What's Inside: Make this sweet and savory rice, made on the stove with simple ingredients, raisins, garlic, and onion. Serve this side dish to complement your everyday meals or for special occasions.
This dish is made around Latin America and the Caribbean, with different variations. It may have come from Spain to this side of the world.
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Rice with raisins is called in Spanish: “arroz con pasas” or “arroz con pasitas”.
When the holiday season comes around in Panama, this is another dish you can find in some houses. If you prefer other rice options for a holiday, try arroz verde or arroz con guandú y coco.
❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Easy to make, cooked on the stove.
- It uses different ingredients to jazz up the common pantry, like rice.
- This side dish is for you if you enjoy sweet and salty foods.
📋 Ingredients & Substitutions
To make the rice side dish recipe you'll need the following ingredients:
- Long grain rice: you can use any rice you have on hand, but you may need to adjust the liquid ratio and time of cooking. Check out the tips section for more information.
- Raisins: the star of the dish, it gives that sweet flavor to the rice without being an actual sweet rice. You can substitute some dried cranberries or use golden raisins.
- Oil: any oil will work. Butter also is a great alternative. Keep n mind that strongly flavored oils will transfer their flavor to the rice.
- Brown sugar: this will help with the color of the rice, and it will amplify that sweet flavor. If you use white sugar, this won't help with color, only with some flavor.
- Water: I have used stock but feel it has a stronger flavor, and the raisins didn't shine thru and gave the rice a saltier flavor. By all means, taste it first without it so you can choose your favorite one.
- Salt
- Onion
- Garlic
You’ll have the complete measurement of each ingredient on the recipe card below.
As for utensils, you'll need a pot or paila, a spoon, a fine mesh strainer, and a liquid measuring cup.
Paila
This is my favorite one. I use it to mostly rice, but also fry foods in it! It will last a long time and it's not that expensive.
📝 How To Make Rice With Raisins
This recipe consists of simple steps, with no need for any fancy cooking techniques. Let me guide you through each step.
Preparation
- The prep is simple, wash the rice under water until the water runs clear. You can use a mesh strainer for this. This will ensure you remove any dirt or debris the rice may have.
Cooking
- Add the oil to a pot and turn the heat to medium. Once hot, add the onions and the garlic and saute until fragrant.
- Next, add the rice and continue sautéing. You'll see the rice start to become translucent as well. Stirring constantly. This step is done to help result in fluffier rice and give it a nuttier flavor.
- Once the rice is shiny, add the water, raisins, salt, and brown sugar and mix.
- Let it reach a boil, cover the pot, turn down the heat to low, and cook for about 12-15 minutes or until the water has been absorbed completely.
- Once done, turn off the heat and remove it from the stove. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve hot!
Other Cooking Methods
These two cooking methods are perfect when you don't have enough time to monitor the stove. So you can choose any of these for those busy weeknights. Follow the same prep step and then continue the cooking process steps.
You can cook it in a rice cooker by following the exact amounts and omitting the oil.
- Add all the ingredients except the oil to the rice cooker's inner pot.
- Press the "Cook" or "Rice" button, depending on your rice cooker model. and let it work's magic.
- Once it is finished cooking, open the lid, fluff the rice, and serve.
Pressure Cooker:
- Saute the onions and garlic in oil using the "Saute" function.
- Add the rice, salt, raisins, and brown sugar, then add 1 cup of water instead of what is listed on the recipe card.
- Press the "Pressure Cook" button on your Pressure cooker. Then set the timer to 4 minutes.
- Once the time is up, wait 10 minutes, and you'll see L0:10 in your pressure cooker. Then quick release any remaining pressure.
- Fluff up the rice with a fork and enjoy.
🫙Store & Reheat
Fridge: Once cooled, add to an airtight container and store for up to 5 days. This way, it will prevent drying out.
Stove: Place the rice in a pot, add a few tablespoons of water or chicken stock, cover, and cook on medium-low heat or until heated.
