While not as popular in most of the U.S. as the more traditional bread stuffing, rice stuffing does have its followers in the Southeast because of the major rice growing areas in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana. It’s also gluten-free. We love the nuttiness of brown rice so chose that over white rice.  Our stuffing is made much like bread stuffing in that it uses onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms, homemade poultry stock, and herbs.  We added sweet cubanelle peppers and sage from our farm for two more layers of flavor.

Preparation Time:  30 minutes

Cooking Time:  4 1/2 hours (poultry stock); 45 – 60 min. (rice); 15 min. (veggies)

Serves:  6-8

Ingredients:

• Rice stuffing
  • 3 cups brown rice
  • 6 cups homemade poultry stock (or store-bought turkey or chicken stock) (see roast turkey post for instructions on making homemade poultry stock)
  • 1  cup red (or yellow) onions small dice (small dice is 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch x 1/4 inch)
  • 1 cup carrots small dice (3-4 stalks)
  • 1 cup celery small dice (1-2 large carrots)
  • 1 cup cubanelle peppers small dice (1-2 cubanelle peppers)
  • 1 cup white button mushrooms small dice
  • 2 cloves of garlic minced (about 2 tsp)
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 8-10 fresh sage leaves chopped
  • 1 cup dried cranberries (optional)
  • Kosher salt to taste
  • Black pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Peel and dice 1 medium red onion (about 1 cup); set aside.
• Wash and small dice (1 cup each) celery, carrots, peppers, and mushrooms; set aside.
• Wash and pat dry fresh sage leaves, chop; set aside.

Cooking:

• Add the rice and stock to a rice cooker and set to brown rice (Using a rice cooker cooks rice more consistently and is a great time saver especially when preparing a dinner like Thanksgiving.)  Will take 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Just before rice is done heat a large saute pan on a burner set to medium-high heat, add the evoo.
• Add the onions, cook for about 1 minute, add the garlic, cook for another minute; stirring frequently.
  • NOTE: Brown but do not burn as it will make the garlic bitter.
• Add the carrots, celery, peppers, and mushrooms, cook until soft but still has a bite to them (about 15 minutes), remove from the heat; set aside.
• When the rice is cooked spoon into a heatproof bowl, add the sauteed veggies and chopped sage.
• Season to taste with kosher salt and black pepper.
• Add the dried cranberries and nuts at this point if you choose to include them.
• Place into a serving bowl, cover to keep warm.
• The rice stuffing is ready to serve.

Enjoy!