I love taking concepts from old recipes and reinventing them into something new. For this Tomato Herb Rice with White Beans and Spinach I’ve taken my (not) Sun Dried Tomato Sauce and used it to flavor a rice and bean combo, similar to my Spanish Chickpeas and Rice. The resulting dish is a full flavored, filling concoction that can be served as either a vegetarian (or vegan) main dish, or a side to go with just about any type of grilled meat. After eating my first bowl I thought that this would also be a great meal if topped with a fried egg (because fried eggs on everything).
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
What Type of Skillet is Best?
As with most rice dishes, the success of this recipe depends greatly on having a heavy bottomed skillet or pot. The heat from your burner must be distributed evenly for the rice to cook evenly, so find your thickest, heaviest pot or deep skillet to use for this recipe. I’m using the 3 qt. covered sauté pan from OXO that came with this set.
Can I Make This with Brown Rice?
Unfortunately simply swapping brown rice for the white rice in this recipe will not work. Brown rice requires more liquid and a longer cooking time to cook through, so several adjustments would need to be made to make brown rice work. Unfortunately I have not tested or developed a brown rice version of this recipe.
Tomato Herb Rice with White Beans and Spinach
Servings 6 8 cups total/1.33 cups eachIngredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.22)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried basil ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried thyme ($0.03)
- 1/4 tsp dried rosemary ($0.03)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.05)
- 3 oz. tomato paste (about 1/4 cup) ($0.33)
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.25)
- 1 15oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes ($1.50)
- 1 15oz. can cannellini beans ($1.29)
- 1/4 lb. frozen chopped spinach ($0.43)
- 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice ($0.48)
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth* ($0.19)
Instructions
- Place the spinach in a bowl and allow it to thaw slightly as you prepare the beginning of the recipe.
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Set the onion aside. Add the olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, a pinch of crushed red pepper, and a little freshly cracked black pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill) to a heavy bottomed pot or deep skillet. Sauté the garlic and spices over medium-low heat for about one minute.
- Add the tomato paste and brown sugar to the pot and continue to sauté for 2-3 minutes, or until the tomato paste takes on a deep burgundy color. Add the onion and salt and continue to sauté for a few minutes more, or until the onions become soft and transparent.
- Meanwhile, drain and rinse the cannellini beans in a colander. Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), cannellini beans, spinach, and uncooked rice to the pot. Pour in the vegetable broth and stir briefly to combine the ingredients.
- Place a lid on the pot and turn the heat up to medium-high. Allow the contents to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to the lowest setting that allows the liquid to maintain a simmer. Let the pot simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed (there may still be some around the edges. Turn the heat off and let the pot rest, undisturbed, for 10 additional minutes.
- Finally, fluff the contents of the pot with a fork, making sure to not stir vigorously. Serve immediately.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
How to Make Tomato Herb Rice – Step by Step Photos
Start by mincing two cloves of garlic and dicing one onion so they’re ready to go when you need them. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a heavy bottomed pot or deep skillet, along with the minced garlic, 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp rosemary, a pinch of red pepper flakes, and a little freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill). Sauté the spices over medium-low heat for about one minute.
Add 3oz. tomato paste (about 1/4 cup) and 1/2 tsp brown sugar to the pot. Continue to sauté for 2-3 more minutes, or until the tomato paste takes on a darker burgundy color.
Add the diced onion and 1/4 tsp salt. Sauté until the onion is soft and transparent.
Add one 15oz. can of fire roasted diced tomatoes (with juices), 1/4 lb. frozen chopped spinach (does not need to be completely thawed), one 15oz. can cannellini beans (rinsed and drained), and one cup uncooked long grain white rice.
Finally, add 1.5 cups vegetable broth and stir briefly to combine the ingredients.
