15 Irresistible Rice Recipes for Any Night

By Jennifer A. • Feb 09, 2024

With food prices rising and the inevitable need to think of a fresh dinner recipe every night, rice is a perfect solution to your dinnertime woes. From classic flavors to a fresh take on favorites, these recipes will help stretch your dollar and fuel you up when you need something warm.

Check out these 15 irresistible (and easy!) recipes using rice:

1. Tweety's Chicken Fried Rice

Tweety never worries about what to do with her leftover rice. If anything, she adores leftover rice; it gives her an excuse to make her famous dish! Tweety's Chicken Fried Rice turns white rice into golden, savory morsels of flavor as they toast in nutty sesame oil with tender veggies and savory chicken! Umami-packed soy sauce and crunchy green onions take the Asian-inspired flavors to the next level and make leftover rice the thing to have! Lunch has never been simpler or more delicious than with Tweety's Chicken Fried Rice!

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2. Wild-About-You Pilaf

If you have a special someone, but you just don't know how to share with them how you feel, don't worry about crafting a long, poetic speech. Instead, serve them this Wild-About-You Pilaf and they'll be sure to get the hint. With every bite of this fluffy rice side dish, they'll notice all the fresh flavors from the veggies, berries, nuts, and herbs and realize the labor of love you performed for them. Nothing says "I love you" like a savory side dish! Okay, okay, we know that sounds a little ridiculous. Maybe use some words to express how you really feel, but a side of Wild-About-You Pilaf is a nice finishing touch to get your point across!

3. Bacon Mango Fried Rice

Bacon Mango Fried Rice is fried rice like you’ve never tasted before! This scrumptious dish puts an exciting twist on classic fried rice, with the sweet, tart, tropical fruit paired with crispy fatty bacon in a fluffy bed of fried rice. This dish is easy and quick to make, and it’s both hearty and refreshing. You’ll gobble up this Bacon Mango Fried Rice in no time!

4. Life-Saving Fried Rice

When the week starts truly getting hectic, you need a meal that you can make without breaking a sweat (or the bank). Life-Saving Fried Rice only asks that you pour the ingredients in a baking dish, stir, and bake. The result is a fluffy and hearty rice dish with crispy bacon and the savory, tangy, and sweet flavors of fried rice — without the frying pan. Mixed with tender vegetables, Life-Saving Fried Rice is a complete meal in one dish, so you can be a hero at dinnertime while staying on top of your schedule!

5. Romance-Me Risotto

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and you need to practice your romantic dinner making to really impress your partner! Here's a good suggestion; Romance-Me Risotto! Creamy, flavorful, rich, and loaded with so much goodness! Bright lemon and nutty, sharp parmesan with bursts of garden-fresh peas mingle with the poultry flavor of the broth soaked into the tender rice! Nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like Romance-Me Risotto!

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6. Snow-Day Rice Casserole

Remember those school days when there was a chance of a flurry? You'd wake up early, run to the radio, and exclaim with pure joy when your school was mentioned on the cancellation list. Gosh, what a thrill that brought. You'd bundle up to play outside and your momma would make her special Snow-Day Rice Casserole. Can't you smell it? Walking in with rosy cheeks to a nice, warm helping of this savory dish, packed full of juicy chicken, tender veggies, and fluffy rice. Mmm, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day. So, the next time the white stuff starts to fall, bring back all the memories with Snow-Day Rice Casserole!

7. Cheryl's Lemon Chicken Rice Soup

She always knew how to treat us right! And with Cheryl's Lemon Chicken Rice Soup, she was right on the money. The homemade goodness of cooked chicken and long-grain white rice surrounded by an amazing lemon-enhanced broth will have you singing her praises! Cheryl's Lemon Chicken Rice Soup is known far and wide as THE official "I-want-to-stay-at-home-and-be-warm" soup. It's so good! Let's eat!