Microwave: Place it in a microwave save bowl, add some water or place a cube of ice on top, and heat until piping hot (about 2-3 minutes, depending on the watts of your microwave).
👩🏽🍳 Recipe Tips
- If your raisins are very dry, there is no need to hydrate. They will swell while cooking.
- Rinsing the rice is a personal preference. But I have noticed that the result is fluffier rice when I rinse it.
- Use a 1:1.5 ratio of rice to water for cooking on the stove long grain rice for 1 cup of rice. Other types of rice can work, but you'll need to adjust the rice-to-water ratio and, in some cases, the cooking time.
- When cooking the rice, keep the lid covered so the steam created can cook the rice evenly.
- When the rice is done cooking, use a fork to fluff the rice, this will help the grains separate.
- The recipe can be halved, doubled, or tripled if you need it. Use these ratios, 1 cup rice and 11/4 cup water. Adjust the ingredients and follow the exact directions. You may need to cook longer to absorb all the liquid. Monitor about double the time.
In this recipe, the rice to raisins ratio is 1:½, enough to sprinkle all the rice but not that overpowering. Use this as a starting point and adjust to your preference.
No need to cook the raisins. They will plump up and soften during the cooking process together with the rice.
Yes, you can cook it ahead of time and reheat it when needed. Check out the store and reheat section above for specific instructions.
🔖 Recipe Variations
- Want some texture? Add sliced almonds or chopped walnuts, about ½ cup each 1 cup of uncooked rice.
- Add the fine soup noodles, saute them with the onions and rice, then cook as directed.
- Add more flavor by cooking it in coconut milk, mix about ½ cup of coconut milk with the water, and follow the exact directions.
- Prefer a more savory flavor? Replace the water with chicken stock.
🍽 What To Serve With Arroz Con Pasas
Here are some ideas for how to serve this tasty and adaptable rice:
- Grilled fish
- Roasted chicken
- Roasted veggies
- Stewed beef tongue
- If serving for a holiday, do it with glazed ham, baked turkey, caramelized plantains, and light salad.
This recipe yields about 3-3.5 cups of cooked rice.
You can serve about 3 servings of about 1¼ cup each, for it as the only side. But you can do about 1/2 cup servings, yielding about 7 servings, and mix other side dishes.
Now that you have learned the simple steps to make this versatile rice with raisins recipe, I hope you make it for this weekend.
Remember to rate the recipe and comment below if you make it! I love knowing about your cooking experience. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Rice with raisins (Arroz Pasitas)
Ingredients
- 1 cup long grain rice
- ½ onion, chopped
- 2 clove garlic, minced
- ½ cup raisins
- 2 teaspoon oil
- 2 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon salt
Utensils
- Paila
- Spoon
- Fork
- Mesh Strainer
Instructions
- Add the oil to a pot and turn the heat to medium. Once hot, add the onions and the garlic and saute until fragrant.
- Next, add the rice and continue sauteing. You’ll see the rice start to become translucent as well. Stirring constantly.
- Once all is shiny, add the water, raisins, salt, and brown sugar and mix.
- Let it reach a boil, cover, turn down the heat to low, and cook for about 12-15 minutes or until the water has been absorbed completely.
- Once done, turn off the heat and remove it from the stove. Fluff the rice and serve hot!
Video
Notes
- Rinsing the rice result in fluffier rice.
- Use a 1:1.5 ratio of rice to water for cooking on the stove long grain rice for 1 cup of rice. Other types of rice can work, but you'll need to adjust the rice-to-water ratio and, in some cases, the cooking time.
- When cooking the rice, keep the lid covered so the steam created can cook the rice evenly.
- When the rice is done cooking, use a fork to fluff the rice. This will help the grains separate.
- The recipe can be halved, doubled, or tripled if you need it. Use this ratio, 1 cup rice and 1¼ cup water. Adjust the ingredients and follow the exact directions. You may need to cook longer to absorb all the liquid. Monitor about double the time.
- Oil: you can use olive oil or butter. Try using a mild-flavored one.
- Raisins: replace with golden raisins or dried cranberries.
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