Fluffy seasoned rice and oven roasted vegetables, all baked in one pan? YES YOU CAN! The veggie juices drip down into the rice while it’s baking so it absorbs all that extra flavour. It’s like free vegetable broth. While this Oven Baked Rice and Vegetables is great as a side, I usually have it as a meal!
And the next free eCookbook is….. drumroll please….. ASIAN TAKEOUT AT HOME!!! I’m trying to ramp up the excitement, but it won by quite a margin and everyone could see the results of the poll at anytime. So rather than a drumroll, a more appropriate sound effect was probably pfffffffff ( <– The sound of a deflating balloon, totally obvious, no? 😉)
It will largely be a collation of recipes already on my site, but I’ll add some extras that I haven’t published. And for everyone on my mail list, this new eCookbook will be emailed to you once it’s done! (And if you’re not yet on my email list, you can join at anytime. It is 100% free, always will be, no strings attached, and I pay a premium service provider too much money to protect the email details of everyone on my list so no one can ever use it. Except me – to send you recipes. And free e-Cookbooks. ❤️)
I probably should be sharing an Asian recipe to be on theme, but I’m so overdue on this Oven Baked Rice and Vegetables, I must share it today! This is a reader request – well, I should say readerS. After sharing my Oven Baked Chicken and Rice earlier this year, I had an astonishing number of people requesting a vegetable version. So here it is!
When it comes to this Oven Baked Rice and Vegetables, there is only one rule – you have to use LOTS of veggies. And I’m not just saying that to sound cheeky, I’m being serious. Because you need enough to cover the rice entirely while it’s baking. This serves 2 purposes:
Acts as a cover for the rice, allowing it to essentially “steam” like it does when cooked on the stove; and
The juices that drip from the veggies while they are roasting on top adds flavour to the rice. It’s like free vegetable broth that is all sucked up by the rice.
I used carrots, zucchinis, corn, capsicum/bell peppers, onion and cauliflower, all of which are standard for my weekly shop. I’m sure you can make yours much more exciting than mine. 😉
When you bake the rice and roasted vegetables in one pan, the reality is that there is only so much veggies that get the benefit of the beautiful oven roasting char. So when you are spreading the veggies across the top of the rice, make sure to be fair! Get a bit of each type of veggies on the surface so you get some char.
And for those veggies that can live without being roasted, like carrots, broccoli and peas, cook them IN the rice, rather than on the surface, or shove them down under the other veggies. Leave the surface for veggies that really benefit from being browned in the oven – in my world, that includes: onions, zucchinis, cauliflower, capsicum / bell peppers.
As for the rice?
It’s seasoned. It’s fluffy. It’s sucked up all those vegetable juices.
Frankly, it’s the best part of this recipe. 😉 But we must eat our veggies! – Nagi x
PS I expect many people may think of this as a side dish to pair with a protein, but in all honesty, I have it as a meal. I don’t think I’ve ever made it as a side.
PPS You won’t need a sauce with this if you serve it fresh. The roasted veggies are juicy and the rice is flavoured. But if you want a sauce, a simple yoghurt + lemon one would pair great with this. Recipe in the notes.
PPPS Those who are fans of the Oven Baked Chicken and Rice may notice that this recipe doesn’t call for the step to “oven saute” onions before adding the rice. The reason is because this recipe gets extra flavour from the veggie juices that drip into the rice while baking. 🙂
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Oven Baked Rice and Vegetables
Ingredients
Rice:
- 1 1/2 cups basmati or jasmine rice , uncooked (Note 1 for other rice types)
- 1 1/2 cups (375ml) chicken or vegetable broth (I use chicken)
- 1 1/4 cups (315ml) water
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 2 medium carrots , cut into 1 cm thick slices, larger pieces halved
- 30g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter (optional)
Roasting Vegetables (Note 2):
- 1 red onion , halved and cut into wedges
- 1 capsicum / bell pepper , cut into 2.5cm / 1″ pieces
- 1/2 small cauliflower , broken into florets
- 2 zucchini , cut into 2cm / 4/5″ chunks
- 2 corn cobs , each cut into 3 (6 small cobs)
- 1/4 cup olive oil , plus more for drizzling
Spice Mix:
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 1/2 tsp thyme or other dried herb of choice
- 1 tsp garlic powder (or onion powder)
- 1 tsp salt (Note 3 for low sodium)
- 1 tsp pepper , plus extra
Garnish (optional):
- Finely chopped parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200C/390F (standard) / 180C/350F (fan / convection).
