BBQ Rice (Spicy Rice)

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Spicy BBQ rice with vegetables, a healthy rice side dish for your next barbecue or a BBQ flavored rice main meal.

SPICY BARBEQUE RICE

Barbecue flavors in a simple rice dish. If you like rice and if you are looking for a simple, budget rice recipe, quickly made and sure to please everyone, you 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, 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.

And rice is the kind of dish you can serve your children and be happy about the fact that they are eating lots of veggies without complaining. You might need to adjust the level of heat when serving this barbecue rice to kids, but leave it a little spicy still, my children love that!

WHAT DO YOU NEED FOR BBQ RICE?

The ingredient list is super simple and super cheap. You will need:

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
• A piece of leek or 2-3 green onions, depending on size
• 1 whole bell pepper (or half and half different colors)
• Tomatoes

Barbecue sauce:

• Tomato paste
• Red wine vinegar
• Worcestershire sauce – use the vegan version, if desired
• Honey
• Mustard
• Turmeric
• Hot smoked paprika
• Ground coriander
• Ground cumin
• 1 dash liquid smoke flavoring, optional. For a more intense BBQ flavor. Use it if you happen to have it (and like it).

Adds-on:

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 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, 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 BBQ RICE

It is the 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 chicken thighs, with cast iron chicken breast or with 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.

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