Home › Recipe List › Side Dishes › Copycat Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice Recipe
Posted by Aimee6 comments Published: May 02, 2019Last Updated: May 15, 2020
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This Copycat Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice recipe is packed with color and flavor. It makes a perfect side dish for any Tex-Mex meal!
I love recreating popular restaurant dishes at home. Sometimes they come out tasting even better than the original, like this copycat Panera Macaroni and Cheese and this KFC Coleslaw recipe.
Why This Rice is Best
When it comes to eating out, my family LOVES heading to the local Chipotle. We all have our favorite food there, but I personally love a burrito bowl, with all the toppings.
It always starts with a bed of this delicious rice. At Chipotle, the rice isn’t just a backdrop to the meat and beans. It’s got plenty of flavor all on its own!
Ready to learn how to make Cilantro Lime Rice like Chipotle?
This rice is cooked to fluffy perfection. No soggy or crunchy grains in sight.
Zesty lime and fresh cilantro give it a pop of mouthwatering flavor.
Easy to make any night of the week!
Ingredient Notes
We use fresh, wholesome ingredients in this rice recipe, just like the Chipotle version.
White Jasmine Rice. Softer than other varieties of rice, it gives this side dish its preferred fluffy texture.
Water. For cooking the rice.
Bay leaf. For an added depth of flavor.
Limejuice. Freshly squeezed is always best.
Lemon juice. Blends with the lime for a brighter flavor.
Cilantro. Make sure to use FRESH cilantro!
Kosher salt. Added to taste before serving.
Tips and Tricks
Rinse your rice. This step washes off the excess starch so your grains separate more when cooked. If you skip this step your rice will end up more sticky (like Asian style Jasmine rice).
Measure precisely. Rice recipes are easy to mess up if you don’t measure accurately. Too much water and your rice will be a soupy mess. Too little and it’s likely to turn out crunchy, underdone or even burnt.
Best enjoyed fresh. Cilantro Lime Rice taste best eaten hot shortly after it’s made.
Storing. If you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy reheated within 1-2 days.
Recipe FAQs
Can I make this with brown rice?
Absolutely. Just bear in mind that brown rice traditionally takes longer to cook. So check your package directions and adjust the cooking time accordingly when making this copycat chipotle recipe. You can also make this with a basmati rice. Again, just check packaging to see if it needs to cook longer.
How to season rice perfectly?
It’s easy to add more or less seasoning to cilantro lime rice to suit your individual palate. For a bolder flavor, increase the cilantro to half a cup and add an extra squeeze of citrus to taste. For a more neutral rice, start with half the amount of cilantro and lime juice. Taste and add more until you get it just the way you like it!
Typically 1 cup of dry Jasmine rice will equal about 3 cups of cooked rice.Each serving size is approximately 1/2 cup. Which means, technically, my recipe serves 6 people. Unless you’re like me and double up on the carbs!
Can I double this recipe?
Yes, this recipe can easily be doubled to feed a crowd—or extra hungry people!
What to serve with Cilantro Lime Rice
Whether you’re eating mexican or pulled pork, today’s rice recipe is quite versatile!
Make some Crockpot Carnitas and serve in a tortilla with a side of cilantro lime rice. Or put the rice ON the tortilla with the meat!
This Crockpot Barbacoa go hand in hand. My husband loves the spicy meat with the flavorful rice!
You may think that this rice is only good with mexican food, but we love serving it with Mississippi Pot Roast too! Perfect if you choose to not serve your roast over baked mashed potatoes!
If you love cilantro, this easy Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken is the perfect mate to today’s rice recipe! Packed with flavor, you’re family will love it.
This EasyInstant Pot Taco SoupRecipe is the perfect weeknight dinner idea. Packed with flavor, your family is going to ask for this again and again!
What else to serve on a Chipotle Burrito Bowl
So now you’ve got the Chipotle copycat recipe for cilantro lime rice, andyou found my carnitas and Instant Pot barbacoa recipes…what else do you put on your burrito bowl.
Personally, I love topping mine with black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, lettuce, and cheese!
For a delicious twist, try making this mango guacamole or this salsa verde instead!
This Copycat Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice recipe is packed with color and flavor. It makes a perfect side dish for any Tex-Mex meal!
Prep Time: 5 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 20 minutesminutes
Total Time: 25 minutesminutes
Servings: 6servings
Ingredients
1cupjasmine ricerinsed
2cupswater
1bay leaf
½limejuiced
½lemonjuiced
½teaspoonkosher salt
⅓cupcilantrochopped
Instructions
Add rinsed long grain rice to saucepan with water and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
Once boiling, cover rice, and reduce heat to low (simmer). Cook for about 15-20 minutes.
Once rice is tender to your desired doneness, remove from heat. Add lime and lemon juice, salt, and cilantro.
