Lemon Herb Rice Recipe

This Lemon Herb Rice recipe is simple to prep, super refreshing and goes great with a variety of flavors.  Using just a few basic ingredients, like fresh parsley, lemon juice and garlic, you can easily transform plain white rice into something fabulous!

Lemon Herb Rice

What’s not to love about perfectly cooked white rice, fresh herbs and lemon juice?  You’ll be hard-pressed to find something this doesn’t go well with, and it’s easy to swap out different herbs and spices to your liking.  

We have provided you with step-by-step instructions to make this on the stove top, Instant Pot or in your rice cooker so that you’ll be well-equipped to eliminate boring white rice from your life for good!

What Can Be Served With Lemon Rice?

The fresh, bright flavors in this Lemon Herb Rice will pair well with a variety of entrees, but we especially love to serve it with grilled chicken or fish:

• Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
• Grilled Apricot Chicken
• Easy Grilled Caprese Chicken
• Mediterranean Grilled Chicken Drumsticks
• Grilled California Chicken

What’s the Best Rice to Use for This Rice Side Dish?

Choosing a rice can get overwhelming if you let it!  There are so many different types of rice to choose from these days.  

Our first choice would be to use long grain white rice.  Basmati rice and Jasmine rice are two long-grain varieties that will work great for dishes like this Lemon Herb Rice, or Homemade Rice Pilaf.  These will all stay nice and fluffy once cooked.  

You’ll want to avoid instant rice, or any short grain rice, for this recipe as they tend to get very sticky.  If you want to substitute brown rice, you’ll just need to adjust your cooking time, as well as increase the amount of broth that you use.

Ingredients in This Lemon Rice Recipe

• Rice - we like to use long-grain white rice for this recipe. Basmati or Jasmine rice would make excellent substitutes.
• Chicken Broth - broth adds an extra layer of flavor, compared with water.  You can substitute vegetable broth if you want to make this vegetarian.
• Butter - feel free to add a little extra to make your rice a little more creamy.  You can also substitute olive oil if you would prefer that flavor.
• Garlic - we used fresh minced garlic, but you could use garlic powder if you prefer.
• Parsley - this recipe calls for fresh parsley, but fresh basil, mint or cilantro would taste great, too.
• Salt - you can adjust this according to your seasoning preferences.
• Lemon Juice - fresh lemon juice has the best flavor.  If you want a little more zip, you can also add some fresh lemon zest to your cooked rice.

How to Make Lemon Rice on the Stove Top

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the uncooked rice, chicken broth, butter, minced garlic, parsley, and salt.  Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low.
2. Let simmer, without stirring or removing the lid, for about 18-20 minutes, or until the rice is tender and all water has absorbed.  It is important to keep the lid on until you need to check to see if the rice is done.
3. Once the rice is tender and all of the liquid has absorbed, remove from the heat and let the rice sit, covered, for about 5 minutes.  Add the lemon juice and fluff the cooked rice using a fork, then serve immediately.  Enjoy!

How to Make Lemon Rice in an Instant Pot

1. Add the uncooked rice, chicken broth, butter, minced garlic, parsley, and salt into the Instant Pot and stir.  
2. Close and lock the lid, then turn the venting know to “Sealing” position.
3. Pressure cook on High Pressure for about 6 minutes.  Once finished cooking, switch to “Venting” position using a kitchen towel to release the remaining pressure.  
4. Lift the lid carefully and mix in the lemon juice.  Stir with a fork, then serve immediately.

How to Make Lemon Rice in a Rice Cooker

1. Add the uncooked rice, chicken broth, butter, garlic, parsley and salt to the rice cooker and press the “White Rice” setting.
2. Once the rice has cooked completely, stir in the lemon juice and fluff using a fork, then serve immediately.

Other Great Rice Recipes

These are some other rice side dishes that we absolutely love:

• Cheesy Green Chili Rice Casserole
• Garlic Parmesan Rice
• Copycat Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice
• Easy Ham Fried Rice
• Turkey and Rice Soup