This cilantro lime rice is easy and delicious! Great with salmon, chicken, or turkey tacos.
I cut waaaay back on the cilantro and that proved to be a good call for Hubs and me. Just before I served this I gave it a taste and thought to myself, "Uh-oh. We aren't EVEN going to like this. TOO limey!" But I went ahead and served it anyway, hoping for the best - and hoping I had enough other food in case we couldn't eat this. But to my surprise, not only did *I* like it, but Hubs did too! It's obvious this rice is much better served *with* something, in this case carnitas. They were perfect together! The amount of lime juice and zest ended up being just right, but I know the full amount of cilantro would have dominated to a fault - glad I cut it back to a fraction of what the recipe called for.
Read MoreGood recipie, not too flavorful. Everyone liked the rice inside the fajitas, but didn't have enough flavor to be a stand alone side dish.
Read More I cut waaaay back on the cilantro and that proved to be a good call for Hubs and me. Just before I served this I gave it a taste and thought to myself, "Uh-oh. We aren't EVEN going to like this. TOO limey!" But I went ahead and served it anyway, hoping for the best - and hoping I had enough other food in case we couldn't eat this. But to my surprise, not only did *I* like it, but Hubs did too! It's obvious this rice is much better served *with* something, in this case carnitas. They were perfect together! The amount of lime juice and zest ended up being just right, but I know the full amount of cilantro would have dominated to a fault - glad I cut it back to a fraction of what the recipe called for.
I used Jasmine rice with the proportions of 2 cups of rice to 3 cups of water. I increase the lime to juice of 2 fresh limes. Fabulous!
I tweaked this recipe to get a little closer to Qudoba's. I boil the rice in 1c of water, 1c of chicken stock and 1tsp of salt. Boil for about 17mins, then remove from heat, remove lid also...put a dish towel on top and return lid...allow it to sit for about 10mins...this makes sure the rice is fluffy because the towel absorbs the excess steam...after it sits, then stir in your cilantro and fresh lime juice to taste...for my family its usually 1 to 1.5 limes....this has saved me from buying cilantro rice from Qudoba every other day for my 2yr old! Thanks!
A very light and delicious side dish for mexican foods. I loved the lime flavor. I used Uncle Ben's ready rice that only takes 90 seconds in the microwave, so there was no need for water and then just mixed everything in -plus an additional bit of salt.
My husband won't stop raving about this rice! I did make a few changes. I started with melting the butter, then sautéed 1/2 of an onion and 2 cloves garlic for about 5 minutes, added in the rice and cooked for 3-5 minutes, then added in chicken broth (instead of the water called for), and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Then cooked it according to the rice's package directions. And last I added in lime zest, lime juice, and cilantro just before serving. I did increase the lime juice to 3 tbsp, because we like limes in our household. Overall an amazing and delicious rice recipe that makes a wonderful side and is so flavorful!
We all loved this rice. I cooked it in a rice cooker and then mixed everything in a bowl. The rice came out fluffy and tasty.
I make this same rice, but instead of long grain rice, I use instant rice - as directed on package. When water and lime juice (1 tablespoon per cup of water) are heating, I add about 1/2 cup diced onion, a tablespoon of butter and a bit of salt. Once it boils, you add the instant rice, cover and remove from heat. It's simple and fast, some may not like instant rice, but to me, it tastes the same.
Very good flavor, very, very easy indeed! Just like the rice at Chipotle's! We used it the first night as an accompaniment to some Lemon-Cilantro Chicken, and fluffed and heated it up the next night for fajitas!
Eep! I've been making this for months and forgot to review it until now. Anyway, this rice is so good. Very light and yet still lots of flavor. Excellent flavor profile for all kinds of dishes, from Mexican to Island to Asian. It's just really bright and as simple as plain rice. Try it! My little twist is to give the rice a VERY quick sauté in 1/2 Tbsp. evoo before cooking. It makes it extra light and fluffy.
