Oh, hello there. Sorry, I was slightly occupied mopping up the puddle of drool that has collected on my computer’s keyboard as I stare dreamily at that creamy, decadent french onion rice. But don’t worry, I’m with ya now. And I’m ready to chat about this deliciousness!
Are you familiar with French Onion Soup? If not, you gotta jump on that bandwagon ASAP. This recipe was created out of my deep and complex love for French Onion Soup. It is one of my all time favorite soups, and it is so dang simple. The simplicity of French Onion Soup is actually, second to the flavor, my favorite thing about it. It’s all about the ingredients that you use and how to treat each ingredient since there aren’t many of them.
For example, the caramelized onions. You have to really caramelize them. Take the time and do it right, because that’s where almost all of the flavor comes from! It’s the exact same with this delicious french onion rice. We don’t load it up with a bunch of extra ingredients, so that caramelized onion flavor comes through and it tastes like a warm bowl of French Onion Soup.
BUT – bonus: it is super hearty and super filling, which are two elements that you don’t normally find in a brothy bowl of French Onion Soup. Brown rice is super filling, so you don’t need much of this to fill you up. Pair a small bowl of this with a salad that is coated in a bright vinaigrette (lemon or balsamic would be BAE) and you’ve got yourself a perfect, rounded meal!
I wanted this rice to be decadent and creamy, but I didn’t want to load it up with high calorie ingredients like cream or a bunch of cheese. So we get super sneaky here and cheat hard on the creamy factor. We stir in just a little bit of parmesan cheese, but then we add our little under the table creamy element to make it just perfect…
Laughing Cow cheese wedges. French Onion flavored Laughing Cow cheese wedges, to be exact. Aw yeah, we went there.
The laughing cow cheese is super light and low in calories, but it has the effect of adding cream cheese or half and half to the finished rice. It also adds another element of that delicious French Onion flavor. #Winninnnggggggg.
This dish does take a while to bake in the oven (an hour and fifteen minutes), but it’s definitely one of those “pop it in and forget about it situations,” which I love. The only part that takes any real effort is caramelizing those onions, and then from there, the oven does all the work for you. While it’s baking and simmering and getting creamy and delicious, you can clean your kitchen, get a side salad ready, stare at your Christmas tree, blow raspberries on your baby’s belly, go take a shower, drink three cups of coffee…all things that I am a large fan of 😏.
You know what’s crazy? It’s already December 6th. TIME IS FLYING BY SO QUICKLY. Which is good and bad. Good because:
- My husband is deployed, and I like it when time moves quickly because it means he will come home soon.
That’s the only reason it’s good. It’s bad because:
- WAIT CHRISTMAS IS COMING TOO SOON AND I WANT MY DECORATIONS TO STAY UP FOREVER. Fo reals, it’s going to be over before I know it and I love how happy my house is right now.
- WAIT FORD IS GETTING TOO OLD. Stop growing, little Fordy. You’re adorable right now and I want you to just stay put. Just stay put, kay?
- Christmas blog food needs to happen STAT. I’m behind the ball, yo.
- Christmas care packages! My husband’s birthday is on December 20th and Christmas is on the 25th (obvi) and I’ve already missed the deadline to get packages to him by then. So they’re going to be late. Worst wife ever? Cha. He insists he doesn’t care if it’s late…”I don’t need a care package to know that you care about me!” << His niceness almost makes it worse 😔
- Christmas presents for everyone else! Have I bought a single one? HARD NO.
Y’all. Make it staahhppp. Let’s decide as a group that tomorrow, December 7th, we can all hit pause and just chill for a sec. And catch up. And enjoy the Christmas lights 🎄.
AND enjoy this French Onion Rice 😍.
This recipe is 4 smart points per serving!
PrintCreamy Baked French Onion Rice
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 35 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Yield: 7 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup brown rice
- 3 cups beef stock, divided
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
- 4 French Onion Laughing Cow Cheese wedges
- Chives – optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325 degrees
- In an oven safe pot (a dutch oven works great here) heat your olive oil over medium heat
- Add your onions, season with salt and pepper, and saute until they have caramelized and turned a deep brown color. Stir them often, scraping up the bits that stick to the bottom of your pot (this process takes about 15-20 minutes)
- When caramelized, add your rice and stir to combine
- To this, add 2 1/2 cups of your beef stock, season with salt and pepper, stir to combine, and bring to a boil. When boiling, place the lid on your pot and put in the oven
- Bake for one hour
- Remove from the oven and add your remaining 1/2 cup of beef stock, parmesan cheese, and laughing cow wedges. Mash up the laughing cow cheese wedges in the pot and stir everything together for a few minutes so that some of the starches can release from the rice
- Place the lid back on and bake for another 15 minutes
- Remove from the oven, stir, and season to taste with salt and pepper
- Top with chives (optional)
Notes
This would be great paired with a light, simple salad that has a bright vinaigrette (lemon or balsamic would be perfect)!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup
- Calories: 262
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 931 mg
- Fat: 11 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 15 g
- Cholesterol: 23 mg
If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!
In the mood for more yummy rice recipes? Check these out:
Broccoli Cheddar Brown Rice Skillet
This recipe is insane. A+++ for creativity with the Laughing Cow Cheese.
★★★★★
Thank you so much, Stephen!!