The Best Homemade Spanish Rice I've Ever Made

This y’all.

This is the best homemade Spanish Rice I’ve ever made.

Not to mention, easy!

It’s Spanish Rice done right!

Homemade Spanish Rice

Ingredients:

4 bacon slices

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cup diced green pepper

1 16 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 8 ounce can tomato sauce

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 1/3 cup long grain white rice

1/2 cup shredded cheese

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and crumble. Set aside.

Save 2 1/2 tbsp of drippings.

Grease 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1/2 tbsp of bacon drippings.

Pour remaining 2 tbsp in the bottom of casserole.

In hot drippings, saute onion and peppers until tender (5 minutes).

Drain the canned diced tomato liquid into a measuring cup and add enough water to make 1 3/4 cup.

Add drained diced tomatoes to onion mixture, along with the 1 3/4 cup liquid, tomato sauce, sugar and salt.

Heat to boiling.

Remove from heat and stir in rice.

Cover and bake 35 minutes. If not quite done after cook time, add 5-10 minutes, being careful not to burn.

Once cooked, fluff with fork and sprinkle with shredded cheese.

Bake 5 more minutes

Garnish with bacon.

Notes:

* You can use sweet red peppers in place of the green.

* Don’t omit the sugar. It cuts the tomato acidity and gives the dish a smooth taste.

* Using the bacon drippings to grease casserole dish with and saute veggies in gives the dish an amazing complexity.

* To test if the dish is done at 35 minutes, take off the lid and use a fork to grab a small bite of rice. If the rice had any stiffness left, or crunch, cook a bit more, checking every 5 minutes with this method.

[Tweet “Spanish Rice done right! Get to cookin’!”]

I make this dish a couple of times a year.

I make it when I need comfort food (Tex-Mex is my love language).

I make it for our Christmas Eve meal (we do a traditional South Texas tamale meal).

I make it when asked to bring a dish to a potluck.

It’s simple, yet elegant.

It’s the best Spanish Rice I’ve ever made, y’all.

Tired of searching for a popular OMT! recipe?

Rest yer weary fingers.

Except to click on the image.

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COME ON!

YOU CAN DO IT!