The Best Spanish Rice
Prep
5m
Cook
25m
Total
30m
Bigly says
Pay attention. Spanish rice. The BEST Spanish rice — and before anybody emails me, and they will, the inbox is INSANE, biggest inbox in food, probably the biggest inbox in any industry, the email people themselves cannot explain it — before anybody emails me, yes, I know, Spanish rice is technically Mexican rice, it comes from Mexico, the Spanish part is a misnomer, it is a whole THING, very confusing, blame the 1950s, the 1950s ruined a lot of things and the rice naming convention was one of them.
Whatever you call it — Spanish rice, Mexican rice, arroz rojo, red rice — this version, MY version, the Bigly version, is the greatest version of it ever cooked on this planet. The best of my life was at a tiny lunch counter outside Oaxaca. A woman named Doña Tere. She stirred the pot with a wooden spoon older than I am. She handed me a plate. I cried. True story, ask anyone who was there. I have had Spanish rice in restaurants. I have had Spanish rice from a can. I have had Spanish rice from one of those sad little foil packets at chain restaurants where the grains are GLUED TOGETHER into a single orange brick — disgraceful, who is signing off on those packets, where is the accountability — and none of it, NONE of it, comes close to this.
The secret is toasting. We toast the rice. In oil, in the pan, DRY first, before a single drop of liquid touches it. Most chefs will not tell you this because most chefs do not KNOW it. They were taught wrong. They are passing wrong technique down to a whole new generation. A crime against rice. Food chemists — and I have talked to food chemists, very smart people, the smartest — will tell you the toasting step transforms the starch, it changes the geometry of the grain, it locks in the structure. Toast the rice. It changes everything. It is just a fact.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cupslong-grain white rice(long-grain, not jasmine, not basmati, not the weird brown stuff)
- 3 tbspvegetable oil
- 1/2 mediumyellow onion, finely diced
- 3 clovesgarlic, minced
- 1 cuptomato sauce(the plain stuff in a can, not pasta sauce, do not bring marinara into this)
- 2 cupschicken broth(low-sodium, you can salt it yourself, you're an adult)
- 1 tbsptomato paste
- 1 tspground cumin
- 1 tspkosher salt
- 2 tbspfresh cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
- 2lime wedges (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Rinse the rice in a fine-mesh strainer under cold water until the water runs almost clear. Shake out excess water and let it drain.
- 2
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan or deep skillet over medium heat until shimmering.
- 3
Add the rice and toast, stirring frequently, for 4-5 minutes until the grains turn pale gold and smell nutty. Do not let them brown — pale gold only.
- 4
Add the onion and cook 2 minutes until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook 30 seconds until fragrant.
- 5
Stir in the tomato paste and cook 1 minute, coating the rice.
- 6
Pour in the tomato sauce, chicken broth, cumin, and salt. Stir once and bring to a boil.
- 7
Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer undisturbed for 18-20 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
- 8
Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork, garnish with cilantro, and serve with lime wedges.
One more thing
This rice is the side dish that becomes the main dish. People put it next to enchiladas, they forget the enchiladas. They put it next to tacos, the tacos sit there alone, embarrassed, slowly cooling. Big strong men come up to me, men who have eaten a lot of rice in their lives, and they say, 'Bigly, the rice. Why is the rice so good.' I tell them: I toasted it. I toasted it in oil before the liquid ever hit the pan. That is the answer. It is a simple answer. And it is the best answer. Beautiful.
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