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Traditional, vibrant, and easy to make yellow Spanish rice that is the perfect way to jazz up your Latin dinners!
Yellow Spanish Rice aka Arroz Amarillo is one the biggest staples of Hispanic and Latin cooking! Traditional, vibrant, and easy to make yellow Spanish rice is the perfect way to jazz up your Latin dinners! I personally love having Spanish yellow rice with Dominican Style Pollo Guisado (Stew Chicken), or even with Cuban Ropa Vieja!ย
Like many traditional Hispanic and Latin dishes, thereโs a million and one ways of making this delight. One of the best ways is to infuse the rice with saffron, which will give it its iconic vibrant yellow color and flavor. However, saffron can be expensive and hard to find. Growing up, my grandmother used alternatives, which always resulted in yellow Spanish rice that was insanely delicious. Regardless of how you make it, Spanish yellow rice is the perfect way to switch it up. Itโs pretty easy to make, and all you need are a few simple ingredients.
Ingredients for Yellow Spanish Rice
- Long Grain White Rice (this is my favorite kind to use) or Medium Grain White Riceย
- Minced White Onionsย
- Minced Yellow and Orange Bell Peppers – their color will disappear into the rice while adding a ton of flavorย
- Chicken Bouillon – this will deepen the flavor of the rice, but you can skip entirely if you prefer to make this rice vegetarian or veganย
- Sazรณn con Azafran – a cheaper alternative to saffron that still gives you the same bright and vibrant colorย
- Vegetable Oilย
Depending on where youโre from determines how exactly you make your yellow Spanish rice. In some countries, people start off by using chicken stock and saffron, which is honestly my favorite way of making this rice. You can also use bacon oil, or rendered fat from chorizo to infuse a smoky flavor into the rice. You can even make this dish vegan by using vegetable stock! Whenever my mom isย in a hurry, she simply boils water and adds a sazรณn packet. And, viola! Yellow Spanishย Rice is served!ย
Another easy hack for making yellow rice is by using an Instapot. Iโve detailed all of the tip, tricks, and the recipe right here: Instant Pot Yellow Rice
Regardless of how you make your Yellow Spanish Rice, always remember to have fun with this dish. You can make it as plain or as robust as you want to! Nonetheless, here are some tried and true tips to getting the perfect Yellow Rice no matter how you make it!
Tips and Tricks to Making The Best Yellow Spanish Rice
Tip#1: Infuse as much flavor as you can to give the rice flavor dimension. This means either using chicken stock or vegetable stock as your base. If you donโt feel like using stock, then be sure to incorporate other forms of flavor like fresh onions, peppers, and garlic.
Tip#2: If youโre adding onions, peppers, and garlic into your Yellow Spanish Rice, make sure to finely mince the onions and peppers. You want to mince them small enough so that they disappear into the rice as they cook. If you have picky eaters in the house, the smaller you cut the veggies, the better! Another trick to making sure that the onions and peppers melt away into the rice, is to blend them in aย food processor so that theyโre extra fine. If possible, always opt to use yellow or orange bell peppers when making this dish so that they blend and melt seamlessly into the rice.
Tip#3: The secret to Yellow Spanish Rice is saffron! However, saffron can either be hard to find or insanely expensive! Feel free to use โSazรณn con Azafranโ (Sazรณn with Saffron) to get that quintessential vibrant yellow color. If you use Sazรณn con Achiote (Sazรณn with Achiote/Annatto) your rice will come out more on the orange side vs. yellow side
Tip#4: If you want your rice to have a smokey undertone and flavor, frying up bacon or chorizo will do the trick! Simply fry up the bacon or chorizo, and use the rendered fat/oil as the base of flavor for your rice!
Rice will always be one of my favorite side dishes. In fact, I love it so much that I can truly eat it on its own. A few other classic Latin rice dishes that I love are: Cuban Style Congri, Dominican Style Moro de Habichuelas, and Arroz con Fideos. Donโt forget that every rice dish needs a delicious protein. A few of my favorites are: Dominican Carne Guisada, Steak Fajitas, and Peruvian Chicken!
Ingredients
- 3 cups White Rice
- 1 White Onion
- ยผ Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 1 tbs Sazรณn Azafran (saffron)
- 2 tbs Sopita
- 3 cup Water
Instructions
- Finely mince onions, peppers, and garlic. Set aside.ย
- In a large pot over medium flame, add olive oil along with onions, peppers, and garlic. Saute veggies until soft and translucent. Then add chicken bouillon, or your preferred seasoning salt. Mix until well combined. Then add Sazรณn con Azafran/Saffron and continue to mix Afterwards, add 3 cups of water and stir.
- Once water begins to boil, add 3 cups of washed long grain white rice and mix. Let water and rice boil together until water dries up
- As soon as the water dries up, mix rice and cover with lid. Reduce heat to lowest possible setting
- After 25 minutes, uncover rice and fluff up before serving
Notes
If rice is undercooked, add ยผ cup more of water and cover with lid. Cook for additional 10 mins. If you'd like to make this dish Vegan, use kosher salt and vegetable stock to flavor the rice.