This pesto rice bake is a no-boil vegetarian casserole that requires just 5 minutes of active time to make! The rice cooks in the oven alongside storebought or homemade pesto and a few pantry staples, making this a convenient weeknight dinner.
It's hard to beat the simplicity of a dump and bake casserole, which is why I'm sharing this super easy, flavor-packed pesto rice bake.
It's inspired by my quinoa pesto bake, but so many people asked how to use rice instead of quinoa that I wanted to make a slightly different version of that one.
The key ingredients in this pesto rice bake are storebought or homemade pesto, chickpeas, medium or long-grain white rice, and mushrooms. We also add in a can of chickpeas for a convenient source of protein.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Flexible recipe: This rice casserole is as easy to make as you want it to be. Use pre-sliced mushrooms and a jar of storebought pesto, or slice up your own mushrooms, use homemade pesto, and add in a few different vegetables.
- Fresh flavors: Pesto isn't the only refreshing flavor here. I also add in some lemon pepper seasoning to brighten up the bake, and dry parsley adds a touch of herbiness.
- Comforting: Like most of my dump & bakes, cheese is sprinkled across the top to make the casserole sliceable. To take things a step further, I mix cream cheese into the rice to make it extra comforting and a little creamy.
Ingredients
- White rice: I tested this recipe with medium-grain and long-grain white rice. The recipe is written for medium-grain rice because I enjoyed the texture more, but either works!
- Pesto: I tested the recipe with homemade and store-bought pesto. As you might guess, homemade had a lot more flavor. It also yielded a light green color, so it was more visually appetizing. That being said, the difference isn't so significant that I recommend against storebought.
- Mushrooms: Roughly chop one 8-ounce container of baby bella (cremini) mushrooms. White mushrooms also work.
- Seasonings: Lemon pepper seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, and parsley. I use a salt-free lemon pepper seasoning. If using one with salt make sure to adjust the kosher salt in the recipe to taste. It's ok to omit this ingredient if it's not available.
- Neufchatel cream cheese: Also called reduced-fat cream cheese. This adds a touch of creaminess to the rice. Optional but recommend.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese: For topping.
- Chickpeas: Choose a 15-ounce can of chickpeas, or 1 ½ cups of cooked chickpeas.
Step-by-step instructions
- To an 8x8-inch baking dish add the rinsed rice, pesto, mushrooms, chickpeas, and seasonings. Stir to combine. Pour in the vegetable broth, stirring again to combine. Cover tightly with foil or an oven-safe lid.
- Bake at 375F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the rice is mostly cooked and the liquid is simmering. Remove from the oven and stir the rice.
- Add the cubed cream cheese to the rice, stirring to distribute. Top with shredded cheese.
- Return to the oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese is golden.
Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. The pesto rice bake will solidify and become more sliceable as it cools.
Top tips
- Baking dish size: Use an 8x8-inch, or a dish that fits 2-quarts. Note that deeper baking dishes may take longer to heat up.
- Lid: The baking dish needs to be tightly covered to fully cook the rice. Use foil or an upside-down baking sheet if the baking dish doesn't have an oven-safe lid.
- In many of my other no-boil casseroles, I simmer the liquids before adding them to the dish. Admittedly I forgot to do it when testing this pesto rice bake, and I decided it doesn't affect cook time enough to recommend it as a required step.
- Rinse the rice: Use a fine-mesh sieve to rinse the rice under cool running water until it is clear. Rinsing rice is important because it removes excess starches that make the texture gummy or sticky.
- Pesto variations: Because the pesto acts primarily as seasoning and doesn't contribute much liquid to the rice bake, you can get creative here! Feel free to use any variety of pesto, including sun-dried tomato pesto.
- Additional protein: Add sliced Italian sausages alongside the chickpeas to increase the amount of protein per serving. Or stir in hemp hearts, pumpkin seeds, additional beans, or tofu ricotta.
FAQ
I haven't tested this recipe with brown rice, but it should work with some modifications. Start by adding an additional ½ cup of broth and an additional 15 minutes of covered cooking time. If the rice isn't mostly cooked at this point, continue cooking until it is. If the rice appears dried out, add an additional ½ to 1 cup of broth.
Yes, use an equal amount of quinoa in place of rice. No other changes are needed.
I recommend thawing frozen vegetables before adding them, or the casserole will take a long time to heat up and affect the overall cooking time. Add them at the same time as the cream cheese and cheese.
I talk more about different vegetables that go well in no-boil casseroles in my veggie rice casserole post.
Yes, make this recipe dairy-free and vegan by using a dairy-free pesto or making your own homemade pesto. Choose your favorite shredded vegan mozzarella and either omit the cream cheese or replace it with an equal amount of vegan cream cheese.
Storage tips
- Storage: Let the pesto rice bake cool before slicing and transferring to a closed container. Keep refrigerated for 3 to 4 days.
- Freezing: I have not tried freezing this casserole but based on other casseroles I've cooked, it should work well. Cover the casserole in plastic wrap and foil or plastic wrap and a lid before freezing. If reheating in the oven, add an extra 10-15 minutes of cook time. The casserole can also thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Reheating: Reheat individual slices quickly in the microwave. Reheat the entire casserole in the oven at 325F for 20-30 minutes, or until warmed through. Cover with foil if the casserole starts to dry out too much.
More dump & bake casseroles
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Recipe
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Pesto Rice Bake
Equipment
- 8x8-inch baking dish
Ingredients
- 1 cup medium grain rice long grain also works
- 6 ounces pesto homemade or storebought
- 15 ounce can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon dry parsley
- 1 teaspoon lemon pepper seasoning see note #1
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ¾ cups vegetable broth I use vegetable bouillon
- 3 ounces neufchatel cream cheese, cut into cubes (light cream cheese) optional
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- fresh basil and red pepper flakes, for garnish optional
Instructions
- Rinse the rice well under cool running water. Preheat the oven to 375F.
