middle eastern rice

Vegan Lebanese rice with vermicelli and pine nuts. A great side dish next to many Mediterranean favorites.

Lebanese Rice with Vermicelli

long grain or medium grain rice

Water

broken vermicelli pasta

olive oil

Salt

pine nuts, optional to finish

Rinse the rice well (a few times) then place it in a medium bowl and cover with water. Soak for 15 to 20 minutes. Test to see if you can easily break a grain of rice by simply placing it between your thumb and index finger. Drain well.

In a medium non-stick cooking pot, heat the olive oil on medium-high. Add the vermicelli and continuously stir to toast it evenly. Vermicelli should turn a nice golden brown, but watch carefully not to over-brown or burn it (If it burns, you must throw the vermicelli away and start over).

Add the rice and continue to stir so that the rice will be well-coated with the olive oil. Season with salt.

Now add 3 1/2 cups of water and bring it to a boil until the water significantly reduces (see the photo below).Turn the heat to low and cover.

Cook for 15-20 minutes on low. Once fully cooked, turn the heat off and leave the rice undisturbed in it's cooking pot for 10-15 minutes, then uncover and fluff with a fork.

Transfer to a serving platter and top with the toasted pine nuts. Enjoy!

I will make this again, and again, and again!  So easy to follow your recipe and steps!  A tiny bit more involved than just boiling some rice, but SO worth the couple of extra steps!  The fluffiest most delicious rice I've ever made!  I used chicken stock instead of water for additional flavor.  Thank you so much for all of your amazing recipes!

That was really good, like better than expected. Nice and fluffy. I didn't add pine nuts because they are very expensive here in Florida. I don't know if that is a regional thing or not. I made it with harissa chicken.

I love this with your baked cod. Delicious!

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/eaVOk85k.mp4

Easy recipe for how to make Lebanese rice with vermicelli and pine nuts 

Try some authentic Persian rice with the signature crispy bottom layer. Check out the recipe and step by step video.

Tahdig – Crispy Persian Rice

basmati rice

salt

canola oil

saffron threads

Parsley

Rice pilaf with fluffy basmati rice, warming spices, and aromatics is a delicious way to take plain ol’ rice to the next level! Perfect for busy weeknights as it comes together in just 30 minutes!

Easy Rice Pilaf with Peas and Carrots

Extra virgin olive oil

yellow onion, (finely chopped)

garlic cloves, (minced)

peas

Kosher salt

coriander

paprika

Aleppo pepper

turmeric

walnut halves, (toasted)

pine nuts, (toasted)

¼ cup sliced almonds, (toasted)

¼ cup dried fruit, (such as raisins

Wash the rice very well a few times until the water is clear.  You can let it soak in water for about 10 minutes or so while preparing the rest of the ingredients.

In a large heavy pan with a lid, heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes, tossing regularly until softened. Add the peas and carrots. Season with a good pinch of kosher salt. Add the spices and mix to combine. Cook for another 5 minutes or so, tossing regularly until the carrots have softened.

Drain the rice well and add it to the pan. Toss around to make sure the rice is well-coated with the spices. Pour in 2 ¼ cup of water. And season well with a big dash of kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is cooked through and has absorbed all the liquid.

Allow the rice about 5 to 10 minutes to rest before serving.

Serve with the nuts and raisins on top.

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/PBtjApTm.mp4

Middle Eastern Rice Pilaf

I stumbled accidentally to your website and wow what a wonderful thing it was. Spent 4 hours (or more) yesterday just looking at recepies from your website and how to make and I absolutely loved it. So I cooked all day today with my daughter a few courses from your website including the rice and wow ? it was amazing and my friends and relatives who came to dinner absolutely loved every dish. Now I am hooked. I have a big food love for you ❤️ Thank you kindly

Love ths dish. In fact it's my favorite rice. I had to sub thin spaghetti for the vermicilli since I couldn't find it. In fact, this pandemic is leaving lots of shelves empty of things like couscous or certain spices that used to be abundant before 2020. Fortunately, I'm learning that there are substitues, but I'm not sure they taste exactly the same.

I made this rice with mediterranean lemon chicken.  The rice came out perfect!  I believe the key is soaking  in water for 20 minutes.  Everything was very delicious!  Oh, yea, the pine nuts are a must, imo!

Mine was very sticky, but I'm sure I misstepped. I will definitely try again. I love all of your recipes and this is the first I've had trouble. Its rice, rice is hard LOL. The flavor was very good and the pine nuts divine!!

I did try it in the instant pot and it came out beautifully!! So yummy. I did 1 cup basmati 1/2 cup vermicelli and roasted in sautée mode then added 1.5 cups water and 3 minutes in high pressure with natural release.

