How A Stick Of Butter And Canned Soup Turn Rice Into A Staple Southern Side Dish

There's a dish that's been a mainstay of Southern-style potlucks and church suppers for years before blowing up on social media recently. It's simple to make, requiring only a few ingredients, and super tasty. It goes by several names: stick of butter rice, rice consommé, brown rice (no, not the variety you see on the shelf), and others. Even country legend Tammy Wynette had a version, featured in her 1990 cookbook. It's a baked dish that at its most basic includes long grain white rice, a stick of butter (no surprise), canned beef consommé, and/or canned French onion soup.

Generally, this side involves stirring the dry rice with the other ingredients in a baking dish, covering it with foil, and baking it in the oven until the rice is soft. But like its various names, there are numerous recipes with slightly different ingredients and instructions, including using one can each of consommé and French onion soup in the dish, since the latter will give the dish the rich taste of caramelized onion that's savory with a hint of sweetness. Other recipes stick to using just consommé, but even here, some use one while others use two cans. Even the oven temperature can be different between recipes. There are also a number of additional ingredients that can be added to jazz this dish up even more if you want to go beyond the basic recipe.

Southerners love a good rice dish, whether it's Cajun rice and gravy or sweet rice for breakfast. Much of the South offers perfect conditions for growing rice, so it makes sense that it has become a staple in the region. The origins of stick of butter rice seem to have been lost to time, although the dish has been passed down in families and featured in many a church cookbook over the years. Because of this, you'll find that there are versions that include other ingredients. The two biggies are onions and mushrooms.

The onion is typically sautéed before being added to the dish and most often found in recipes that forgo French onion soup. Mushrooms add both texture and even more umami to the dish. Some folks prefer sautéed mushrooms, while others use canned or jarred. As you can see, even with the onion and mushrooms, this satisfying side dish remains budget-friendly and pairs well with roast pork, chicken dishes, or beef. You could also add a protein like cooked chicken or ground beef to the rice dish for an easy meal all on its own. However you choose to make it, stick of butter rice should definitely be in your recipe rotation when making potatoes or another side dish is just too big of a hassle.