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Garlic Butter Kale Rice is a great side that pairs rice with loads of kale – except you’d never know it! So tasty you’ll be eating it straight out of the pot.
I love garlic and I’m currently totally in love with this Garlic Butter Kale Rice.
I’m always on the hunt for sides that combines a carb with vegetables so I can just make one dish to serve on the side of protein to complete a meal.
Added bonus: This one’s loaded with tons of kale – and even kale haters love it.
How to Prepare Kale
My trick is to marinate kale by drizzling it with a tiny bit of olive oil, salt and pepper, then leaving it just for 15 minutes while the rice cooks before tossing it into the saucepan while the rice is resting to warm the kale through and make it wilt.
The marinating time serves 2 purposes. It softens the kale to make it pleasant to eat (raw kale can be quite tough and chewy) as well as adding flavour. It always surprises me how far a tiny pinch of salt goes when marinating kale!
How to Make Garlic Butter Kale Rice
If you’re wondering is it OK to eat raw kale, the kale in this recipe is wilted into the rice. Combine the marinated kale with soft, fluffy, garlicky, buttery rice and you have a winner right there.
In fact, most people think the green “stuff” in this is spinach, not kale!
I like to cook the rice with chicken or vegetable broth to give it extra flavour. This rice is so incredibly tasty, you can – and WILL – eat it straight out of the pot!
It’s best served warm but also lovely at room temperature because the kale and rice is lovely and fluffy. Try serving this on the side at your next grill out!
Garlic Butter Kale Rice
Ingredients
Kale:
- 5 cups chopped kale see note
- 2 teaspoons Olive oil
- salt and black pepper
Rice:
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 cup white rice
- 1 ¾ cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons chopped almonds or pecans, optional
Instructions
Kale:
- Place kale in a large bowl. Drizzle over oil and sprinkle with a small pinch of salt and pepper.
- Use hands to scrunch for 30 seconds then set aside until rice is cooked.
Rice:
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add rice and broth, cover with lid. Bring to gentle simmer then immediately turn heat down to low or medium low, so the liquid is simmering very gently.
- Cook for 12 - 15 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.
- Remove from heat, then quickly toss all the kale on top of the rice, then clamp lid back on.
- Rest for 10 minutes.
- Remove lid, stir wilted kale through rice.
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste and stir through extra butter if desired.
- Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with almonds or pecans, if using.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Side Dish
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This rice was delicious! Just different enough to be “special”. I don’t usually cook with a lot of butter, so this would not be in my every day arsenal, but was a great side dish to take when we went to a friend’s house.
I don’t know how much 5 handsful of Kale is!
Hi Nancy, it is approximately 5 cups of kale.
Awesome! My new favourite rice recipe.
Great recipe!! I followed another recommendation to add a few minutes before finishing cooking and it was perfect; otherwise followed the recipe as is. Many thanks for sharing.
I made brown rice separately in a rice cooker, then mixed the other ingredients in when the rice was fully cooked. It took a bit longer but worked well. This was easy to make, tasty and healthy.
Absolutely delicious rice. I added a small squeeze of fresh lemon juice