Plain White Rice Gets 10x Better Flavor With One Tasty Ingredient

While there are certain meals that pair exceedingly well with plain white rice, such as creamy one-pot vegetable curry or broth bowls made with ground beef and coconut milk, rice can also be transformed into a stand-alone side dish that complements a variety of proteins and additional sides. As a matter of fact, the easiest way to upgrade your stovetop steamed white rice recipe with a burst of savory flavor is to add some garlic butter to the mix. Creamy butter combined with fresh minced garlic and a few choice herbs gives plain rice a mild yet taste-worthy upgrade that pleases most palates.

Not only does rice infused with garlic butter pair well with all sorts of savory foods. You can also prepare this versatile side-dish in more ways than one. Start by securing a container of garlic butter from your neighborhood supermarket. You can also make your own garlic butter by combining softened butter with fresh minced garlic, a bit of garlic salt, and a small amount of your favorite dried seasonings such as parsley, oregano, and basil.

An easy way to flavor rice with garlic butter is to mix it into your prepared rice right before serving. Prep your rice as usual, and right when it's done cooking, add a few spoonfuls of garlic butter directly to the pot. The hot rice melts the butter and softens the garlic, creating a rich and flavorful side dish in no time.

While adding garlic butter to cooked rice is easy and convenient, there's a different cooking method you may want to try for the most concentrated amount of flavor. All you need to do is toast your rice in garlic butter before cooking. Among the many tips you can follow to add more flavor to plain rice, toasting the grains gives them a nutty, satisfying flavor and golden color. To follow this particular cooking method, toast the rice in your preferred amount of garlic butter, and then add water and cook your rice accordingly. The rice becomes infused with savory garlic flavor right from the start.

You can also scoop an additional spoonful of garlic butter onto your rice right before serving. Or, add a variety of toppings for extra flavor. For example, give this flavorful side a more savory edge with some grated Parmesan cheese. On the other hand, for a more zesty upgrade, add a small amount of lemon zest or lemon juice. Speaking of which, you can also infuse your homemade garlic butter with one tangy ingredient, such as pepperoncini brine, for a bright, unexpected note.

Lastly — to give this tasty side dish an unexpected crunch — before cooking your rice, slice a few knobs of raw garlic and gently sauté them in butter over your stove until they become lightly golden brown. Garlic "chips" are a tasty way to imbue your next batch of well-seasoned rice with extra garlicky flavor.