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Craving that satisfying flavorful rice from Chipotle but want to save dollars and eat healthier this new year? I totally get it! The good news is that you really don’t need to spend $15 or more to get a delicious meal with that famous rice!
The Chipotle rice has been all the rage for who knows how long, but I guarantee with this recipe you can make it at home and even better! Our Chipotle-Style Cilantro-Lime Rice recipe will only require a handful of ingredients and tools to make and it can easily be prepared in bulk any day of the week! This easy rice recipe will be a wonderful way to switch up your simple Steamed White Rice and you’ll be able to pair it with so many main dishes to mix and match some exciting new meals - I’ll give a variety of serving suggestions at the bottom of this post!
Before the new year, I had been experimenting with different rice dishes as I started to eat more rice with my meals. Rice is such a handy ingredient because it’s so cheap but can be really enhanced in so many ways, as I’m learning day by day! If you want to cross off making your very own Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice off of your recipe bucket list, then you’ve got the chance to do exactly that as part of my Live to Cook one-month challenge! You can get started on your cooking journey with this recipe and so much more by downloading this free challenge when you sign up for my newsletter!
To discover how to make this delicious Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice that’s better than what you get at Chipotle, be sure to watch the video! Please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already and hit don’t forget to press the bell button so you’re notified when all of my video recipes go live! I truly enjoy creating videos to go along with the written recipes to provide you all the tools you need for amazing results! Let’s get cooking!
What Is The Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice?▼
The Cilantro-Lime Rice is labeled as “white rice” when you order at Chipotle. It’s the standard white rice option and this is available as the base for burrito bowls, as a filling for burritos, and served on the side with quesadillas. I’ve actually only eaten at Chipotle twice, but from what I can recall the rice is pretty tasty! To be honest with you I didn’t find it that special, I truly believe making this copycat recipe at home will be truly amazing!
To give you the most accurate information about Chipotle’s Cilantro Rice, I went on to the official website to see what they have to say about it. I didn’t realize that you couldn’t order the rice on its own! It MUST be accompanied with one of the meals I described above. From doing some research on the Internet, the most you can do is add extra rice, and if you add a note to your online delivery or if you order in person, you can probably request for that rice to be added on the side. They may charge you extra.
Chipotle is proud of their use of “53 real ingredients.” On this page regarding the white rice, what makes the rice so special is steaming the rice with a bay leaf, then throwing in lime and lemon juices, finishing it off with freshly chopped cilantro.
Why You’ll Choose Homemade Cilantro-Lime Rice over Takeout!
- Quick: The whole process to make this Cilantro-Lime Rice dish from start to finish should take a maximum of 30 minutes! If you’re using pre-cooked rice, that time will be cut in half!
- Simple: This fragrant fluffy rice recipe is really easy to make, so you can decide to make this side dish last-minute! If you’re whipping up a full Mexican meal, this can be made during inactive time of other components.
- Fresh & customizable: Let’s be honest that we don’t really know what’s going on with the Chipotle rice. As mentioned above, Chipotle claims that they only use real ingredients, and that the rice is freshly steamed at each location in the morning. I don’t want a lawsuit on me so let’s take their “fresh” claim at face value, but at the end of the day they are following their specific blueprint to make the rice and not yours. When you make your own Cilantro-Lime Rice, you can make it on the spot whenever you feel like it, and it will be even fresher! Yes, I have an appreciation for fast food (check out all of my fast-food inspired recipes on the blog, including my McDonald’s Sausage McMuffin and Better than Pizza Hut Stuffed Crust for starters!), but nothing beats the knowledge of exactly what’s going on in your food and having full control of the ingredient amounts and the quality.
The Best Type of Rice for Cilantro-Lime Rice
Any standard white long-grain or short-grain can work well with Chipotle-Style Cilantro-Lime Rice. As stated on their ingredient list page, Chipotle uses long-grain rice. Two excellent options for long grain rice include basmati rice or white jasmine rice. I typically like to use basmati rice when making rice dishes like this because it’s nice and fluffy. Check out my full guide to cooking rice here for more information.
To be totally honest, whatever rice you have on hand will work well here! As I mention in my top 5 tips to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun! free guide, if you have rice that’s been sitting around in a while, please use it and save yourself the trip and the money from going out! Of course what I’m suggesting will yield the closest results to the rice you get at Chipotle, but using other types of rice will still be delicious and that’ll make the dish unique to you! If you are following this recipe with another type of rice, then be sure to let me know what you used in the comments and how it turned out!
Can You Make this Cilantro Lime Rice with Brown Rice?▼
If you want, you can certainly substitute white rice with brown rice and follow the rest of the recipe as directed. However, the nuttiness of the brown rice will affect the flavor, but your dish will still be fabulous!
How much cooked rice does Uncooked rice Yield?▼
With long-grain white rice, generally 1 cup of uncooked rice will yield 3 cups of cooked rice. To gauge portion sizes, I recommend you factor the amount of cooked rice you want to serve since that will be what you’re actually going to portion out! From the cooked amount you want, work backward with the amount of raw rice.
Do You Use the Cilantro stems?▼
The cilantro stems are delicious, unlike with the stems of fresh parsley! You can use all parts of cilantro to ensure no waste and lots of flavor!
Do You Really Need to Rinse Rice before cooking?▼
Well, let’s see what happens of you don’t rinse the rice. Rice can contain water-soluble contaminants like arsenic, lead and cadmium which can have health related side-effects down the line. Similarly, heavy metals can contaminate the water used to cultivate the rice, and this factor really depends on the source of the rice you are using. Heavy consumption of such contaminants can increase the risk of cancer and organ damage and even poisoning among young children or babies.
