Food

Arroz Rojo (Mexican Red Rice)

Mexican · Rice · Side Dish

Arroz Rojo (Mexican Red Rice)
Prep 10 min
Cook 25 min
Serves 6–8
Level Easy

Mexican red rice — the “sopa seca” course — made by frying the raw rice in oil, then cooking it in a strained purée of tomato, onion and garlic and broth, with a pickled jalapeño on top.

Untested: not yet made in this kitchen. It is here for the Rice section’s regional pages and is adapted from the source named in the Notes.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ripe tomatoes, quartered, or one 14.5-oz can tomatoes
  • ⅓ cup coarsely chopped white onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
  • Up to 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth (see method)
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 cups white rice
  • 2 fresh Italian parsley sprigs
  • 1 to 2 whole pickled jalapeños
  • ¾ cup peeled and diced carrots (optional)
  • ½ cup fresh or frozen peas (optional)
  • ½ cup fresh or frozen corn kernels (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons water, if needed

Directions

Key ingredients

Salt

  1. Purée the tomatoes, onion, garlic and salt until smooth. Strain into a measuring cup, then measure out enough broth to make 4 cups of liquid in total. Keep them separate.
  2. Fry the rice. Heat the oil and fry the rice, stirring, until milky white, about 3–4 minutes.
  3. Tomato. Add the purée and cook until it darkens, thickens and is mostly absorbed, about 3 minutes.
  4. Cook. Add the broth, parsley, jalapeños and any vegetables. Cover and cook about 15 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. If the rice is still underdone, add the 2 tablespoons water and cook 2 minutes more.
  5. Rest covered at least 5 minutes, then fluff.

Notes

Source Adapted from Pati Jinich, “Red Rice (Arroz Rojo),” patijinich.com.

A note on the source’s numbers It lists 3 cups broth, but the method uses only enough broth to bring the purée to 4 cups of liquid in total — so the broth used depends on the purée, roughly 2–2½ cups. The listed amount is a maximum.

Milky white or golden? Jinich fries the rice “until milky white.” Rose Egelhoff’s Serious Eats arroz rojo instead rinses and dries the rice and toasts it “until golden,” 5–8 minutes, with less liquid. Both are Mexican home methods.

The name “Spanish rice” is an American name for this dish; the collection’s Spanish Rice is the 1944 US Army recipe.

The Rice section’s Spain and Latin America page (/rice/spain-and-latin-america/) covers the history and technique behind this dish.