Cheesy Rice (Rice-a-Roni Copycat)

As a child one of my favorite dishes was Rice-a-Roni, I know I was gourmet from the get go! I just loved the yumminess of it, plus then they had the awesome jingle “The San Francisco Treat”, and the commercial with jingle always played during my favorite show Full House. Seriously I was the coolest kid of the early 1990’s, no questions asked!


Back to the rice. I also remember Rice-a-Roni being one of the first dishes my mom let me “make” while she fixed the remainder of the meal. I cannot lie I still really like Rice-a-Roni, but I don’t often buy it. I do get some serious cravings for it occasionally and the night I made this one was one of those nights. Plus the bonus is I was controlling the ingredients and how much of everything that was going in the dish. What can I say I like knowing what all is in my food!

Cheesy Rice

1 TBSP EVOO

1 TBSP Butter

1 cup long grain rice

10 spaghetti noodles (broken into small pieces)

¼ onion (finely diced)

2 ½ cups Vegetable Stock (Chicken will work, Aldi just has an awesome Veggie stock, Oh I love Aldi)

½ cup Monterey Jack Cheese (Shredded, I like to shred my own)

Salt and Pepper to taste

5-6 Basil Leaves (Finely Sliced)

In a large non-stick skillet with a lid melt butter and EVOO over medium heat. Add in the noodles and onion, cook for a few minutes until noodles have toasted a bit and onions started to soften. Pour in rice and stir in together with noodles and onion, it is really important that the rice gets some of the oil/butter/onion juice to coat it. Add in you stock, bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer for 20-25 minutes adding more liquid if necessary. When rice has absorbed all the liquid and is tender, stir in the cheese and season with salt and pepper. You may need to add more stock to get the consistency you like. Lastly top with basil. And ENJOY!!!