When it comes to side dishes, you don’t want them to take longer or be more involved than the main event, which is why I often avoid rice dishes that have a ton of components or need a lot of tending. To be honest, when it comes to Spanish Rice, I’ve usually relied on a boxed mix rather than making it myself… until this version came along, that is.

See, this version uses a couple of tricks (like minute rice!) so it will only take you about five minutes to make and isn’t any harder than boiling a pot of water. It’s no fuss, no fail, and if you’ve shied away from instant or minute rice in the past, there’s just no reason to keep your distance.

For whatever reason, instant or minute rice is kind of divisive. People say — and I’ve definitely said it too — Oh, I don’t use minute rice. But why not? It’s just rice that’s been precooked and then dehydrated so it cooks up in an instant… It’s just rice and it’s not a shortcut to be ashamed of. We all need some time savers in the kitchen here and there.

Or maybe it’s more that it’s easy to overcook and can turn out mushy. But I’ve got a trick for that, so don’t you worry — we’ll get to that in a minute.

First, let’s talk about the ingredients. You don’t need many — just olive oil, that minute rice, some chicken broth, olive oil, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and salt.

This goes VERY quick. First, you want to heat the olive oil and the spices in your pan and cook them until they’re fragrant, but make sure you’re stirring constantly to keep them from burning. You’re “blooming” the spices here, so things taste extra flavorful even though this rice only takes like five minutes.

Then, you’ll stir in the tomato paste and the chicken broth (yes, veggie broth or even water works fine) and bring it all to a boil. And here’s the trick:

Stir the rice in, cover it, and turn off the heat. Then you just leave the rice to sit for five minutes and you come back and fluff it with a fork. Because you’re not boiling that rice and just letting it cook in the residual heat of the liquid, it still has a firm bite to it, just like you want Spanish Rice to have. This is never mushy, always delicious, and so very simple to make.