Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice

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.

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!