Fancy Oven Rice Pilaf Recipe | For Catering and Entertaining

This toasty delicious baked rice side dish is versatile, economical, and easily adapted to accommodate allergens, dietary preferences, and regional cuisines.  The optional addition of carrot, dried fruit, nuts, different spices, and fresh chopped herbs make this dish visually appealing, fragrant, and fully customizable to any party menu.

This dish is especially handy for catering and dinner parties because it can be prepped up in the morning and stored at room temperature (instead of trying to cram it into an already packed fridge). An hour before the meal, simply mix the broth with the rice mixture in the hotel pan, cover it with foil, and pop it in a preheated oven. There’s no need to heat the broth first (unless you are trying to expedite the cooking time). This dish is pretty forgiving and stands up well to sitting in a chafing dish. Unlike other types of rice dishes, rice pilaf isn’t prone to mushiness or stickiness.

Try These Variations

Gluten Free – Sub out orzo/Israeli Cous Cous for rice

Dairy-Free – Use duck fat, olive oil or vegetable oil instead of butter

Vegetarian – Use veggie stock

Middle Eastern – Dried Fruit, pine nuts or almonds, caramelized onion, za’atar spice blend

Greek – Garlic, lemon zest, black pepper, rich chicken stock, fresh dill and parsely at the end.

French – garlic, black olives, herbs d’provence spice blend

Indian – Onion, carrots, peas and curry powder

Chicken and Rice Comfort Food – Onions, Carrots, Celery, Rich Chicken Broth, Butter or Duck Fat, Parsley/Sage/Thyme and Chicken Thighs nestled on top.

Catering Large Parties or Cooking at Home

This recipe makes one 2″ 1/2 hotel pan (at home that’s equivalent to a 4-quart casserole pan or brazier) and serves about 15 people.  Use the “Scale 2x” option to scale for a full-size hotel pan that serves approximately 30 people (or 8 quarts).

This recipe calls for baking the pilaf at 400 F for 1 hour (that’s on convection). This assumes the broth is mixed with the rice mixture while cold or at room temperature and the pilaf is cooked in a mid-grade home oven. If you are using a high-powered commercial oven – expect this dish to cook 15 minutes faster or reduce the heat to 375 F. You can cut the cooking time by about half by bringing the broth to a boil first.

The basic version of this recipe costs around 60 cents per serving (California Retail Prices 2021)! For professional caterers with access to wholesale pricing through their vendors and for Home Cooks living in less expensive states, you can expect the cost per serving to be even less!!

Fancy Oven Pilaf | Catering Recipe

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• Author: Kara Taylor- Home Cooks Guide
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 50-60
• Total Time: 0 hours
• Yield: 15 servings 1x
• Category: Side
• Method: Baking
• Cuisine: World
• Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

This toasty fragrant rice dish is the perfect party side dish and is easily adaptable for dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan preferences.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

2–4 Tablespoons Oil or Butter

2 1/2 cups Long grain rice (Basmati)

1 1/2 cups Orzo or Israeli Cous Cous or vermicelli*

1/2 cup Quinoa (red or black adds visual appeal) **

1 cup diced onion or shallot

1–2 Tablespoons minced garlic

salt to taste  

7 1/2 Flavorful, well-seasoned broth (chicken, veg or other)***

1–2 Cups Garnishes – dried fruit, pine nuts, walnuts, shaved almonds and/or diced carrot. (Optional)

Herbs and spices (Optional)

Chopped Fresh Herbs to sprinkle after cooking (Optional)

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Instructions

1. In a saute pan with oil or butter, toast the Orzo, Israeli Cous Cous or Vermicelli until golden brown all over.  Transfer the pasta to the hotel pan or oven-proof dish.
2. Add a little more oil and saute the onion and garlic.  Add the rice and cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until well coated in oil with some grains of rice toasted.  Transfer this batch to the hotel pan. 
3. Add any optional spices, herbs, vegetable ingredients, or dried fruit to the hotel pan.
4. At this point you can either 1) cover the hotel pan with a layer of parchment and tin foil for transport and place the broth in a separate container. Or 2) Add the cold/room temp broth, cover the hotel pan with parchment and foil and bake at 400 F for 50 minutes.  Carefully lift a corner of the foil for a peak.  Watch out for the steam.  If it’s still pretty wet, cook for another 10 minutes. 
5. Remove from the oven and keep covered for 5-10 minutes.  Fluff the rice up with a spatula or serving spoon.  Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed and sprinkle generously with fresh herbs. 
6. Serve.

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Notes

* To Make Gluten-Free – replace the orzo or Israeli Cous Cous with rice

** If you don’t have quinoa, you can replace this with rice.

*** The broth makes this dish.  I recommend good quality home-made broth that is heavily seasoned.

NOTE: If scaling this recipe up for a large party with multiple full-size hotel pans (say for 100 people) –  follow steps 1-2 but dump all the rice, quinoa, toasted orzo/couscous, and sauteed onion and garlic into a large mixing bowl.  Then transfer 10 cups of this mixture to each full-size hotel pan.