Rice Pilaf
An all-star, homemade rice pilaf focused on building flavor throughout the cooking process. This one is made with butter, basmati, toasted nuts, caramelized onions and fragrant spices. One pot, so good.
Rice pilaf is a great foundation recipe to know. Once you learn to make it well, you can tweak the recipe a thousand ways to your liking. This is a favorite approach for me. Be sure to make it pretty (and extra delicious) with toppings. There are a bunch listed in the recipe.
How To Make Rice Pilaf: The Technique
The backbone of a good pilaf is, of course, rice. You want it fluffy and well defined. For this pilaf, you build flavor early. Onions are caramelized in a blend of olive oil and butter. The butter browns and becomes fragrant. To that, spices are added, and ingredients like beans or pulses, toasted nuts, and dried fruit are added. You have a lot of latitude here, and the combination of chickpeas, chopped dates, and pistachios (pictured) are a favorite. Water is added and the pot simmers until the rice absorbs and softens. A finishing squeeze of citrus juice and shower of herbs brightens things up. Toppings like salted yogurt and olives are the finishing touch.
Rice Pilaf Variations
- In place of dates: Use dried apricots, golden raisins, dried cherries, or dried figs.
- Spices: The cinnamon version shared here is wonderful, but you can go in entirely different. directions by swapping in za’atar, curry powder, onion and garlic powder, mushroom powder, etc.
- Experiment with grains: Adding a percentage of whole grains (or fast-cooking lentils) to a typical pilaf is a great way to incorporate a bit of a nutritional boost and ingredient diversity. For 2 cups of basmati rice a great place to start is 25%.
To Reheat
The key to reheating a rice pilaf like this one is to add a few tablespoons of water to the pan or dish you’re using. Heat gently, give it a good stir, and then go for a second round of heating. You mainly want to avoid the rice drying out, so adding a bit of moisture really helps.
More Rice Recipes
- Green Rice
- Citrus Rice
- Kale Rice Bowl
- Sesame Coconut Rice
- Sushi Bowl
- Vegetarian Paella
- Rice Salad
- all rice recipes
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Rice Pilaf
This recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, but there is a whole world to experiment with inside that ingredient realm. You can use this as a jumping off point, and play around with cinnamon forward spice blends and variations as well. A version I loved recently was made with 1/2 teaspoon smoked cinnamon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons baharat- a Middle Eastern spice blend leading with cinnamon, black pepper and rose petals. I also have a smoked star anise in my spice drawer and will incorporate that next time as well. This is a long way of saying, nail down the basic recipe and technique (below) and then have fun! If you don’t have quinoa, skip it and use 2 cups basmati rice.
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
- 1/2 cup toasted pistachios, chopped a bit
- 1 lemon or orange, zest and juice
- 4 dates, pitted and chopped
- 1 14- ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
- 1/2 cup quinoa
- 3 1/4 cups water
- 1 small bunch basil
- Topping ideas: pitted olives*, salted yogurt*, slivered makrut lime leaves, citrus olive oil, roasted cherry tomatoes
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Heat the olive oil and butter in a wide, heavy pan over medium-high heat — a Dutch oven works well here. Add the onions and salt, and cook, stirring regularly until the onions are deeply caramelized and jammy, 12-15 minutes or so. Remove about 1/3 of the onions, and reserve to use as a topping for later.
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While the onions are cooking, combine the rice and quinoa (if using) in a strainer and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear. Shake off additional water and set aside.
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Add half of the pistachios, the lemon zest, dates, chickpeas, and cinnamon to the onions and stir well. Cook for a minute or so. Add the rice mixture, stir, cook for another minute before adding the water. Bring everything just to a boil, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer, cover and cook for 18 minutes or so, until the water has been absorbed. Turn off heat and wait another ten minutes.
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In the meantime, chop the basil leaves. When the pilaf has finished cooking, uncover, fluff with a large fork and add most of the basil along with a big squeeze of the citrus juice. Taste and adjust with more salt if needed.
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Serve generously topped with pistachios, the reserved onions and basil, along with any other toppings you like. A bit of lightly salted yogurt is considered a must around here.
Serves 6-8.
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