Similar to Jambalaya, this Spanish rice is packed full of flavor. Bacon, tomatoes, and veggies come together in this easy one-pot meal. It makes a great dinner for cold nights and leftovers reheat really well.
It has rice, bacon, onions, garlic, green peppers, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder (definitely not in Jambalaya before someone goes and calls the Louisiana State Police on me!).
Cut the bacon into 1″ pieces and cook over medium heat.
While the bacon is cooking, chop the onion and pepper and mince the garlic.
When the bacon is crips, remove it from the pan and drain on paper towels. Add the onions, garlic, and pepper
in a little of the reserved bacon grease and cook until the onions are tender. While the onions are cooking, place the tomatoes in a blender jar…
and pulse a few times until the tomatoes have broken down. Add the seasonings…
Tabasco sauce…
and Worcestershire sauce.
When the onions are tender, add the tomato mixture, rice, and some water. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20-25 minutes (at a low elevation, closer to an hour at high elevations) or until the rice is cooked. Super easy, right?
And perfect for fall. And the leftovers are awesome, especially if you have access to a microwave at work where you can re-heat them.
Spanish Rice
Servings
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 green pepper chopped
- 4-6 cloves garlic minced
- 6-8 ounces uncooked bacon 1/2 package
- 28 oz. stewed tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 1/4 cups long-grain rice
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/4 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoons Tabasco sauce
Instructions
- Cut bacon into 1" pieces and cook until crisp in a Dutch oven if possible. Remove from pan and drain the grease, reserving 2 tablespoons in the pan. Return the pan to medium heat and add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Cook until the onions are translucent and fragrant. While the onions are cooking, place the tomatoes in the jar of your blender and pulse 2-3 times to chop them. Add the seasonings, Tabsco sauce, and Worcestershire sauce to the tomatoes and then, when the onions are done cooking, add the tomato mixture, seasonings, and rice and and bring to a boil. Stir, cover, and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20-25 minutes at low elevations or closer to an hour for high elevations or until the rice is cooked, stirring occasionally to make sure the rice is not burning. Serves 6-8-ish and makes great leftovers.
Notes
Nutrition
Calories: 252kcal, Carbohydrates: 31g, Protein: 7g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Cholesterol: 18mg, Sodium: 547mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 4g
Calories: 252kcal
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Questions & Reviews
Never seen Spanish rice like this. This recipe is almost identical to Gullah red rice.
Is it just me or does the recipe never say when to add the bacon and water? Sometimes I miss things…
I’m assuming add the water with the rice and the bacon at the end. Am I correct?
Ha! Yes! I was just looking for the same thing…I am assuming the same, hope it works out.
I make a very similar recipe from childhood, also not very Spanish ?. I sear pork chops and then cook them on top of the rice and then top with cheddar. Seriously the best leftovers!
Uh, hello delicious recipe of yours that I never knew was there! This is going on my menu pronto.
Awesome recipe! I made it for dinner on Sunday with your Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas. Sooo good. Do you know about how much it makes in volume? I forgot to measure it before I served it, and I wanted to enter it into My Fitness Pal for calories. I just need to know how many servings and how big the servings are.
YES! Like someone mentioned, FRY your rice in a little butter first (or maybe just with the onions, etc, that might work too)! Until it browns and smells kinda like popcorn. Then dump the liquids in. The texture of the rice will be SO much better. I accidentally made Spanish rice once just dumping it all together and I thought it was totally ruined. I just fry my rice, then dump in my homemade salsa and water as my liquids. The addition of bacon and other seasonings here sound pretty tasty though!
The directions are a bit confusing regarding the bacon. Do you add it back in with the “remaining ingredients” (although it doesn’t feel like the bacon is “remaining” since it’s already been used), crumble it on top before serving, or leave it out completely and only use the grease?
Have you ever frozen Spanish Rice after it has been cooked? Will the rice become too mushy? and in this dish would that matter? Also what would be the best way to reheat it after you have frozen it? Thanks for your help!
This rice was excellent! I did use a little less chili powder (about 1 t.) and omitted the hot sauce because I was afraid it would be a bit hot for my family. It was just right for all of us! I also added a little shredded cheese to the top of each serving. Wow, I will never buy the box stuff again! As always, thank you Kate and Sara!
I made this this weekend and it was SUPERB! Super easy – I think the trick may be to make sure it fully boils before turning down the heat.. but it was awesome – I cooked it for 25 mins then turned it off and let it sit in the pot with the lid on until I was ready (another 5-10 mins)
I made this rice yesterday, but I made a mistake and used chicken stock instead of water. I was thinking about rice pilaf, but let me tell you that was one of the tastiest mess up’s I have ever made. In fact, I am only going to use chicken stock for now on. I hope somebody else tries it with chicken stock so they can see how good it is.
This was fantastic! I didnt have any problem with the rice staying crunchy and i use long grain.