Rice Pilaf

Cooked rice with onion and garlic inside a white bowl with a spoon in it.

This simple Rice Pilaf is a classic rice side dish recipe with orzo pasta, long grain rice, onion, and garlic that cooks in seasoned chicken broth on the stove top. Simple flavors, easy ingredients, and one skillet pan is all you need.

Course Side Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword how to make rice pilaf, rice pilaf

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings

Calories 178kcal

Author Jessica - Together as Family

Equipment

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup orzo pasta
1/2 cup long grain white rice
2 cloves garlic
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Instructions

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in the butter and allow it to melt completely. Stir in the onion and cook until translucent and softer, about 4-5 minutes.
Stir in the orzo pasta and let it cook, while stirring constantly, until it starts getting a nice golden brown color.
Stir in the long grain rice and garlic, and let it cook for 30 seconds, while stirring constantly.
Add the chicken broth, salt, and Italian seasoning. Bring it to a boil over high heat.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the skillet with a lid. Allow the rice to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Remove the pan from the heat and allow it to rest, with the lid on, for 5 minutes.
Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

Notes

Rice & Orzo Pasta : There really is not a great substitute for Orzo pasta. It very easily found in most grocery stores by the other pastas, usually at the top of the shelf by the other small pastas like ditalini and acini de Pepe.

Make sure you use regular long grain white rice. Jasmine rice and basmati rice are also long grain rice varieties, but they are a stickier and much softer rice, which won't do well in rice pilaf. I do not recommend using brown rice as it needs much more liquid and a longer cook time.

Do not precook the rice or orzo pasta before adding them into the skillet pan. Use dry, uncooked rice and orzo.

Garlic & Onion : Use a yellow onion or white onion. For the garlic you can use fresh garlic that has been minced or pressed, garlic paste from a tube, or chopped garlic from a jar.

Chicken Broth : Regular salted chicken broth or reduced sodium chicken broth can both be used in this. It's just whatever you prefer. Use vegetable broth for a vegetarian dish.

Butter : I use salted butter. If using unsalted butter, you may want to increase the salt to 1 teaspoon.

Salt : Kosher salt is best but if you use regular table salt or sea salt, you probably only want to use 1/2 teaspoon as the salt grains are much smaller which means you can fit more salt within the measuring spoon.

Nutrition