Rice-a-Roni Clone Mix

Food manufactures have so convinced us that home cooking is not possible without a ready-made mix that many of us actually believe that myth. They aren't telling us this because they care about us, they tell us this because they are trying to sell their product. However what they don't tell you is you can make your own homemade convenience mixes for a fraction of the cost, with very little effort that will save you a bit of time on those days you don't want to take the time to measure out ingredients. Once again I looked at another popular convenience product on the grocery shelf and decided to make a homemade version. It has been years since I have purchased Rice-a-Roni® so armed with my digital camera I took pictures of the box and ingredients during one of the few times I am in a grocery store. Then I did an online search for clone recipes and came up with my own version.

Ingredients

The main ingredients in Rice-a-Roni® are vermicilli, rice, bouillon and parsley so that's what I started with. When I start creating a recipe I start with the end in mind. I wanted a quick, convenient product for my pantry shelves that would pair nicely with my chicken or turkey stock yet mimic the store bought version. I used Arborio rice which is a short grain rice with a bit more starch that will give my homemade version a creamy texture. A regular long grain white rice would work as well. The other ingredients were dried parsley and Aurora instant bouillon mix in chicken flavour. I don't use bouillon on a regular basis because of the high salt content so in my clone version of Rice-a-Roni® I used half the amount of other clone recipes.

Originally I was going to make the mix in 500 ml jars as pictured but decided to use 250 ml jars instead. Additional ingredients used for 2 of the jars were paprica, chili powder, dried sweet peppers, dried minced onion, sugar and garlic/onion seasoning. This type of mix can easily be adjusted to any flavour you want while keeping the rice to pasta ratio at 2 parts rice, 1 part pasta.

Rice-a-Roni Clone Mix

I made the Rica-a-Roni clone mix directly in the jars. The first two jars are plain chicken flavoured. The middle jar is chicken flavoured with onion flakes added. The third jar has additional seasonings to make a Spanish rice mix. A funnel is useful for adding ingredients. The end result was 4 - 250 ml jars of Rice-a-Roni clone mix coming in at a cost per jar of 12¢. Each jar will serve 4. It took me less than 10 minutes to put the jars together so this is an easy to make, low cost clone recipe that anyone can make.

Method: Pour ½ cup rice and ¼ cup vermicilli into each jar. Add ½ tsp dried parsley flakes and 1 tbsp bouillon to each jar. If you will be using water rather than stock to cook your mix then increase the bouillon to 2 tbsp. If you are leaving your mix plain, place lids on the jars, vacuum seal then store in your pantry.

Optional additions:

• Add 1 tsp dried onion flakes.
• Add ¼ tsp paprica, ½ tsp chili powder, 1 tsp dried sweet peppers, 1 tsp dried onions, 1 tsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp garlic/onion spice blend, 1 tsp tomato powder

To use:

• Melt 2 tbsp butter in fry pan. Pour in the contents of 1 jar. Mix well. Let brown slightly. Stir in 2¼ c stock (or water). Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.