Not washing may also let particles like little rocks, husks or dirt in your cooked meal which I’m pretty sure won’t be a pleasant experience.
So what are you going to do?
I don’t LIke Cilantro! Can I use another herb?▼
No, nothing really replaces cilantro unfortunately, as this is a staple ingredient for CILANTRO Lime Rice! I have plenty of other rice recipes on the blog, so maybe you’d like to have one of those!
Can I use pre-cooked rice for this recipe?▼
If you have plain leftover rice already in the fridge then I actually recommend you use that instead! As you’ll see in the recipe, we’ll need to cook the rice plain first and then finish it off with our goodies. Using old rice will save plenty of time as well!
Tools Needed for Chipotle-Style Cilantro-Lime Rice
Ingredients for Healthy Cilantro-Lime Rice
Get all measurements and the complete recipe instructions by scrolling down to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD! You can adjust the recipe based on whether you want to make this rice for only one meal or to cook a large batch for the week - all the specific quantities are automatically adjusted for you!
- Rice: Your favorite type of rice will be excellent here. For best results, use white long grain rice, however, medium grain rice can work too. I used basmati rice to replicate the Chipotle cilantro-lime rice recipe.
- Water: To cook the rice.
- Bay leaf: Similar to the Chipotle recipe, we’ll be steaming our rice with a bay leaf.
- Lime juice: The juice of half a lime to really make this rice fresh and flavorful! You can also have a lime wedge saved for garnish.
- Lemon juice: Combined with lime juice!
- Cilantro: A bunch of freshly chopped cilantro.
How to Make Mexican Cilantro-Lime Rice
Rinse the rice well to wash off the excess starch and add to a pot/saucepan and add twice the amount of water. For 1 Cup of rice, add 2 Cups of water. I tend to add just a bit less than 2 cups.
Add the bay leaf and a pinch of salt.
Bring the water up to a boil on medium-high heat. Then turn heat down to low and cover with a lid, leaving a small slit open for steam to escape and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.
Once the rice is ready, let the rice cool down for a few minutes and then transfer to a bowl large enough to mix the rice. Add the lime juice, lemon juice and cilantro and mix well with a spoon or a fork.
Serve warm and enjoy!
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Make restaurant-quality cilantro lime rice at home with this healthy, easy recipe. Fresh, fluffy, and full of flavor — it's the perfect vegetarian side dish ready in minutes.
Stovetop
Rate this recipe ✦
5 min
Prep
20 min
Cook
25 min
Total
4
servings
makes 3 cups
easy
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the rice well to wash off the starch and add to a pot/saucepan and add twice the amount of water. For 1 cup of rice, add 2 cups of water, I tend to add just a bit less than 2 cups. Add the bay leaf and a pinch of salt.
Rinse the rice well to wash off the starch and add to a pot/saucepan and add twice the amount of water. For 1 cup of rice, add 2 cups of water, I tend to add just a bit less than 2 cups. Add the bay leaf and a pinch of salt.
- 2
Bring the water up to a boil on medium-high heat. Then turn heat down to low, cover, leaving a small slit open for steam to escape and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.
Bring the water up to a boil on medium-high heat. Then turn heat down to low, cover, leaving a small slit open for steam to escape and cook for 15-20 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.
- 3
Once the rice is ready, let the rice cool down for a few minutes and then transfer to a bowl large enough to mix the rice. Add the lime juice, lemon juice and cilantro and mix well. Serve warm.
Once the rice is ready, let the rice cool down for a few minutes and then transfer to a bowl large enough to mix the rice. Add the lime juice, lemon juice and cilantro and mix well. Serve warm.
Nutrition per serving
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
What to Pair with Cilantro-Lime Rice
As we know, Chipotle is a Mexican fast food chain and you get Mexican mains to go with the rice. Here are some Mexican main dish recipes I have on my blog that will give you a complete meal:
- DIY Taco Casserole
- Ultimate Beef Burrito Bowl
- One-Pot Chicken Chili
- The Best Instant Pot Beef Chili
- Crispy Chicken & Shrimp Tacos
- Crispy Cheesy Beef Quesadillas
- BBQ Chicken Quesadillas
- Grilled Cajun-Spiced Shrimp Lettuce Wraps
- Mexican Bacon & Shrimp Wrap
However, you don’t need to limit your options to only Mexican dishes! This rice would pair really well with all types of protein! Try accompanying this rice with Crispy-Skinned Blackened Salmon, Grilled Chicken Breast, or even replace the simple rice in my Deconstructed Chicken Tikka Bowl. It will also be amazing with some vegetables and pork carnitas, such as at Chipotle. If you want to add some more flavor to the rice, add in some lime zest and/or olive oil.
Storing Cilantro-Lime Rice
This is the perfect rice dish for meal prep as it will last a while in the fridge and it’s easy to reheat! All you need to do is allow the rice to come to room temperature, then transfer the contents in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can keep it in the fridge for about 4 days. You can freshen the texture of the rice up at each meal by sprinkling some teaspoons of fresh lime juice and adding some freshly chopped cilantro!
How to Reheat Cilantro-Lime Rice▼
Make sure your rice is in a microwave-safe container, bowl or plate. Simply place it in the microwave for one to two minutes, depending on how much rice you would like to reheat. Stir occasionally to ensure that it is evenly warmed through.
Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments! If you’ve tried this recipe, be sure to post it on social media and tag it with #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
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