One-Pot Spicy Vegetable Rice made in one-pot in under 30 minutes. It's easy, flavorful, and will be your new favorite mid-week dinner!
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I have been making this One-Pot Spicy Vegetable Rice for years and years and it is one of our favorite mid week, quick and easy dinners. Smoked paprika and turmeric are two of my favorite spices and they marry together beautifully in this very flavorful dish. The colors are lovely too with the rich mustardy yellow and the reds, greens, and yellows from the veggies.
The bell peppers become super sweet and the grape tomatoes give bursts of flavour in each bite. We love it served with some spicy Field Roast Sausage and habanero hot sauce!
How To Make Spicy Vegetable Rice
- Step 1 - Prep and chop the veggies then saute them in a pan.
- Step 2 - Add the rice, spices, seasonings and water. Stir well and simmer until the rice is tender.
That's all there is to it. It's such an easy meal!
Variations
Bell peppers, onions and garlic are essential to the flavour in this recipe but the other vegetables are pretty flexible. Replace them with whatever you have in your fridge or customize to suit your tastes. As long as you use roughly the same quantities all will be good. Even frozen veg works well.
If you have young children or someone who doesn't like spicy food you can easily omit the chili from this recipe to make it 'un-spicy' rice. If you do this though I recommend having a bottle of hot sauce on the table so that the people who like spice can add it to their own individual bowls.
Storing Leftovers
If you end up with any leftovers they keep well in the fridge for a couple of days. Add a few drops of water to stop it drying out then reheat in a microwave. Remember though that for food safety reasons rice can only be reheated once and it must be heated until absolutely piping hot.
Leftovers are awesome repurposed into burritos with some quick seasoned black beans and vegan cheese!
Recipe
One-Pot Spicy Vegetable Rice
Author:Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (optional)
- 1 medium onion , diced
- 3 medium carrots , diced
- 4 cloves garlic , mince
- 2 large bell peppers , deseeded & cut into bite-sized chunks
- 1 cup (150 grams) frozen peas (or chopped green beans)
- 1 cup (150 grams) cherry tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- 1½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes , or a small fresh/dried chili diced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (or chipotle powder)
- 1 ¼ cup (250 grams) uncooked long grain white rice , or basmati/jasmine
- 2½ cups (600 mls) water , plus more if needed
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat until hot & shimmering.
- Saute the onions until translucent. If you don't want to use oil dry fry them or use a drop of water instead.
- Add the carrots, garlic and bell peppers and continue cooking for a few more minutes then add the rice, tomatoes, peas, spices, seasoning and water.
- Cook until the liquid starts to bubble, give it a real good stir, turn down low, cover with a lid and cook until the rice is tender and the liquid has been absorbed. If it gets to the stage where the water is absorbed and the rice isn't quite tender, you can boil a kettle and add another ¼ cup or so of water and put the lid back on to finish it off.Â
- Stir well then serve.
Tamara says
Such a great recipe. We loved it!
Scarlet Sawyer says
Hey, I did it all in an instant pot and it turned into more of a risotto haha or aka wet sticky rice mixture. The flavor is there and wonderful but as whole it is just mush. I cook rice frequently on the stove and never have a problem, could be the rice cooker or just me. Although, I don't usually mess up recipes. Anyway, I think if i did the rice separately it would have been a wonderful rice dish. Have tried your other recipes and have loved them!
A Virtual Vegan says
I haven't tested this recipe in my Instant Pot yet, but keep meaning to. I'll try to do it soon. It will definitely need less water though and I wouldn't think it will take any longer than 10 minutes. If you didn't adjust those 2 things, that will explain why it's wet and sticky.
This rice recipe is designed for the Instant Pot if you want to give it a try. It's really tasty! https://avirtualvegan.com/teriyaki-instant-pot-rice/
Jillian says
This recipe is super easy and very very tasty. I like the fact that Mel's instructions are so easy to follow. Will add this one to my favourites. Definitely recommend for a great meal.
Adam says
Really good dish
Dan says
Hi, I'm new to cooking fresh (trying to get away from tv dinners). This sounds great but I'm a bit confused about the directions. The directions say use a large pan starting with the onions and adding everything else. But that would have to be a really BIG pan to fit all that. Should it be that you use the pan to cook the veges and at some point everything would go into a pot to cook? What then do you add the rice to? Would it be a pot? I learned to cook rice separately but are you saying that after cooking the onions, carrots and other veges you should add those and the (dry uncooked) rice to a pot with 2.5 cups water and cook the rice with everything else in there with it? Thanks very much!
A Virtual Vegan says
Yes that's what I'm saying. It all gets cooked in one pot together. It doesn't have to be an absolutely huge pot. I use a large sauté pan. You can kind of see it in the pictures.
Louise says
Really easy and tasty! Will definitely be cooking again
Evie says
Wow. This was really delicious. Thank you!
Benjamin Harris says
Just made this recipe, it was super easy and extremely tasty! Defiantly adding this to one of my list of meals.
A Virtual Vegan says
Thank you Benjamin. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Pammy Poo says
This was one of the best rice recipes I've ever made. Thank you!
A Virtual Vegan says
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for letting me know :)
Edith says
Daughter and I recently transitioned, thank you for so an easy meal. She really liked.
A Virtual Vegan says
That's awesome. So glad you both enjoyed it!