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Rice Pilaf with Golden Vermicelli

A rice pilaf cooked with vermicelli, butter, olive oil, and broth, finished with salt and optional spices.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,769 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Rice Pilaf with Golden Vermicelli

Time15-18 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Toast the vermicelli

  1. In a 2-quart casserole, over low heat, sauté the vermicelli in butter and oil until golden, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn the vermicelli.

  2. Stir in the rice and fry until glazed, about one minute.

Cook the rice

  1. Add the boiling liquid and the salt and boil for one minute.

  2. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, until liquid has been absorbed, about 15-18 minutes.

  3. Remove the pot from the heat, cover and let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Serve

  1. Sprinkle with one of the spices and fluff with a fork right before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

604Calories
36 gProtein
29 gFat
49 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  2. Olive + ricetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,994 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Olive + chickentop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,888 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).

  4. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Vermicelli
Browned in fat before cooking, it adds a toasty, nutty aroma and flavor to the rice.
Long grain rice
Forms the bulk of the dish; its starch absorbs the liquid and sets into fluffy, separate grains.
Butter
Carries the browning of the vermicelli and adds richness and flavor.
Olive oil
Fat that helps the vermicelli brown evenly without the butter burning.
Boiling water or chicken broth
Liquid that the rice absorbs as it cooks, hydrating the starch until tender.

The step that matters

Toasting the vermicelli. Vermicelli browns quickly and can go from golden to burnt in seconds. Burnt pasta tastes bitter and spreads that bitterness through the whole pot, so keep the heat low and stir constantly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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