Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe (2024)

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Rice is such a tasty and inexpensive side dish. Jazz it up quickly and easily to make this tasty Instant Pot Cilantro lime rice recipe. It is the perfect side dish to your favorite Mexican Dishes.

Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe:

We love rice and it’s so inexpensive to make! You can season it so many different ways. It’s just the best side dish! We love getting cilantro lime rice at our local Mexican restaurant so I knew I had to make it at home.

Making rice takes very little time to make and it’s very filling! Using the Instant Pot makes the rice come out so fluffy and perfect every time. Adding in the cilantro and lime makes the rice so flavorful and the perfect side dish to our favorite Mexican dinners.

Easy Cilantro Lime Rice Instant Pot:

This lime cilantro rice recipe is a delicious and easy recipe. We love to make this cilantro rice anytime we make burrito bowls, tacos, or enchilada. It is light, delicious and full of cilantro flavor.

It only takes about 5 minutes to prepare so you can easily add this side to many different tex mex recipes.

Ingredients

• Long Grain White Rice
• Water
• Garlic Salt
• Lime
• Cilantro (See How to Cut Cilantro)

How to make Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice:

• Prepare your Instant Pot – In an Instant pot, pour in the rice, water, and garlic rice.
• Combine – Stir to combine.
• Close the Instant Pot – Place the lid on top and make sure the valve is set to sealing.
• Prepare to Cook – Press the rice button. If you do not have a rice button click the manual button and set the time for 5 minutes. Cook on high pressure. Cook time could vary.
• When Finish Cooking – Once finished, do the quick release.
• Add the Lime and Cilantro – Squeeze the fresh lime juice over it. Add in the fresh chopped cilantro.
• Stir and Enjoy – Fluff the rice to combine and serve.

Tips for the best Cilantro Rice recipe:

• Squeeze your limes – It’s totally optional but Iuse this to squeeze my limes. It makes it so easy and we use it for lots of recipes. It is a must have at my house.
  
• Freeze Rice – Did you know you can freeze rice? It’s very simple. Learn how to freeze rice and you can take it out of the freezer for a quick side dish.
  
• Type of Rice – For this recipe, we use long grains rice. We like that after cooking long grain white rice it turns out light and fluffy. Basmati Rice is the kind I like using. Jasmine rice is a good alternative.
  
• Brown Rice Option – If you prefer brown rice, try that instead of white rice. You will just need to set it for 22 minutes
  
• Cooking Rice – When preparing to cook the rice, you want to same # of cups of water to the amount of rice you are wanting to cook. So if you want 3 cups of rice, use 3 cups of water.
  
• Fresh Cilantro – It is best to use fresh cilantro. Use the dried cilantro is tasteless and will not work in this recipe. You can just trim the leaves off or add the stems to the mixture.
  
• Fresh Lime – For the best lime taste, use fresh squeezed lime. I like adding lime zest to my rice.
  
• Rinse the Rice – We rinse the rice before cooking. We the water that runs through is clear before cooking.

What to serve with Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice:

Cilantro Lime Rice is a great side to any of your Mexican Dish. We have even added it to our Asian recipes or Grilled Meat recipes. My family loves to have rice as a side or some type of potato so this side is on rotation a lot.

• Serve it with your favorite chicken fajita’s
• Make a Burrito Bowl
• Chicken or Beef Tacos

How to Build a Burrito Bowl:

One of my favorite ways to serve this Cilantro Rice is make Burrito Bowls. They are so easy to make and everyone can top the rice with so many options. Here are some of our favorite toppings to make a burrito bowl.

• Meat – Add your favorite meat. You can use ground beef, shredded pork, or shredded chicken.
• Beans – Top the meat with black beans, refried beans or pinto beans. This adds texture and flavor to the bowls.
• Vegetables – Sauté some peppers and onions to top the beans. We also like to slice up some avocados.
• Salsa – We love to add salsa to the burrito bowls. I like corn salsa, red salsa, spicy salsa and taco sauce.
• Toppings – Add sour cream, guacamole, and shredded cheese. Squeeze fresh lime to combine the flavors together.

More Instant Pot Side Dish Recipes:

If you love using your Instant Pot as much as we do. Try these other instant pot side dishes. You can take meals that you have prepped straight from your freezer to the instant pot.

• Instant Pot Corn on the Cob Recipe
• Pressure Cooker Red Potatoes Recipe

How to store leftovers:

I really like to meal prep for the week. It saves me so much time and money. This cilantro lime rice is perfect make ahead of time. My husband and I prepare our individual containers and fill each one up with cilantro rice, a protein and a vegetable.

How to reheat:

This rice is easy to reheat. I make sure to store in an airtight, microwave safe dish. This way it is easy to reheat in the microwave. You can also reheat in a sauce pan if you prefer.

Print this Instant pot Cilantro lime rice recipe below:

More Rice Recipes:

• Cauliflower Rice
• Brown Rice
• Easy Spanish Rice