Cooking with rice is a true ‘tabula rasa,’ a blank slate to be adapted and molded when showcasing tasty recipes from every corner of the globe. Cheap, healthy, and dependable, rice is the world’s most popular staple and comes in extremely handy for households looking to fill bellies and stretch the weekly budget further.
A great substitute for pasta or potato, rice is a go-to for augmenting and amplifying the meals you love to cook. It soaks up the essence of each flavor it meets, often taking disparate elements and meshing them to form complex layers that support the main ingredient in each dish.
The innovative, eclectic collection below ranges from a Julia Child favorite to tangy barbecue chicken, and even a classic Mediterranean plate that will make you feel like you’ve stepped straight off a yacht.
1. Chicken and Spanish Rice
The claim rice is boring gets thrown right out of the window with this chock-full-of-flavor Chicken and Spanish Rice Bake . All you need do is gently bake this dish to allow the grains to soak up every inch of herb, citrus, and chicken flavors until it resonates throughout the dish. Not only does the rice taste supreme, but the chicken is also juicy and delectable.
This dish is on our dinner table all year round!
2. Honey Mint Wild Rice Salad
Honey Mint Wild Rice Salad is one of the most genuinely unique dishes I’ve had the pleasure to eat. It mixes the heady scent and freshness of mint that combines effortlessly with the bite of vinegar and a dab of honey sweetness. While it tastes almost magical on its’ own, honey mint wild rice salad pairs beautifully with smoky grilled meat cooked low and slow. It’s the perfect complement to a celebratory feast or backyard family cookout.
3. Copycat Popeye’s Cajun Rice
Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen topped our list of the best fried chicken chains, in no small part because of sides like their Cajun rice. Our Copycat Popeye’s Cajun Rice brings southern comfort food to you at home. While it’s fantastic with fried chicken, the dish complements most meats, salads, and seafood.
4. Easy Chicken Fried Rice
I love the versatility of being able to create different versions of fried rice. Often it will come down to if I have visitors and what I know they like to determine exactly what goes into each batch. This 12 Tomatoes Easy Chicken Fried Rice is a delicious recipe to work from, either as is or incorporating extra seasoning, meat and/or vegetables. It’s delicious all by itself but is perfect for entertaining or for use in make-ahead meals.
5. Julia Childs’ Zucchini & Rice Gratin
As with Julia Child’s best recipes (and there are a lot of amazing choices), this Zucchini Rice Gratin is disarmingly simple, yet made to look and taste luxurious. A great choice for getting kids in touch with their vegetable side, this dish offers a beautifully gentle creaminess, threaded through with the classic French flavors of onion and garlic.
Yummy!
6. Hearty Beef and Rice Stew
Sometimes mixing a stew into the weekly meal plan as an alternative rice dish offers something a little bit unique. This simple yet hearty Beef and Rice Stew is a delicious counter to soup or pasta, particularly during colder weather when you want something to warm your bones, and fill your belly. It’s chock full of veggies and meat, but without relying on many bells and whistles to make it taste fancier.
7. Aloha Chicken And Rice
I love this Aloha Chicken and Rice for its ability to blend the great flavors and ingredients of the Islands into one sensational dish. Sweet, salty, and savory textures all coalesce together, with the rice on hand to soak it all up and provide the ballast needed to make it a standout meal. If you want to try an interesting new plate for your next get-together, Aloha chicken and rice will be the talk of the table.
8. Blueberry Barbecue Chicken & Rice Skillet
Once upon a time, utilizing a fruit such as blueberries in a barbecue meal would have never made it on my radar, let alone pairing it with rice and chicken in a one skillet meal. Blueberry Barbecue Chicken Rice creates a beautifully layered skillet meal. The gentle sweetness of the fruit matches well with tangy barbecue chicken sauce, while the rice allows the other elements a chance to mesh together.
As a one-skillet dinner, this meal is perfect for a midweek dinner where you want to minimize the time spent prepping and cleaning, but still want to eat something delicious.
9. Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet
A simple way to smash the notion that turkey is bland is by making this tremendous Mediterranean style Turkey Rice Skillet. It’s packed full of rich seasoning that amplifies the bird’s flavor, and the Greek spices unfold beautifully when combined with rice and the freshness of citrus.
10. Cheesy Spinach Garlic Rice
Simple, efficient and effective, a Cheesy Spinach Rice puts classic tastes together and lets them do their thing. I love using this dish as a side when accompanying white meat and seafood. The spinach gives it a nice mineral layer that cuts through the garlic and cheese to create a beautiful, delectable balance of tried and true flavors.
Conclusion
A good rice dish opens up a host of tasty dinner possibilities, and none of these recipes above can be considered boring. Put the options that you like most into a regular meal rotation, and watch the difference using rice makes to your grocery budget.