Greek Rice is an easy, light and fresh side dish that is ready in under 30 minutes. Light and fluffy rice mixed with a generous amount of lemon, some shallots, garlic and then oregano and parsley for lots of added flavour. Perfect with grilled chicken or fish, and a delicious addition to a BBQ. Rice dishes don't need to be boring!
Greek rice is all your favourite light and fresh flavours from Greece, stirred in to rice. A simple side dish that is bursting with flavour. Just a few ingredients and minimal effort, this side can be eaten hot or cold and it will bring a little bit of sunshine in to your life.
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Why should you try it?
- Delicious Greek flavours
- Just a few ingredients
- Easy to adapt
- Perfect for a BBQ
- Can be eaten hot or cold
What you will need
- Rice - We have used white long-grain rice for this recipe. You could swap it for brown rice, which would give it a bit of a nutty flavour.
- Oil - Try to use the best quality olive oil that you can, as you really will be able to tell the difference. Extra virgin olive oil is always the best way to go. You could leave the oil out if you wanted to, and just cook the onion and garlic in a little water, but it wouldn't have the same flavour.
- Shallots - You could swap these for a small brown onion, however we find that shallots add a nice subtle sweetness to the dish.
- Garlic - Fresh garlic is always best.
- Stock - We used chicken stock for this recipe, as we find it has a richer flavour. However, if you wanted to keep this dish vegetarian/vegan then you could use a vegetable stock instead. Try to use the best quality stock, and go for low salt if you are making this for little ones.
- Lemon - This is what really gives the whole dish it's flavour. It adds a punchy a zesty flavour, and the more lemon the better we say! We used lemon juice and zest to make it extra lemony.
- Oregano - It isn't a Greek dish without oregano, right?
- Parsley - We always use fresh, as it really lightens up the finished dish. You could swap it for dried if you prefer, but it won't have the same flavour. If you don't like parsley, then you could swap it for dill which also goes really well. Or, use a mixture of the two.
Step by step
One: Add the oil to a large pan and gently soften the shallots and garlic, about 3-4 minutes.
Two: Add the rice and stir and cook for about 1 minutes more, until the rice starts to go translucent.
Three: Add the stock, oregano and half the lemon juice. Bring to the boil and cook on a gentle heat, with the lid on, for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and leave with the lid on for 10 more minutes.
Four: Remove the lid and fluff up the rice with a fork and add the remaining lemon juice, zest and parsley and mix well.
What to serve it with
This side dish goes with pretty much anything. Grilled chicken or fish, or anything on a skewer. It's also nice to serve up at a BBQ and makes a nice change from potato salad. Here are some of our favourite recipes to serve alongside this:
- Greek Chicken Skewers
- Grilled Halloumi Flatbreads
- Greek Turkey Burgers
- Tzatziki
- Greek Lamb Souvlaki
- Spiced Lamb Flatbreads
- Spiced Lamb Burgers
FAQs
Spanakorizo is a Greek style pilaf, which is very similar to what we have made here, but it also has lots of spinach in it. You could add some chopped spinach to this at the same time as the stock.
Yes, if you are short on time then you can use a packet of microwaveable rice (that can also be fried in a pan). Just heat some oil in a pan, add the rice, garlic and shallots and cook for 2 minutes and then stir in the lemon and parsley.
We love parsley and lemon together. However, you could swap the fresh parsley for dill, rosemary or tarragon.
Yes, you can make this Greek rice in advance. Allow it to cool and then put it in an air tight container in the fridge. You can then reheat it in a frying pan for 3-4 minutes.
If you have leftovers, then it will store in an air tight container in the fridge for 2 days.
Extra tips
- The lemon flavour of this dish will really depend on how juicy your lemons are. If you lemons don't have much juice in them, then you may need to use another one.
- You don't have to "toast" the rice in the pan before you add the stock, but we finds it adds a little bit of a nutty flavour which we love.
- Don't skip the step of leaving the pan off the heat with the lid on. The rice needs those extra 10 minutes to cook and give you the best light and fluffy rice.
- If you want to adapt the recipe to make more or less, just remember that rice should have a 1:2 ratio of rice to liquid.
- To finish this dish off, you could crumble on some feta. The perfect addition to any Greek dish.
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Recipe
Easy Greek Rice
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 shallots
- 2 garlic cloves
- 200 g long grain white rice
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 pinch sea salt and black pepper
- 6 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 500 ml chicken stock
- 15 g curly parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Add the oil to a large pan and gently soften the shallots and garlic, for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the rice and stir and cook for about 1 minutes more, until the rice starts to go translucent.
- Add the stock, oregano and half the lemon juice. Bring to the boil and cook on a gentle heat, with the lid on, for 15 minutes.
- Turn the heat off and leave with the lid on for 10 more minutes.
- Remove the lid and fluff up the rice with a fork and add the remaining lemon juice, zest and parsley and mix well.
Notes
- The lemon flavour of this dish will really depend on how juicy your lemons are. If you lemons don't have much juice in them, then you may need to use another one.
- You don't have to "toast" the rice in the pan before you add the stock, but we finds it adds a little bit of a nutty flavour which we love.
- Don't skip the step of leaving the pan off the heat with the lid on. The rice needs those extra 10 minutes to cook and give you the best light and fluffy rice.
- If you want to adapt the recipe to make more or less, just remember that rice should have a 1:2 ratio of rice to liquid.
- To finish this dish off, you could crumble on some feta. The perfect addition to any Greek dish.
Beth
I love all the flavors in this rice! So delicious and an easy side! My hubby and I love pairing this rice with fish, and it's so tasty!
Diana Reis
Love how the lemon zest brightens this up. It turns out just right.
Tara
Oh yum! I love how the rice comes together so easily. Definitely perfect for summer grilling season and beautiful styling too.
Sharon
This rice comes out so fluffy. The shallots and lemon zest add so much flavor.
Michelle
Love all the fresh bright ingredients in this rice. And it goes with everything so we'll be making with our grilled meats all summer long.
Liz
I love the flavors in Greek food and I'm always looking for more side dish ideas! This is perfect!
Tania
Amazing! I followed your step by step directions and it came out just perfect.
Will definitely keep this recipe.
Thank you!
Adrianne
I love the simple ingredients for this recipe! Am making fish on the weekend so will give it a go with that, cheers.
Emily Flint
This rice was so easy to make and the flavors were perfect! I served this with chicken and had zero leftovers!
Nathan
My roommates and I eat a lot of rice, but we've definitely not tried anything like this Greek rice! Looks super tasty, I'll definitely be putting this on our list of recipes!
Wanda
This will be perfect with our favourite chicken kabobs! Can't wait to make this rice recipe!
Kyndra Holley
Love all the fresh herbs. This looks delicious and like it would pair perfectly with so many main dishes.