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    Lemon Rice

    July 25, 2024

    A few simple ingredients transform regular old white rice into a brightly flavorful pot of lemon rice, which makes a lovely, savory side dish for almost any dinner.

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    a bowl of lemon rice with lemon zest with a serving spoon

    Lemon Rice—There’s Nothing It Can’t Do!

    Need to make a baked chicken breast more exciting? Hey—how about lemon rice?! Need a quick side dish you can throw together while your salmon cooks on the grill? Make lemon rice! Fragrant and a bit tart with a hint of garlic, this easy lemon rice recipe is just one of those little life upgrades that are basic and mind-blowing all at once. Why make plain rice when, in the same amount of time, you could make delicious lemony rice? Truly, there’s no going back. Serve it with our Gyro Meat on top, and dinner is done.

    ingredients for lemon rice, lemon zest, lemon juice, butter, chicken stock, salt and garlic powder on the counter

    All You’ll Need To Make Easy Lemon Rice

    Nothing fancy here. Just easy-to-find, everyday ingredients to take your rice cooking game from boring to superstar status. To make this lemon rice recipe, you’ll need:

    • Long-grain white rice
    • Chicken or vegetable stock
    • A lemon. You’ll use both the juice and the zest, but one lemon should be enough.
    • Garlic powder
    • Unsalted butter or vegetable oil
    • Sea salt.
    rinsed long grain white rice in a fine mesh sieve
    unsalted butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, chicken stock and white rice in a small sauce pan

    How To Make Lemon Rice

    Our lemon rice recipe is barely a recipe—if you know how to make rice, it’s basically just cooking rice, but with flavor added! Making plain rice into lemon rice is as easy as:

    1. Rinse the rice in a fine mesh sieve, under cold, running water.
    2. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan!
    3. Bring to a boil.
    4. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cover the pot until the rice is cooked. Don’t peek under that cover until a full 18 minutes has passed!
    5. Eat up! And for even more delicious rice recipes, check out our coconut rice, cilantro-lime rice and our jeweled rice.
    homemade lemon rice in a small sauce pan
    lemon rice in a bowl with lemon zest and lemon slices

    What Goes With Lemon Rice?

    This is probably, honestly, more of a “what doesn’t go with lemon rice?” situation. But we’ll share a few of our very favorite things to serve with lemon rice. Try it with:

    Tools You’ll Need to Make Lemon Rice

    lemon rice in a bowl with lemon zest and lemon slices with a serving spoon

    Up Your Side Dish Game!

    When it’s this easy to do, why not spice up that side dish? We hope this lemon rice makes you as happy as it makes us. If you make it, let us know how you like it! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! For more recipe inspiration you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest. Happy eating!

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    Lemon Rice

    Updated on July 25, 2024

    • Serves:  6
    • Prep Time:  5 min
    • Cook Time:  20 min
    • Calories:  90
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    Ingredients

    • 1½ cups long-grain white rice
    • 1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
    • ¾ cup water
    • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
    • 2 tablespoons lemon juice, from 1 lemon
    • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
    • 1 teaspoon sea salt
    • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil

    Method

    1. Using a fine mesh sieve, rinse the rice under cool water until the water runs clear.

    2. Add the rice, stock, water, lemon juice, zest, garlic powder, salt and butter to a medium saucepan, stir to combine.

    3. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover with lid, turn heat to low and simmer until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed, about 18 minutes. Remove from heat.

    4. Let stand at least 5 minutes or until ready to use. Uncover and fluff cooked rice with a fork before serving.


    Instant Pot Method:

    1. Using a fine mesh sieve, rinse the rice under cool water until the water runs clear.

    2. Add the rice, stock, water, lemon juice, zest, garlic powder, salt and butter to the Instant Pot, stir to combine.

    3. Secure the lid in place. Press Rice mode or Low pressure and set for 10 minutes.

    4. As soon as the rice is finished cooking, manually release the pressure.

    5. Let stand at least 5 minutes or until ready to use. Uncover and fluff cooked rice with a fork before serving.

    Nutrition Info

    • Per Serving
    • Amount
    • Calories 90
    • Protein 1 g
    • Carbohydrates 11 g
    • Total Fat 4 g
    • Dietary Fiber 0 g
    • Cholesterol 10 mg
    • sodium 193 mg
    • Total Sugars 1 g

    Lemon Rice

    Questions & Reviews

    Join the discussion below.

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    • Mary

      Can this recipe be made in an instant pot?

      Definitely, we will test it to see if anything in the recipe needs changed for an instant pot and add that method. Thanks for asking!

    • jenn

      I had a rotisserie chicken and made this to go with it, oh man! So much better than plain rice definitely going to make this again and again!

      Thank Jenn, glad you liked it!