These rice and beans are the perfect complement to the Cafe Rio Salad or Burrito! I will actually often make these just as a side dish to my regular Mexican-night meals! The rice makes a lot so if you aren’t a huge fan of rice, I would suggest halving the recipe. We have had such great feedback with ALL of our Cafe Rio recipes and we hope to get more! Leave us a comment and let us know how your Copycat Cafe Rio dinner turned out! We love hearing from our readers!To view our ENTIRE Cafe Rio / Costa Vida Salad copycat recipe, click HERE.
CILANTRO-LIME RICE:
Ingredients
- 1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)
- 1 tsp. butter or margarine
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 tsp. sugar
- 3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro
Instructions
- In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.
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BLACK BEANS:
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 1/3 c. tomato juice
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro
Instructions
- In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.
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I’m wondering what kind of rice you used. Obviously not minute rice because you cooked it 15-20 minutes.
I used just plain, long-grain white rice. I tried it once with Calrose rice (because it was what I had on hand…) NOT good!
I tried it with instant rice and it turned out great. I look forward to trying it again when I have long grain. I combined the can of broth with the butter, garlic, lime juice and eliminated the water. Once it was boiling I added 2 cups of instant rice and let it stand. Then I poured the other mixture over it the same when I fluffed it. Great!!
We tripled the black bean recipe and ended up using 4 cups of tomato juice. The beans were swimming in the juice and didn’t look right although they okay. Do you really use that much juice?
Yeah, you just serve them with a slotted spoon so they drain off. If they aren’t swimming in juice they will dry out.
love their sweet rice and black beans, many thanks for sharing♥♥ love their salads♥ many thanks again♥
How would you recommend doing the beans from scratch? Would you cook with the seasonings or just plain and then add things afterwards?
I have never made the beans from scratch, but I am sure they would be great if you added the seasonings while cooking them. If you are worried if it will be too strong or come out mushy (which I don't know if they would, because again, I have never made the beans from scratch), I would say just make them plain and then add them afterwards. They will probably taste the same either way you do them.
on the rice it says lime juice two times, is that right?
Yeah that's right. The lime juice is divided. You use a little bit of it earlier in the recipe (when cooking the rice) and then you use the rest later (in the sauce you pour over it).
I've tried making this and my rice always comes out sticky. Do you have any tips?
the key to getting the rice just right is to brown it before you add the water. heat the butter or oil in the pan on medium heat, then add the rice and cook it until it starts to brown being careful not to burn it. add the garlic and cook the rice until it is a golden color, then add the water and other ingredients and cook following the rest of the directions. this keeps the rice from being sticky at all and each grain stays individual. it is seriously the key to getting the rice right. and you can can pretty much use any kind of rice, including calrose, and it turns out just right.
How many servings do you get out of this recipe? We are wanting to do it for a Company party and I don't know how much to plan on. Thanks
4-6 depending on how big of eaters you have…
We like pinto beans on our salads do you use the same recipe for those as you would for the black beans? Thanks:)
I made the beans for my family last night. The only complaint was that they were too salty. I didn't even put in the amount listed on the recipe because I thought it was a lot of salt but it was still very salty. Otherwise it was good.
What can size of black beans did you use?
Just the regular size.. I think it's 14 oz…
Just made this tonight for dinner and it took me right to Cafe Rio
Delicious!
Also for the rice, make sure you don't stir it too much otherwise the rice gets sticky and mushed together.
thank you, we love these!!! and have had them SEVERAL times now!!!
However, they are WAYYYYYY too salty for us with that much salt. Like, I don't know how it's not too salty for everyone! But, we know that now and have adjusted to for what we like! thanks!
I've never had Cafe Rio (they haven't made it to Texas yet apparently!), but this recipe looked great so I gave it a try anyway. Although at first the sweetness of the pork scared me a little bit, when you layer it with all the other flavors, it was wonderful!! I didn't do the tortilla/cheese part, and I also skipped the rice. Finally, I added a can of corn like you suggested. Although the changes I made surely made it less like the actual Cafe Rio salad, it was really good none the less! I think it would be great for having guests over! Thanks!
Canned beans are very high in sodium, I would not recommend adding salt to them. Just look at the label on the can to see the salt content of the brand you are using.
I loved your Cafe Rio salad dressing recipe, but these beans have SO much salt! 1 1/2 tsp for one can of beans?! If I had stopped to think before just following the recipe, I never would have added salt. I'm sure this is a typo– right???
@ Megs– ya know, I have had a lot of people complain about the amount of salt. For some reason I haven't noticed but I will actually go ahead and change it on the recipe. I wrote it up over 3 years ago so it very well could be a typo. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
can this be cooked in a crock pot with out the beans going mushy?
@ Frank and Victoria– I don't know. I have never tried it. If you do it, maybe don't used canned beans, try using the dried ones. I'm not sure what to recommend! If it turns out well, let me know!
The rice was fantastic, I love the tartness of the lime with the little bit of sweetness from the sugar. Yum, thanks!
This may seem like a silly question, can you cook the rice and the rest of the ingredients in a rice cooker?
Yes, you can. I usually do!
I was wondering if you have the recipe for Pinto Beans, we live near the Pinto Bean Capitol of the World and we love the Pintos but not the black beans. Is it the same recipe just different beans?
Yes we do! It is in our cookbook! The recipe isn’t the same… Send me an email and I will email it to you.
Exactly how long did it take u to create “Our Version
of Cafe Rio
Do you want to know how long it takes to prepare or how long it took me to come up with the recipe?
When you say tomato juice in the bean recipe – is that tomato sauce? or actual tomato juice – aka V-8?
Yes, I used v8 but I’m sure tomato sauce is ok.
I LOVE your Cafe Rio recipe! Thanks so much for posting it! One question…is there something I could substitute the chicken broth with in the cilantro lime rice? I’m making this for a party on Sunday and my father is a vegetarian.
You could try vegetable broth.
almost 3 cups of liquid for 1 cup uncooked rice seems like too much is that the correct amount? You said in a comment that you use a rice cooker have you used the stove as well ? The flavor is great but it is almost mush and I did not over flake with a fork and I also browned the rice in butter and garlic prior to adding the liquid.
Now that it’s cooled off its perfect. I’m making this for 100 people and I think I’ll try a little less liquid. Thank you!
Thank you so much for all these fabulous recipes! I’m wondering if you could email me your recipe for the pinto beans…?
For dried beans, soak overnight then simmer for about two hours – don’t add anything to them until they are cooked otherwise they will toughen. Once cooked, drain and follow the recipe above