Name: Cilantro Lime Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 cup rice (uncooked, long-grain, white rice); 1 teaspoon butter; 2 cloves garlic (minced); 1 teaspoon lime juice (freshly squeezed ); 15 ounces chicken broth; 1 cup water; 1 tablespoon lime juice (freshly squeezed ); 2 teaspoons sugar; 3 tablespoons cilantro (fresh chopped )

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Cilantro Lime Rice is the perfect side dish for all your Mexican-inspired meals. It also goes great as a filling in a burrito or as a way to bulk up a salad.

Cilantro Lime Rice

If you are looking for a new, delicious side dish, then Cilantro Lime Rice is your answer. It is bursting with flavor and really brings your Mexican-inspired meal together. It comes together in just a few easy steps. First, you cook the rice in chicken broth, garlic, lime juice, and butter to make a rich, flavorful base. Then, when the rice is cooked you stir in a sweet and tangy cilantro mixture to top it off. That’s it!

A large pot of cooked white rice and a small bowl of cilantro lime mixture

Tips for Making Cilantro Lime Rice

The rice recipe really does make a ton so if you aren’t a huge fan of rice, I would suggest halving the recipe.
Use long-grain white rice when making this recipe. Once I tried it with Calrose rice because it was the only rice I had on hand and it DID NOT turn out well.
Make sure you use fresh cilantro! Dried cilantro just won’t cut it. Using fresh gives the rice an incredible flavor.

Cafe Rio Copycat Recipes

This recipe originally came from our collection of Cafe Rio inspired dishes. Cafe Rio is a beloved Tex-Mex chain that serves burritos, tacos, salads, and more! We were obsessed but some of us didn’t have a location near our house. We started trying to recreate Cafe Rio recipes at home. Not to toot our own horn, but we totally nailed them! Those recipes helped us get on the map as recipe bloggers and they are some of our post popular posts to this day! Check out the collection here: Cafe Rio Copycat Recipes – All the Best in One Place. We have had such great feedback with ALL of our Cafe Rio recipes and we’d love to hear yours! Leave us a comment and let us know how your Copycat Cafe Rio dinner turned out! We love hearing from our readers!

A homemade cafe rio sweet pork burrito with lettuce and pico de gallo — Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Burrito

Dressing being poured over a salad — Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Burrito

How to make Cilantro Lime Rice

Cilantro Lime Rice

4.92 from 23 votes

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Cilantro Lime Rice is the perfect side dish for all your Mexican-inspired meals. It also goes great as a filling in a burrito or as a way to bulk up a salad.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total: 30 minutes

Serves:

Ingredients

1 cup rice uncooked, long-grain, white rice
1 teaspoon butter
2 cloves garlic minced
1 teaspoon lime juice freshly squeezed
15 ounces chicken broth
1 cup water
1 tablespoon lime juice freshly squeezed
2 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons cilantro fresh chopped

Instructions

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 the mixture over hot, cooked rice as you fluff the rice with a fork. Mix until fully combined.