Tex Mex Tomato Rice

Turning regular white rice from your pantry into this delicious rice side dish is easy! You’ll need just a few ingredients you probably already have in the kitchen!

A Favorite Side Dish

We often make rice recipes to accompany our meals and most of the time they’re quick to make from scratch! Homemade Rice is so much more flavorful than boxed versions and you can add or remove seasonings and spices to suit your tastes (plus you can control the salt levels).

All you need is some regular white rice, TexMex-style seasonings along with a bit of tomato sauce. It’s all cooked together creating a flavorful side dish! It doesn’t take much extra work than making just plain white rice.

We especially love this one taco night or with burritos! I love adding homemade taco seasoning or even a can of beans black or pinto beans!

Serve this Rice With

Shrimp Tacos – Quick weeknight meal.
Slow Cooker Chicken Enchiladas – So creamy and flavorful!
Creamy Chicken Enchiladas – Personal favorite recipe!
Instant Pot Chicken Tacos – Easy and delicious!

A Delicious TexMex Favorite

This is a tomato rice with great flavor, perfect alongside your fave tex mex dishes but it is not an authentic Mexican rice! Mexican rice combines tomato and onion (along with other ingredients) in a blender which are then added to the rice.

If you’re looking for an authentic Mexican Rice recipe, head over to Mexico in my Kitchen. Mely Martinez shares a favorite she learned from her mom and her aunts, truly delicious (find her rice recipe here)! Mely even sometimes tops her rice with a fried egg to make it into a main dish.

Brown the Rice: Saute the onions, butter and rice about 5 minutes in a pot until the rice becomes golden in color.
Add Seasonings: Add the seasonings, chicken broth and tomato sauce.
Cook: Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the rice is fully cooked. Once done, let sit covered about 5 minutes.

It’s that easy! I add in a minced and seeded jalapeno for flavor and of course a big squeeze of lime before serving.