This zesty Spanish rice and beans cooks up in one-pot in under 30 minutes! Packed with flavor, spices, and studded with juicy green olives. Perfect for a weeknight main or a hearty side dish.
Rice and beans are one of my go-to easy dinner recipes, but I guess you wouldn't know it to look at the collection of recipes on this site. Oh, I've got a bunch of rice and bean recipes (check out my jambalaya, Cuban rice and beans, and Brazilian rice and bean bowls), but nothing so quick and unfussy as my typical weeknight rice and beans.
Normally, when I'm throwing rice and beans together on a busy night, the entire dish happens in one pot and takes no more than 30 minutes from finish to start.
I'll season the dish up in any number of ways, depending on what kind of mood I'm in and what ingredients I've got on hand, but it always pretty much comes together the way this particular recipe does. Let's talk about how it's done!
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Olive oil. You can substitute any high-heat oil, but olive will give your Spanish rice and beans the best flavor.
- Onion.
- Red bell pepper. Orange, yellow, or even green bell pepper will work in a pinch.
- Garlic.
- Spices. We're using cumin, paprika, and oregano.
- Vegetable broth. I really like Better Than Bouillon in Roasted Vegetable flavor.
- Basmati rice. Yes, I know this isn't the most authentic choice, but it works really well! Most stores carry it in the international section. You can substitute another variety of white long grain rice if needed.
- Kidney beans. We're using canned (or precooked) beans.
- Tomato paste.
- Salt & pepper.
- Green olives. Go for the pimento-stuffed ones. You can also leave them out if they're not your thing.
- Fresh cilantro. Leave this out or substitute parsley if you're a cilantro-hater.
How It's Made
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll down if you'd prefer to skip right to the recipe!
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place it over medium heat. Add diced onion and bell pepper. Cook the veggies for a few minutes, until they begin to soften up.
- Add your garlic and spices. Continue cooking everything for another minute or so, until the mixture becomes very fragrant. Watch the pot closely and stir it frequently to prevent burning.
- Stir in the broth, rice, beans, and tomato paste.
- Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil, stirring continuously until the tomato paste dissolves.
- Cover the pot and lower the heat. Let the rice cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Tip: If you haven't cooked much rice and don't have a feel for the time and temperature it takes, use a pot with a glass lid. This will enable you to watch the rice and tell when it's done.
- Let the pot sit for about 5 minutes with the lid on when it's done cooking. Then uncover and stir in your salt, olives, and cilantro.
- Your rice and beans is ready to serve! This dish is delicious on it's own or paired up accompaniments like guacamole, black bean empanadas, or vegan tacos.
Shelf-Life & Storage
Leftover Spanish rice and beans will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days or in the freezer for about 3 months.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is!
Absolutely! Black or pinto beans would be great in this recipe.
This dish is very mild, but flavorful. Want some heat? Add cayenne pepper or your favorite hot sauce to taste.
You can use most common rice varieties, but I like basmati best. If you plan on using something different, you'll need to adjust the cook time and the amount of liquid. Refer to the package instructions for your rice.
Yes, but if you do, you'll need to soak and precook them. Try this method. You'll need about 1 ¾ cups of cooked kidney beans.
More Vegan Rice Recipes
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📖 Recipe
One-Pot Spanish Rice & Beans
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 ¼ cups vegetable broth
- 1 ½ cups basmati rice
- 1 (15 ounce or 400 gram) can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- Salt to taste (I used ½ teaspoon)
- 1 cup pimento-stuffed green olives, halved
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a large pot with oil and place it over medium heat.
- When the oil is hot, add the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the pepper softens a bit and the onion becomes translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, cumin, paprika, and oregano. Cook for about 1 minute more, until the mixture becomes very fragrant.
- Add the broth, rice, beans, and tomato paste. Turn up the heat to high and stir to fully dissolve the tomato paste.
- Bring the liquid to a boil, and then lower the heat so that it's just at a low simmer.
