Name: Cheesy Enchilada Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 cups long grain white rice; ½ white onion - chopped; ½ cup black beans (canned); ½ cup corn (canned); 1 ½ cups enchilada sauce; 3 ½ cups water; 3 Tbsp preferred oil (olive, avocado, vegetable); 1 tsp minced garlic; 1 cup mexican cheese - shredded; Optional toppings: fresh cilantro (jalapeno)

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This Cheesy Enchilada Rice recipe is perfect as a side dish for many of your Mexican feasts. It is easy to make and features ingredients like rice, beans, corn, cheese, and more.

Make this amazing rice with our Easy Homemade Enchilada Sauce, it is an excellent red enchilada sauce. Have this rice as a main dish served up with salad or use it as a side dish for meals like Mexican Chicken, Buffalo Chicken Enchiladas, Mexican Impossible Pie, Mexican Casserole, or Enchilada Casserole. You may like to try our very popular Rice Cooker Mexican Rice too.

With a wooden spoon taking a scoop of rice from the skillet.

Helpful Items For This Recipe

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12 Inch Non-stick Deep Frying Pan or Non-Stick Saute Pan with Lid

Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker

Pure Avocado Oil, for baking, high-heat cooking, and frying

What is in Enchilada Rice?

Here are the ingredients of our mild enchilada rice. This can be used in multiple recipes and can be changed up as you like! It can also be made as instant pot enchilada rice (see instructions below).

Additions to the recipe can be brown rice instead of white rice, green bell peppers, red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, and ancho chili powder. Feel free to add any of these items to amp up your enchilada rice.

Besides the fresh jalapeno and cilantro, you can also serve it with sliced or diced avocado, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

An alternative is to use green enchilada sauce too.

Want the dish to be vegan? Then add vegan cheese to the top or omit it. This enchilada rice skillet is also gluten-free. It can be an entirely vegetarian meal on its own.

Ingredients

Preferred oil (olive, avocado, vegetable) – all of these add just a touch of different flavors.

Garlic – a standard for so many recipes; use more or less as you like.

White onion – chopped into small pieces, a sweet onion works nicely in this dish.

Long-grain white rice – try it with other kinds of rice like brown or basmati too.

Water – make sure you add the proper amount of water to make sure your rice has cooked.

Black beans (canned, drained, and rinsed) – They are a must here, and you can surely use more than the recipe asks for as they are full of protein and so good in this recipe.

Corn (canned or thawed frozen) – I love the sweetness that corn adds to this rice dish.

Mild enchilada sauce – make our homemade sauce or purchase your favorite store-bought brand.

Mexican cheese – shredded; you don’t need a lot as it melts out nicely but use a brand and cheese combination that you like; a little spicy like Monterey Jack is good.

Optional toppings – fresh cilantro, jalapeno fresh or jarred.

How to Make Enchilada Rice

This is an easy one-pot meal that can be made in 30 minutes. It works great as a side dish, too, or put the enchilada rice into a burrito; so good.

In a large, deep skillet, begin to heat oil over medium heat.

Add chopped onion and minced garlic. Saute for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is tender.

Add rice and water to the skillet, cover, and lower the heat to a medium-low. Cook until the rice has absorbed the water and is tender.

Stir in enchilada sauce, black beans, and corn. Simmer for another 5 minutes.

Top with shredded cheese, turn off the heat and cover so that the cheese melts.

Once the cheese has melted, top it with fresh cilantro and jalapeno slices, if desired.

How To Make Instant Pot Enchilada Rice

Overhead in a skillet with an empty jar of enchilada sauce.

Switching the enchilada rice to an instant pot recipe is easy. Let me give you quick instructions on what to do. The instructions for both methods will be found in the recipe card.

Have all your ingredients prepped and mise en place to start.

Add the onion and garlic, and saute for 5 minutes.

Add the rice, water, corn, and black beans, and then the enchilada sauce, and stir. Attach the lid, set the valve to SEALING, manually set it and cook on HIGH pressure for 5 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 7 minutes, and then do a quick pressure release.

Initially, when you remove the lid, it may seem a bit watery but once stirred and let sit for a few minutes, it will thicken up.

Add the cheese, close the lid and let it melt. When serving, add the chopped cilantro and jalapeno and season to taste.

What to Have Enchilada Rice With?

This recipe for Cheesy Enchilada Rice is great to have on its own, with a salad, or served with the following:

Burrito – Serve it as a stuffing for a burrito or in the bottom of our Healthy Chicken Burrito Bowl. Add the toppings you like, and bam, you have an amazing meal.

Tacos – Serve it alongside a great taco like our Easy Fast Rotisserie Chicken Tacos. It makes for the perfect side dish. Or try it with our easy Baked Chicken Flautas (Rolled Tacos); you will be calling in friends for this fun meal.

Enchiladas – This is perfect with actual enchiladas like our Cheesy Ground Turkey Enchiladas. This recipe is so delicious you will want to add it to your normal rotation of meals.

Square overhead photo of skillet enchilada rice with a wooden spoon in it.

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