An easy One Pot Cilantro Lime Rice recipe, made in the rice cooker. Originally a Mexican side dish, this quick and simple 4-5 ingredient Chipotle Copycat recipe goes really well with Asian food too!
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⭐ Why This Recipe is a Star
- One Pot: This Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe is full of flavor but so simple to make in the rice cooker! For more rice cooker recipes, such as pumpkin rice, Hainanese chicken rice, and turmeric chicken rice, click here.
- Easy: You simply add the ingredients to the rice cooker, stir after cooking, and you're done. No special cooking techniques needed.
- Budget-friendly: cheaper and healthier than going to Chipotle or a Mexican restaurant!
🥘 Ingredients
You will need a few simple ingredients:
- long-grain white rice: I like basmati rice but jasmine rice works too. You want to rinse it till the water runs clear- about 3 times- so that the excess starch is removed, and you get nice, separate cooked rice grains. This results in fluffier- and not mushy- rice.
- chicken broth: homemade stock or use a chicken bouillon cube, dissolved in an equivalent amount of water. If you're vegetarian, you can substitute with vegetable stock. I don't recommend plain water as we're not sautéing the rice grains first, so there would be less flavor. (See Variations on a Stovetop recipe, for which you can use plain water.)
- cilantro: mince the stems and leaves finely. I used to have a problem getting enough fresh herbs for my cooking- they would wither before I got round to using them!- but now with my Click&Grow set, I have herbs on hand all year round! (If you have a garden, you don't need it but it's super helpful if you live in a dark apartment, like me!)
- fresh lime: we will be using both the lime zest and lime juice to give this Mexican side dish its tangy flavor. (Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice is the most famous but this rice recipe actually goes very well with Asian food- I served it with Baked Teriyaki Chicken here- which is why you're seeing it on an Asian food blog!) To get more juice out of your lime, roll the uncut lime on your kitchen countertop, before zesting, slicing and squeezing.
- and salt, of course!
Note: I didn't add any garlic as I wanted the lime and cilantro flavor to shine, but you can add 1-2 cloves of minced garlic too.
📖 Variations & Substitutes
- Stovetop Rice: if you don't have a rice cooker, you can make this citrus rice dish in a pot on the stove. Saute 1 Cup of rice grains in 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pot with a lid, then add the lime zest, salt, and 1.5 Cups of water. Bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 20 minutes. Leave for 10 minutes, uncover, fluff, then toss in the lime juice, cilantro and more salt if needed. Enjoy!
Note: if your rice cooker has a pot which can be used for sauteeing, sautéed the garlic and rice grains in a neutral vegetable oil before transferring to the rice cooker to cook. Add the water/ chicken stock and lime zest, then continue from Step 2 below.
🔪 Step-by-Step Instructions
1a. Add 1 Cup of washed rice, zest of 1 lime, ½ teaspoon of salt, and 2 Cups of water (or chicken stock or veggie stock) to the rice cooker.
1b. Cover and press the button to start cooking.
2a. Once the rice has finished cooking, let it sit, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
2b. Uncover, fluff with a fork, then gently fold in 2-3 Tablespoons of lime juice, the minced bunch of cilantro (stems and leaves), ½ teaspoon more of salt (or to taste). Make sure everything is well-mixed into the rice. (We don't want to crush the rice grains so be gentle.)
Optional: garnish with sliced red chilies
🥡 How to Store
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for no more than 1-2 days. Rice goes bad very quickly so pay attention to food safety.
Reheating
Make sure to microwave till piping hot. If reheating in a pot, add 1-2 Tablespoons of water to make sure the rice doesn't dry out.
The cilantro lime rice can also be added to a soup, such as One Pot Chicken Rice Soup, and simmered till hot.
💭 Recipe FAQs
You can use it as a base for a burrito rice bowl, or serve it with fajitas, tacos, Thai curries, Teriyaki, or lemongrass dishes. (Basically, pair it with dishes that go well with lime, such as kaffir lime leaf recipes.)
🥗 Suggested Accompanying Recipes
Enjoyed this easy Lime rice with Cilantro Recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below! If you REALLY liked this easy rice cooker recipe, please consider supporting it by buying me a bottle of soy sauce! 🙂 (No obligation though!) Thank you and have a great day!
EASY Cilantro Lime Rice (Rice Cooker)
Equipment
- 1 sieve Optional, but makes washing the rice easier
- 1 Rice cooker Substitute: large pot with cover
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Basmati Rice Substitute: jasmine rice. You can even use brown rice but the rice: water ratio will change and the cooking time will increase. Wash till water runs clear, about 3 times.
- 2 Cups water Substitute: Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock
- 1 teaspoon salt Add ½ teaspoon before cooking and ½ teaspoon (or to taste) after the rice has cooked.
- 1-2 Limes You'll need the zest of 1 lime and 2-3 Tablespoons of fresh lime juice.
- 1 large bunch Cilantro Stems and leaves, minced. You should have about 4 Tablespoons.
Instructions
- Add the washed rice, lime zest, and chicken stock (or veggie stock) to the rice cooker. Cover and press the button to start cooking.
- Once the rice has finished cooking, let it sit, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
- Uncover, fluff with a fork, then gently fold in the lime juice and cilantro so that it's well-mixed into the rice. (We don't want to crush the rice grains so be gentle.)
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
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