- Cover the pot and allow it to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until the rice is tender.
- Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 5 minutes with the lid on.
- Remove the lid and season the rice with salt to taste. Stir in the olives and cilantro.
- Serve.
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This recipe is the most flavorful rice and beans I ever tasted... and here in Detroit we have whats called "Mexican Village" that has several authentic Mexican food restaurants and I've eat at all of them... and this is far better. I season it with "allepo pepper"... has a little kick to it ...but it's sweet. Not exactly Spanish... it grows in Turkey and the upper middle east... but... it works great
I am a personal chef for a family and use some of your recipes regularly. The family likes this recipe a lot - the only change I make is to add some Old Bay or Cayenne as you suggested, to liven it up a bit.
I saved this recipe a full year ago and finally got a chance to make it. Delicious! I have big plans for the leftovers and will be adding it to my regular rotation. A snap to put together after work, as well.
Hello this is delicious but the bottom layer of the rice burned while it was simmering with the lid on, is there a way to prevent this? Thank you!
Usually that means the heat was too high. Try lowering it and/or moving the pot to a smaller burner. I have a very powerful stove, so with some recipes I even find that I have to keep the pot off center on the smallest burner to avoid overheating, so that might be worth a try.
I made this for dinner tonight, and my family loved it. Thanks!
I made my own version with the supplies I had in my kitchen. I have always been afraid of making any sort of Spanish rice because I used to love a boxed brand and I was convinced it was too complicated for me to do.
I just finished wolfing down a bowl of my long white rice pinto onion+oliveless Spanish rice and I needed to review that this was bomb before getting up to get another helping. Thank you for the simple recipe!!
Can you use brown rice?
You can, but you'll need to increase the liquid (I'd go with 3 cups, but I haven't tested this) as well as the cook time in step 6 to around 40 minutes or so.
I just finished eating this, it was delicious and so quick and easy to make. I had everything on hand but the cilantro, will definitely be making this again and will make sure to have cilantro next time.
I wonder if this can be made in a fuzzy rice cooker? How would I adapt it?
I'm afraid I'm not sure! I don't have a rice cooker. My instant pot has a rice cooker function, so if I'm able to experiment with that I'll update the recipe.
Each rice cooker cooks slightly differently. I’ve been using them for decades. But, I’m pretty sure that just adding everything (but cook the veggies first) to the rice cooker and pushing the cook button would work. I will be trying this, so if you’d like, I can let you know.
Just made this and LOVED it. There's something so wholesome about rice and beans.
Thanks for the recipe!
This was super tasty & so easy! Will be checking out other recipes lasso! Thank You
This was delicious and so very easy; thank you! I was already doing brown rice (https://ourbestbites.com/how-to-boil-brown-rice-like-pasta/) when I found this recipe, so I ended up cooking the rice separately and adding it at the end.
Just made it. This dish is delish! I didn’t have veg broth on hand so used chicken broth instead. Turned out great. Looking forward to making chicken burritos with this filling!
I loooove this recipe but would love to be able to freeze it. Any tips?
I'm so glad you're enjoying it! I haven't tried freezing it, but I can't see any reason it wouldn't work. I'd just place it in a sealed container and it'll probably be good for three months or so.
I just made this and it was super easy and fast. Perfect for a weeknight dinner. Plus it made a lot so I have good leftovers for lunch and other meals. Thanks, I’m loving the recipes on this blog!
Yay! Thanks Kathy! I'm so glad you loved this and so glad you're enjoying my recipes!!
Alissa:
Thank you for your recipes. I've tried a few and they're delicious.
Would you please show me how you feature your videos on your website that continuously plays different episodes. I'd like to try that for my website that has a podcast called "Beyond 50 Radio."
Hi Joy! I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes! The video player was provided by my ad network (a company called AdThrive). I think there are a bunch of ways to set up players like this, but aside from getting one from an ad network, I'm not sure of how it's done.