If you've never tried to make Spanish rice, you're not alone...I hadn't tried it myself until a few months ago. The recipes I have tried or the past six months were difficult, weird, or just didn't get me a result I wanted (or all of the above). Then I figured out how to take a little from each of them and get a result we all liked. Now that I know how to do it, I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out. Since I figured it out, I thought I'd share it with you...
Spanish Rice
This is how I make Spanish rice. (For those of you actually living in Spain, I don't know if there is such a thing as Spanish rice outside Los Estados Unidos, but hey, that is what we call it here.)
You'll need
butter (or cooking oil),
rice,
your favorite salsa,
some water, and
a saucepan with a lid.
(That's all...seriously.)
Put your saucepan on the stove and melt your butter with medium heat (don't burn it!). As soon as the butter is melted, put in uncooked white rice. (Notice there are no measurements--that is because this is a method, not a recipe...the quantities are up to you...the method will work with a lot of rice or a little. For the pictures, I'd guess I used 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 1/2 to 2 cups of rice, but this is what makes this technique so easy, it is whatever you want...just don't be stingy on the butter/oil...you need it.) Stir in the rice until it is coated by the melted butter. It will look like this.
Keep stirring your rice...you want it to brown and it will. (Keep the heat at the medium setting...you still don't want to scorch your butter.) This is what it looks like as the grains start cooking.
Keep stirring until most of your rice has browned. 
Then add a half a cup of salsa (I made that up, I just poured it in until it looked good)
and a bunch of water, enough to generously cover the rice.
Then stir it all around, turn the flame/heat to medium/low, put the lid on and simmer until the rice is cooked, stirring occasionally. If the water seems to be boiling away and your rice isn't quite cooked, add some more water, stir it around, and let it simmer a little longer.When it is done, remove it from the heat, fluff up your rice, and serve. How easy is that? I know it is not the "right" way to make Spanish rice, but it is the easiest and most consistent way I've found. Since you're using a salsa you like, you're guaranteed to get a rice you like...easy peasy.So, what do you think? Do you do something different?
7 comments:
Looks yummy..thank you!
yum! I'll have to try this with brown rice!
Melissa, just remember that brown rice needs more water and time to cook, so you'll have to modify that...I've never made it with brown rice.
making this right now! (with white rice...forgot I had brown rice...lol).
I measured mine (2c rice, 2tb imperial, 4c water, 1c salsa) and it's only 180 calories per serving :) (8 servings total). We are going to make burritos tonight, and put this rice, cheese, salad, black beans and chicken in it :). Yum!
I'm making this again tonight...for a potluck we are going to lol. I am going to make it the same way again, except this time with 2 cans of black beans (drained and rinsed) and 2 cups of salsa (hubby kept putting more salsa on his the last time).
Thank you again for this recipe. This saves me a lot of time in the kitchen to bring something yummy for people I love!
Thank you again!
4 years later, and I'm still making it! I have to come back to reference your blog post though. If your post ever goes away, I hope I remember it!
I don't know how many years later it has been now, and this is STILL my go-to recipe (why I can't put it to memory is beyond me!). I found a garlic lime salsa that I am going to try this with now :). Thanks for sharing :) I'm glad to know you :) Merry Christmas!
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