Green Rice Pilaf
- Total Time
- 30 to 40 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2tablespoons neutral oil (like grapeseed or corn)
- 1medium onion, chopped
- 1tablespoon minced garlic
- 1½cups rice, preferably basmati
- 2½cups vegetable or chicken stock or water, or more as needed
- Salt
- black pepper
- 1½cups chopped fresh parsley
- 1½cups chopped fresh cilantro
- ¾cup chopped fresh chives
- ¾cup chopped fresh mint
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Soy sauce for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Put the oil in a deep skillet or large saucepan over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the rice and cook, stirring, until glossy, about 1 minute. Add the stock or water and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
- Step 3
Turn the heat down to low, cover and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid is almost entirely absorbed, about 15 minutes. Uncover, remove from the heat and stir in the herbs. Replace the lid and let rest off the heat for at least 10 minutes or up to 20 minutes. Uncover and stir in the lemon zest; taste and adjust the seasoning. Fluff the pilaf with a fork, and serve warm or at room temperature with a drizzle of soy sauce.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
This looks like sabzi polo, except for the soy sauce. Add saffron instead and to make it a Persian dish.
This is one of those recipes where the sum is greater than its parts -- it sounds like "just" rice with a bunch of herbs, but tastes just wonderful combined. Don't leave out the mint!
You can replace half a cup of rice with red quinoa in this recipe to make it even more healthy and flavorful. Follow the same cooking instructions.
This is a very forgiving recipe. I put in more rice and stock, forgot the lemon zest and don't use soy sauce and it still tasted great.
A great way to use herbs (the more you cut the more they grow). Looks great, tastes delicious. Lovely on a summer's evening with a chicken dish, perhaps. I didn't use the soy sauce this time. With the cilantro crop disappearing in the heat, I think I'll try it with basil next time.
I've just made this - really nice; reminded me of Iranian and Turkish pilafs. A few modifications:
1. I merged this recipe with "can't miss rice" and did the "15 minutes after boiling" in the oven for 17.
2. Used homemade veggie stock and added dill from the garden.
3. As I suspected, soy sauce completely changes this dish - away from that fresh herby Middle Eastern flavors you expect. I suggest leaving it out...
4. Put the garlic in only a minute before rice...
This is a keeper! It seemed like a huge amount of herbs for that much rice, but it was perfect --- you could taste all the flavors, including the rice. I ended up adding 1/2 cup more vegetable stock and it was perfect. Don't skip the lemon zest -- it brightens the entire dish.
Cut the recipe by a third because I only had a cup of rice. Followed it exactly and it is a wonderful dish. Highly recommended. I agree that you mustn't leave out the mint.
Can this dish be made 1 day ahead of serving?
Wonderful dish! The combination of fresh herbs makes the rice taste healthy and complex. I might add some toasted pine nuts next time to add just a little crunch.
I use chicken broth. I saute garlic, green pepper, onion until golden, then put the basmmatti rice in to brown. I sometimes add shredded carrot, some shredded cabbage, maybe some shredded red cabbage, this ride can be a meal of it's own. Awesome as a side dish.
After cooking rice, before fluffing and adding herbs, lift the lid, place a kitchen towel on top of pot, and replace lid. Let sit for 10-15 mins. Fluff, add herbs, replace towel and lid until ready to serve. You will have the fluffiest rice you've ever had.
Good rave reviews; we Louisianans enjoyed a new to us rice dish.i had plenty of parsley from my garden, not so much cilantro, and green onion tops for the herb mix. It worked great. Dish was not green as picture.
delicious combination with all those herbs!
Loved this dish. Even got the Italian bf to eat it up and enjoy. And he's tough to please when it comes to unusual flavors. I didn't have any chives, but lots of fresh mint at this time of year in the garden as well as basil, so I threw some of that in there too. I figured, it's green, so why not. Absolutely delicious!
I added some chickpeas and a bunch of dill rather than chives, a few squirts of the lemon juice, a tiny bloop of honey, then tossed everything with some arugula while still warm. If there is any left over tomorrow, I may toss in a bit of feta. Really nice with some seared chicken or fish! Soy sauce for serving? Ok, Mark. Ew.
Great fish
I realize this dish is years old but I keep going back to it—time and time again. Easy way to use up herbs in the fridge, easy to make and sooo good. I prefer brown basmati so I add an extra cup of water and cook on low for 45 minutes, following all other directions. Thank you, Mark Bittman.
I used whole grain basmati and it was absolutely delicious. So fragrant.
I like this pilaf (hold the soy sauce), especially served with Sausages With Tangy, Gingery Pineapple (from Melissa Clark). The seasoned pineapple on the green rice was great!
This is delicious. I used regular white rice which was in the pantry. Very flavorful and a wonderful alternative to a pasta side. I sprinkled some chopped green onion on top. I might think some chopped water chestnuts might also be a nice add.
Delicious as is!!
Something about this combination of herbs was off, like the dish was neither sweet nor salty but some weird in between. Maybe leaving out the mint would help.
Very good, but we thought the cilantro was overpowering. Next time I might double the chives, halve the cilantro, and add a half or whole finely chopped fennel bulb with the onions
Absolutely delicious! I don't know if i'm just new to pilaf or if this is a special recipe, but rice cooked in chicken stock with a little onion is always great. This is not as heavy as congee but has that same coziness. I had to add a little more stock in at about 10 min mark of step 3 - but my stove runs a little hot. Threw in spinach at the end to use it up and used leeks instead of chives (But threw them in at the same time as recipe)
Followed almost exactly - I even had the right kind of oil! The rice was done cooking at 11 minutes, though. I also tragically learned that I had no veg broth or bouillon, but dug up a pouch of Lipton’s onion soup. Shhh. It was delicious. Added lemon juice at the table.
This is my favorite rice dish. The mint makes it.
Made this as a side dish for Memorial Day, and it was great! I doubled it since we were feeding a large group, and found that the zest from two lemons just wasn't enough. I ended up adding the juice of 1.5 lemons at the end (and skipped the soy sauce) and it rounded out the flavors so much! The leftovers were even better once the flavors got to marinate together a bit. A great side dish.
My husband said this was "the best rice he has ever had". Guess I will be making it again! We had it with piri piri chicken he grilled and it was amazing.
This is super! If you’re like me and would rather use brown basmati over white because of the nutrients, just increase broth or water by 1/4 to 1/2 cup, with cooking time being 40-45 minutes. So good!
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