This Simple Rice Pilaf is a flavourful yet easy dish to throw together for your next BBQ or weeknight meal. Turn humble ingredients into a satisfying and fresh side that compliments grilled fish, chicken or pork. Don’t over-complicate things! Keep it simple, friends!
I nearly didn’t post this recipe. Nearly, you see.
The thing with food blogging is I always try to be unique, refreshing, new. Revamp something tried and true, improve or simply invent. Rice Pilaf is exactly none of these things. But, alas, it’s delicious. And cheap. And easy. Which is kind my thing, isn’t it? Plus – it’s been nearly a year since I posted a delicious side dish and couldn’t we all use more side dishes in our repertoire? It also kinda goes without saying that we are in a weird time for grocery shopping and I feel a bit wasteful recipe testing and have been relying on the tried-and-true for meal times. So, here we are: Simple Rice Pilaf.
The beauty of this dish is turning humble ingredients into a flavourful medley. I love using jasmine rice for the best flavour and texture, but you can use whatever rice you have on hand – as long as it is *not* instant rice. Look for a rice that is cooked with a 1:2 ratio: for every cup of rice it asks for 2 cups of liquid to cook.
Beyond that, all you need is Canola oil, yellow onion, a teeny bit of garlic (more on that later) a carrot, frozen corn, chicken broth, salt, pepper, parsley and a bayleaf. It’s not rocket science, but it’s comforting! Can you use fresh or canned corn? Sure! But I am a huge fan of frozen corn and it’s been really handy having on hand during this time of reducing the grocery store trips! If you don’t have fresh parsley, dried will do, just reduce the amount significantly.
I know we all have a tendency to quadruple the garlic in each recipe, but please resist doing so here. The garlic is a complimentative aromatic and not the defining flavour. Too much garlic will take away from the velvety richness and bright freshness of the rice dish. It’ll overpower the rice’s flavour and just be garlicky. I mean, that *could* be good, but that’s not what we are going for here.
I enjoy making this to compliment a nice BBQ salmon or chicken thighs and grilled asparagus. You can make it inside on the stove, or on the side burner of your BBQ. Something about making rice outside is nifty, plus, if the propane is already going, may as well, right? Makes for a nice, simple weeknight meal that is a tad more fancy than plain ‘ol rice.
Simple Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Canola Oil
- 1/3 cup Yellow Onion diced small
- 1/4 cup Carrot peeled and diced small
- salt
- 1 cup Rice Not instant!
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 cups Chicken Broth
- 1/4 cup Frozen Corn
- 1/8 cup Fresh Parsley loosely packed, roughly chopped
- 1 Bay Leaf
- Salt and Pepper
Instructions
- Heat Canola oil over medium heat in medium size saucepan. Add onions and carrots. Add salt and stir to ensure vegetables are fully covered in oil. Allow vegetable to sweat. Cook for roughly 5 minutes, until soft.
- Add rice and garlic, stir and cook for an additional minute. Add chicken broth, frozen corn, parsley and bay leaf. Increase heat to high. Once mixture is boiling, reduce heat and cover.
- Cook for 15 to 20 minutes until liquid is absorbed. Remove bay leaf and add a dash of salt and pepper. Fluff rice before serving. Sprinkle with extra parsley, if desired. Enjoy!
Notes
- Canned corn can be used instead of frozen corn, simple drain!
- If you do not have fresh parsley on-hand, sub for 1 tablespoon of dried parsley.
- Depending on what you are serving the Simple Rice Pilaf with, spritz the finished dish with fresh lemon to brighten the rice!
