recipe help - wild rice

January 29, 2023 10:14 AM

I generally like the taste of wild rice, but I find it kind of hard to match it with other flavors. I was planning on making some chicken and roasted carrots with it, but that still seems a bit bland. What else would you add to top it off? Sauces, seasonings, whatever. Few dietary restrictions, although I don’t like bacon and I generally avoid beans.
posted by kevinbelt to Food & Drink (20 answers total)

Wild rice! Roasted sweet potato or butternut. Feta. Basalmic dressing. Cranberries or yellow raisins. 💛
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:24 AM on January 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

Try making it with vegetable stock for extra flavor. I like adding celery salt and sage, too. A little nutritional yeast and MSG will give it some oomph. Pair it with deeply roasted Brussels sprouts and/or cauliflower.
posted by mezzanayne at 10:42 AM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Mushrooms! Sour cream gravy. Fried or roasted onions with your carrots. Add almonds or hazelnuts to the rice while cooking.
posted by cfraenkel at 10:44 AM on January 29, 2023 [4 favorites]

Seconding mushrooms. Nutritional yeast and MSG will do some similar things to mushrooms as far as boosting the flavor, but I happen to prefer the taste of mushrooms.

Balsamic dressing and/or feta are also good.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:55 AM on January 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Pilaf style, with fideo/short broken pasta, toasted in the fat of choice, using flavorful stock. I also would mix in red jasmine or brown basmati rice, so the wild rice is for chewy texture and that vegetal flavor.
posted by winesong at 11:16 AM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Wild rice can be really bland if cooked in pure water. I always use chicken broth (or Better than Bouillon) and the results are much tastier. We tend to use wild rice as the base for recipes that would otherwise rely on noodles or white rice to soak up some of the delicious sauce. Two dishes that I have recently served with wild rice are Hungarian Pork in Paprika Dill Sauce and Marry Me Chicken. Neither is bland or boring in any way.
posted by DrGail at 11:25 AM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Now that you've mentioned it I'm going to have to order some wild rice so I can make this ridiculous soup that has chicken, aromatics, wild rice, and cream cheese. And yes, it is even better with mushrooms.
posted by Lyn Never at 11:32 AM on January 29, 2023

I like to add some kind of roasted nuts for texture, especially since your veggie is soft. Slivered almonds or pecans are nice. Could add sone dried cranberries too maybe.
posted by vunder at 11:35 AM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Kind of cheating because tiny frying pan’s suggestion reminded me of this. This recipe is good as-is, but also really good if you sub brown or wild rice for the orzo: link
posted by sillysally at 12:13 PM on January 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

This Acorn Squash with rice pilaf recipe is delightful - you could skip the sausage and make the rice + squash as a great side with your chicken.

My biggest suggestion though is that if you use a recipe that includes sage, double or triple the amount. Sage with wild rice is amazing.
posted by past unusual at 12:18 PM on January 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Cook some diced onion or shallot in olive oil for a couple minutes, then make the rice substituting chicken stock for some or all of the water. You can also add herbs, a bay leaf, thyme or whatever. After cooking you could top with chives p, parsley, etc for some color and fresh flavor.
posted by snofoam at 1:02 PM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I add some brown rice & onions and saute it all in olive oil, then add chicken broth. Mushrooms would be a great addition. If you have pan juices from the chicken, make gravy.

I've been roasting carrots in miso broth, salt & pepper, and they're really good.

Everything I read above is making me hungry even though I just ate.
posted by theora55 at 1:11 PM on January 29, 2023

Vinegars are terrific on wild rice—rice vinegar, wine vinegars, balsamic, sherry vinegar, fruit vinegars. Lemon juice is great too!
posted by padraigin at 1:23 PM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

pine nuts or other nuts (almonds?)

cranberry bits

raisins (not cooked with it - next to it / on top)

mushrooms for sure - look at the unusual/dried ones, like chanterelles

I haven't tried this, but: za'atar?

--

generally, I'd keep it plain and serve it next to something that has sweetness and/or acidity, like acorn squash (with sage butter), cranberry sauce, or asparagus with lemon.
posted by amtho at 2:00 PM on January 29, 2023

Pomegranate seeds and a dressing with some pomegranate molasses. And pepitas!
posted by amarynth at 2:46 PM on January 29, 2023

I like to use orange juice when cooking it. It turns out very tender. One Thanksgiving when I was having vegetarians over I made a version of this Ina Garten wild rice pecan pilaf and stuffed it into halves of acorn squashes and baked it. Looks impressive but super easy and really healthy. You can crumble feta or queso fresco in it for a little protein boost.

I like putting pecans or pistachios in it and dried cherries. But you can also cube up some cooked squash or sweet potatoes and toss them in at the end.
posted by typetive at 3:23 PM on January 29, 2023

Some really good suggestions here. Sweet, chewy, umami things: chestnuts, root vegetables, squash, dark greens, nuts and seeds. Ooh, black fermented garlic if you can get it! Also a little sharpness from citrus or vinegar. You'll want a little pungency: alliums (I'm thinking leeks in particular), maybe some feta. Perfect for the northern hemisphere winter.
posted by tangerine at 7:12 PM on January 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

All these recipes seem so gourmet. I substitute wild rice for the plain rice in the bog-standard Broccoli Rice casserole that uses Velveeta and a can of cream of mushroom soup.
posted by CathyG at 8:46 PM on January 29, 2023

This wild rice vegetable bake is my new winter go-to side dish (in fact, I just made a pan last night): https://www.wholisticwoman.com/wild-rice-vegetable-bake/

So far, I’ve liked it with roasted chicken and with a garlicky pork tenderloin and with fish. So I think the flavors work well with a lot of different things!
posted by JannaK at 5:12 AM on January 30, 2023

Mushrooms and beef stock is our default for wild rice. But any stock will perk it up. Soy is good as long as you don’t overdo it. I also use leftover wild rice in meatloaf and with black beans as burrito guts.
posted by DaveP at 1:54 PM on January 30, 2023