it (except the red pepper) and use 1 can black beans and 1 can white beans. And, of course, homemade chicken stock!
I also meant to add that I use a stovetop to oven safe skillet. I like to cook – not wash extra pans!