Lemon Dill Rice is a perfect side dish for chicken, beef, pork, or fish, and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry right now! It's so easy to make and turns even ordinary dinners into something special.
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👩🏻🍳 Lemon Dill Rice - Easy Side Dish
I have a confession to make - side dishes are often an afterthought for me.
I usually have a pretty good handle on what I am going to make for dinner, but sometimes I will be halfway through preparing the entree before it hits me: 'What the heck am I going to serve with this?'
And with 3 grown men in the house, it is ESSENTIAL to have something in addition to the entree, otherwise people will be walking away from the table still hungry!
I love this side dish because it's so versatile and pairs well with so many different entrees. In fact, I just made my Skillet Teriyaki Glazed Salmon and served up that salmon right on top of a bed of this Lemon Dill Rice. And everyone loved it! Another delicious and easy rice recipe is this Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice.
🥘 Ingredients Needed
- chicken broth - a pantry staple that make the rice more flavorful than just using water. You can use regular or low sodium.
- lemon juice - I keep bottled lemon juice in my refrigerator and it works just fine. But if you have a lemon on hand, fresh lemon juice is even better!
- dried dill weed - I always have this in my spice cabinet.
- rice - plain ol' long grain rice is inexpensive and easy to store. You can use other kinds of rice, if you like.
🔪 Instructions
- Place the chicken broth and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
- Mix in the dill and rice and return to a boil.
- Cover the saucepan and reduce the heat so you get a low simmer. Cook 20 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and fluff the rice with a fork before serving.
👪 FAQs
Many people swear by soaking their rice before cooking. You can definitely do that, and it will result in a different texture as well as shorten the cooking time. I personally don't do this, but if you prefer slightly sticky rice, then try soaking it for about 20-30 minutes prior to adding it into the boiling chicken broth/lemon juice.
Absolutely! This recipe works well for all different amounts of rice. Adjust your proportions and watch the cooking time. You can adjust the servings in the recipe card and it will do the math for you!
Mushy rice usually means your proportions were off (either too much liquid or too little rice).
Yes, but you may need to increase the proportion of liquid a bit. The reason is because brown rice requires a longer cooking time and so more of the liquid will boil off in with the extra time it takes before it's done. For this recipe, I would use 2 cups of chicken broth instead of 1 ½ cups.
This is actually not recommended, although it can be done if you are very careful. Rice can carry spores of bad bacteria and so if you keeping it warm you need to make sure that the temperature is kept over 140 degrees F. The best way to make rice ahead of time is to make it the day before and refrigerate it right away. You can safely reheat it the next day (or several days later) using these safe handling techniques.
💭 Top Tips
- This lemon dill rice is so flavorful it can be a side dish all by itself, or you can use it as a bed on which to serve your main dish, like fish, chicken, etc.
- Store leftovers right away. Place the leftover rice into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.
- Pro tip! Make a double batch and freeze the extra so you have a quick and easy side dish on another night! I like to freeze the rice in a single layer in a lay-flat zippered freezer bag so I don't get those huge icy chunks of frozen rice.
- Reheating leftover rice is simple. Simply place the grains in a microwave-safe container, add a tablespoon of water, and microwave on high a minute at a time until hot. Or place in a saucepan on the stovetop, add a tablespoon of water, and heat on low, stirring several times during heating to prevent sticking.
- If you are reheating from frozen, there's no need to thaw! Just follow the above steps. Your rice will just take a little more time to get hot.
📖 Variations
- To make this vegan, use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- Feel free to use low-sodium broth if you are watching salt intake!
- Use different herbs. I like the dill best with fish and other seafood, but if you are serving with another main dish, you can try rosemary or thyme to change it up!
🥗 Suggested Main Dishes
Lemon Dill Rice is versatile and works with many different entrees. It would go great with this recipe for Braised Garlic and Soy Pork, and here are a few more suggestions!
🍚 Additional Rice Recipes
Here are a few more more rice recipe ideas for you!
Lemon Dill Rice Recipe
Love this recipe? Awesome! Please give it a 5 star ⭐ rating below! And if you make this, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram. You can find me at DizzyBusyandHungry or #dizzybusyandhungry!
📋 Recipe Card
Lemon Dill Rice
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
- 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
- ¾ cup uncooked white rice
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, heat the chicken broth and lemon juice to boiling.1 ½ cups chicken broth, 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
- Add the dill and rice, mix to combine, and return to a boil.2 teaspoons dried dill weed, ¾ cup uncooked white rice
- Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.
- Remove from heat and fluff with a fork.
Notes
- For the best flavor, make sure your dried dill is not too old. Or use fresh dill, about 2 tablespoons.
- Fresh lemon juice is best, but bottled works really well and I always have some on hand.
- You can use different kinds of rice but you may need to adjust the proportion of liquid and/or the cooking time. Use the package directions as a guide. If the liquid to rice proportion is different than 2:1, adjust accordingly by varying the amount of broth and lemon juice.
- Pro tip: Make a double batch and freeze the extra for a quick and easy side dish on another night! Freeze rice in a flat layer in an awesome reusable lay-flat zippered freezer bag.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate. The nutritional values for your final dish may vary based on measuring differences and products used.
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Happy cooking!
Jude
It turned out very dry and the taste wasn’t exceptional
Kristin King
I am sorry to hear that! My guess is that the heat was too high or you inadvertently left the cover off the saucepan. When that happens, the liquid evaporates too quickly. If that ever happens again (either in this recipe or another one), add another 1/2 cup or so of liquid, return to the heat (turn it down a smidge), make sure you cover the pot, and continue to simmer. As for the flavor, you really do need to make sure that your dill weed is not old (it loses flavor over time) and that you use a flavorful broth (not all broth is equally flavorful).
Farah
If I have cooked rice already could the ingredients, minus the chicken broth, still be added?
Kristin
Yes, I think you could do that and you would wind up with something close to what it would taste like if you cooked it with the broth. It might not be QUITE the same, but I think it would still be good!
jj
this is dope thanks kristen you da bomb
Kristin
You are welcome!
Traci
You had me at lemon dill! This easy delicious rice dish has won me over 🤩 Thanks for sharing!
Kristin
You're welcome, Traci. It's definitely one of my go-to side dishes now. I hope you like it!
Tisha
Great combo of flavors for a fantastic side dish!
Kristin
Thanks, Tisha!
Lizet Bowen
Perefect side dish! and yes, I have all the ingredients in my pantry. We'll have it tomorrow with our fish.
Kristin
This goes so well with fish! Happy cooking and I hope you enjoy!
Marlynn
This is such a delicious side dish for so many different dinners! And so easy to make too. Thanks for the recipe!
Kristin
Yes, Marlynn, I LOVE how easy this is. Hope you like it!
Dannii
Lemon and dill is such a delicious combination. This looks like a delicious side dish.
Kristin
Thanks Dannii! I hope you enjoy it!