Seasoned Rice is a homemade version of the flavoured boxed rices like Rice-A-Roni and Uncle Ben’s! A quick way to add flavour to white rice to make it super tasty, this is a rice side that’s economical, simple to make, and goes with literally everything.
Make a big batch and refrigerate 4 days or freeze 3 months.
Buttery Seasoned Rice
I tell my friends this is the rice version of Potato Salad – you make a big batch, stash it in the fridge and bring it out night after night to serve with everything.
Except unlike Potato Salad, this rice recipe can also be frozen. Whip it out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Anyone for a 2 minute instant side – that didn’t come from a box??!!
Rice Side Dish for everything!
Don’t get me wrong, plain rice has its place in this world. Doused with saucy stir fries, smothered in spicy curries. But you do need a sauce.
So how do you make plain white rice so tasty, you will want to eat a meals’ worth straight out of the pot?? Cook it with stock powder/bouillon, some spices and add a good wack of butter!
Flavourings and spices for seasoned rice
Here’s what goes in this seasoned rice. You can make this with any white rice other than speciality rices like risotto, paella and sushi rice. Also see the recipe notes for how to adjust this for brown rice.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the spices, there are plenty of alternatives! See below the photo for a list.
Substitution for spices
You could skip one of the spices and it will still taste similar. Or you can substitute as follows:
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Garlic powder – melt 1 tbsp (15g) butter and cook 2 finely chopped garlic cloves until golden, then add rice, water and all other ingredients and cook per recipe;
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Onion powder – add extra 1/2 tsp garlic powder instead;
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Paprika – just skip it, adds a touch of warm earthy flavour and a bit of colour, not critical;
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Thyme – not critical. Best sub is dried oregano, followed by basil. 1/4 tsp sage powder is SO GOOD as well.
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Parsley – optional, this is more for visual, to get the little green specks in the rice. Sub with basil, or stir through 1 cup finely sliced green onion, or 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley or chives.
How to make rice taste better!
Here’s how to make this flavoured rice which comes out beautifully fluffy – with the added bonus of no scorched pot base too!
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Place rice, water and all the seasonings into a large saucepan or small pot and give it a good stir;
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Bring to a simmer over medium high heat until there’s bubbles around the edges and the entire surface is rippling, and it foams a bit (you’ll see in the video);
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Place a tight fitting lid on, then turn down to medium low – or low for strong stoves. You want the water to still be simmering – if the heat is too low, then the rice just sits there in hot water, bloating, rather than absorbing. Too high, and it will bubble over and out the sides of the pot. NO PEEKING – the lid needs to stay on to trap the steam inside – this will ensure your rice cooks evenly;
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After 13 minutes, remove from the stove and let it rest for 10 minutes – the rice will finish cooking during this time (if you try the rice as soon as it comes off the stove, you’ll find the surface of the grain is wet and the inside is still uncooked);
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Add butter and fluff up the rice with a rubber spatula – the residual heat will melt the butter. I recommend using at least 3 tbsp (50g) for a lovely buttery rice, but you can reduce to 2 tbsp (30g) if you want. Or sub with extra virgin olive oil, or just skip the butter – it will still be very tasty rice!
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Pile onto serving platter, sprinkle with parsley or something green for presentation if you wish. Dig in!
How to properly store cooked rice
Cooked rice will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge (I say 4 to be safe). Cool the seasoned rice rapidly – tumble it out of the pot into a large bowl, or if you scaled up the batch then spread out on tray(s). Refrigerate within 2 hours of cooking.
The stories you may have heard about food safety and cooked rice revolves around large volumes of cooked rice sitting out for hours and hours, creating a cosy environment for bacteria to grow which can lead to food poisoning. This is typical of large scale cooking, not home cooking (because vast quantities of rice takes ages to cool down).
A single batch of this seasoned rice will cool to room temp in 40 minutes once in a serving bowl, so you’ll have no practical issues with storing.
What to serve with Seasoned Rice
This is a rice side dish that will pretty much go with any foods other than Asian food and curries (they’ve got enough flavour in them as it is!).
It’s tasty enough to eat plain without sauce, quick enough for midweek meals yet so good you’ll want it on the table of grander affairs too! Here’s a few suggestions for mains to serve with this:
It would also be terrific to make a meat-free meal out of things like these:
AND stuff them into BURRITOS!!
Now, kiss those boxed rices goodbye, and make a big batch of this rice and refrigerate for days, or freeze it! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Buttery Seasoned Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain white rice , uncooked (Note 1 for brown rice)
- 3 1/4 cups water (cold tap water)
- 2 tsp chicken powder / granulated bouillon , or 2 cubes dissolved in boiling water (Note 2)
- 1 tsp garlic powder *
- 1 tsp onion powder *
- 1 tsp paprika *
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme *
- 2 tbsp dried parsley *, optional
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Stir through:
- 50g / 3 tbsp butter, unsalted (or MORE!)