This is what I use to make my broth because I can mix up any volume that I need (unlike bouillon cubes) with no leftovers (like cans or boxes of broth), the packaging is small, and once opened it lasts just about forever in the fridge. #winning #notsponsored
Place a lid on your pot, turn the heat up to medium-high, and let it come up to a boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down to the lowest setting that still allows the liquid to simmer. Let simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed (there may still be a bit pooling around the edges). Turn the heat off and let it sit for 10 minutes with the lid in place.
Carefully fluff the tomato herb rice without over stirring (you don’t want the beans to break down or the rice to get gummy). Serve immediately! Or garnish with a bit of parsley to make it look even prettier, like I did. ;)
Made this today and it is awesome.. I live with a family of meat eaters so I dont think it’ll all be eaten.
Would this Rice freeze well.
Janelle
I think it would be fine to freeze!
Very easy to make. I found it a bit bland so I did add more herbs to it, but I feel like I’m still missing something, I just don’t know what. I think I might sprinkle some cheese on it when I reheat it along with fresh herbs and a squeeze of lime maybe? I found I had to use way more broth than recipe called for. But that’s ok. Honestly not a bad recipe. It’s just me so it makes a generous amount for meal prepping.
Cheese would be amazing. I would go with feta!
Made this with my vegetarian daughter in mind. She said it was “just okay”, but the hubs and I loved it, once I doctored it up with some more seasonings. I also added Italian blend cheese {after reading another review} because the tomato taste was a bit overpowering. Since my daughter wasn’t thrilled, I added some smoked beef sausage that I browned and sliced. Absolutely delicious!
Yum! Love it. Very toddler approved too!
This looks awesome! Can’t wait to try it. Could this recipe be frozen for meal prep after cooking?
Of course! Spread the cooked rice in a large baking pan and refrigerate it until it has cooled completely, then portion in freezer-safe containers, top with wax paper to prevent freezer burn, and keep for up to a month. XOXO -Monti
This looks really good–can’t wait to make it. Question–is the frozen spinach in block form, or the stuff that comes in a bag?
Thanks
I would recommend the bagged kind for this one, since you’re adding it straight to the skillet unthawed, that way it can be stirred into the other ingredients. If you have the block kind on hand, I’d just thaw it first so it can be stirred in instead of sitting in the skillet as a big ice cube. :)
This looks great! I have a box of arborio rice that is just sitting in my cupboard, would that work for this recipe? If so, what adjustments would I need to make liquid ratio wise?
Arborio rice will definitely give you more of a sticky texture, rather than nice individual rice grains because it’s shorter and starchier. You may also need to adjust the amount of liquid used, but I’d need to test it first to know for sure. :)
This was reeeeally good. It’s pretty tangy with all the tomatoes, so I’d add melted mozzarella on top at the end next time.
I LOVE this recipe! It’s cheap, easy and quick! Literally one of my favorite recipes. I use brown rice for it, the only adjustment needed is to add 2 cups of broth or water instead of 1.5. Turns out amazing! Thank you for this awesome recipe! Peace :)
Okay so I’ve made this recipe a bunch of times, always getting mushy rice but I think that I’ve finally got it how I like! I cook the 1cup rice in 1.5 veggie broth, season to my liking, then put in the fridge for 1-2 days. When I’m ready, I put together the tomatoes, beans, herbs, etc and cook those in a large skillet. Then I add the cold rice plus 1/4 cup water and cook a lil more. Taste yummy.
Thanks again, Beth for an easy but yummy recipe!
-a broke college student
I substituted brown rice and it took ~25min longer and had to add in about a half cup more of water. Very delicious!
I also add on extra spinach and the wife loved it 😀
Beth, this recipe is outstanding and very forgiving. For everyone wondering whether they could add pre-cooked rice to avoid the trouble: I made this with pre-cooked farro and the flavors melded perfectly after I simmered all the ingredients on low for 30 minutes. I doubled the recipe for my otherwise thin family of three (two skeptical omnivores and me, a vegan) and we devoured it as an abundant main meal. A couple of alterations: I replaced the rice with farro because I desired its texture and nuttiness, subbed chickpeas for white beans as they were what I had at hand, added a pound of fresh spinach at the end of cooking instead of frozen, and salted to taste as I did not use broth. I topped it with some homemade vegan chevre and it was the paradigmatic late summer meal. Beth, I only wish I had found your website back when I was just a beginner cook: your step-by-step instructions and amiable writing voice are a fantastic pedagogic tool and a delightful refreshment. I saved another eight of your vegan/vegetarian meals and I cannot wait to prepare them.