I did not make this recipe yet, but I have noticed people are mentioning how sticky the rice was after they cooked it. I've always been told to RINSE the rice before cooking because it will rid it of the starch that will make the rice clump up and have a gooey texture. Just wanted to let you all know.
VERY good rice & extremely easy to make. I love the rice at Qdoba & I was pleasantly suprised to find that this was *almost" just like it. There was a bit too much lime taste in it that sort of overpowered everything else at times (next time I will cut it down to 1 tsp), but all in all a very basic & easy recipe to follow that recieved rave reviews at my deck party. Thank you for sharing!! :)
Very simple, very good. Thank you. I cooked the rice in my own homemade chicken stock instead of plain water. I served it with Asian Ginger Grill Marinaded porkchops, which are also from this site.
Good recipie, not too flavorful. Everyone liked the rice inside the fajitas, but didn't have enough flavor to be a stand alone side dish.
Too lime-y for me but that is an easy fix! I will cut lime by half. Glad to find this and it was great with my Black Bean/Pork Tenderloin Chili. I put a couple scoops of rice in a bowl then ladled some chili on top. Ty for the recipe!
Awesome and light! I toasted my rice in a little olive oil, used chicken stock instead of water and cut the butter in half.
I made this to go with California Chicken and wasn't disappointed. Very fresh tasting and healthy. I did use brown rice because that's all I ever have on hand. I zested twise as much lime by accident so I just threw it in anyway. It was still quite good but probably will be better with the amount as written.
I'm giving this 5-stars as it is very good! My only complaint, and I'm pretty sure it isn't the recipe, but me, is my rice "clumped" together. The flavors of the lime and cilantro were wonderful. My husband put this right into his tortilla but I ate mine as a side. Fantastic either way.
Very easy and fresh tasting. A nice departure from pilaf or steamed rice. I paired it with the Margarita Gilled Shrimp found on this site. They were perfect together!
I think if you are adding this into another dish it may be great. Standing on it's own didn't do much for us. Sorry.
I've been wanting to fix this rice for quite a while. Being a big fan of lime and cilantro and not a huge fan of rice I was curious to see how the flavors blended together. The blended very well. I can't wait to make this again - although the next time I will add a little more lime and increase the cliantro also. This is just a personal peference as the recipe is great as written. Thanks ENSeeber for posting this recipe.
Great Recipe! I did make several adjustments. I made the rice in the rice cooker with a chicken broth cube, and added some Kaffir Lime Leaves (into the rice cooker) to give it a subtle lime flavor instead of the zest. Afterwards, I added only bit of lime juice for freshness. Had it with some Thai seafood soup I made; the rice complimented it well.
Used instant rice and cooked it in chicken broth instead of water. That's the only change. Made it for a party. I THOUGHT that what the recipe called for was too much...of the cilantro and such. Wrong. Follow the recipe. Everyone loved it.
I cooked rice w/chicken stock. And did everything else as instructed. Really good!
I liked this recipe, but I did tweak it a little. I used brown rice, cut the lime juice in half to 1 tablespoon, added fresh garlic, salt and butter.
I used jasmine rice, used chicken broth instead of the water, added more cilantro and it was very tasty!
My hubby loooooved this rice. He said it's so much better than Chipotle rice. Well, I admit. I did change a bit but I think this recipe does give a very good basic?? idea. Well, my hubby doesn't like cilantro too much so I probably used about 2-3 TB spoon of it. For lime, I didn't put any zest it in cause I wasn't sure if I would like it. Oh, and I did use chicken broth just like other reviews suggested. My hubby loved it but I thought it was okay(still more than 3 stars though). I didn't like the butter smell too much. I'm a little too sensitive to smell so next time, I may try different type of oil. It was good in taco for sure. It didn't have whole a lot of flavor on its own but as a filling, it was definitely good. My hubby couldn't stop saying how much he liked this rice. Oh, and it's so easy to make. So it's definitely a keeper.
