Brown Rice Spinach Recipe – One Pot Rice Recipe From Scratch

Brown rice spinach recipe using brown rice, spinach, herbs and spices can be made at home from scratch.

The spices used in the preparation of brown rice spinach recipe can be adjusted and tweaked according to your taste preferences.

This brown rice spinach recipe is one pot spinach rice recipe as well unless you decide to add seasoning at the end.

The tricky part of using brown rice while making one pot recipes with veggies is the amount of time need to cook the brown rice and also the amount of water you need to cook the rice.

This can be confusing for anyone who is beginning to cook with brown rice. An easy way to avoid the confusion is to use already cooked brown rice which can also be leftover brown rice from last day.

This way you can enjoy easy spinach brown rice, as the brown rice is already cooked.

If you like to see rice recipes, you might like to see my post on yellow rice recipe with turmeric.

However, even if you don’t have leftover brown rice which is already cooked, you can still make brown rice spinach recipe in one pot from scratch.

For this, you need to know the amount of water you need to use for the kind of brown rice you are using and also the amount of time you need to cook the rice.

This will be there in the brown rice cooking instructions in the package of brown rice you have bought. You need to know this recommended directions for reference.

However, these directions are perfectly right only when you are cooking plain brown rice. When you cook the brown rice along with some spinach (or other veggies), this will slightly change.

What I have learnt from my own cooking experience with brown rice is that, you need more water than usual and also you need more time to cook the rice properly.

At the end of cooking, you will need to check if the rice is cooked enough, or you may need to add little more water to cook the rice the completely.

This is because, as I already mentioned, cooking times and water needed to cook vary for different kinds of brown rice and they even vary more with added veggies.

However there is a difference in taste and texture when you use already prepared leftover brown rice and when you cook the brown rice in the broth kind of spinach and herbs mixed water, so it is worth the effort.

Plus, if you don’t have leftover brown rice, you can still make the spinach rice using this recipe for brown rice with spinach.

So here is how I made this yummy spinach brown rice following this brown rice spinach recipe.

I used thae Thai brown rice for the preparation of the spinach brown rice because that is what I had with me, but you can use whatever brown rice you like, just follow the directions in the package for guidance on cooking time and amount of water and adjust accordingly.

The Thai brown rice I use usually needs 20 minutes of cooking, but for this spinach brown rice recipe, it took around 30 minutes and also some extra water which I had to add after the first 20 minutes for the rice to cook completely.

So here is the brown rice spinach recipe.

Ingredients For Brown Rice Spinach Recipe

• Brown Rice uncooked 1 Cup (I used Thai brown rice for this recipe)
• Spinach 2 cups finely chopped
• Water 3.5 cups (or more as required)
• salt as required
• butter 3 to 4 tablespoons
• cashews 10 to 12
• turmeric powder ½ teaspoon
• red chili powder ¼ teaspoon
• cumin seeds powder ¼ teaspoon
• garam masala powder 1 teaspoon
• cumin seeds 1 teaspoon
• crushed garlic 1 teaspoon (or use minced garlic or garlic powder)
• crushed ginger 1 teaspoon

Instructions For Brown Rice Spinach Recipe

• Wash the rice and soak it in water for at least 30 minutes. This will make the rice more softer and helps the rice to cook faster, also it will make the texture of cooked brown rice more good.
• After 30 minutes of soaking, drain the water from the rice and keep it aside.
• In a wide bottomed pan or kadai, melt 2 tablespoons of butter.
• Add the cumin seeds and when the cumin seeds splutter, add the garlic and ginger and saute for 1 minute.
• Add the spinach and saute for few minutes.
• As the spinach gets sauteed, add the cashews, rice and the remaining butter, stir fry for another 2 minutes. Make sure you cook in low heat and stir occasionally using a spatula so that the rice won’t get burnt at the bottom of the pan.
• Now add the salt and also the spices. Mix everything well and let it stir fry for another 1 more minute. Now the rice and spinach is seasoned with spices, garlic and ginger in butter and ready to be cooked.
• Add the water, increase the heat to high heat and bring to a boil.
• As the water starts boiling, close the pan and reduce the heat to low heat.
• Let it cook for 20 minutes or follow the time mentioned in the brown rice package.
• After the supposed cooking time, open the pan and see if the rice is cooked and soft and also if the water is all absorbed. Here is where it can get tricky if you are not careful.
• If the rice is cooked and soft and if the water is all absorbed, you can switch off the stove and transfer the spinach rice from the stove.
• If the rice is cooked  enough and if the water is not all absorbed, then you have to cook in medium heat keeping the pan open, so the water will get absorbed. Make sure you stir occasionally so the rice won’t get burned at the bottom of the pan. If there is only very little water left, usually this gets absorbed as the rice cools down.
• In case the water is absorbed and if the rice is not completely cooked yet, you will need to add some more water and cook in low heat (keeping the pan closed with lid) until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked.
• Once the rice is cooked and soft and the water is all absorbed, your spinach rice is ready!

Transfer the spinach rice from the hot stove so it will cool down.

The texture becomes more and more better as the rice cools down.

You can gently mix the rice using a fork at regular intervals when the rice is still hot, which will prevent the rice from sticking.

Serve the spinach rice using brown rice with your favorite side dishes or dips, some suggestions would be fresh yogurt, any vegetarian gravy or curries, more sauteed vegetables or dal (lentil based curry dishes).

Tips: If you like, you can sprinkle a little black pepper powder or dried oregano powder on your rice just before serving!