Very good, my girlfriend gave it an 8/10.
This was my first budgetbytes meal. We are pigs at this house so serving sizes don’t really apply well to us. This made one giant bowl for each of us for our dinner, and then a small snack sized serving for each of us a bit later. No leftovers. I’ll honestly probably double it up next time so we can eat it the next day too.
Love this recipe- I’ve made it a couple of times now! I like experimenting so I just tried this technique for “I didn’t want to go to the store today” beans and rice using black beans and Mexican spices and it was AWESOME. So much flavor comes from frying the tomato paste with the spices, omg. New favorite go-to lazy not-from-a-box dinner. Thank you!
I continue to look for more vegetarian recipes that are quick. Although I’m making this during isolation where time isn’t an issue, I was so impressed by this. The spices alone make this dish spectacular! My partner enjoyed trying to guess what was included :)
I’ve been making this for a while, but I may have just broke the code. Take about 1 cup of leftovers and reheat it (I do it in a pot but I bet the microwave would work). Toast a tortilla, add the leftovers, a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkle of cheese and you’ve got yourself a late night burrito. I live in San Diego so this is gonna definitely gonna stop me from getting a California burrito when I’ve got a late night craving. Much healthier and obviously cheaper.
California has made me realize that (to me) everything is better wrapped in a tortilla.
I’m going to try this for lunch! Thanks for the leftover tip :)
I LOVED this recipe, but FYI it took about 90 minutes for my rice to cook fully! I do live in Colorado at higher altitude which usually contributes to longer cook time, but this seemed wayyy off. That said, when it was finally cooked through it was delicious!
Pretty good! I might put in a little more red pepper flakes next time though, as I like a bit more spice.
Can’t hurt!
Agreed. The spicy bite from the flakes was just very very barely noticeable. As someone who loves spicy food, I’ll probably triple the amount of red pepper next time.
This recipe is not great. It just tastes like tomatoes. The spices are way under measured. Definitely needs more garlic. Honestly just not great. Tomato overpowered everything.
There is MSG in the Better than Bouillon
There is NO MSG in Better than Bullion! This dish was fantastic! Will be making it again very soon.
So what. Nothing wrong with msg.
This turned out great! I was worried because I honestly kept getting distracted and messing up the heat settings 🤦🏻♀️ But all the rice cooked and it is so yummy! Thanks for a great vegan recipe!
Made this again today but added ground italian sausage after the onion step. Also omitted the spices in the first step since the sausage is already highly seasoned. After browning the sausage, continued with the recipe as normal. It was still delicious! We’d already had a meatless dinner this week and that’s about all my family will tolerate so I thought I’d leave this comment for other meat lovers :)
Can I swap out the rice for quinoa instead?
While we haven’t tried it that way you certainly could try it out and see how it goes!
This was so delicious!!!
I didn’t have tomato paste or canned tomatoes so I used ketchup, omitted the brown sugar, and diced up some fresh tomatoes lol. It turned out great! I will definitely be making this again :)
Didn’t have tomato paste so used ketchup instead. Now that’s gangsta! I love it! Almost want to try it.
I took the chance and used brown basmati rice, added 1/2 cup more broth. With the brown rice cooking time is longer. Used 6 garlic cloves garlic. Came out good! This recipe seems versatile, next time I will try kale. So far none of Beth’s recipes have failed.
For the thyme and rosemary, do I use ground or dryleaves? Thanks.
I used dry leaves.
To everyone having trouble cooking rice. Here’s a trick I learned from another blogger.
DON’T COOK THE RICE AT ALL! Crazy? It CAN be done!