8. Marg's Chicken Rice Soup

Marg never lets the winter get her down. In fact, she knows the perfect cure for chills and any seasonal sadness. She calls it Marg's Chicken Rice Soup, and wow! It's something else! The rice soaks in all of that succulent chicken flavor from the broth, which makes the actual chicken all the more savory when they both end up on the same spoon! Fresh veggies and fragrant herbs come together to make Marg's Chicken Rice Soup the cure-all to the cold!

9. Southwest Layered Rice

When a craving for some Southwest flare is on your mind, add a side dish that will enhance your meal in a whole new direction. Southwest Layered Rice is the perfect choice for your next meal adventure that's headed out West. Tender rice is layered between seasoned sour cream and cheddar cheese to form layers upon layers of the great tastes you love! Southwest Layered Rice rounds out what's been missing with your otherwise exceptional Tex-Mex menu. Let's dig in!

10. Unstuffed Pepper Soup

This may be a different vessel and presentation, but you still get the same nostalgic dish! Unstuffed Pepper Soup brings the taste you love, plus a little more of it to share with others. Lean ground beef, bell peppers, and onions are loaded with saucy tomatoes in a perfectly seasoned broth to become the replica of a dish you already know and love. Topped with some fluffy brown rice, stuff yourself and your guests instead of peppers with a nice helping of Unstuffed Pepper Soup. It's full of great flavor and will leave you feeling full unbelievably satisfied; get a bowl full (or two) and let's get stuffed!

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11. Baked Island Teriyaki

Baked Island Teriyaki is how you get classic sweet-and-savory teriyaki flavor on your plate, sitting on top of a bed of rice, in under an hour. Simply make up that classic tangy, umami-rich teriyaki sauce and pour it over chicken and tropical fresh pineapple, then bake. The chicken is savory and sticky in the delicious sauce, with the pineapple providing lovely tangy contrast! Baked Island Teriyaki shows that great Japanese flavors can come from inside your oven, as well as from your stovetop!

12. Sweet Honey Bowls

They may be Sweet Honey Bowls, but the taste is definitely on the savory side! The chicken is marinated in tropical lime juice, spicy peppers, and of course, sweet honey for a wonderfully balanced flavor... and it makes a wonderful partner to homemade avocado-corn salsa. Pile it all over rice and Sweet Honey Bowls become an exceptional meal with a terrific Tex-Mex kick! Just so satisfying!

13. Dutch Oven Chicken Bog

Southern comfort foods are a favorite no matter where you live. As a tasty example, Dutch Oven Chicken Bog is more than ready to bring some Southern hospitality to your table. When savory rotisserie chicken meets tender long-grain white rice and sharp parmesan cheese, you have a soulful meal that everyone will enjoy. Front-porch sittin' or high-rise living, no matter where you call home, Dutch Oven Chicken Bog will be like a delicious, home-cooked hug! Y'all come back now, ya hear?!

14. Dirty Peppers

Take a tasty trip to the bayou! Dirty Peppers are a welcome treat that will result in a table full of spotless plates! A Southern must-have, the filling is dirty rice, seasoned to perfection and loaded with savory ground beef and sausage! That rice is then stuffed into a bell pepper for a polished presentation with a refreshing flavor. When topped with an abundance of sharp parmesan, Dirty Peppers wash away your hunger and satisfy even the most finicky with a plethora of tantalizing Louisiana flavor. It's so stinking good!

15. Pork Chops & Rice

Dinner cannot come quick enough when this dish is on the menu! Pork Chops & Rice is the kind of meal you look forward to all week, and you are going to love it! These fork-tender pork chops are simmered in a stick-to-your-ribs, savory, mushroom-and-onion sauce that definitely sets these chops apart from the rest. When paired with some fluffy rice, Pork Chops & Rice can be a romantic dinner for two (with leftovers) or a meal made to share with your favorite guests. No matter the reason, these chops are the perfect answer to the dinner conundrum call. Enjoy one tender forkful at a time!