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This Classic and Healthy Wild Rice Casserole is made with mushrooms and onions. A hearty vegetarian or side dish that’s easy to make and guaranteed to please a crowd.
Wild rice, do you love it or do you hate it? Do you even know what it is? Are you eating the boxed version? If so, we really need to talk!
First, let’s get one thing straight. Wild rice is not a grain, it’s a water grass seed that grows in wet fields. It has a chewy, nutty flavor and purplish hue. Nutritionally, wild rice has twice the protein and fiber as brown rice and is high in B vitamins (hello energy!).
Wild rice is naturally gluten free and low in calories. This is true only of the non-boxed kind. Boxed versions generally are contaminated with gluten and contain other additives that are disrupting to the balance of the body.
When you buy wild rice, look for bagged versions that only contains the rice on the ingredient lists and the label should have a certified gluten free stamp. Some markets even wild rice available in bins so you could go that route too.
Growing up in Wisconsin, I’ve been spoiled when it comes to wild rice. It grows abundantly in the Great Lake region, primarily near Minnesota where my Dad’s family lives. In fact, my uncle goes out in his canoe and harvests wild rice during the year, has it processed then disperses it to the family.
So we’ve always had fresh wild rice on hand. It’s been a staple in our meals for as long as I can remember. I guess there’s only so much wild rice one person can eat, and I’m not complaining!
Healthy Wild Rice Casserole
The original wild rice casserole recipe, well wasn’t the healthiest. It was handed down to my mother from my grandmother, and called for something crazy like 4 sticks of butter. Yikes! Talk about a grease fest.
I love wild rice so I transformed this traditional family dish into a Healthy Wild Rice Casserole by adding more onions for moisture and swapping the butter for extra virgin olive oil. The recipe turned out moist, nutty and equally flavorful as the original, only better for you!
This Healthy Wild Rice Casserole is simple to make. It does take an hour to bake in the oven, but the oven’s doing the work and frankly the wait is well worth it! This can be served as a side paired with a green vegetable and lean protein like chicken, fish or turkey. It’s warm, comforting and wholesome. Perfect for a winter meal!
Yes, you bake the rice uncooked! The trick is using a small casserole dish. Anything too big will not allow the liquid to boil which means it could take three hours to cook instead of one.
But what I really want you to know about this recipe is that most of the time you don’t have to do much to “healthify” a dish. Simple swaps can take a dish from a cholesterol fat bomb to a heart and waist friendly dish that tastes amazing.
My challenge to you is to think about traditional family dishes you have and ways you can transform them into healthier versions.
Healthy Wild Rice Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 cup wild rice, rinsed and drained
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2/3 cup white onion, thinly diced
- 13 oz mushrooms, in water, drained and rinsed
- 3 cups vegetable broth
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F. Take out an 8×8 baking dish and set aside.
- While the oven is heating, Bring the vegetable broth to a boil in a pot.
- At the same time, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add extra virgin olive oil, onions and mushrooms. Sauté vegetables 3 minutes then add rice. Continue cooking until onions are translucent and the mixture is fragrant.
- Transfer the vegetables and rice to a small baking dish then pour vegetable broth over it.
- Cover and bake at 350 F 1 hour. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator up to 1 week.
Notes
- Different types of wild rice may yield different results. I’m using freshly harvested wild rice.
- My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my weight loss clients.
- If you love this recipe, check out my low calorie cookbook for more delicious recipes and weight loss tips!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Hi, can you tell me roughly how much one serving should be? It says 97 calories per serving, but doesn’t say how much the serving should be. (How many oz?)
About 1/2 cup.
The nutrition information says serving size one cup. Is this one cup or half a cup? I want to try this and want to have accurate calorie information. Thanks, looks yummy!
Hi Heather, 1 cup is the serving size. Enjoy!
Can I freeze the leftover? We only have 2 in the household 🙂 Thanks. It looks very yummy and will certainly try to make it. Just got some wild rice today, try to change our eating habit from white rice to wild rice.
Karen
I haven’t tried it, but I wouldn’t freeze the leftovers. Any rice doesn’t taste good frozen then thawed. You could just store it in the fridge for a week and eat it throughout the week with others meals.
Could you use fresh mushrooms? Just bought some.
I’ve never tried, but I’m guessing you could!
Canned mushrooms ?? Nooooooooo
This website is for positive comments and positive people. If you do not have a positive comment, do not leave it. Keep it to yourself. There is nothing wrong with organic mushrooms. They are actually very nutritious.
This is a great recipe, I love wild rice. It’s the best out there! 🙂
I couldn’t agree more. 😉
Wild rice is the only type of rice I actually like! Probably because it isn’t rice, so there you go 😀
Ha! I knew we were friends for a reason. 🙂
Yum! I love rice but I hate mushrooms! I need to try this baking uncooked rice thing, I do it all the time with Quinoa but never tried it with rice!
I don’t love mushrooms either, but in this recipe I do. And you must learn to bake rice girl!
What size casserole dish do you use to bake it in?
The one I used was small, probably 10X7. I got it at Walmart, it has a glass cover which is perfect for making this.
this is my favorite combo! Mushroom and wild rice. Ahh that nutty goodness. Make me some, mm k? I”m coming over!
You better! You’re gonna be closer to me now with the move. 🙂
My mom always served wild rice when I was growing up and I’ve always loved it. This casserole sounds delicious — love the addition of the mushrooms! Hooray for sides that are also healthy!
I think it’s often forgot about or people don’t know it exists. Glad you do!