Easy Holiday Rice

Transform inexpensive plain white rice into the most delicious holiday side dish! Prepared with fresh garlic and ginger, this rice is certainly aromatic. Tossed with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers, and blanched almonds, Easy Holiday Rice could just become a regular part of your holiday dinners!

Leftover rice is always something you can find in our fridge. That’s why I’m always trying to find inventive ways to use it up. But, please note that even though this Easy Holiday Rice recipes uses leftover, cold rice, there is absolutely nothing about this recipe that feels or tastes leftover! And, if you don’t have any leftover rice, you can use freshly cooked rice as long as you allow it time to fully cool once it’s has been cooked.

Remember my Leftover Tomato Lime Fried Rice? That’s still one of my favourites! I used to be one of those people who didn’t care too much for leftovers. But now, I just try my best to re-invent them so that I don’t feel like I’m eating the same thing over and over again.

This recipe requires a few ingredients that you might not have on hand. Those ingredients would be fresh ginger, roasted red bell peppers, and blanched almonds. I’m going to assume that most of you will have a couple of cloves of garlic on hand. Fresh ginger is very cheap, so I do hope you can get your hands on some. Dried ground ginger really does not compare. Roasted red peppers can be purchased in jars, but it’s easy and cheaper to make your own. Buy a small packet of blanched almonds because making those at home is tedious!

LET’S TALK ABOUT LEFTOVER RICE

Leftover rice is always a problem in our home. You see, Dear Reader, whenever John.e cooks rice, he always makes a large amount of it so that we can use it up as a side or as an ingredient in another dish at some point during the week. In most cases, John.e always makes rice, because rice is just one thing that I cannot cook. It just will not work for me. He has the magic touch, I guess.

If you’re familiar at all with leftover, refrigerated rice, you will be aware of the fact that the rice becomes a bit tough and chewy. There is a simple way to bring your leftover rice back to life and revive it from that dreaded chewiness. If you are using leftover rice in a dish that requires cooking, you have nothing to worry about. The rice will rejuvenate itself accordingly. If, however, you are using the leftover rice in a recipe where cooking is not involved, there is something you can do to breathe life back into your cold, refrigerated rice.

For every cup of leftover rice that you would like to bring back to its freshly cooked state, add it along with one tablespoon of water to a microwave-safe bowl. On low heat, microwave the rice for 2 minutes. Remove and stir and microwave for 2 minutes more. You will have the perfect rice texture all over again – like it was just cooked!

SUBSCRIBE NOW AND NEVER MISS ANOTHER RECIPE!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to my annual holiday-themed recipes. Traditionally, every year I share a series of recipes that you might already be familiar with. For example, I’ve previously shared 12 Holiday Trifles, 12 Holiday Bars & Squares, and even these 12 Edible Holiday Wreath recipes! Also, some of my favourite recipe collections from previous years are my 75 Homemade Gifts from Your Kitchen, my 50 Make Ahead Freezer Friendly Christmas Recipes, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

This year I’m doing it differently. Rather than sharing multiple back to back series, I’m sharing a new holiday-themed recipe almost every day from now until Christmas Eve. For those of you who have followed my annual Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas series, don’t worry, you will still get lots of new cookie recipes this year too. I will not, however, be publishing the cookies back to back in a 24-day series. This would have been my 8th year running the series and it becomes very exhausting, so this year, I’m spreading the recipes out so that I’m not sharing the same type of recipe every day.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! And, just in case you’re curious, you can see previous annual posts for my 24 Cookies of Christmas Series here!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Rice – Use plain white rice here. Leftover, chilled rice is best.
• Butter
• Olive Oil 
• Onion – White or yellow onion will do just fine.
• Salt and Ground Black Pepper
• Garlic – Use fresh garlic cloves for best results
• Ginger – Like the garlic, fresh ginger is best here.
• Ground Nutmeg
• Roasted Red Bell Pepper – You can buy a jar almost anywhere these days, but you can make them at home easily and cheaply too!
• Parsley – For flavour, colour, and freshness.
• Sliced Blanched Almonds

HOW TO MAKE EASY HOLIDAY RICE

If you do not already have leftover rice on hand, go ahead and cook the rice according to the instructions on the package. Set aside to cool. If cooking the rice now, you will need two cups of uncooked rice. If the rice is already cooked and cooled, you will need six cups.

Add the butter, oil, and onion to a large skillet over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Fry the onions until browned and crisp. Add the garlic and ginger. Stir into the onions and butter and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the sliced blanced almonds and stir to combine. Cook for 2 more minutes before transferring the contents of the skillet to a plate. Set that aside.

Do not wipe out the skillet! Add the cooked rice and ground nutmeg. Stir and cook until the rice is fully reheated through. Add the onion and almond mixture back to the skillet along with the the roasted red bell pepper and parsley. Toss and heat through for 2-3 minutes. Transfer the rice to a serving platter. Garnish and serve!

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!