Toss with a fork and serve immediately.
Notes
Rinse your rice. This step washes off the excess starch so your grains separate more when cooked. If you skip this step your rice will end up more sticky (like Asian style Jasmine rice).
Measure precisely. Rice recipes are easy to mess up if you don't measure accurately. Too much water and your rice will be a soupy mess. Too little and it's likely to turn out crunchy, underdone or even burnt.
Best enjoyed fresh. Cilantro Lime Rice taste best eaten hot shortly after it's made.
Storing. If you do have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy reheated within 1-2 days.
This Cilantro Lime Rice recipe tastes just like the popular rice from Chipotle. It’s quick and easy to make, full of flavor and delicious with any Mexican or Tex-Mex inspired main course.
Every morning, we make our cilantro-lime white rice from scratch in each of our restaurants. We steam it with bay leaves to impart their herbal fragrance, then season it with lime and lemon juices and toss it with cilantro for its fresh, slightly tart flavor.
Every morning in each of our restaurants, we make our cilantro-lime brown rice from scratch. We simmer the whole-grain rice with bay leaves to add savory flavors, then season it with lemon and lime juices and toss it with cilantro for a slightly tart, fresh taste.
Do they contain dairy? - Quora. Chipotle's rice contains long-grain rice, bay leaves, and cilantro. The beans are made from pinto beans, water, onion, canola oil, salt, and spices, including cumin and garlic. The rice and beans do not contain dairy ingredients, so they are considered to be dairy-free.
You can get rice without the cilantro. The white rice at Chipotle is already infused with cilantro. ... Of course, if you really love cilantro, you can get extra of it on the side, too. What are some alternatives to using Arborio Rice while cooking risotto?
The best part about this rice is its versatility. It's kicked up with citrus juice and cilantro, but not so much that it overwhelms whatever you might pile onto it — it's meant to be a bed for a whole lot of other wonderful, flavorful things.
In short the answer is no. Unlike salt, we don't have a dedicated sugar supply that we use to add to our foods. In fact, none of the food on our menu has added sugar. The only thing we have that has any amount of sugar is the vinaigrette which has honey.
Chipotle's rice contains long-grain rice, bay leaves, and cilantro. The beans are made from pinto beans, water, onion, canola oil, salt, and spices, including cumin and garlic. The rice and beans do not contain dairy ingredients, so they are considered to be dairy-free.
Yes, you can order just rice at Chipotle if that's what you prefer. Chipotle offers a "Build Your Own" style of ordering, allowing you to customize your meal. When you approach the serving line, you can simply request a bowl or a container of rice without any additional toppings or ingredients.
Apparently Chipotle simply cooks the rice grains in water with a bay leaf and then they add the salt, oil, cilantro, lime juice, and lemon juice all after the rice is done cooking. Some sources say they use rice bran oil but it can be both hard to find and more expensive.
The brown rice contains less sodium and more fiber than the white rice. If you did choose the burrito or tacos, you might want to skip the rice (210 calories) altogether since you're getting your grains in your shell. That said, white rice can also be a healthy choice if that's what you prefer.
Taste the stock before adding to the rice to determine if you need to add a pinch or two of additional salt. Cilantro substitute — If you are not a fan of cilantro, substitute with chopped fresh parsley or use a combination of herbs like chives, dill, mint, and basil.
This recipe can easily be altered so that you simply add all of the flavored ingredients into cooked rice, and from there, you can start with any base you want. Parsley Lemon Rice - this is so good and goes with almost ANYTHING! Substitute the cilantro and lime for parsley and lemon.
Top Substitute for Chipotle Powder: Smoked Paprika
Smoked Paprika has all the smoky flavor you crave, making it the best substitute for chipotle. Although it is a much milder spice than dried chipotle or even fresh jalapeños, mix in the desired amount of cayenne pepper to dial up the heat.
Does All Of Chipotle's Rice Have Cilantro? Yes, both Chipotle's white and brown rice have cilantro. Chipotle adds fresh cilantro after the rice is cooked. You can find Chipotle's complete ingredient list on their website.
We use bay leaves to add a subtle depth of flavor to dishes like our beans, rice, Barbacoa, and Carnitas. We remove the leaves from our rice before serving, though we've been known to miss one here and there.
It's a good source of vitamin C and also provides iron, potassium, magnesium and manganese. Maybe the relationship between cilantro and Mexican food is so special because this herb serves as a fresh counterbalance to the spiciness of Mexican food. Again, a proof of how small things can make a big (tasty) difference.
One of these covert orders you can get at the fast-casual chain isn't so much a menu hack as it is an extra ingredient that you can add to any dish — you can request fresh, chopped cilantro. Just make sure you request it. And no, there's no additional charge.
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