I made the recipe as written. I was so disappointed as lime, cilantro and rice are staples in my house. This was just so bland...not at all what I expected. It would make a good filler for a burrito but not as a side.
I would actually give this only 3.5 stars. Though, I made it with whole wheat orzo instead of rice. I liked the flavor combination of the lime zest and cilantro and I would definitely make this again but i was a little more bland than I was hoping. Next time I would like to try adding sauteed garlic and jalapenos for an extra kick.
Very good. I used a minute rice and followed box directions. Used fresh cilantro and a lime. I used 1 lime to 6 servings of rice. Not overpowering and very good under Charley's Slow Cooker Mexican Style Meat. Topped with black beans and fresh corn. Family loved it. May have been a bit spicy for the little ones though.
Delicious! I used the Everyday Food's version, using EVOO instead of butter. This has HUGE cilantro & lime flavor. Made as a side for baked tilapia. Would be excellent tucked into fish tacos, too.
This is a refreshingly different recipe. My family loved it! When bringing the water to a boil, I added 1 packet of Goya ham flavored seasoning. That is the only change I made. We served this rice with homemade baja fish and shrimp tacos. It was wonderful!
This rice was excellent! If you like the rice at Chipotles you will like this. For the 1 Tblsp. of butter I used a butter/canola oil blend. I didn't think I would like the lemon rind and tasted it without it. It definitely needed the flavor of it, and it worked perfect. The rice at Chipotles is a little less sticky and has a slight oily sheen, but I think I actually liked this one better. My rice was completely done in 17 minutes. I did not see salt on the recipe, so I added a small tad to taste when it was done. My only advice, is to make it fresh and what you will eat. It does not taste as good from the fridge as the lime sits. Thank you for the recipe.
This recipe is bright and delicious. I added more lime juice because I had no zest (only a squeeze bottle). I also added 1T of butter to finish. I thought the amount of cilantro was great, but I love cilantro.
Awesome rice dish that goes with just about everything...This dish has become a regular at our table...(Jasmine rice cooked with chicken broth really rocks it!)...
I used Basamti rice (the only rice I use), cooked it with chicken broth, cut the cilantro and lime zest (by at least half) and added one seeded, diced tomato. It was delicious and went so well with Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken from this site!
I made the recipe with no variations and the lime just overpowered everything. Even I, who will try to see the good in any bad situation, could not force myself to eat this dish. I will attempt to make it again, but this time with a smaller amount of lime and chicken broth instead of water.
Great flavor. I used this with cilantro lime grilled chicken with an avocado salsa and used it in a bean and rice burrito for the vegetarians in the household.
Perfect! Tried separately with both white and brown rice, and would not recommend the brown rice version. On the other hand the white rice was a wonderful accessory to the key west chicken I grilled!
I used jasmine rice and the juice and zest of 2 limes. Fantastic flavor and oh, so easy, too!
Very good! Love cilantro! Made it exactly to recipe and we served it with borracho beans and adobo pork tacos. Like this much much better than Mexican rice.
We did as others suggested, using chicken broth and eliminating the zest. Otherwise we followed the recipe. Very good and a great home-version of the chain restaurant's rice.
This was ok. Not a whole lot of flavor. I served it with grilled chicken, but perhaps it would be best served with something that included a sauce, like enchiladas.
I am glad i only made half of this recipe, as it seemed pretty bland and flavorless, despite the amount of lime, zest, and cilantro. I wasn't overly impressed. It was really pretty, and I had high hopes, it just wasn't something I'll make again.
