Spicy BBQ rice with vegetables, a healthy rice side dish for your next barbecue, or a BBQ-flavored rice main meal.
Barbecue flavors in a simple rice dish. If you like rice and if you are looking for a simple, budget rice recipe that is quickly made and sure to please everyone, you've found the right one.
A rice dish is always a good idea when you don't have a lot of time to spend in the kitchen. Rice dishes are mostly healthy and almost always cheap, and everybody seems to love rice. Especially when it is mixed with other nice ingredients like colorful vegetables and a spicy sauce.
Try some Nigerian Jollof rice, for instance, hot and delicious, or some not that spicy but equally delicious Costa Rican gallo pinto or Romanian chicken pilaf.
Recipe ingredients
- Long grain rice: Regular white rice; you will not need basmati or anything more expensive to make this rice dish. Brown rice would be fine as well, a nuttier, heartier version of the BBQ rice.
- Vegetables: Onion. garlic, leek, green onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes.
- Barbecue sauce: Tomato paste, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce (use the vegan version if desired), honey, mustard, turmeric, hot smoked paprika, coriander, cumin, and a dash of liquid smoke flavoring (optional).
Additions
If you want to make the barbecue rice the main meal, you can any of the following ingredients (protein) to make it more filling:
- 250 g/ 8.8 oz mushrooms (white, brown, Portobello), sliced. Add them to the pan together with the leeks. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often; add the sauce and continue with the recipe.
- 250 g/ 8.8 oz chicken breast, cut into small pieces. Add together with the sauce, and continue with the recipe.
- 1 drained can of black beans or kidney beans or ½ can of drained corn. Add to the dish together with the BBQ sauce.
How to make BBQ rice?
- Cook the rice separately according to the packet's instructions.
- I've made this BBQ rice recipe in one pot as well. However, I find this version (where you cook the rice separately) to be much better.
- In the meantime, prepare the vegetables and barbecue sauce.
- Cook the finely chopped onion until translucent, about 3-4 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the finely chopped garlic and leek/ green onions. Stir for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add the chopped bell pepper and the tomatoes and stir for another 2 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix together the ingredients for the barbecue sauce.
- Add the sauce to the pan, add about ¼ cup water, stir well, cover the pot, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Check after about 5 minutes and add another ¼ cup of water if the sauce seems to dry.
- Add the drained cooked rice and stir well.
- Adjust the taste with salt and pepper. You may add a pinch of sugar and some vinegar as well to give it a more intense flavor.
How to serve?
It is a great side dish to serve at barbecues as it goes well with any kind of meat, with sausages, with grilled cheese or grilled vegetables.
If you are not barbecuing, you can serve the barbecue rice as a side dish for any kind of meat or sausages cooked on the stovetop or oven as well.
I love it with oven-baked chicken quarters or baked chicken thighs, with cast iron chicken breast, or with milk-brined pork chops.
You can keep the BBQ rice recipe vegetarian by replacing the Worcestershire sauce with its vegan version and by serving the rice with oven-baked vegetables or a green salad with yogurt dressing.
Do you like this recipe?
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BBQ Rice Recipe (Spicy Rice)
Ingredients
- Rice and vegetables:
- 250 g regular long-grain white rice brown rice is fine as well
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 bell pepper or half and half different colors
- 1 piece of leek See note
- 2-3 to matoes about 250 g/ 8.8 oz
- fine sea salt and black pepper
- BBQ sauce:
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste not tomato puree or sauce
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce or vegan alternative
- 2 tablespoons runny honey
- 1 teaspoon medium mustard
- ½ teaspoon hot smoked paprika more to taste
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes more or less to taste
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- fine sea salt and black pepper
- ¼ – ½ cup water as needed
- Garnish all optional:
- 1 small chopped tomato
- 2 teaspoons greens from the leek or green onion
- chives or parsley
Instructions
- Cook the rice according to the packet's instructions. Drain well.
- In the meantime, prepare the rest of the dish. Chop the onions. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Cook the onion until translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
- Finely chop the garlic and the leeks, add to the pot and cook for another 2-3 minutes, stirring often.
- Chop the peppers and the tomatoes. Add them to the pan and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- In a small bowl mix together all the ingredients for the BBQ sauce except the water. Add to the pan, stir in ¼ cup water, cover the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring a few times in between.
- Check the pan. If the sauce seems dry, add the remaining ¼ cup water and stir well. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and the sauce has thickened nicely without becoming dry.
- Add the drained rice, stir well. Adjust the taste with salt, pepper, and, if necessary, with a pinch of sugar and/or more vinegar.
- Garnish with chopped tomatoes, green onions, parsley, or chives, if desired.
Ann-Marie says
Made this for tea this evening...delicious and my kids loved it too!
Adina says
So happy to hear it, Ann-Marie. Thank you for the feedback.
mjskitchen says
I've been craving a rice dish recently and this one is right up my alley. I just happen to have some homemade BBQ sauce in the fridge, so throwing this dish together will be quite easy. Glad you mentioned that brown rice would work as that is the rice I prefer. A delicious looking dish and will try soon. Thanks!
angiesrecipes says
That looks good. Love the natural yellow colour from my favourite spice turmeric.