Put the 1 cup of rice, in a 2 cup measuring cup.
Put water over the rice, and immediately dump the water off the rice. Keep doing this, until the water remains clear and you can see the rice through the water.
Fill the measuring cup with rice in it, to the 2 cup line.
Then let the rice SOAK, for an hour, while you do something else.
Set a timer for 55 minutes. When it goes off, put your 1.5 cups of broth (or water & vegetable stock paste/vegetable bullion) in a sauce pan on high,.
Add any spices & seasonings you’ll be using to the broth.
Turn the heat on high, to get the broth boiling.
Meanwhile, 5 minutes have probably passed, and the rice is done soaking.
Pour the water off the rice, through a strainer.
Set the rice in the strainer down for a minute.
Check to see if the broth is boiling again.
If it is, dump the rice in the boiling water.
THEN TURN THE HEAT OFF, and keep it off.
Let the rice sit in the heated broth, for 10 minutes.
Check the rice. It should be soaking up all the broth.
Taste test the rice, to see if it’s at the doneness you like.
If it isn’t to your liking, let it sit for 5 minutes more, then test again.
Keep letting it sit there and taste testing every 5 minutes, until it IS to your liking.
If it soaked up all the broth, and isn’t done yet, just add a half cup of water,, and stir in the rice, to loosen it up.
IF YOU USE THIS METHOD, YOU’LL NEVER BURN RICE AGAIN because the heat is turned off during the whole “cooking” process.
Also, all the rinsing b4 “cooking”, will get rid of extra starch and any other impurities.
Plus, YOU control how done it gets, and it gets seasoned, as it “cooks”.
As soon as I saw this recipe, I went, “Bingo! THIS is what’s for dinner!” It’s cooking now, and I’m looking forward to it. The only change I made was using a big bunch of fresh chard, all chopped up (saving the stems to use in something else) instead of frozen spinach, because that’s what I had. Thanks for the recipe — it promises to be yummy!
I love this recipe so much! We are on a rice and beans budget and desperately trying to add some variety in our meals and this does the trick! I’ve hacked it a bit, one of my main tricks is instead of veggie broth I add the same amount of water with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and a good squeeze of spicy brown mustard. It alters the flavor a bit but I have tried this trick in a few recipes and it’s a good stand in for broth.
I would love more one pot rice and beans recipes from you! I am a big fan 😄
Sounds like a great dish to do in the instant pot. Going to put it on my list for this week, I have everything already. Think I’ll use red ride or a wild blend though per another comment.
Looking forward to it
do you have an adaptation for the instant pot?
Do you think any significant changes would have to be made if I did this with chicken broth instead of vegetable?
Nope, that should be an effortless swap. :)
oh my gosh, this recipe is tasty quick and easy the only thing I did was add a little more spinach maybe an ounce or two and some trader Joe’s garlic salt to spice it up a bit more also some feta helped too
Going to try this in the slow cooker tomorrow, the AC is out, it too hot to cook
We make this one almost weekly and always love the way it turns out. Wanted to leave a comment to address a few of the 1-stars I see here. We use a thick large-base saucepan that cooks the rice evenly after about 17 minutes at medium-low (definitely more on the medium side).
We also use red rice instead of white rice so it’s a little bit heartier. Love the combo of the beans and spinach. Very tasty!
This is simple but lacks developed flavor for a dish that takes so long. As a vegan this needs some serious kick in the pants, and the rice never developed I almost felt bad throwing out this meal but white rice has very little nutritional value anyway it went right into my compost.
Not sure what I did wrong? Followed recipe exactly but for some odd reason it looks like mush and the rice is still a little crunchy!😔
I have to be doing this wrong, the last few times I just ended up with stuck burnt rice at the bottom of my pot.
Any pointers?
If you can, lower the heat even more. It may also be that your cookware is too thin and not transferring the heat well (thin bottomed pots will create super hot spots that burn the rice instead of providing an even diffuse heat).
