Greek Rice

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My Greek rice recipe is the side dish that will rock your dinner table! It consists of delicious, fluffy long grain rice flavored with fresh lemon juice, lemon zest, dill, and chicken broth. Simple, easy-to-find ingredients come together to make something far more delicious than the sum of their parts would ever suggest!

You can also use this rice as a main meal! Add some chicken to make a chicken and rice casserole or chicken and rice soup for a heartiness that can’t be beaten. Here are a few more of my favorite rice recipes: restaurant-style Mexican rice and my coconut rice. I promise both recipes, as well as this Greek rice, are keepers!

Let’s cook some rice!

Why You’ll Love This Greek Rice Recipe

Fluffy rice you can make right at home that doesn’t take hours to make and gives you actual FLAVOR? This recipe is king! It goes with almost everything, and it doesn’t have to be Greek.  We really love rice in our family. It’s funny because I didn’t grow up eating much rice. My Dad pretty much hated it. (weird-right?) My husband’s family ate rice all the time. In fact, when I was first married, my MIL’s rice pilaf was one of the first recipes I learned to make. She loved this Greek lemon rice recipe!

Greek Rice Ingredients

• Chicken Broth:
• Better than Bouillon (BTB): If you’re a regular reader, you know I love this stuff. I first learned about it from Cook’s Illustrated, and when they endorsed it, I knew it had to be good stuff. In this recipe, it fortifies the chicken broth with a whole lot more chicken flavor. I heat the broth first, then add the BTB so it dissolves well before the chicken broth is added to the rice.
• Rice: I use long-grain rice for this recipe, but feel free to experiment! Carolina Gold (which I use in my Hoppin’ John Recipe), jasmine rice, or Basmati rice would make interesting tweaks.
• Oil: Olive oil.
• Onion: I like yellow onion for this dish.
• Garlic: Please only use fresh garlic cloves in this recipe.
• Lemon Juice: Again, please use fresh, not that weird tasting stuff in the plastic yellow bottle.
• Black Pepper: Freshly cracked is best.
• Herbs: You can use fresh dill, parsley, or even mint. See more below.
• Butter: Unsalted butter.

Greek Rice Recipe Notes + Variations

Peas: Peas are a nice addition. Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup. When I add them, I add frozen petite peas straight from the freezer for the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Dill: If you’re not a big fan of dill or if you just don’t have any on hand, you can omit it from the recipe. The rice is, honestly, really delicious with or without it! You can add fresh parsley in place of the dill. Fresh herbs really make this extra delicious.

Mint: Many recipes add fresh or dried mint. I prefer it without, but feel free to add it if you’d like.

Salt: For my taste, the chicken stock adds enough salt to this recipe. Wait until the end of the recipe to taste the finished dish and adjust the salt.

Add Feta cheese: Adding some Feta is just a natural. Add it when you add the lemon zest. The rice will still be hot, so the Feta will melt a bit. If you don’t want the Feta to melt, simply add it when the rice has cooled down or sprinkle it on right before you serve the rice.

Add turmeric powder or saffron. Up that flavor with Greek-inspired spices! Adding turmeric or saffron gives you Mediterranean rice, which is very similar to the famous yellow Greek rice.

Greek Rice Pilaf: If you’d like to convert this recipe to a pilaf, begin by sautéing 1/2 cup to 1 cup of vermicelli in the pot, stirring constantly in 1 tablespoon of olive oil just until it becomes golden brown..When it begins to color, watch it very closely as it can go from beautifully golden to badly burnt in the blink of an eye! You can also add slivered almonds or pine nuts to the pilaf. Then continue on with the recipe as directed, adding more chicken broth to cook the vermicelli through.

Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? Leftovers can be kept in a sealed container in the fridge for up to four days. If they’re a little dry when you pull them out, add a sprinkle of water before you reheat them. Then just fluff with a fork and dig in!
• Can You Freeze This Greek Rice Recipe? Yes! This is a great way to have flavorful rice on hand when you need it. Follow the recipe below, then just seal and freeze for up to 6 months. When ready to use, thaw in the fridge overnight, then reheat! You may need to add a little water before you heat it up to rehydrate some of the grains.
• Make-Ahead Tips: This Greek rice recipe keeps so well that if you need to make it ahead of time to have it on hand, go for it! It tastes just as good the next day as it does fresh.

What To Serve With Greek Rice

Greek chicken, of course! That’s the obvious main dish and the one that best complements the Greek rice recipe.  The flavors balance each other so well! If you want, you can also wrap some chicken and this rice in a pita for a delicious take on a sandwich!

If you want to veer away from Mediterranean mains, it’s amazing with my grilled flank steak, or try whipping up grilled cilantro lime chicken! The citrus pop of the chicken goes wonderfully with the citrus pop in the rice. A match made in heaven! And, it goes fabulously with our chicken gyro (similar to chicken souvlaki), and a good grilled steak. We love to serve veggies such as our simple roasted peppers (bell peppers) and our honey glazed carrots alongside this rice.

How To Make Greek Rice

We make our recipe on the stove top, but take advantage of the microwave as well.

1. In a microwave-safe measuring cup, heat chicken broth to a boil. Add Better Than Bouillon and stir until dissolved; set aside.
2. Heat olive oil in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, uncovered, over medium heat.
3. Saute onion and garlic, uncovered, until soft and translucent.
4. Add rice to the pot and continue to sauté, stirring constantly, until rice is slightly toasted.
5. Stir in chicken broth with dissolved Better Than Bouillon, lemon juice, and black pepper. Bring to a roiling boil, stir, reduce heat to low, and cover tightly and simmer. Cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
6. When the rice is tender, remove it from the heat, stir in lemon zest, dried dill, fresh parsley, and butter, and allow it to sit, covered, for 10 minutes. Stir again and adjust the seasonings as needed. Serve.

More Greek and Mediterranean Recipes

Looking for more recipes to add heaps of flavor to your weeknight meals? Look no further!

• Greek Pasta
• Greek Pasta Salad
• Greek Dip
• Greek Moussaka
• Mediterranean Salad
• Sheet Pan Mediterranean Vegetables

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Greek Rice

Fluffy and flavorful -- my Greek Rice brings you a citrus-zesty side that goes with any savory main meal or ups the yum in your favorite soups!

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time30 minutes mins

Servings: 4 -6 servings

Author: Kathleen

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups chicken broth
• ▢ 1 heaping tablespoon chicken flavor better than bouillon
• ▢ 2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed and drained
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ▢ 1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
• ▢ 4 clove garlic, minced
• ▢ 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
• ▢ zest of 1 lemon
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• ▢ 1 teaspoons dried dill
• ▢ 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
• ▢ 2 tablespoons butter
• ▢ salt to taste

Instructions

• In a microwave-safe measuring cup, heat chicken broth to a boil. Add better than bouillon and stir until dissolved; set aside.
  
• Heat olive oil in a pot with a tight-fitting lid, uncovered, over medium-low heat.
• Saute onion and garlic, uncovered until soft and translucent.
  
• Add rice to the pot and continue to saute, stirring constantly, until rice is slightly toasted.
  
• Stir in chicken broth with dissolved better than bouillon, lemon juice, and black pepper. Bring to a roiling boil, stir, reduce heat to low, and cover tightly. Cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
  
• When rice is tender, remove from heat, stir in lemon zest, dried dill, fresh parsley, and butter and allow to sit, covered for 10 minutes. Stir again, adjust seasonings as needed. Serve.
  

Fans Also Made:

• 
  Campbells Chicken And Rice
• 
  Chicken and Rice Casserole
• 
  Instant Pot Chicken And Rice
• 
  Taco Rice

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Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 425kcal | Carbohydrates: 79g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 440mg | Potassium: 297mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 279IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 54mg | Iron: 1mg

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