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).
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.
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Notes
Nutrition
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. ;)
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!