- To a 8x8-inch baking dish add the rinsed rice, pesto, drained chickpeas, chopped mushrooms, parsley, lemon pepper seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Pour in the vegetable broth, stirring to combine again. Cover the baking dish tightly with foil, an upside-down baking sheet, or a lid.
- Bake at 375F for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the rice is mostly cooked through. Remove from the oven and stir. If the rice is still hard or not mostly cooked, return it to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. Otherwise, stir in the cream cheese. Top with shredded cheese.
- Return to the oven and bake uncovered for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and the rice is fully cooked.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve garnished with fresh basil and red pepper flakes, to taste.
Video
Notes
- Lemon pepper seasoning: This is optional. I use a salt-free lemon pepper seasoning, so if yours contains salt make sure to adjust the added kosher salt to taste.
- Extra veggies: Add thawed frozen vegetables or a few handfuls of spinach at the same time as the cream cheese.
- Extra protein: Sliced Italian sausages or tofu ricotta go well here. Add at the same time as the rice.
- Vegan option: Replace shredded mozzarella with your favorite dairy-free shredded cheese, choose dairy-free pesto or make homemade pesto using vegan Parmesan, and replace cream cheese with a non-dairy option or omit it entirely.
- Storage: Let the pesto rice bake cool before slicing and transferring to a closed container. Keep refrigerated for 3 to 4 days.
- Freezing: I have not tried freezing this casserole but based on other casseroles I've cooked, it should work well. Cover the casserole in plastic wrap and foil or plastic wrap and a lid before freezing. If reheating in the oven, add an extra 10-15 minutes of cook time. The casserole can also thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Reheating: Reheat individual slices quickly in the microwave. Reheat the entire casserole in the oven at 325F for 20-30 minutes, or until warmed through. Cover with foil if the casserole starts to dry out too much.
- Want to speed up the cooking time? Simmer all liquids on the stove before adding them to the casserole dish. Check the rice at 20 minutes, adding additional time as needed.
Karen McGregor-Lucchesi says
Yum yum YUM!! I ended up baking this for an hour for the rice to cook but other than that, amazing flavorful dish!! We will absolutely make this again!
Cassidy Reeser, MS, RD says
Fantastic! So happy to hear that you loved it! 🙂
Anna says
Made this with brown rice using the instructions in the comments to add more liquid and increase the cooking time by 50%. Not sure how other people are having issues with their rice not cooking? Definitely will make again, really easy prep and customizable, I think I'll try adding chopped up asparagus next time.
Cassidy Reeser says
Happy to hear it worked out with brown rice! And asparagus sounds really good, I'll have to try that out as well.
Ronnie says
We love this recipe, absolutely a mainstay in our house. Keeps great as leftovers as well.
Jane says
Like others I had to turn up the oven temp and increase the heat for the rice to cook. It tastes good and the whole family loved it, so I will be making again. My 8x8 dish is glass so maybe that’s why mine didn’t bake.
Sarah T says
I made this with brown rice and followed the cooking instructions. At the 35 minute mark, it was still raw so I had to increase the temperature to 415 for an additional 25 minutes. The recipe was easy to make and tasted great, but next time I will set the temperature to 415 from the beginning.
Cassidy Reeser says
The recipe is written for white rice, so doing brown rice requires about 50% more liquid and 50% more cooking time. Just an FYI for anyone who might want to try with brown rice in the future.
Comfy Sweaters says
This is soooo yummy. For me the rice took about 30 minutes. I also added grape tomatoes because I had them on hand. Will definitely be entering the dinner rotation.
Jesse says
This took almost 2 hours to make. I even used white basmati, which cooks in 20 minutes and it took over an hour in the oven prior to adding the cream cheese and mozz.
Cassidy Reeser says
Do you have an oven thermometer? It sounds like something is wrong with the oven temp, as I've made baked white rice dozens of times and it's always done within 30 minutes. Also just confirming that you covered the baking dish?
Cole says
Tasty! Since you said you used vegetable bullion, I wonder if you boiled the water to make the veggie stock - meaning everything went in the oven already pretty hot. That could make a big difference vs starting with room temp or even refrigerated stock.
Cassidy Reeser says
Good question! I just add the vegetable bouillon directly to the baking dish along with the other ingredients and stir. Sometimes I mix it up in a jar with the (cold) water but I find that it breaks down easily enough when stirred with everything else in the dish. If you were to use boiling water, which I have done with similar dump & bake recipes, it will cut the covered cooking time down by 5-10 minutes.
L says
Took me 2 hours as well, following the recipe exactly...
Bekah says
If I tried to prep this and freeze it, would I freeze it before cooking or after?
Cassidy Reeser says
Freeze it after baking and let it cool completely before freezing it. You can freeze it as individual portions or an entire casserole, just make sure to wrap it tightly with plastic wrap or foil. And let it thaw overnight in the fridge when you're ready to serve it.
Kati says
This sounds amazing but I'm not a mushroom gal. Do you have any suggestions for good substitutes?
Cassidy Reeser says
You can omit them, or you can add in really any hearty veggie. Peas or green beans (fresh or frozen) would be good, or sliced cherry tomatoes. Thawed frozen broccoli would work if you add it at the same time as the cheese, otherwise it'll probably get mushy.
Jessica Jones says
This is a staple in our house. I like to make it with quinoa. So yummy!
Rajinder Thandi says
Love the whole concept. The convenience and the prep time is amazing. And at no cost to the taste and end result. Keep it up and creating new recipes. Well done