This baked rice recipe is an easy, hands off method to produce rice that’s tender and fluffy in texture. And if you find yourself running out of stove top space, this oven baked rice is a life saver. Your rice side dish for dinner just got a lot easier.
Cooking rice on the stove top most certainly works … sometimes. It works if you get the heat level just right. If you have a sauce pan with that perfectly tight fitting lid, and if you have the time to watch it so it cooks perfectly. Perfectly without rice stuck to the bottom of the pan, without boiling over, and with no al la dente chewy grains.
This is a recipe for baked rice is one that I’ve used for years.
I found this easy recipe for oven baked rice, and I’ve never looked back at that stove top. It’s a Rick Bayless recipe, from his cookbook Mexican Everyday.
A recipe for cooking rice in the oven that’s hands off, easy and gives you more time to tend to those tacos or enchiladas that you’re cooking for dinner. Here’s why.
- Sauteeing or “toasting” the raw rice before cooking will allow the grains to cook up light and separate.
- Using chicken broth rather than water adds more fat and flavor.
- And the even surrounding heat of the oven seems to treat each and every one of those little grains of rice with equal attention.
This is a more garlicky traditional Mexican rice recipe than our Tex-Mex tomato version that we’ve labeled “Mexican Rice”, or “Spanish Rice”. Let’s take a look at oven rice.
Ingredients You’ll Need To Make Baked Rice
- Chicken Broth
- Medium Grain Rice, such as Arborio.
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Garlic
- Sweet Onion
- Parsley
Ingredients Subs and Substitutions
- Oil: You can use vegetable or canola oil or even butter.
- Parsley: Switch out parsley with cilantro.
- Rice: If you don’t have a medium grain, you can substitute a long grain rice such as Jasmine or Basmati. If using long grain rice, increase broth to 2 cups. Don’t use a short grain rice such as a sushi rice product. The end result will be sticky or clumpy.
How To Cook Rice In The Oven
- Step 1: Toast the Rice and Onions: I like to use my three-quart Dutch oven. Starting stove top and then transferred to the oven, it eliminates the use of a baking dish. Heat the pan over medium high heat until hot. When the pan is hot, add the oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the rice and onion. Stir frequently until the grains of rice turn from translucent to milky white, about five minutes. Don’t let the rice brown. Add the garlic, stir and cook until fragrant. About one minute.
- Step 2: Add chicken broth and stir.
Step 3: Bake and Serve: Cover with a tight fitting lid and bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand five minutes. Fluff and garnish with chopped parsley.
Baked Rice Recipe, FAQ’s
It’s easy. Just place the amount of rice that you wish to reheat in a microwave safe bowl. Break up any lumps with a fork. Sprinkle with a little water and reheat in 15-second increments until rice is heated through.
Absolutely yes. I like to place leftovers in a Ziploc freezer bag so I can press out the air and store in the freezer flat. It will keep in the freezer for a couple of months. Leftover rice makes great fried rice.
Here’s what I like to do. When I start to make this recipe, I put one cup of frozen peas and carrots in a bowl. I use the the frozen peas and carrots that are packaged together and the carrots are small diced. The time they spend outside the freezer while you prepare and cook the rice will be ample to thaw them out enough to add to the rice once its cooked. Once you remove the rice from the oven, let the rice sit for five minutes. Remove lid and pour in the peas and carrots and fluff. Place the lid back on the pan and let it sit for another couple of minutes. The heat from the rice will warm the peas and carrots.
Up to 4 days.
Variations
- Adding Vegetables: Here’s what I like to do. When I start to make this recipe, I put one cup of frozen peas and carrots in a bowl. I use the the frozen peas and carrots that are packaged together and the carrots are small diced. The time they spend outside the freezer while you prepare and cook the rice will be ample to thaw them out enough to add to the rice once its cooked.
- Once you remove the rice from the oven, let the rice sit for five minutes. Remove lid and pour in the peas and carrots and fluff. Place the lid back on the pan and let it sit for another couple of minutes. The heat from the baked rice will warm the peas and carrots.
Recipe for Oven Baked Rice, Gulf Coast Style White Rice
This baked rice recipe offers a delightful and hassle-free way cook a perfect balance of fluffy grains and a tantalizing golden crust. The simplicity of the ingredients, coupled with the hands-off cooking method, makes this dish an easy rice side dish.
Whether you’re a busy home cook or a seasoned chef, the aromatic outcome and rich flavors of this oven-baked rice are sure to impress. This recipe not only simplifies the rice-cooking process but also promises a rewarding and mouthwatering result.
I truly have found baked rice just as easy, just as fluffy, just as delicious as using a rice cooker. And if you’re like me, you don’t have much room for one more “kitchen gadget”, like a rice cooker.
More Mexican Food Side Dishes
And if you’re interested in even more side dish recipes, don’t miss my Side Dish Category. You’ll find lots of great recipes, including the most popular on my website for Broccoli Cheez Whiz Rice Casserole.
If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on my website, please leave a star rating in the recipe card below. And write a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback.
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Oven Baked Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil Or Olive Oil
- 1 1/2 Cups Medium grain rice Arborio
- 1 small white onion chopped, about 1 cup
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and fine chopped
- 1 3/4 cup Chicken both
- Salt to taste
- 3 Tablespoons Flat leaf parsley chopped, for garnish or cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the middle of the oven.
- Set a medium 3-quart ovenproof saucepan over medium heat on the stove top.
- Once the pan is hot, add the oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the rice and onion. Stir frequently until the grains of rice turn from translucent to milky-white. About 5 minutes. To keep the overall end appearance white, don't let the rice brown.
- Add the garlic and stir until fragrant. About 1 minute.
- Add the chicken broth and about 1 teaspoon salt. Stir a couple of times and let the mixture come to a full boil.
- Cover the pan and set in the middle of the oven.
- Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and stand 5 minutes.
- Fluff the rice with a fork and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Oven Baked Rice Recipe … It’s Whats For A Side Dish
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
You’re so right that leftover frozen rice makes great fried rice. Anyway, this is a terrific recipe. We of course bake rice when making a paella or a pilaf, but not so much just when we’re making, well, rice. 🙂 Gotta try this — thanks.
We don’t make rice a lot, but it never would have occurred to me to make it in the oven. Your explanation of why makes sense.