My Homemade Version of Uncle Ben’s Rice
Very seldom do I buy a package of the flavored rice mixes in the store, but when I do it’s the Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice original flavor that I reach for first. I finally decided if that was a rice mixture I liked, then it was time to see if I could make my own. So far this homemade Ben’s rice version has been turning out yummy good!
My original internet searching turned up the same recipe over and over, which I soon discovered had one major problem. The recipe combined white long grain rice with wild rice and then had you cooking that mixture for about 15 to 20 minutes. No way does that work. The white rice might cook in just 20 minutes by wild rice can take almost 50 minutes to cook.
I puzzled over this little problem for awhile wondering about the best solution. The solution that finally worked the best for me was to precook the wild rice and then freeze it. Once the rice is cooked, the hard grains of rice are now burst open and they work much better in the recipe.
I usually cook 1/2 cup of the wild rice and then divide that into four snack-size baggies, putting about 3 tablespoons of cooked wild rice into each bag.
Now when we want some copycat Uncle Ben’s Rice, I pull a baggie of the cooked wild rice out of my freezer, zap it in the microwave for about 45 seconds to take the chill off, and just add it in to my flavored white rice blend that’s simmering on the stove. Success!
So that’s been the process that seems to work the best if you actually want a blend of both white rice and wild rice. Spending an available hour ahead of time pre-cooking the wild rice gives you a very handy ingredient in the freezer to just pop in with white rice and spices that are cooking.
And I suppose I don’t know if the spices I chose for this mixture are exactly the same as the store-bought version, but I do know it makes a very tasty homemade version that’s been a fine Uncle Ben’s rice copycat for us.
Copycat Uncle Ben’s Rice
Ingredients:
Precooking the wild rice:
- ½ cup wild rice
- 1 cup water
White rice mixture:
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 teaspoons chicken bouillon powder or chicken base
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon garlic salt
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon rubbed sage
- ½ teaspoon celery salt
- ½ cup long grain white rice
- 1 packet precooked wild rice (about 3 Tbl)
Instructions:
Precook the wild rice:
- Put the 1 cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Stir in the ½ cup of wild rice, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer. Let the wild rice simmer on low heat for 50 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
- I divide the cooked rice into four snack size ziploc bags, with each bag containing about 3 tablespoons of the cooked rice. I put these bags in the freezer to use later for making the rest of this recipe.
Make the Uncle Ben's copycat rice:
- Combine the water, butter, chicken base or bouillon, and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Stir in the white rice, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer.
- Take a baggie of precooked wild rice from the freezer. Empty the rice from the baggie onto a plate (you may need to break it apart a little bit) and microwave for about 45 seconds.
- Then add the wild rice to the mixture that's simmering on the stove. You can do this either at the beginning of the cooking time or towards the end of the cooking time.
- Let everything simmer for about 20 minutes or until the white rice has absorbed the liquid. Remove from the heat, fluff with a fork, and serve.
And to double this recipe I would also double the spices. Is that correct?
Yes, you would double all the ingredients, including the spices.
Hi Bev! I planned on my packaged Uncle Ben’s for dinner, and ooops, there was none in my pantry. So I went to the web to find a recipe to “Do It Yourself” and lo and behold, yours was the first one that popped up (and that post is over 10 years old)! Gonna try it tonight and I’m so happy I found a trusted way to make it. Thank You 🙂
My kids love the Roasted Chicken from uncle Ben’s and I’ve seen searching for a copy cat recipe – any chance you have one for that flavor?? Thanks!
I haven’t tried this flavor, so I don’t have a copycat recipe for that one. However, I did check out the ingredient list on this product and noticed one of the ingredients is chicken fat which might make it a hard one to duplicate!
Great idea for the wild rice, thanks! Stocking the freezer with ready to go ingredients is a good to make meals easier. I’ll be making this today- the rice dish and rice for the freezer.
I was wondering , what if you dehydrate the wild rice after cooked to make instant wild rice for the mix.. then I wouldn’t lose it in my freezer.. please let me know your thoughts on this .
I think that would work and might be a good solution for you. I don’t own a dehydrator so I don’t have personal experience on how that would work. I usually take the approach that you don’t know until you try, and with every attempt you learn something!
I wondered this too, did this work well?
Made this for the first time today and it’s SO good!
Finally! Thank you! Every other copycat adds Cumin (HUH!?) and Turmeric (I knew this wasn’t right…why’d I still try it!?) Can anyone explain either of those ingredients in the long grain and wild rice copy!?!?
This smells right…tastes right…Thank you for getting it right!
Deee-lish-ous!!!
You can always cook the wild rice for 20 minutes and then add the white rice and cook everything for another 25 minutes. It’s not as fast, but it works. I’ve done that for years, but it’s not as good without the 23 herbs and seasonings, which is where your recipe comes in!
Thank you!! The seasonings are spot on in this recipe! I LOVE Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice & this is as close as you get – but without all the stuff you don’t want!
Instead of making the wild rice first, I cooked a 1/2 cup of the Lundberg wild rice blend with the seasonings & butter in 2 cups chicken broth for 20 minutes then added 1/2 cup Zatarain’s parboiled rice & cooked another 20 minutes. Should have cooked the wild rice a little longer. Maybe 25-30 minutes.
A little crunchy, lol but it was still delicious 🤤
I’ve definitely pinned this to my favorites & I’ll never go back to using a box mix again!
Thank you for the added tip to cook the wild rice first. That should have been a no brained, but sometimes our brains aren’t thinking. Lol! I will share your tip with my Weight watcher friends
Thank you so much for this recipe! I make everything from scratch and try to do organic when possible, so was thrilled to find this seasoning packet recipe. I use it in my Chicken and Wild Rice Soup and look forward to trying this soon. So appreciate you sharing it!
THANK YOU. UNCLE BEN’S LONG GRAIN AND WILD RICE NOW CONTAINS BIOENGINEERED FOOD INGREDIENTS ON THE LABEL.
I have been making this for a while now and absolutely love it. I use Lundberg’s wild rice blend since it is readily available in my area. I used to be able to get bigger packets of wild rice but can’t seem to find them anymore..Oh well adapt, adjust, and so on. The Lundberg’s has a cooking time of about 40 minutes. I set a timer for 20 minutes and add my white rice then. I’m blessed with a nice big pot of wonderful yummy rice-everytime!!!. Thanks for your time and effort.
Good job on the wild rice! I live in MN and have cooked wild rice for many years! I have been reading copycat Uncle Bens recipes and keep wondering if there is a dried precooked wild rice? There is no way wild rice would ever cook in the amount of time listed in any of those other recipes. Some of the times aren’t even long enough for regular rice. Also I look forward to trying your spice blend. I do not understand why one would ever put ginger in an uncle bens copycat recipe.
Did simply soaking it before hand have the desired affect?
Nice recipe. My version would be to put in fresh where there is dried and salt seasonings. Garlic salt has too much sodium. A clove or two mashed would do better for flavor, in my opinion than the salt. But I am pleased I did find someone who knows how to substitute hydrolyzed with the real deal. Thanks for sharing.
We tried this last night. What I did was take some wild rice and soak it in the morning, then I added it to the regular rice to cook it for 15-20 minutes at supper time. I wonder if after it’s been soaked, I could dry it out again and add it to long grain rice in a package with the herbs mixed up together so it would be easy and ready to go.
I think that would probably work Sarah as the rice has been softened from its original state. I hope it works if you give it a try!
I agree with Beverly. Try it that is a good idea.
Very good, although next time I wouldn’t add any basil. It overpowered it. And I added some turmeric and a little garlic powder.
I love your idea. Thank you.