Easy One Pot Greek Rice

This easy Greek rice recipe is all made in one pot, light and fragrant with lemon and herbs, reminiscent of sunny days in the Aegean. This fresh and sunny Greek-inspired pilaf is the perfect side dish with roast meats or vegetable kebabs, Greek stews or even a hot and cold mezze. 

Greek rice

This is my favourite rice dish to serve with Greek food. Herby and lemony, it is a light, fresh-flavoured pilaf that goes well with all those wonderfully simple roast and grilled meats that are so much a part of Greek food culture. However, it’s just as good with a robust vegetable stew, savoury mince, or even my peri peri chicken.  

I have kept my version very simple as a side dish, but if you wanted to, you could make it more substantial by wilting in plenty of fresh greens and adding a crumble of feta for a nutritious main dish.

Why you will love this Greek rice recipe

• It is quick and easy, needing less than 5 minutes’ hands-on time.
• You will have a perfect rice pilaf every time using the absorption method of cooking.
• It makes a triple batch. Cook once, eat three times! 
• You can make it on the stove top, or in a pressure cooker / Instant Pot – I have provided instructions for both methods below. 

Fuss Free Tip 

When you know my simple tips, rice is easy to cook. There is no need to buy easy cook or minute rice ever again.

Cooking pilaf by the absorption method 

For me, the absorption method is by far the best and most reliable way to cook long grain rice. It can take a little practice but once you have mastered it, there is no looking back. 

You need a heavy pot with a lid that fits well. I use a cast-iron casserole dish, which is perfect for rice to serve four to six.  

1 Fry the rice gently in a little olive oil, as you would for risotto.

2 Add a pinch of salt.

3 Now add the liquid (water or stock) –  twice as much liquid by volume as rice. Bring it to a simmer, put the lid on, and turn the heat down low. 

Leave the rice for 18 minutes. DO NOT lift the lid. If you do, some of the liquid will escape as steam and there won’t be enough moisture left in the pan. 

When the rice is done, turn the heat off. Fluff up your rice with a fork and leave it for up to a quarter of an hour in the covered pot before serving. 

Greek rice ingredients 

• Long grain rice – Any regular white long grain rice or basmati will do. It doesn’t have to come from Greece! You can use brown rice, but if you do, you will need to extend the cooking time to forty minutes. I don’t recommend easy cook or minute rice. I find the texture of the grains is slightly bouncy and chewy and the cooking times and quantities might be off. 

Pro Tip – Buying rice

 We eat a lot of rice. Even though I cook for two most of the time, I still buy large 2 kg / 4.5 lb bags of rice. Buy the supermarket regular rice or a mid-priced branded rice. There is no need to buy the most expensive brand unless it is on offer.

The cheapest rice might look like a bargain, but is often best avoided as it may contain the broken grains that have been sifted out from the more expensive bags versions. This means your rice can become sticky and starchy when cooked.

• Onion & garlic – White or red onions, it doesn’t matter. 
• Lemons – You are using both the zest and juice so unwaxed is ideal. 
• Herbs – I use a mix of dried thyme and oregano which nicely mimics Greek oregano.   

How to make Greek rice 

First, collect your ingredients. Check you have everything you need before you start! 

Step one – Peel and dice the onion and garlic. Heat the oil in a shallow, heavy pan with a lid that fits well. Sauté the onion for a few minutes until it is fragrant and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for a another minute. Season with salt and pepper.    

Step two – Stir in the rice and herbs and fry for a minute so the rice is well coated with oil. 

Step three – Juice one of the lemons, and add the juice along with the stock. Stir everything in. Add a slice or two or lemon and a sprig of fresh herbs if you have them.  

Bring to a gentle simmer, put the lid on and cook over the lowest heat for 18 minutes. Then turn the heat off and leave for five minutes. 

Step four – Fluff the Greek rice with a fork, garnish with some fresh herbs and a slice of lemon, and it is ready to serve. 

