Pesto Green Rice: the tasty sauce to season your pasta

Rice is great, but plain rice can get a bit boring. Change it up with this pesto green rice – the addition of green pesto, coconut oil and fresh basil to basmati rice make this a gorgeous side dish that will go beautifully with fish or chicken.

This dish is so easy to make – just cook the rice in a mixture of chicken stock, pesto, and coconut oil, and it only takes around 15 minutes.

Instructions

To Cook on Stove Top:

Combine the basmati rice, stock, pesto, and coconut oil in a medium pot. Stir to combine.

Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently with the pan lid on for 15 minutes.

Remove from heat and let it sit for another 10 minutes with the lid on, before adding the fresh basil and sliced almonds. Garnish with extra basil and almonds, then serve.

To Cook in A Rice Cooker:

Combine the basmati rice, stock, pesto, and coconut oil in the rice cooker base.

Cook using the ‘white rice' function or regular function if you don’t have a ‘white rice’ setting.

Once the cooking time is up, stir in the basil and almonds and mix up.

Notes

The recipe works well with white rice such as jasmine rice or basmati, but brown rice will need a longer cooking time as recommended on the packet, and you can’t use precooked or parboiled rice for this recipe.

You can freeze pesto green rice in freezer bags or containers. Just add a little water when reheating after thawing, as the rice can be dry otherwise.