If, like me, you thought “rice pilaf” was just one boring side dish your mom occasionally piled up against some boiled chicken, you might be surprised at how many different types are out there. “Pilaf” just refers to a dish, usually made of rice, that’s simmered in stock or spices while cooking. That covers a wide range of dishes from different cultures, so you never quite know what you’re going to get when you open up a rice pilaf box.
And that’s where we come in. We assembled a tableful of different rice pilaf brands (including wild rice pilaf, rice with orzo pilaf, and classic rice pilaf) in our quest to find the best rice pilaf for your dinner. We tried 10 kinds of seasoned rice pilaf and five made the cut. Here are our picks for the five best rice pilaf boxes you can find on your local store’s shelves, or Amazon.
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- Rice-A-Roni Herb & Butter
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This mix of rice and pasta (it’s like short pieces of vermicelli) certainly delivers on the buttery taste. You get that buttery quality from the included sauce mix and from the fact that the first step in cooking it is sautéing everything in two tablespoons of butter. It all works. And this mix of rice and pasta comes out with a rich, creamy flavor with plenty of garlic, rosemary, and black pepper. (But let’s face it, butter will always be the star!)
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Near East Rice Pilaf (Original)
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While there are so many different blends of pilaf, this rice with orzo pilaf is probably what you think about when you think about a rice pilaf box. It’s a basic mix of long grain rice and orzo pasta, flavored with onions, garlic, and tumeric. But, it’s also a simple, tasty, homey dish. While it may not be as flashy or flavorful as some of the other rice pilaf brands on this list, it’s the best boxed rice pilaf for you if you’re looking for something that tastes like a dish your grandma used to make.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Good & Gather 90 Second Rice Pilaf With Toasted Orzo
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While most of the rice pilafs on this list have to be boiled and simmered on a stovetop for around 30 minutes, this pre-cooked rice and orzo pilaf mix comes in a bag that you can just microwave for 90 seconds before serving. And, unlike some other rice pilaf brands, this one “fluffs” up nicely with a fork, making it really hard to tell it was previously a solid lump of bagged mush. And it also tastes great. The chicken broth flavor mixed with dehydrated soy sauce gives it lots of savory umami. And how often do you manage to get “tasty” and “lazy” from the same package?
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Lundberg Family Farms Long Grain White Rice & Seasoning Mix Cilantro Lime Rice
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Was this the best cilantro lime rice pilaf we tasted? Yes! Was it also the only cilantro lime rice pilaf we tasted? That’s besides the point! Because the important thing is that this is really tasty. The lime gives it a really bright flavor, with enough cilantro to balance out the citrus, but too much that it steamrolls the rest of the dish. And the rice itself cooks up perfectly al dente. This rice pilaf box seems even more like a side dish than some of the other entries, but it’s a REALLY great side dish. And it’s also the only gluten free rice pilaf option on the list!
Credit: Liv Averett / Instacart
- Rice-A-Roni Rice Pilaf
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Yeah, it’s a classic, but there’s a reason Rice-A-Roni rice pilaf has been around this long. The mix of rice and pasta blends so well. And there’s plenty of flavor, too, with lots of butter, chicken broth, onion, and garlic to round out the flavor. It’s a traditional rice pilaf flavor, only ramped up to where it could easily be a main dish. It really is a treat, San Francisco or otherwise. And it’s the best rice pilaf brand to buy.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
Best Buttery Taste
Best “Traditional”
Best 90 Second Pilaf
Best Cilantro Lime Mix
Best of the Best
Other rice pilaf dishes we tried: 365 Whole Foods Market Organic Garlic & Herb Rice Pilaf, 365 Whole Foods Market Organic Long Grain & Wild Rice Rice Pilaf, Ben’s Original Ready Rice Pilaf (With Orzo Pasta), Good & Gather 5 Grain Rice Pilaf (w/Red Quinoa, Buckwheat Groats, Black Barley, Millet & White Rice), Yolélé Fonio Pilaf Jollof (Tomato, Onion & Garlic)
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!