Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans are the perfect complement to the Cafe Rio Salad. I often make these recipes as a side dish to my regular meals.
Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans
If you have ever eaten at Cafe Rio, then you know how amazing their Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans are. But, not everyone can get to a Cafe Rio when they have the hankering for this meal. Hooray for copycat recipes! This rice and beans recipe tastes JUST LIKE the stuff you get at Cafe Rio. It is so easy to make and it tastes so good! Put these on your tacos, burritos, salads, nachos or serve them as sides. The rice recipe really does make a ton so if you aren’t a huge fan of rice, I would suggest halving the recipe.
Dishes to serve with Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans
Cilantro Lime Rice and Black 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. You can definitely use this as a side dish to the fabulous Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Copycat Recipe. It’s everything you are hoping it will be!
Tips to try
Make sure you rinse and drain the beans really well. You don’t want any of that syrup to be in your beans. I promise it will taste better that way. Some of our readers have tried using instant rice and had success. One time I tried using Calrose rice because it was what I had on hand. That DID NOT work out well. A long grain white rice is what I typically use.
All Our Cafe Rio Copycat Recipes:
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 make Sweet Pork Burritos, check out the full recipe HERE.
- Try the Sweet Pork Salad, check out the full recipe HERE.
- To find ALL of our Cafe Rio / Costa Vida copycat recipes, click HERE.
How to make Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans
Ingredients
For the Rice
For the Black Beans
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 14 ounces black beans rinsed and drained
- 1 1/3 cups tomato juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cilantro fresh chopped
Instructions
For the Rice
- In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 teaspoon 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.
For the Black Beans
- 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.
AshLynn says
Hi, I don’t know if I’m just not seeing it, but you don’t have the recipe for the rice. Just two recipes for the beans? Is it posted somewhere else?
Erica says
Whoops– you are right, let me see what exactly happened here! We will change it ASAP It looks like the INGREDIENTS are correct for the rice, but we have the instructions for the beans for some reason. We have been doing a little construction on our site and it must have been jumbled up!
Tamsyn says
I love this recipe. Thank you for sharing. Can I use a rice cooker for this recipe or will it make the rice sticky and soggy? I just want perfectly fluffy delicious rice!
Erica says
We have used a rice cooker and just thrown everything in and started it… works great!
Tiffany says
I noticed that it’s okay to cook in the rice cooker, which makes it easier.. I have made these recipes before but cant remember if I need to wash rice before hand?
I am so use to washing rice and cooking in the rice cooker, and wondering if it would make the rice too soggy or ruin the recipe?
Thanks, I really love these recipes, it’s our only way to get the taste of cafe rio since moving to Hawaii.
Katie says
I am doing a freezer group and am wondering how well the rice and beans would freeze and reheat. Have you tried that before? How would you prepare this so it is ready to go for a freezer group?
Favorite Family Recipes says
Actually I think they might freeze just fine. Just make sure they are totally thawed before re-heating. Haven’t done it before but I don’t see why it would be a problem. Hope this helps!
Natalie says
Jk you can delete my previous comment…I read through the directions again and now get why there are two deprecate measurements if lime 🙂 thanks!
Favorite Family Recipes says
haha k 🙂 I deleted the last comment. Hope it turned out well for you!
Trimble says
Heads up, people. Notice that this recipe calls for more liquid than you’re used to using for your rice so if you happen to be making this rice in bulk, you will NOT be able to make as much in a rice cooker as you normally would be able to. I made this to serve 60 people and if you need that much, plan for at LEAST 3 (20 cup) rice cookers, 4 to be safe. May your rice cooking be much less messy than my fiasco today! 🙂
Favorite Family Recipes says
Thank you for the heads up! This is helpful info for cooking for a crowd.
Jessica says
How many times did you multiply the recipe? And do you feel like it was sufficient? I’m making it for 30, so I’m just trying to decide how much I need to make!
Jessica says
If you make this in a rice cooker, do you still hold off to add the “sauce” until after the rice is done?
Erica Walker says
Yes. It will taste more fresh if you add it at the end. Hope this helps!
Katie says
Do you use canned beans or dried beans for this recipe?
Favorite Family Recipes says
We used canned in this recipe!
Steph says
Is there something I can substitute for the tomato juice in the recipe for the beans?
Favorite Family Recipes says
You can mix one part tomato sauce with one part water!