homemade beef rice-a-roni

I always thought that Rice-A-Roni would be super easy to make, and so last night I attempted it. I thought it was pretty tasty, and it was the perfect side dish for the steak that Ed and I feasted on. Since we don't have beef very often, it was a treat. I wanted a savory side to go along, and this was perfect!

Just like the regular store bought stuff, we are going to toast the rice and noodles before boiling. So, you'll need a couple of tablespoons of butter to start it off.

To make this as similar to the box stuff as possible, you'll want some rice (not instant) and angel hair pasta that's been broken into pieces. As you can see, I'm not very good at breaking up pasta- it's not very small. But, do the best you can!

Dump the noodles and rice into the melted butter and toast away! Make sure you keep stirring it or you'll end up with burnt noodles and rice rather than toasted.

While that's toasting, prepare your liquids! Instead of using a beef bullion to flavor my rice, I used 2 whole cups of beef stock and 2/3 of a cup of water.

Most of the flavor for this dish is going to come from the beef stock, but we're going to punch it up a bit! The water is going to get a few dashes of soy sauce, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce and then later we'll add a few more.

That's what you're looking for! Golden brown and perfect- nothing too dark.

Here are the other spices we will be using- black pepper, onion powder and garlic salt.

Add in the flavored water, the beef stock and the seasonings and crank the heat up to medium high!

Once this is at a boil, we'll drop the heat and add the lid. Say goodbye for about 20 minutes! The liquid should reduce completely, the rice and noodles should get tender and the flavor should increase and increase!

Perfection! Make sure you taste it before serving in case it needs a little something, something extra but this is ready for devouring!

Homemade Beef Rice-A-Roni
3/4 cup regular long grain rice
1/2 cup angel hair pasta, broken into small pieces
2 Tablespoons butter
2 cups beef stock
2/3 cup water
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon onion powder

In a large skillet with a lid, melt butter over medium heat. Add rice and pasta to melted butter and saute until golden brown. Add soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce to water and stir to combine. When rice mixture is golden brown and toasted, pour in beef stock, flavored water as well as the black pepper, garlic salt and onion powder. Stir to combine and bring to a simmer. Lower heat to medium low and cover. Simmer covered for 20 minutes or until liquid is almost completely gone. Serve hot and enjoy!