Garlic Spanish Rice

sides mexican rice garlic

Butter instead of oil, beef broth instead of chicken, and enough garlic that nobody has to ask whether there is garlic in it.

The one number that matters is the liquid. Long-grain white rice wants roughly 1½ cups of liquid per cup of rice, and tomato counts as liquid. Tomato paste is thick enough that 2 tablespoons barely register, so the full 1½ cups of broth is right here — but if you swap the paste for ¼ cup of tomato sauce, drop the broth to 1¼ cups or you will get mush.

A few things that go wrong:

  • Tomato slows the cook. The acid stiffens the starch, so it can come out slightly firm. If it does, sprinkle a tablespoon of hot broth or water over the top, close the lid, and give it another 5 minutes on Warm.
  • Do not rinse the rice if you are toasting it. You want that surface starch there to catch the butter.
  • Butter browns faster than oil. Keep the heat at a true medium and stir. If the milk solids start to go past golden, pull the pan off the heat for a moment — a little browning is good, scorched is not.

For more depth, swap 2 tablespoons of the broth for the adobo liquid from a can of chipotles, or drop in a bay leaf and fish it out at the end.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup long-grain white rice

  • 3 tablespoons real butter

  • 6 cloves garlic, minced

  • ¼ small yellow onion, finely diced (optional)

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 1½ cups beef broth

  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • Pinch of dried oregano

Directions

  • Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the dry, unrinsed rice and stir it around for 5–8 minutes, until it smells nutty and a good number of grains have gone chalky-white with a few turning golden. This toasting step is what makes it Spanish rice instead of tomato rice, and no rice cooker will do it for you unless yours has a sauté function — if it does, do this right in the pot.

  • Add the onion, if using, about halfway through the toasting.

  • Add the garlic and the tomato paste for the last 45–60 seconds and keep everything moving. Minced garlic burns in about half the time you expect, and burnt garlic turns the whole pot bitter. Frying the paste briefly cooks off its raw tinny edge.

  • Tip everything into the rice cooker. Add the beef broth, cumin, salt and oregano. Stir once to distribute, then leave it alone.

  • Run the standard white rice cycle. Do not open the lid partway through — that drops the temperature and gives you uneven grains.

  • When the cooker switches over to Warm, let it sit for a further 10 minutes before opening. Fluff with a fork rather than a spoon.