Mexican Rice in the Instant Pot

I own 3 Instant Pots (to be fair, I have 5 kids). One is R2-D2 and another is BB-8. Since yesterday was Star Wars Day Cinco de Mayo rice is even better with a Star Wars Instant Pot 🙂 Some of my favorite things to make in the instant pot are Carnitas (alicekeeler.com/carnitas) and Mexican rice.

Mexican Rice in the Instant Pot

Ingredients

• 1/3 of a diced jalapeno
• 1/2 of a diced red onion
• Fresh diced garlic cloves or crushed garlic
• Olive oil
• 2 cups rice
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 tbsp tomate chicken bouillon
• 1/3 small can of tomato sauce

*I use a LOT of garlic, so put as much or as little as you want. I also am prone to adding the ENTIRE Jalapeno. So that is up to you.

Steps

1. In a skillet on the stove (you can use saute in the Instant Pot but then the bottom starts out hot and it can cause the rice to burn) put a lot of olive oil. (I don’t measure things, so good luck figuring out how much that is. Maybe 1/4 cup.)
2. Once oil is hot add jalapeno, onion, and garlic. You are trying to make the oil really flavorful.
3. Add 2 cups of rice to the skillet. Get the rice coated nicely with the oil and cook on the stove for a few minutes with the theory of toasting the rice.
4. Dump into Instant Pot.
5. Add about 1-2 tablespoons of tomate chicken bouillon. (You can use regular chicken bouillon as a substitute.) I learned this trick from my Mexican neighbor and it makes all the difference, what I was doing wrong all these years was not using the bouillon!
6. I use one of the can openers that punctures the top with a V. I buy a small can of tomato sauce since I only use maybe 1/3 of it I don’t open it all up. I just puncture the top and shake some tomato sauce onto the rice so that the rice is pink. It’s mostly for color.
7. Add 3 cups of chicken broth (alicekeeler.com/chickensoup)
8. Stir
9. 8 minutes in the Instant Pot.
10. Let rest 10 minutes after it goes off.
11. Fluff and serve.