A simple and really delicious Rice Pilaf recipe – using ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen!
As bloggers and self-proclaimed foodies, my husband Jack and I love to cook and share recipes for some fairly elaborate dishes here on A Family Feast.
Sometimes we’re encouraging you – our wonderful readers – to try a new, exotic ingredient; other times we’re hoping to teach you a new cooking technique; and still other times we guide you step-by-step through a recipe that results in a wonderfully impressive dish!
But I actually get equally excited when we can share homemade versions of classic recipes with you – like today’s Rice Pilaf. Recipes like this are so easy and delicious – but better yet – you probably already have all of the ingredients in your kitchen cabinet!
And, if you are like me, I often cooked the rice pilaf that came out of a box with a pre-packaged seasoning mix. Then Jack showed me how easy it is to make homemade rice pilaf – and I’ll never buy a boxed rice pilaf mix ever again!
How do you make Rice Pilaf?
Rice pilaf is, by definition, rice that has been cooked in chicken stock or another flavored broth. To mirror the popular boxed variety, we’ve add pan-toasted orzo pasta to our Rice Pilaf as well.
Combine the rice, orzo, and broth in a Dutch oven, along with sautéed onions, herbs and seasonings – then bake in the oven until the rice and pasta are cooked through and tender.
Making Rice Pilaf at home is so simple – and the flavors are just so much better than any boxed rice pilaf!
This Rice Pilaf recipe is actually one of the very first dishes that Jack learned to prepare back in culinary school many years ago. It’s a wonderful, classic dish that anyone can make at home –and one that everyone should have in their recipe collection!
This post originally appeared on A Family Feast in June 2013. We’ve updated the photos.
You may enjoy these other pilaf recipes:
- Forbidden Rice Pilaf
- Curried Rice Pilaf With Red Lentils
- Quinoa Pilaf
- Garlic Lemon Shrimp with Savory Root Vegetable Rice Pilaf
Rice Pilaf
A simple and really delicious Rice Pilaf recipe – using ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen!
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 10 1x
- Category: Side Dish
- Method: roasted
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked orzo pasta
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
2 large cloves garlic finely minced
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 1/2 cups chicken stock
(Optional) Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a Dutch oven over medium heat, dry toast the raw orzo stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until a light walnut color (3 to 4 minutes). Remove orzo to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the olive oil and butter. Once the butter is melted, add the onions and rice. Sauté for five minutes stirring occasionally or until onions are translucent. If the rice starts to get brown, remove from heat before you proceed to next step.
- Add garlic and stir for one minute. Then add bay, thyme, pepper and browned orzo. Stir and add chicken stock. Be careful – when the stock hits the pan, it will bubble up.
- Stir once, cover and place in the oven for 30 minutes untouched.
- Remove from the oven and discard bay leaves. Fluff rice with a wooden spoon and taste. Add salt to taste, as needed. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley, if desired.
Notes
Depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock you use for cooking, the addition of some additional salt may or may not be needed.
This rice pilaf recipe was absolutely delicious! And I had everything in my pantry.
Wouldn’t change a thing . This will be a new favorite.
Thanks Carol!
Can I use medium grain rice instead of long grain?
Hi Ann – I think a medium grain rice should still work fine. You may need to adjust the cooking time a bit.
I have made this a few times already and this is by far the best rice pilaf recipe ever. It reminds me so much of my moms pilaf! But i have a question. I am planning to make this recipe for my sons birthday party coming up. Can anyone reccomend the measurments for around 40-50 servings? Thanks in advance!
Hi Cherie, this is Jack. Appreciate the kind words on the recipe.
For 40-50 adults I would do the following:
Orzo 4 cups
Olive oil 1/2 cup
butter 1 1/2 cups
onion 8 cups (2 quarts)
rice 8 cups (2 quarts)
garlic 16 cloves
bay leaves 16
thyme 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon
pepper 2 teaspoons
stock 7 quarts
For 40-50 children, I would cut that in half
Orzo 2 cups
olive oil 1/4 cup
butter 3/4 cup
onions 4 cups (1 quart)
Rice 4 cups (1 quart)
garlic 8 cloves
bay leaves 8
thyme 2 teaspoon
pepper 1 teaspoon
stock 3 1/2 quarts
If it is a mix of adults and children, I would split the difference. Good luck.
I am looking for a recipe that uses vermicelli with the rice, any ideas. My sister made it that way for years and she is gone now and no one wrote the recipe down.
Hi Hane – You could use vermicelli in place of the orzo in this recipe. I imagine your sister broke it up into smaller pieces – you would brown those in a pan just like we do with the orzo. Hope that helps!
This was great! Bonus: my 2 year old loves it and it freezes well. We put the left overs in snack baggies in the freezer and just reheat in the micro for him. Thanks!
Great idea Eleni! So glad you all enjoyed the recipe!
I found your recipe on Pinterest and just made it – oh my word – a new favorite! My kids scarfed it down! It’s perfectly moist and full of flavor. Definitely going on the weekly menu!! Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to write to us Claire! So glad you all enjoyed the recipe!
Please forgive me if I missed this but how many people would this feed as a side dish? I’d like to serve at a family reunion but don’t know if I need to double or triple (or quadruple?) the recipe. Thank you.
Hi Courtney – The yield (at the top of the recipe) is 5 cups – so I’d estimate 6-8 servings (10 if you limit everyone to a 1/2 cup serving). Hope that helps!
Has anyone tired this in a rice cooker instead of the dutch oven?
Hi Deb – We haven’t tried it ourselves in the rice cooker but we do think it would work. You’ll still want to do steps 2, 3 and 4 as written and then start using the rice cooker after that. We’re just not sure of the timing for cooking it in the rice cooker however (since we haven’t done it ourselves). So you’ll have to base the timing on how long your own rice cooker takes to cook the rice and adjust up or down from there. Let us know how it works out!
Hello! I recently became vegetarian and the thing I miss most is rice-a-roni, do you think I can do this with a homemade vegetable broth instead of chicken?
Absolutely Kelsey – This recipe will taste great with vegetable stock swapped in! Enjoy the recipe!
Thank you for the recipe. Have you done this in a rice cooker before? I am pairing this with steamed broccoli and Cornish Game hens.
Hi Sharon – Sounds like a great menu! We think you should be able to do this recipe in the rice cooker – you’ll still want to do steps 2, 3 and 4 as written and then start using the rice cooker after that. We’re just not sure of the timing for cooking it in the rice cooker however (since we haven’t done it ourselves). So you’ll have to base the timing on how long your own rice cooker takes to cook the rice and adjust up or down from there. Please let us know how it comes out – I’d love to hear! Happy New Year!