Just made this! Had to improvise a bit since I did not have garlic, onions or tomato paste, and used chick[peas instead of cannellini beans but still so good! : ))) Have also recommended this recipe to my sister in law and friend who are both new moms as a great EASY to make healthy dinner!
we meal plan every week- and we are so happy we found your site!!! this was my first recipe from you- WE LOVED IT. went to our ‚recipe master‘!
The spinach in the finished product photos looks a bit overcooked. Have you ever tried adding it later, in the last 10 minutes or so of cooking, so it stays green?
You could definitely try that. I haven’t tried it, though. :)
This looks delicious and is on the rotation for this week! I’m looking to freeze the leftovers-do you think this recipe will hold up in the freezer?
I think this one would freeze pretty well. You can test it by just freezing one serving first and thawing/reheating it the next day just to see before freezing more.
This was so easy, cheap, and tasty!! And vegan, if you are into that sort of thing :-) I’ve made this twice now and both times 1.5 cups of vegetable broth wasn’t enough, I ended up having to add about 1/2 cup of water because the rice dried up before it finished cooking. That could be due to the amount of liquid in the brand of canned tomatoes I bought, the type of rice I used, whatever. Still super tasty :)
Hi Beth! What skillet are you using? It looks very useful. Thanks!!
It’s my Oxo deep skillet: https://www.amazon.com/OXO-Tri-Ply-Stainless-Covered-Skillet/dp/B00PCI7DHI/ref=sr_1_4?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1496959195&sr=1-4&keywords=oxo+covered+skillet
So delicious!
So delicious!
I think this may be my absolute favorite recipe of yours. It’s so simple but so flavorful and I LOVE it!
This was delicious but the rice was not fully cooked when the cooking/sitting time was up, and all of the liquid was gone. I had to add about a cup more broth and simmer a bit longer. But I’ll make it again with more liquid added at the beginning next time.
Can you use brown rice ?!
Not as written. The recipe would need to be adjusted quite a bit to accommodate brown rice.
I made it with brown rice, it had to cook a lot longer and I used 2 cups stock
So disappointed. After reading the comments I upped the stock to two cups. I thought that there would be plenty of liquid. The rice did not cook. I added more stock until the carton was empty. I continued to cook and the rice is still hard. I’m going to leave it on the stove and see if any magic happens. The flavor is good so maybe I should have used Uncle Ben’s or pre-cooked rice and added it in at the end. I wonder what I did wrong?
Did you keep a lid on the pot while cooking to retain the water to be soaked into the rice?
If i wanted to replace the white beans with a 19oz can of chick peas, do any adjustments to cooking time or added liquid be required?
Best, J
You should be able to substitute that without any additional changes. :)
Made this tonight with lentils instead of white beans. Served it to kids with tortillas.
All eaten no nagging needed.
Amazing. I made it in pressure cooker – same process just at put rice etc in step – cook it for 16min. Came out perfect .
I used long grain jasmine rice I had soaked overnight.
The flavors are delicious!
A couple comments:
-It is helpful if the ingredients list is ordered by how the ingredients appear in the recipe. Otherwise you are kind of scrambling to get everything together in time.
-The onion takes more than just a few minutes to really cook down over medium-low heat.
-The simmering and water evaporation also took longer than the recipe said, but I used brown rice so that may be a contributor
All your recipes look so delicious! Will be trying a few soon. Can you please tell me what type of frying pan you use? Is it stainless steel?
Does`nt the food stick onto the pan?
That is a stainless steel skillet made by OXO. :) Starchy and sugary foods tend to stick, but if you’re using a lot of moisture, like in this dish, the steam helps keep everything from sticking. It will only start to stick if it dries out. There is definitely a technique to using stainless and learning how to keep things from sticking.
Thanks very much for this recipe – I think I’ve made this three times in the past fews weeks. It’s just too good. Love your blog, and I appreciate that you put the recipe at the top, with pictures below. That formatting makes it so much easier to meal plan for the week, not having to hunt through the page for the actual ingredients list!
