This post may contain affiliate links. See our disclosure policy.
This Cilantro Lime Rice copycat is the perfect side dish for all your Mexican-inspired meals. Great as a filling in a burrito or salad.
Cilantro Lime Rice Copycat
I don’t know about you, but our family is obsessed with Cafe Rio and Costa Vida. The key ingredient to any dish at these restaurants is their tasty cilantro lime rice. If you are looking for a new, delicious side dish, then this Cilantro Lime Rice recipe is your answer. You can have delicious Cafe Rio style rice in no time! It is bursting with flavor and really brings your Mexican-inspired meal together.
How to Make Cilantro Lime Rice
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!
Recipe Tips and Tricks
Here are a few tips to make sure it ends up perfect every time.
- 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.
- For a little extra flavor, sauté a little finely dice onion in some butter in the saucepan before adding the remaining ingredients.
- To make Instant Pot Cilantro Lime rice, combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 teaspoon lime, chicken broth, salt, and water to the Instant Pot and follow the instructions to make our easy Instant Pot rice. Continue with Step 2 in the recipe below.
Frequently Asked Questions
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in the microwave by heating for a 30 seconds at a time, stirring each time. You can also re-heat by placing the rice in a large non-stick skillet with a little oil or butter and heating on the stove top until heated through.
Yes, you can freeze the leftovers. Simply place leftover rice in a freezer-safe container in the freeze for up to 5 months. If re-heating frozen leftovers, thaw the rice in the fridge overnight before re-heating.
Read More: 33+ Easy Dinner Ideas
What Pairs Well With Cilantro Lime Rice?
Cilantro lime rice pairs well with so many delicious dishes including black beans, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, carne asada, fajitas and more! Here are some more of our favorite recipes to serve with cilantro lime rice:
More Cafe Rio Copycat Recipes
This easy cilantro lime rice recipe originally came from our collection of Cafe Rio inspired dishes. Cafe Rio is a beloved Tex-Mex chain that serves burritos, burrito bowls, 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!
Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice
Video
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
- salt (to taste)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon lime juice freshly squeezed
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons cilantro fresh chopped
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 teaspoon lime, chicken broth, salt, and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. 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.
Notes
- Make sure you use fresh cilantro! Dried cilantro just won’t cut it. Using fresh gives the rice an incredible flavor.
- For a little extra flavor, sauté a little finely dice onion in some butter in the saucepan before adding the remaining ingredients.
- To make Instant Pot Cilantro Lime rice, combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 teaspoon lime, chicken broth, salt, and water to the Instant Pot and follow the instructions to make our easy Instant Pot rice. Continue with Step 2 in the recipe below.
WAYYY too much liquid! Rice had a good flavor, but was really mushy even after cooking longer. I should have read the comments, or gone with my instinct to keep the normal 1:2 ratio.
in your instant pot suggestion it says to add broth and water…is that how much water to rice ratio for the instant pot…as in is it the same or do I decrease the water amount?
Use the same amount of water and broth in the instant pot as listed in the recipe.
There is way to much water in this recipe. It made the rice bland and mushy. I skipped the water and just used two cups of chicken broth. Came out perfect!
I agree Sami. It’s a great recipe when using the regular 2 cups of liquid to 1 cup rice ratio. I tripled it and used 4 cups chicken broth and 2 cups water and it was really good!
Thank you for the comment on the chicken broth and water. I thought it seemed like too much liquid and decided to check the comments for confirmation. I did just the chicken broth and the rice turned out fantastic.
I wish I would have seen the comments. This recipe has so much potential, but definitely way too much liquid. I should have followed my gut. Ours was mushy, yuck! I’ll try again with less liquid. Also recommend that the recipe is updated for less liquid.
My favorite rice ever!! It’s light, fluffy, & I love the flavor! We eat it with everything!
I make this over any other rice! We love it & my kids love it, so it’s a win, win! It tastes great with many things!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
This taste even better than the cafe rio rice and bean. So unbelievably easy to make too. I prefer this recipe over cafe rio anyday.
We’ve been using your cafe rio beans and rice recipe for a while now, and I finally came on here to write the recipe down… and where’d the beans go?! They’re so good! Please help me find your beans recipe. I can’t find it anywhere.
Thank you! Emily
Not to worry! We still have the black beans recipe, we just moved it to its own post! Here is the link: https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/black-beans/
Thank you so much!!! Can’t wait to try some of your other delicious recipes! Keep up the good work!
I will definitely be making this again! Delicious!
These rice and beans were delicious! And my toddler just ate it up!
I love cilantro lime rice! Living in SoCal we eat it often! Thanks for the great recipe and reminder I need to make this again soon!
Love this side dish idea! We are a family that loves cilantro so I am always looking for recipes that have cilantro. Thanks for the great recipe!
This cafe-Rio cilantro lime rice and black beans sounds delicious and makes a wonderful dinner idea!
This is so delicious! The whole family loved it. Thanks again for yet another awesome recipe.