- Mix Spice Mix in a small bowl.
- Place Rice ingredients in a baking dish (including the carrots), about 23 x 30 cm / 9 x 13″. Add 1 1/2 tsp Spice Mix. Stir, cover with foil, bake for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place Roasting Vegetable ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil. Sprinkle over remaining Spice Mix. Mix well – hands are best for this.
- Remove rice from oven.
- Turn oven UP to 220C/430F (standard) / 200C/390F (fan / convection).
- Take off foil. Spread the Roasting Vegetables on top of the rice. Make sure there’s a bit of each type of vegetable on the surface. Push corn mostly under.
- Drizzle with more oil (optional), sprinkle with more pepper.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, rest for 5 – 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle with parsley if desired. Push vegetables aside, fluff rice and toss it through the vegetables a bit (rice gets more flavour). Serve!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
His current favourite toy. I bet this doesn’t surprise anyone.
I made this dish for my family this evening and paired it with chicken satay skewers. Everybody LOVED the rice and vegetable combination and went back for seconds. You are one talented lady Nagi!
This is in the oven right now and smells delicious! Thanks for a great recipe Nagi 🙂
Trying this tonight, just put rice in the oven. I believe it will be delicious!!
Love to know what you think once it’s finished Trish! N x
Outstanding. I added a lot of celery, a potatoe, baby red and yellow peppers, orange pepper. No corn (next time)
Wonderful. I love it. But I am single so I am going to have to figure out how to make your recipes in 8×8 pans.
Do I need to clean rice before adding? I usually only make minute rice
Hi Jay – no you don’t need to wash the rice – just follow the recipe instructions and you’ll nail it! N x
Can you use frozen vegetables
Yes definitely Lori! Just thaw first 🙂 N x
Oooh! This looks soooo good!
I hope you give it a go and love it Jen! N x
Super easy and yummy way to get your veggies!
Definitely Amy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
Thank you for this recipe. Just wondering at step 9 when you put the veges in the oven, do you cover them with foil again or uncovered?
Hi Shelley, I leave the foil off 🙂
This is very similar to a Lebanese dish at my wife’s favorite restaurant. However it has a toasted cheese top layer (like a french onion soup). Any tips adding cheese? If I layer on top of veggies woukd that change cook times/temps?
Hi Phill, you could add cheese in the last 10 minutes of cooking if you liked – N x
Wonderful recipe, I will be making this one regularly. Any vegetable will go with this, I added some tomatoes and had to cut down on the corn as one cob was old and withered.
Yes, it’s so versatile Marina!
I’ve done it for 5 times so far.. it’s just perfect thank you so much for sharing i love your recipes
Wahoo, that’s great!
This came out perfectly, although I changed up the veggies and cook time. The rice is moist and really flexible, good results even with a longer bake time. I would add more chicken fat to it next time to make it richer.
Yes you could change up the veggies, I’m so glad you liked it Catherine ❤️
This was soooooo good. I used farro instead of rice. It took a bit longer to cook but well worth it.
I made this last night with smoked rice, I added some chopped cabbage and frozen veggies, put onions and tomatoes on top. It’s a keeper!
Sounds terrific!
Made this last night and no kidding, I shared the recipe 3 times … it was a hit!
Terrific!
Thank You so much for the recipe , it will be my favorite dish for me and my vegetarian friends and family. Next time I’ll add eggplant and mushrooms and try other recipes from Your great blog.
Do you precook the rice?
Oh my Gosh ! This is fabulous. I followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect. I took the tip about adding other veggies if desired and put in small mushroom and a yellow squash cut like the zucchini. The entire family loved lit.
This is going to be made often and I can’t wait to experiment with other vegetables.
Thank you Thank you. Loved it
Nagi!!! This recipe. 💖 Made it AGAIN last night, and some of my rice got a little too cooked, but that just made more extra crunchy rice bits, not a bad thing!
So, I adore this recipe because it’s delicious and so easy to make totally vegetarian (my stepdaughter is a vegetarian.) Also? That spice mix of yours? I literally triple the recipe when I put it together because it has become my favorite go-to spice combo!! Steaks? Check! Pork chops? Check! Veggies? Check! Chicken? Check!
So darn good.
I am making one of your pork chop recipes tonight!!! Thank you again for making my life easier with your recipes. 😀😀😀
I love hearing that Diana! And I’m totally with you on the crunchy rice bits…. I want MORE of it!!! N xx