10 Flavored Rice Recipes to Try at Home!

I love a good rice side dish……I also love the ease of using a pre-seasoned rice pack. Unfortunately, once I realized how little rice is actually in one of those packs, I needed to start making my own.

I still pick up a good Knorr or Rice-a-Roni pack when on sale super cheap, but the rest of the time, I just make these flavored rices myself!

Easy Flavored White Rice Ideas

These are all so easy to make at home, plus as a bonus you can totally add extra veggies and use leftovers to create these!

1. Broccoli and Cheese Rice

This is my favorite way to use up leftover broccoli!

2. Cheesy Rice

Try using different types of cheese in this for a totally different dish! My favorites include using pepperjack cheese or parmesan cheese!

3. Garlic Cilantro Lime Rice

I like to think garlic makes everything better! I’m not always in the mood for the strong cilantro flavor, so I swap out cilantro for parsley and that totally works too!

4. Mexican Rice

This is another rice dish that I love to throw in leftover veggies to, especially mixed veggies!

5. Mushroom Rice

I have made this with both fresh and canned mushrooms. Both ways turned out great!

6. Pesto Rice

This works really well with jarred pesto as well as homemade pesto sauce too!

7. Rice Pilaf

This is a more classic rice dish, and you can totally switch it up based on what herbs and spices you want to add!

8. Spicy Buffalo Rice

This is really a very nice, unexpected rice. This can get very spicy so if you have kids, you may want to go very light on the hot sauce, or switch over a very mild version.

9. Yellow Rice

I was kind of mad that all yellow rice needed was turmeric, so now this is my go-to make at home rice!

10. Spanish Rice

This is very similar to Mexican Rice but tends to have a little heat. This is also a great way to use up leftover salsa!

Free PDF of Rice Recipes

This will print on a standard 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, but you can adjust the size as needed!

Flavored Rice Side Dish Ideas

Hopefully you have noticed that all of these rice dishes have the same basic formula. So, start experimenting at home with what you have to create your own rice flavors for super cheap.

If you are a not a fan of regular white rice, these can easily be adjusted to work with basmati, jasmine, or even brown rice.