Which rice to use?

Any white long grain rice works with this recipe, but you do want long grain rather than the arborio or carnaroli used in risottos. Just don’t use a quick-cook, easy-cook or minute rice, as you’ll likely end up with a mushy, sticky mess and the cooking times and ingredient ratios will be wrong. 

You’ll get a better result if you use basmati rice, which is more flavoursome and fragrant than ordinary long grain rice. 

Using brown rice 

This dish works well with brown rice on the stove top, which gives it a nutty flavour and more fibre. Brown rice is perfectly authentic for a Greek rice dish and is regarded as very healthy. Simply increase the cooking time to 40 minutes. 

Pressure cooker / Instant pot Greek rice

This recipe works perfectly made in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker. However, you will need the same volume of stock to rice. 

• Set the sauté function. Add the oil, chopped onion and garlic, and a pinch of salt. Then fry, stirring all the time until the onion is golden. 
• Cancel sauté. Add the rice in and stir so it is coated with the oil. Fry for a minute or so. There will be more than enough residual heat in the pot to do this. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients – the stock, herbs and lemon slices. Stir well.
• Put the lid on the pot and seal. Pressure cook on high for three minutes, leaving ‘keep warm’ switched on. After cooking, allow natural pressure release (NPR) for 18 minutes. Release any remaining pressure (there will be very little, if any) before removing the lid. 
• Fluff the rice and serve. 

When making this Greek rice recipe in the pressure cooker, you can increase the quantity, but not reduce it. This is because you need at least one cup of liquid to create the pressure. 

Greek rice pilaf – Tips and tricks

• I cook rice in a heavy cast-iron casserole dish. Any heavy saucepan will do.
• Use a pan with a lid that fits. If the lid doesn’t fit tight, some of the steam will escape and your rice could become dry. If the lid isn’t tight, add an extra spoonful of water.
• Cook on the lowest heat. If necessary, use a stove top heat diffuser or simmer ring. These cost very little and will last and last.
• Don’t peek. Again, this will allow the steam to escape rather than being absorbed by the rice.
• To make this dish even faster, chop up a double batch of onion and garlic, pop in a plastic tub, and freeze. You can then fry the onion from frozen the next time you make it.
• Add more greens. For a classic Greek herb rice dish, wilt in spinach, chard, chervil, dandelion leaf – any leafy greens you can find. This makes a lovely vegan lunch, or  you can add a little crumbled feta on top if you like. 

Can I make Greek rice ahead?

This Greek rice recipe is perfect for batch cooking. You can also keep any leftovers to reheat in the microwave. I find that the quantities for Greek rice given here are perfect for three easy after-work suppers for two, as a side dish.

If you do make your rice ahead of time, make sure that it cools quickly. Put it in an airtight pot in the fridge as soon as possible. Keep it for no more than 48 hours and make sure that you reheat it thoroughly before serving.

Can I freeze Greek rice?

I’m a great believer in cook once and eat twice, and use takeaway trays with lids to pack the extras in the freezer. 

Allow your Greek rice to cool and then freeze as soon as possible. Then defrost in the fridge before reheating, or microwave from frozen. 

More Greek Recipes

• Whipped feta dip
• Baked feta 
• Greek lemon potatoes
• Greek chicken and rice
• Greek pasta salad

More Easy Rice Sides

Here are some more pilaf style rice dishes: 

• Spicy rice
• Mushroom rice
• Pilau rice
• Pressure cooker Chinese rice
• Nandos Rice
• Italian Rice
• Other easy rice recipes

Cups First! I’m British and based in the UK, but this is a Cups First Recipe. It’s made and tested using standard American measuring cups, so you can be sure that it will work perfectly with no need for kitchen scales!   

If you prefer to use kitchen scales to weigh your ingredients, that’s OK. I also weigh all the ingredients with my digital kitchen scales when testing and cooking.