This festive looking Fiesta Rice is a delicious side dish recipe to a Mexican meal.
When I make tacos or enchiladas or some other kind of Mexican meal, I’m always trying to find good side dishes to go with a good Mexican dish. More often than not, I grab a box of Spanish rice from the market and make that. But my family gets so tired of having the same thing. This Fiesta Rice is much more flavorful and substantial than plain ‘ol Spanish rice.
One of the bonuses of this recipe is that it’s a one-pot dish. That means a whole lot less clean-up is involved!
How to make Fiesta Rice:
Frozen corn is browned in a little bit of olive oil. The corn is removed from the pan, and then onions are sauteed in butter. Rice and spices are added in. Additions of chicken broth and diced tomatoes are added before the lid is placed on top to cook the rice. Before serving, the browned corn, black beans, fresh cilantro and lime juice are stirred in.
If you’re looking for a good Mexican-style main dish to start this meal, my family’s favorites are Beer Marinated Chicken Tacos, Carnitas Tostadas with Pineapple Guacamole and Beer Battered Fish Tacos with Baja Sauce. Easy Beef Enchiladas and Chiles Rellenos Casserole are also good Mexican food dinner recipes that we make often at my house.
I love that this Fiesta Rice is a pretty side dish too. The added beans and corn really make this a nice, filling recipe to serve alongside a main dish. I like to serve it with extra lime wedges so people can add a little extra squeeze of lime juice if they’d like.
You can also serve sour cream and guacamole or fresh avocado for topping the rice too. Those are my favorites to make it a little bit more indulgent!
If you’re looking for more Mexican side dish recipes, try some of these:
- Southwest Salad with Avocado Dressing
- Mexican Corn
- Mexican Chopped Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
- Easy Mexican Cornbread
- White, Red and Black Bean Salad
- Cilantro Slaw
- Cilantro- Lime Rice
Fiesta Rice
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 10 ounces frozen corn, thawed
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup chopped green onions
- 1 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 cups fat-free, low sodium chicken broth
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- dash of salt
- 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with chiles, undrained
- 1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed & drained
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the corn to the pan; cook 10 minutes or until the corn starts to brown, stirring occasionally. Remove the corn from the pan; set aside. Wipe out the pan.
- Melt the butter in the pan. Add the onions; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in rice, cumin and garlic; cook 1 minute. Add chicken broth, pepper, salt, and diced tomatoes to pan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in reserved corn and beans. Cover and let stand 10 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and lime juice.
Notes
- *If preparing this recipe as GLUTEN-FREE, just make sure you use a brand of chicken broth that is known to be GF.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