This was decent. I LOOOVE Chipotle's rice, but have never been able to perfect it at home. Mine always seems too sour (i.e. too "limey"). Although not completely satisfied (nothing compares to Chipotle's rice...), I must admit I do like ENSeeber's version better than Mrs. Brown's (which I have tried previously). The two aren't really that different, however. The main difference is that there is quite a bit more cilantro in this recipe (and I think that's why I like ENSeeber's rice slighly better than Mrs. Brown's). Naples34102 advises adding less cilantro and attributes doing just that to having "saved" this recipe, but I have to disagree. :( I guess it's a battle of the taste buds lol! My hubby REALLY liked this and said that he'd eat a bowlful for dinner with a chopped, grilled chicken breast mixed in! And while I like this better than the last version I tried, I still can't award more than 3 stars (I just don't like this enough to award more). My only suggestion for improvement is to substitute chicken broth (or bullion / water) for the water called for. It adds sooooo much flavor! Anywhoo, this was a nice accompainment to tacos in pasta shells (grannycancook). The light and refreshing rice complemented the heavier, meaty shells perfectly. Thanks for sharing, ENSeeber! If for nothing other than having a unique side to serve with my taco pasta entree, I'll keep your recipe handy for that. :-)
This recipe makes a great side dish for spicy Mexican recipes. Like naples34102 commented it was too limey when you tasted it alone but it paired beautifully when served with spicy meat. (I served it with the Slow Cooker Guisado Verde recipe from this site.) Modifying the Guisado Verde with Herdez Salsa Verde kicked the heat up beautifully in pork and this lime cilantro rice was ideal. Thanks I doubled the recipe (made no changes) and saved the leftovers to make burritos the next day.
Followed recipe exactly. Absolutely LOVED it! Hubby went crazy over it. We love the flavor of cilantro and it went perfect with the lemon-butter baked shrimp!! Can't wait to make again. Thanks for a great recipe.
I LOVED this!!! I make chicken piccata and served this on the side with a few capers, it was a hit!!!
Great easy recipe, followed exactly. Will certainly be using again. Thank you.
I tried this recipe tonight with the Key West Chicken. It went very well with the chicken! Rice was a little bland for me, but it was good especially with Coronas! hubby liked it! ;) thanks '
This is very good.. I changed nothing will definetly make again.. I love the strong flavors of lime and cilantro, yumm!
I liked this alot - we used it in chipotle-style burritos. All I did differently was add salt. Thanks!
This was eaten, but not requested again. I added an extra cup of rice and the lime was still a little strong.
This was okay, pretty good actually. I think there may have been a little too much lime...not sure I would zest it next time.
This is okay, but the cilantro & lime are both mostly lost in the rice. I can't say that I need to make this again (and I've tried it 2 times just to make sure)
This was really simple and delicious. I took a short-cut and used the microwave steamed jasmine rice from Trader Joes. Layered up in some burritos.
I used chicken broth instead of water. Also put Trader Joe's Chili Lime Seasoning on it after it was done. I could've eaten the whole pot!!!!
My boyfriend loved this. I cooked the rice in chicken broth for some added flavor. Nice and easy!
Very good, very simple, and fresh tasting. I love simplicity when it comes to a recipe. Thanks for the great recipe.
Delicious rice recipe! It smells wonderful! Went really terrific with my spicy shrimp! Followed recipe. Will be making this one again and again!
Admittedly, I can cook about anything, rice isn't one of them. So, I used uncle bens microwave rice and added the butter, cilantro and lime. It was pretty Limey, but overall tasted great with our Snapper Veracruz tonight. I will make it again.
Used long grain wild rice for a nuttier flavor and a toasty crunch. Served with homemade barbacoa, grilled veggies and taco bowls (corn tortillas shaped on muffin tins). Awesomely light flavor...perfect for summer.
Loved it - added Myzithera cheese to give it a kick - will make again :)
I thought this was a little bland. It was simple and refreshing but it tasted much better once I put some sauce I made on it. I also had to add some salt and pepper. Probably won't become a regular at my house.
Very good recipe. Served with balsamic glazed salmon. My husband does not care for cilantro and still enjoyed this recipe. I will definetely be making this one again. Thanks for the recipe!