This was yummy, pretty easy to make, filling and healthy. Checks off all my requirements! Another great recipe from budget bytes, thank you!
I forgot to mention that I topped it off with a little goat cheese crumbles. It added a great creamy tangy flavor.
If I were to use fresh herbs, what would the amounts be?
Converting dried to fresh herbs can be tricky. I’d need to experiment with it to see how it turns out before suggesting.
Just made this and it was delicious! Do you eat this as a main dish or a side?
I eat it as a main dish, but it could go either way. :)
Made this last night and it was delicious! I didn’t realise the serving sizes were determined assuming a side, though, and I had it by itself. It’s definitely good enough to do the job, but then you only get three servings. :)
I substituted arborio rice and increased the liquid by a cup and simmering timely about 15 minutes.. I used a can of chicken broth and 1/2 C of water, heating in the microwave prior to addition. Delicious.
I bet any of these would be great to add protein with a can of tuna or even salmon. Yum
This dish definitely required more liquid and a longer cooking time. I have an electric stove and things don’t always cook the way the recipe says they will. However, once the rice became cooked and the dish was served up the votes were unanimously that the recipe is a keeper. I just have to note on the recipe to either decrease the amount of rice or increase the broth. My friend suggested that perhaps, by using chicken broth (no vegetable broth) the fat coated the rice, thereby decreasing its ability to absorb the liquid. What does everyone think?
I ran out of BTB last week so just used water in this. Missed out on some extra flavor, I’m sure, but it was still great. 👍
I’m not a fan of beans, but I think I’m going to try this and simply replace the beans with an equivalent amount of chicken! It looks so good!
Although the end result was delicious, I did have to add more water because I’m guessing my fire roasted tomatoes were in more of a sauce than a liquid. During the time I was deciding whether to add more water or not I got a little sticking/scorching on the bottom of the pan, even with low heat. Anyway, we loved the final product and will definitely try again with a keener eye on the water and the flame. Thanks for the awesome recipes.
For anyone who said they used fresh spinach – I don’t have a kitchen scale, how much spinach did you use instead of a 1/4 lb frozen? Going to make this soon!
A quarter of a pound is four ounces- usually the baby spinach I buy is around 5 ounces. If you don’t have a scale, I’d just take out a big handful and add the rest to the recipe. But honestly, I’d just use the whole thing!
I’m planning on this for a college church group this week. I think they’ll love it!
I’ve made dozens of your recipes and although this might seem one of the less… glamorous maybe, it’s incredibly tasty, cheap and from stuff that I already had in the pantry. Loved the brown sugar and tomato paste base. I used a can of mixed beans (white, red and chickpea) and also cracked an egg into a bowl full of it and let it cook on the residual heat for extra creaminess! Thanks as always!
I made this tonight. it was pretty good, but the rice needed extra liquid and cooking time for me. It was odd but turned out good but a tad overcooked as a result of the rice.
I added a sprinkle of Old Bay on my serving. Tasted like some type of yummy vegetarian jambalaya. Might add a tsp or so next time I make it! Delicious both ways!
Hey Beth! I made this last night with brown rice and found that the recipe works wonderfully with an extra half-cup of water. The cooking time was only a bit longer. Thanks for making these recipes! I’ve been making them for years now!
Love your site and your recipes! Wanted to ask on this one: I’m wanting to sub quinoa in my rice dishes, so for one like this, if I put in quinoa, would that affect cook time or other ingredients? I’m thinking I might want to add a little more water but am unsure.
Yes, it will definitely affect the cooking time and liquid ratio, so you’ll need to do some experimenting there to get it right. I haven’t cooked with quinoa enough to give an estimate of where to start with this one. It’s tricky! :)
I made this with bulgur instead of rice and used fresh spinach. It was delicious and super easy! I topped it with feta cheese. Thanks for a great recipe! I will definitely be making this more often.
What about brown rice? More liquids? Cook longer?