Instructions
- Place all Rice ingredients in a large saucepan and give it a stir.
- Bring to simmer over medium high heat (edges bubbling, entire surface rippling), put the lid on and turn stove down to medium low (LOW for strong stoves). It should be simmering gently.
- Cook for 13 minutes - do not lift lid!
- Tilt pot then QUICKLY peek to ensure all water is absorbed.
- Remove from stove, stand 10 minutes with lid on.
- Add butter and fluff rice with a rubber spatula. Serve!
- Storage - please read Note 4.
- Rice cooker - Same ingredients, water and rice ratio. Pop it all in your rice cooker and cook per manufacturer directions, stir through butter at end.
Recipe Notes:
- Garlic powder - melt 1 tbsp (15g) butter and cook 2 finely chopped garlic cloves until golden, then add rice, water and all other ingredients and cook per recipe.
- Onion powder - add extra 1/2 tsp garlic powder instead
- Paprika - just skip it, adds a touch of warm earthy flavour and a bit of colour, not critical
- Thyme - not critical. Best sub is dried oregano, followed by basil. 1/4 tsp sage powder is SO GOOD as well.
- Parsley - optional, this is more for visual, to get the little green specks in the rice. Sub with basil, or stir through 1 cup finely sliced green onion, or 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley or chives.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Dozer thinks the social distancing rules don’t apply to him – lucky police aren’t fining DOGS for non compliance with these new laws!!
I was diagnosed with diverticulitis and have been unable to eat anything but bread, rice, potatoes, and crackers for over two weeks now. This recipe has saved me! It tastes so good, especially compared to everything bland that I’ve eaten. I left out garlic, onion, and paprika, and it’s still soooo good. Thank you!
I needed an easy and quick side dish for dinner, and this sounded really good. Unfortunately I did not enjoy this at all. The spice blend didn’t work for me. I think it might have been the thyme, maybe even the dried parsley. Either way I was really bummed, especially with such great reviews. Using just fresh garlic would be better.
I’ve been making this recipe for 3 years and just got around to leaving my review :). We love it!! I set it up using brown rice in my rice cooker, and 2 hours later it’s ready. I use chicken broth and leave out the paprika. It’s my go to for rice!! Thank you!!
Absolutely wonderful, a nice change from plain rice. I used my rice cooker following its instructions for rice-liquid combination. Only changes: no garlic nor onion powders on hand so used granulated garlic and granulated onion; also used vegetable broth as the liquid.
i googled ‘flavoured rice’ and the top pick brought me here (I’m not new Nagi).
Anyway this rice was superb, nothing overpowering just a very nice rice that is good enough to eat on it’s own and could be eaten with just about anything!
Great Rice. I enjoyed it very much on Christmas day. Buttery Seasoned Rice.
I was looking for something to quickly flavour boring old white long grain rice and found your recipe for Buttery Seasoned Rice. Just looking at the recipe I had my doubts but was in a hurry. O. M. G. đź‘€ This dish was soooo good. I’ve bookmarked this recipe as a favourite and I’ll be making this time and again. Love it. Thank you so much Nagi for a great recipe!!
Perfectly delicious! Doubled it for my family, and the entire pot was eaten right up! Thank you.
Delicious and so easy! I made this with brown rice on the stovetop, and even my pickiest of picky eaters (ages 9 and 7) loved it. Will make again!
This was really good! I left out the thyme and parsley so my picky six year old would not find fault with it, and he had seconds. I love the fact that it was flavorful and didn’t require any chopping or multiple steps, easy enough to throw in a pot and add butter after cooking. This will be in regular rotation in our house.
What brand of chicken power did you use this rice recipe?
By the way, your recipes are awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Love the flavours and ease of cooking.
Delicious! Great recipe.
Can I use minute rice. If so would it be 4 cups water/4 cups rice?
WoW , turned out perfect and was super easy , my new favourite rice recipe !!
Super yummy, thanks for an amazing recipe. I used homemade chicken broth and brown basmati rice in the Instant Pot and dumped all the ingredients in.
Instant Pot said to use 2.5C water with 2C rice, pressure cook for 22 mins and natural release for 10. It could have cooked for more time and had a bit more water. In the future, I’ll take it to at least 3C water/broth for 2C brown rice and cook for 25 mins with natural release for 10 and see where that gets me.
I use a similar recipe from food.com. It has more garlic and more butter but not the spices that you use. When I am making rice for a recipe, I always make a larger amount than stated and freeze the leftover rice to make fried rice later. I will start adding some of the spices you use in your rice.
This rice recipe was delicious! My family loved it!
this is amazing!!! it’s simple and easy, and if you want to, you can add your twist to it! I added black beans to mine, it was finomanal.
Ok stop it, this is absolutely amazing! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe, even my picky toddler approves!