Italian Rice

Simple and savory Italian rice combines long-grain rice with butter and plenty of herbs, creating a pilaf-style side dish you can pair with any entrée! Easy to scale up or down, and no rice cooker needed.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

• Italian rice is ridiculously easy to make, needing just a handful of pantry-staple ingredients and about 20 minutes of cook time.
• Thanks to savory Italian seasoning and earthy fresh basil, there’s a ton of delicious flavor in this rice dish. Still, it’s remarkably versatile, pairing well with a variety of entrées, like chicken savoy, slow cooker meatloaf, air fried frozen salmon, and baked tofu.
• Because of its simplicity, Italian rice is so easy to scale up or down based on the number of people you’re feeding. As written, this recipe yields roughly 12 servings at ½ cup each!

Chef’s Tips

• Be careful not to overcook the rice. Visually, you’ll know the rice is ready when all the broth has been absorbed and the grains appear translucent. If the rice has a mushy consistency, it’s been cooked too long. If it’s crunchy or appears chalky, it hasn’t been cooked long enough.
• Make sure you’ve got a lid for the pot you choose to use here! The rice will need to be completely covered while it simmers, otherwise the liquid in the pot will evaporate before the rice is fully cooked.

More Rice Recipes You Can’t Miss!

• Instant Pot Chicken and Rice Soup
• Chili with Rice
• Instant Pot Black Rice
• Restaurant-Style Chicken Fried Rice
• Chimichurri Rice
• Instant Pot Mexican Rice
• Best Ever Rice Pilaf
• Instant Pot Sushi Rice

Italian Rice

Fluffy white rice with flavors of basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. A versatile side dish for a variety of meals!

Prep: 15 minutes minutes

Cook: 20 minutes minutes

Total: 35 minutes minutes

Recipe Makes: 12 servings

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Equipment

• medium saucepan (with lid)
• large wooden spoon (or silicone spatula)
• fork

Ingredients

For the Italian Rice

• ▢ 2 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 2 cups long-grain white rice (uncooked)
• ▢ 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or low-sodium chicken stock)
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt (more or less to taste)
• ▢ freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Serving Suggestions (All Optional)

• ▢ 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• ▢ lemon wedges

Instructions

 

• Place saucepan on stovetop over medium-low heat. Add 2 tablespoon olive oil to saucepan and heat oil until shimmering.
• When oil is hot, add 2 cups long-grain white rice to saucepan. Stir to incorporate rice into hot olive oil, then sauté rice 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly golden.
• When rice is ready, add 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon salt, and plenty of freshly ground black pepper to saucepan. Stir to incorporate all ingredients.
• Increase heat under saucepan to medium-high. Bring broth to rolling boil.
• When broth begins to boil, immediately reduce heat under saucepan to low. Cover saucepan with lid and simmer rice, undisturbed, until all liquid has been absorbed, approximately 10 to 15 minutes.
• Once liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender and translucent, remove saucepan from heat.
• Add 1 tablespoon unsalted butter to saucepan. Use fork to fluff rice, incorporating butter throughout.
• Add 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil to saucepan (optional) and stir to incorporate. Taste rice and add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and/or butter as desired.
• When satisfied with flavor of rice, divide rice into preferred portions. Serve warm with lemon wedges (optional).

Notes

• Rice: White rice is recommended, but you can use brown rice if you need to. Keep in mind that brown rice takes longer to cook, so you’ll need to simmer the rice for 30-40 minutes or so, rather than 10-15.
• Make it Vegan/Dairy Free: Use dairy-free butter.
• Leftovers: Let Italian rice cool completely, then transfer any leftover rice to an airtight container. Refrigerate the leftover rice up to 4 days, or freeze it up to 2 months. Reheat leftover rice on the stovetop, adding chicken broth as needed if rice seems dry.

Recipe costs provided are approximate. Actual cost per recipe & serving will vary by location, store, brand, etc. Approximate cost shown does not include costs for any optional ingredients.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 133kcal | Protein: 3g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.04g | Cholesterol: 3mg | Sodium: 145mg | Potassium: 42mg | Total Carbs: 25g | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 0.05g | Added Sugars: 0g | Sugar Alcohols: 0g | Erythritol: 0g | Allulose: 0g | Net Carbs: 25g | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 12mg

Nutrition Disclaimer

Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes. Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used. To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

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Recipe by Cheryl Malik