Brown Rice and Green Beans Pilaf, How to Cook the Best Tasting Brown Rice

Try this brown rice and green beans pilaf with bacon, and if you not fond of brown rice, perhaps the addition of some flavorful, savory bacon is what you need to change your mind. It certainly has greatly improved my family's opinion of brown rice and this dish is always welcome on our table.

Why I ❤️ it • Recipe • Ingredients • Preparation

Why I ❤️ it

There are many reasons to love brown rice: It has interesting texture and flavor, it's less carby, contains more fiber, and is more nutritious. But some people are not convinced. For them, I bring you one of my favorite ways to cook brown rice: brown rice and green beans.

The perfect dinner side dish, this flavorful dish of unpolished, or whole rice with green beans and bacon is just what you need to change minds and hearts. And if you want a vegan version, it can be easily converted to a meatless dish.

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Utensils and tools

• Strainer
• Skillet
• Splatter guard
• Dutch oven

Ingredients

• 1 pound of brown rice [0.45 kg] (approximately 2 cups of rice)
• 3 cups of vegetable broth [0.71 litro], or broth of your choice
• 1 pound of bacon [0.45 kg] chopped (I used uncured bacon)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 large red onion, (about ½ lb [0.22 kg]), minced
• 1 pound of green beans ([0.45 kg] approximately 2 cups), chopped
• 1 ½ teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoon of minced flat parsley (Italian parsley)

Preparation

Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

Step 1: Rest the rice

Pour the rice and the broth in a deep bowl and let it rest for an hour, this will help you get tender rice, and shorten the cooking time.

Once that time has passed separate rice and broth using a strainer. Set the rice and the broth aside.

Step 2: Heat the bacon

To brown the bacon, heat the bacon over medium-low heat in a skillet and cook it, stirring regularly, until it has rendered most of the fat.

Increase heat to medium-high and cook until the bacon has turned golden brown and crispy (careful with grease splatters, use a splatter guard for extra safety).

Remove the bacon from the skillet and place it on a paper towel to absorb the excess fat. You may discard the fat.

Step 3: Cook the rice

To cook the rice, heat the olive oil over low heat in a dutch oven. Add the onion, and cook stirring until it turns out translucent.

Add the green beans and rice, mix until they are coated with the oil. Add the broth and salt and increase heat to medium.

Step 4: Simmer

Simmer until the liquid has evaporated, stirring often to prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom.

Step 5: Mix

Mix in the bacon, and parsley, and lower heat to minimum, and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Step 6: Serving

Uncover and stir, moving the rice from the bottom to the top. Cover and simmer for 5 more minutes. Taste for doneness, rice should be firm but cooked-through. If needed, cover and simmer for 5 more minutes.

Serve hot.

Variations

You can make this a vegan recipe by leaving out the bacon. Textured soy bacon chips is also a great substitution, and I have used it with great success.

I used uncured (raw) bacon for this dish, but you may want to try other options, and even substitute turkey bacon for pork bacon if you wish.

If you have chicken broth, it works wonderfully in this dish too.

Top tips

If you don't mind the extra fat, drizzle two extra tablespoons of olive oil after the rice is cooked and fluff with a fork. It will improve the taste, but also keep the grains glistening and fluffed.

Serving suggestions

This is a wonderful side dish to serve with braised chicken, or whichever sauce-rich meat or main dish you like.

What's brown rice?

Brown rice, also known as whole rice, polished rice (integral in Spanish), is rice that still retains the bran and germ layer after the inedible outer husk is removed. Compared to white rice, brown rice contains more fiber, and it's more nutritious, as well as being lower in digestible carbohydrates.

Brown rice can be cooked in similar ways as white rice, but requires longer cooking times to break down the exterior fibrous layer. It has a different taste too, which I don't find disagreeable at all.

Nutritional information

Calories: 784kcal - Carbohydrates: 68g - Protein: 36g - Fat: 41g - Saturated Fat: 12g - Cholesterol: 74mg - Sodium: 1926mg - Potassium: 889mg - Fiber: 5g - Sugar: 3g - Vitamin A: 565IU - Vitamin C: 11.4mg - Calcium: 79mg - Iron: 3.3mg

FAQs

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