Great dish! Quickest meal I’ve ever made and taste amazing. 
Got both of my toddlers to eat it as well yippee!

Love this rice! I used banza (chick pea pasta) thin spaghetti and it came out perfect. Will definitely make it again ?

Great side dish, but can you fine-tune the recipe? Can you update the recipe to include the water measurement and the total time? The time is really about 50 minutes if you follow the directions at the minimum and brown the vermicelli. I followed the 35 minutes and my dinner wasn't ready at the same time, we all sat around waiting for the rice.

Why do you keep calling regional foods as Greek Lebanese, etc.? 
I ate the same foods in  former Yugoslavia, Turkey, Iran, Syria, etc.
These people have lived together for centuries. It is not surprising they have the same/similar foods!

This is the best rice I have ever made! My husband (he is an Arab) is loving it! I always wondered why is my rice so sticky and it failed from time to time and was more like Chinese rice. Thanks to the tips, like draining the rice well before soaking and stirring until it is coated with oil made the difference. Vermicelli gives adds a very nice test to it! Love it!

I forgot to mention in my previous comment: I have used 3 times less vermicelli because it was all I had and I forgot to buy, and it was just a good amount for my taste preference and my husband said that the amount of vermicelli was just perfect.

I made this using wholegrain rice. The only change I made was to just rinse the rice but not soak it. I then followed the recipe instructions but cooked it in my pressure cooker for 16 mins.  It was really successful, the whole family enjoyed it. I served it with the medditeran chicken from this site and mediterranean salad. Great recipes, thankyou.

Yep, best rice of all time.  I’ll be making this forever.  Added parsley and red chilies at end.

Hi Suzy,
I made this recipe using brown jasmine rice, however I had to dbl the recipe. With my brown rices they have been turning out sticky. I followed your recipe, cut the water and it came beautiful!!

My family loved it!  It will become a regular around here!!

I have been using your recipes as is and tweaking. You have no idea how you have helped me feed my family  healthfully!! Thank you so much!!

Very good rice dish.  It came out perfectly after following your instructions.  
I will try making it with less oil, maybe 1 tablespoon.

Love this recipe! My rice came out too sticky, so I guess I needed to rinse it more. I also felt that it lacked flavor compared to when I order this rice from a local Lebanese restaurant, so instead of salt, I added chicken bullion (about 1 tsp per cup of water) and it made the dish way better!

Cooked this per the recipe, added the optional toasted pine nuts and what a great side dish!! I served it with the Lemon Cod (your recipe) and it was a big hit! So much so that the next time I made the dish I tripled the recipe so that I could vacuum seal and freeze individual (X2) servings. Now we can quickly add this dish as a side easily. Next time I make a big batch I was thinking of adding mushrooms, what do you think?

Hi Suzy! We love this recipe. I’m about to make it again but we don’t have any vermicelli. If I omit that do you think I need to adjust the amount of oil or water that I use?

Just follow the steps! Also you can add some flavor like garlic, onion, parsley

Fresh pomegranate seeds and pomegranate molasses play a starring role in this Persian rice dish. Slivered almonds and pistachios give it wonderful texture too.

Persian rice

peeled,

62.50 ml slivered almonds

pistachios

42.50 gm sultanas

cardamom pods, bruised

saffron strands

600.00 gm rice, cooked, cold

pomegranate seeds

coriander leaves, sliced

lemon juice

pomegranate molasses (see note)

Salt and pepper

Persian feta

Lemon

Turmeric Rice is an aromatic and flavorful Middle Eastern and Indian rice dish. In this recipe, basmati rice cooks with onion, garlic and turmeric in broth until fluffy and tender.Yields about 6 cups.

Turmeric Rice

white basmati rice (rinsed well and drained)

unsalted butter

onion

garlic (minced)

black pepper

chicken broth

parsley (for garnish)

Start by melting butter over medium to medium-low heat and add in the onion and garlic with a small pinch of salt. Sauté until soft and translucent.

While the onions and garlic sauté, rinse the rice until the water runs clear. Set aside.

To the sautéed onions and garlic add turmeric, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir them into the sautéed onion and garlic and cook 1 minute.

Add the rinsed and drained rice. Stir and cook the rice for 2 to 3 minutes.

Pour in the low-sodium chicken broth. Stir and increase heat to high. Bring to a boil (uncovered) and boil for 30 seconds. After boiling for 30 seconds, cover reduce heat to low-heat for 20 minutes. No need to stir. After 20 minutes, turn the heat off and let sit, on the burner, for 10 minutes.

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The most viewed middle eastern rice recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine