Easy One Pot Mexican Rice with Black Beans and Corn (Vegan) (2024)

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A quick, simple and delicious recipe, this Easy One Pot Mexican Rice with Black Beans and Corn is wonderful as a main course in its own right or as a side dish to all your Mexican favourites. It’s gluten free, dairy free and vegan too!

Not all my recipes have a story, but this one does!! My lovely blogging friend Vicki Psarias from the awesome parenting and lifestyle blog Honest Mum (and also author of no. 1 bestselling book, Mumboss:The Honest Mum’s Guide to Surviving and Thriving at Work and at Home*) has recently become vegan. In one of our many Twitter chats she asked me why I didn’t make more vegan recipes on my blog… I assured her I did have quite a few, but of course there is always room for more!

And so Vicki challenged me to make a vegan recipe especially for her and dedicate it to her on my blog. And I loved the idea! Vicki has been so fabulously supportive of me and my blogging career since my very early days of blogging: she always has an encouraging word to say and has often helped me with her kind words and wise advice (it was her who first encouraged me to use my face rather than my logo in my social profiles, for example.) Dedicating a recipe to her is a lovely way to say ‘thank you’ for all her support and kindness over the years.

I sent Vicki a selection of ideas to choose from and she opted for this Vegan Mexican Rice. And then, well me being me, I somehow turned her request into a massive vegan Mexican feast – enough food to feed half of Mexico probably! (There’s a lot more out in the kitchen, you can’t see in these photos!!)

My Easy One Pot Mexican Rice is made by frying up some veggies and spices, adding rice, passata, black beans and corn and simmering for 10-15 minutes until the rice is done to your liking. It’s that simple.

My vegan Mexican rice would of course make a lovely side dish to all your Mexican favourites, but I chose to make this easy rice dish the star of the show and serve it with some delicious vegan sides instead: Easy Mexican Roasted Corn, Mexican Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes and my Homemade Chunky Guacamole.

So here you go Vicki – I know you asked for me to dedicate one dish to you but I’ve gone one step further and dedicated a whole big fat vegan Mexican feast to ya!! Hope you like it 😀

To make this Easy One Pot Mexican Rice, I have used black beans which I love and which are super good for you, but if you are not a fan you can substitute for kidney beans, pinto beans or any other beans you like. (And if you are not a fan of beans just leave them out!)

I have also included corn in this recipe. You can use tinned or frozen corn to make this super quick and easy, but if you are making the roasted corn side dish (recipe coming soon, but basically it’s the spice mix from my Mexican Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes, slathered on corn and roasted for 15 mins at 200C – the same temperature as the sweet potato, or grilled on the BBQ), just simply grab one of the cobs and stand it on its end, then using a knife slice of the kernels and add them to the rice. Extra deliciousness for hardly any extra effort!!

All of these dishes are also delicious the next day cold – so perfect for meal prep (just make sure you put plenty of lime juice in the guac and cover it well to stop it going brown too quickly – some people also swear by putting the stone back into the guacamole to keep it longer – I’m a bit sceptical about this one, but hey – worth a try!!)

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5 from 11 votes

Ingredients

Metric - US Customary

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion diced
3 garlic cloves crushed or grated
1 teaspoon cumin (I use whole cumin seeds, but ground cumin is fine too)
3 teaspoons smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chilli flakes (more if you like things hot, or fresh chilli)
1 red, green or yellow (bell) pepper diced
300 g basmati or long grain rice
350 ml passata (or 400g/14oz tin chopped tomatoes)
350 ml water (use the empty passata jar to measure)
Salt and pepper to taste
100 g corn tinned or frozen (or roasted corn on the cob)
400 g tin black beans drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons fresh coriander (cilantro) chopped

To garnish (all optional)

Extra fresh coriander (cilantro) chopped
Spring onions (scallions) sliced
Fresh chillies sliced

To serve (all optional)

Mexican Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes
Mexican Roasted Corn on the Cob
Chunky Guacamole

Instructions

Grab a deep wide frying pan, or a wide shallow saucepan and add the onions and oil. Fry gently for 3 minutes with the lid on until softened but not brown. Add the garlic, chilli, spices and peppers and fry for a further 2 minutes with the lid off, stirring occasionally.
Add the rice, passata, water, salt and pepper. Stir to mix thoroughly then bring to the boil. Turn down to a low heat, cover with a lid and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Remove the lid and add the corn and black beans, stir and replace the lid. Cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until the rice is done to your liking.
If the dish gets too dry before the rice is done enough for you, add an extra splash of water.
Serve garnished with coriander/spring onions/chillies. Serve with sweet potato cubes, roasted sweetcorn and guacamole for a vegan Mexican Feast!!

Notes

Serves 4 as a main, 6-8 as a side dish

Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

Nutrition Facts

Easy One Pot Mexican Rice with Black Beans and Corn (Vegan)

Amount Per Serving

Calories 448Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value*

Fat 1g2%

Saturated Fat 0g0%

Cholesterol 0mg0%

Sodium 421mg18%

Potassium 977mg28%

Carbohydrates 95g32%

Fiber 11g46%

Sugar 7g8%

Protein 14g28%

Vitamin A 1375IU28%

Vitamin C 40mg48%

Calcium 96mg10%

Iron 5mg28%

* % Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet

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