Mexican red rice with black beans
Rice toasted in oil until nutty, simmered with tomatoes and broth and folded with black beans, one pot of warm, tomatoey comfort that’s dinner on its own.
- 40 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.29 a serving
- 460 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
- 1 lime, cut into wedges (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
Each serving has about 460 calories, 13 g protein, 84 g carbs and 8 g fat, and costs about $1.29 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No diced tomatoes? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No vegetable broth? Chicken broth works.
- No black beans? Pinto beans or kidney beans work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Heat the oil in a large pot with a lid over medium heat. Add the rice and cook, stirring often, 4 to 5 minutes, until most of the grains turn light .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Toasting is what keeps this rice fluffy instead of sticky, so skip rinsing for this one.Add the onion and cook, stirring, 3 minutes, until it .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 3 min
Stir in the garlic powder, cumin and chili powder for 30 seconds, then pour in the tomatoes with their juice, the broth and the salt.
Medium heat
Turn the heat to high and , then cover, turn the heat to low and cook 20 minutes without lifting the lid.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Dolly’s tip: No peeking. The steam under the lid is doing the cooking.Take the pot off the heat, scatter the beans over the rice, put the lid back on and let it sit 5 minutes.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: The steam warms the beans through without turning the rice to mush.Fluff everything together with a fork. Taste, add salt if it needs it, and serve with cilantro and lime wedges.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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