A key ingredient in Thanksgiving stuffings and many creamy fall soups, this is the one time of year when wild rice gets its time to shine - though we think it deserves year-round attention! What about you?
Ingredient Spotlight: Wild Rice
Wild rice is a distant cousin of the short- and long-grain rices we normally cook with, and it's actually the only native North American cereal to have become an important food for humans. It's a cool-weather grass that's grown primarily in the Great Lakes region. Grains of wild rice can grow as long as two centimeters!
Wild rice is an intact grain, meaning that it includes the bran, endosperm, and germ. Partly because of this and partly due to the drying process after harvesting, wild rice is incredibly hard and takes much longer than other rices to cook. Even once cooked, it stays very firm and chewy.
The flavor of wild rice is earthy and nutty. This makes it ideal for pairing with fall vegetables like squash and root vegetables, especially when roasted.
We usually cook wild rice using the boiling method since cooking times and the amount of water can vary greatly depending on the quality, age, and particular variety of wild rice. It can often take more than an hour to become tender, though you can reduce the cooking time by pre-soaking the grains in warm water.
Look for wild rice in gourmet food stores - unless you actually live in the Midwest, in which case you can find it in the grocery store!
Are you a fan of wild rice?
Related: Recipe: Wild Rice Salad with Roasted Green Beans and Dried Cranberries
(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)
Comments (7)
Weekly Email
Top Posts
Top Recipes
- Appetizer Recipe: Bacon-Wrapped Potato Bites with Spicy Sour Cream Dipping Sauce
- Two Cocktails for Thanksgiving
- Vegetarian Thanksgiving: Nutloaf! And Leftover Nutloaf!
- Recipe: Ginger Pumpkin Pie with Graham Cracker Crust
- DIY Recipe: Pumpkin Spice Latte (Just Like Starbucks!)
Top Tours
- Joe and Kristin's Warm and Cozy Craftsman Kitchen
- Before & After: Kelly Moseley's Calming Austin Kitchen
- Rachel's Busy Single Girl's Kitchen
- Kitchen Gallery: White, Bright, and Clean
- Karen's White and Green Urban Cottage Kitchen
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I love wild rice. It's so different from my normal sticky, white rice that it doesn't bother me and it's got such a fun texture. The flavor's lovely, too. I should really eat more of it.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
Wild rice is amazing! (Hm ... I think I say that about every ingredient you spotlight ...)
view lizzapearl's profile
Wild rice is delicious! I actually decided to make a wild rice stuffing for some squash just yesterday, but when I got to the store, it was very difficult to find. There were plenty of prepackaged rice blends with 80% plain brown rice and 20% wild rice, but no bags of straight-up wild rice. =( Alas, I do not live in the Midwest.
view stolichnaya's profile
I love wild rice. I ate it quite a bit when I lived briefly in the midwest--I could get it in bulk at the co-op. I can't find it in bulk anywhere now (in DC) and have trouble finding it outside of prepackaged rice blends, as stolichnaya said. And the price is too high when it's packaged. It's very frustrating.
view Pixie's profile
Trader Joe's sells wild rice just on its own. Any co-op or natural grocery should have bulk bins with just wild rice. If not, ask for it! There may be others looking for it as well and your suggestion could encourage the buyer to start carrying it.
view Amandica's profile
yep, i usually get bags of wild rice from tj's. it's not exactly bulk, but it's plenty of rice. also, i have made that wild rice salad several times! it's awesome!
view sarahlucy's profile
I love wild rice, but its so expensive. $7 for a tiny tiny box.
view witchbaby's profile