Wild rice, cherries and pecans come together in this pilaf. A perfect side for the holidays or any day!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving dinner is the side dishes. I test drove this Cherry Pecan Wild Rice Pilaf with our dinner recently and it was a big hit. It will definitely be making an appearance on my Thanksgiving menu!
The stuffing is my absolute favorite holiday side dish, but not everyone in my family is a fan (what is wrong with these people?). So I always try to have a variety of side dishes to make everyone happy.
This rice pilaf recipe uses a part wild rice, part white rice blend for this recipe. Although you could certainly make it with all white or all wild or brown rice too!
Personally, I really love the blend, and my family does too. But feel free to change things up to suit your tastes. You could even adapt the recipe to use cous cous or quinoa.
I really loved the dried cherries in this recipe. They are a delicious, sweet and tangy contrast to the rest of the savory ingredients.
My husband thought there were a few too many cherries though, so keep that in mind and add less if you prefer. Dried cranberries would also work!
No only is this wild rice pilaf tasty, it makes for a beautiful and festive presentation. I just know it’s going to look great on my Thanksgiving table.
I also think I’m going to double the recipe next time. After all, the best thing about Thanksgiving is the leftovers! I reheated this for lunch the next day, and it was just as good.
One last thing I love about this recipe. It’s made on the stove top, which means more room in your oven for all those other Thanksgiving favorites! And although I haven’t tried it, I’m sure you could adapt it to work in a rice cooker as well.
I think this colorful rice pilaf is going to become a holiday tradition at our house. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and I did.
Be sure to save this recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Ingredients
- Butter
- Produce: leeks, garlic, fresh thyme, fresh parsley
- Wild rice blend
- Pecans
- Chicken broth
- Dried cherries
- Salt and pepper
Cherry Pecan Wild Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 small leek chopped
- 1 cup wild rice blend
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
- 1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 5 oz. package dried cherries
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 teaspoon pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- In a 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add leaks and cook until tender, 3-5 minutes.
- Add rice, garlic and pecans and cook until rice is toasted, 2-3 minutes.
- Add chicken broth, cherries, thyme, salt and pepper. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, or until rice is tender.
- Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 more minutes. Fluff rice with a fork and garnish with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
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Nutrition
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5 comments
Mich
I’m now 40 mins into cooking this and have added another 1 cup of broth—the rice is still crunchy. Also, please note that the recipe says to add the pecans at the beginning…I fear they will be mush
Susan P
When you say Wild Rice blend. Do you mean 1/2 cup white rice and 1/2 cup wild rice? The wild rice usually takes so much longer to cook. Or is there a blend sold in the store?
Fred
When do you add the pecans?
Danelle
At the end with the parsley.
Danelle
It is sold as a blend at the store, and formulated so everything cooks for the same amount of time. If you can’t find it, there is a Rice-a-roni version that will work too. Just discard the seasoning packet and go from there. The one I usually get is Rice Select brand and it comes in a plastic canister.