I loved this, but tweaked just a little. I used Hinode's Jasmine ready rice. Omitted the butter, and used just a drizzle of olive oil. No salt, added a few shakes of cumin, garlic powder, and black pepper. Used about 3 tbsp of bottled lime juice (only thing I had). I used one cube of frozen cilantro. Plenty for me. I served with Baked Cilantro Lime Swai fillets and zuchinni spears. Yum! Thanks for the inspiration.
I was attempting to duplicate the rice at Chipotle ended up tweeking the recipe quite a bit- used butter, garlic powder, seasoning salt, cut-up the cilantro, lime zest/juice, and chicken broth NOT water, stirred on occassion because the cilantro will float atop of rice, but put in all ingredients in pot boil, simmer as usual- it was FANTASTIC!
Very good flavors but it came out too wet. I don't think putting butter works well in my rice cooker. It also needs salt and maybe half the cilantro. But a very good basic recipe to make a quick and delicious side dish.
I've made his rice a few times already, and for some reason I think it's lacking. I'm not sure what it is, but I envision it tasting similarly to the rice that Chipotle uses, and it just doesn't.
Splendid recipe! Did not change a thing but I was tempted to use olive oil instead of butter which I intent to try next time. I served it with Peanut Butter Chicken (also on this site) and a cabbage slaw salad - We had a Thai-type dinner! Warning - No leftovers!
This rice dish is a great, light alternative to traditionally heavily flavored mexican rice. It was super easy to make and had plenty of flavor. I made mine using some Jasmati rice I had in the pantry and I cut back a bit on the cilantro (I'm not a huge fan of cilantro to begin with). The rice was perfect!
Really good recipe. I only changed a few things but only for personal preference. I always make my white rice with vegetable oil, add salt and a pinch of onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper. I also skipped the lime zest since I used the bottle version of lime juice. It was perfect!
This tastes exactly like Chipotle's rice (which is exactly what I was trying to replicate)! Very easy and very good! Thanks for sharing this recipe!!
I have no idea what I did wrong, but I followed the recipe exactly and the rice turned into a big ball of starchy paste. Maybe I will try it with instant rice next time and see if I can get a better outcome.
Fantastic recipe! I did not cut back on anything. The only change that I made was to add two cubes of chicken bullion. I felt like this gave it the perfect amount of flavor and made it a dish that would stand all on its own!
I used Basmati rice. 2 tbsp. of olive oil then grated one large Clive of garlic. Sauté rice for a couple minutes. Added in salted chicken broth instead of water. Re pie was yummy!!
What a nice change from regular white rice. I made this to go along with Margarita Salmon from this website. The lime juice and zest made such a nice refreshing summertime Zing, you don't need very much zest, but I did use a bit more than a teaspoon. I love Cilantro so anything with that is a winner for me. I will make this again for sure.
This had great flavor! We used it in our Chipotle style burritos and they were awesome! I did what another suggested, used Jasmine rice, the juice of two limes, and forgot to zest the limes, so omitted that. It's worth a shot if you love the restaurant's.
It turned out just like I wanted, similar to a popular chain restaurant's in my opinion. I did use my rice cooker instead of stove top. I just followed the directions from the cooker for long grain rice (did add the butter with the rice in the cooker) then added the lime and cilantro with zest at the end. It was delish. Will repeat this one every taco/fajita night!
I found this recipe to be perfect as is as far as the ingredients and measurements. I ended up only using about a 1/4 cup chopped cilantro since that was all I had left on hand and felt that the rice could have used more. Hopefully next time I will have enough cilantro to do the full 1/2 cup. In reading the other reviews mentioning mushy rice, I did saute the rice in 1 tbsp. oil first (used olive oil) until the rice was becoming translucent/starting to lightly brown. Then I added the water (you could use chicken broth too). The rice came out perfect and fluffy. My total cook time was 25 minutes, but I suspect I had the heat too low. Thanks for the sharing the recipe that reminds me of Chipotle's rice!
