Yellow Rice

Yellow rice pairs well with so many Mexican, South American, Caribbean, and Cajun dishes, and I absolutely love it with a seared salmon. Here’s how to make it from scratch at home.

I’ve had this recipe around for a while, but it’s time to bring it back up to the top of the list, because it goes really, really, really well with the creamy refried black beans and coffee-rubbed sirloin steak with cowboy butter I’m about to share around here! Sound good? It’s good.

It’s going to sound silly, but one of the reasons I struggled so much over the past couple years to post recipes isn’t that we weren’t doing lots of cooking. It’s that I don’t have a good place to do food photography with the amount of natural light I like, and I haven’t been good about taking the time to plan, stage, and pick up my camera.

Between a five-year-old kid and an almost two-year-old golden retriever, also, I need to have a place that has good natural light, is easy to set up, AND is away from little fingers and wagging tails. I’m working on this.

So enough about my griping, let’s talk yellow rice.

Yellow rice is a staple in Mexico, South America, the Caribbean, India, Africa, Southern Asia…actually, it’s hard to think of a continent that doesn’t have some kind of yellow rice. But thanks to those first three, it’s a staple here in the Gulf Coast.

It’s one of my favorite things to pair with anything I make that has any of that flavor – my crispy fish tacos, mini-taco pepper poppers, my cedar plank salmon or really any salmon that has neutral or Gulf-style seasonings, or my spice rubbed beef tenderloin with creole mustard sauce (I need to reshoot that post – I’ve changed up the pairings I offer with it considerably!)!

It’s a simple but extremely flavorful and savory dish. You cook up some aromatics, usually onion and garlic, add long-grain rice, and add in turmeric for the vivid yellow. Once you have that base, you can add a lot of other touches to your preference – broth, seasoning, chopped vegetables and chopped meats, you name it. There’s a lot of versatility in this dish.

I always make a bunch of it whenever I cook it, usually as part of weekend meal-prep. If you need something that’s good in a pinch, chop in a couple of baked or grilled chicken breasts or baked pork tenderloin, bag it up, and you’ve got a solid stash of ready to go meals – just dump in a bowl, heat, and enjoy!

There are lots of ways to make it, but here’s what you need for our version:

• 2 cups long-grain rice
• butter or olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely diced onion
• 2-4 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp chicken base or 2 cubes bouillon
• turmeric
• white pepper
• chili pepper
• 4 cups water
• chopped cilantro or parsley for garnish

I add the parsley. Too many people in my house hate cilantro to use it in much of anything that I’m making for the family.

In a medium stock-pot, melt the butter over medium heat, and sauté the garlic and onion until it’s getting flavorful and soft, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the rice and make sure it’s nice and coated with butter. Then add the water, chicken base, turmeric, white pepper, and chili pepper. Stir it in and let the mixture come to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, stir, cover the pot, and let it cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove the rice from heat and stir, then cover and let sit off the heat for another 5 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Here’s the recipe card:

What’s your favorite way to serve up yellow rice?