Yes, it would probably take more liquid and a longer cooking time, but I can’t suggest specifics without having tested it.
Whenever you use the better than buillon, do you just stir the paste to cold water and use, or do you stir into hot water separately?
thanks!
It really just depends on the recipe. For something like this where I don’t want to be stirring the pot (stirring makes rice gummy), I dissolve the BTB in hot water to make it broth first. If I’m making a soup or something that I’ll be stirring a lot, I’ll often just add the BTB and water separately because it will have plenty of time to dissolve as I cook and stir. :)
Has anyone calculated the nutritional content of this recipe?
I adapted this a little bit so I could make it in the pressure cooker (as I generally burn rice when I attempt it on the stove top!). So I can’t comment too much on the cooking technique but I can say that the flavors came together nicely! Loved the addition of beans and spinach to the rice dish. I could eat this as a meal itself! Will definitely be making this again.
Could you elaborate? I was thinking I could maybe do this in the Instant Pot.
Saw this recipe on Sunday and said I had to make it. Made it last night and it was delicious! Some of my rice didn’t cook through but I’m guessing it’s because I used cheap rice; that didn’t stop any of us from inhaling it. I ate it as a meal but I served it with morningstar chik patties for my kids. As a vegetarian family on a budget I really appreciate recipes like this. Thank you and look forward to more great recipes.
Could this be made in an Instant Pot?
Probably, although I can’t offer specific advice without testing it out.
Here’s a similar recipe (not nearly as tasty though – I made this one last night and it’s amazing). I plan to use the budgetbyes recipe and do it in the instant pot using the saute function and then manual 28 minute cook recommended in the reddit recipe.
https://www.reddit.com/r/instantpot/comments/4k3nsf/instant_pot_for_brown_rice/d4rix66/?st=iuo64a50&sh=d982f3de
I had a difficult time simmering long enough to cook the rice in my heavy bottomed all clad wok pan – I realize the problem is probably that it was a wok shaped pan and I simply had to simmer longer with more stirring, but the instant pot seems much easier!
I love making your spanish chickpeas with rice dish, so I’m sure I’ll love this one as well.
Thank you!
Yum this look so delicious, healthy and filling!
http://www.justbeingbrooklyn.com
Congratulations Beth for the recognition of your food blog by Saver Magazine as one of the best in 2016. I also discovered you this year. I love your writing.g and tasty recipes.
This is delish, esp. With fresh spinach
Hey Beth, I’m also a BtB fanatic but until recently never used it in anything but soups. How do you know whether to make the broth first v when it’s okay to just put the concentrate in? And do you reconstitute with hot or cold water? I usually use hot but did so with one of your wonderpots and I think it made the pasta cook too quickly…
And btw, Americas test kitchen recommends only buying the full salt but using 3/4 teaspoon instead of a full one per cup of water to cut down on salt without sacrificing flavor.
I use BtB ALL THE TIME and I don’t think it hurts anything at all to just dump a couple teaspoonfuls in with everything else (if you’re stirring anyway). But my laziness is extraordinary :) If there’s a way to make even the easiest thing one step shorter, I’ll do it.
Also, Beth? That spanish chickpea rice thing is one of my favorites, so I know what I’m making for dinner tomorrow!!
Oh, I like that salt tip!
Here’s how I determine whether I’m going to mix it with water first, or just add the BTB and water separately to a recipe: If it’s a recipe that I will be stirring often as it cooks, like a soup or stew, I’ll just add them separately because they’ll have plenty of opportunity to mix together as the dish cooks. If it’s for something that you shouldn’t stir a lot, like a rice dish (this recipe), I’ll dissolve the BTB in water before adding it. :)
I usually use hot water to dissolve the BTB because that makes it a LOT easier. I suppose if hot water is making it cook too quickly, you can try dissolving in hot water first, then cooling it a bit in the fridge or freezer first?
Yum! I’m always looking for delicious rice and bean recipes and this fits the bill. Pinned!
I will totally make this and eat it and love it. And yes, fried egg on everything.