Follow our easy, step-by-step, photo illustrated instructions to learn how to make this old fashioned Tomatoes and Rice recipe at home. Printable recipe included.
This old fashioned recipe makes a great side dish for about any meal, or just enjoy a bowl by itself. Probably created as a way to stretch a meal, out of necessity, as a way to feed a large family when times were tough.
Like many of our old Southern favorites, I suspect this Tomatoes and Rice recipe came about out of necessity. Someone needed a way to stretch a few ingredients to feed a large family, and thus our recipe was born.
Still, it’s a really tasty dish and I hope you’ll enjoy it should you try it.
Bacon Grease is one of the key ingredients to giving this dish great flavor. You do save your bacon grease – right?
While you could use butter, or even cooking oil, there’s just something about bacon grease that gives it that down home great taste.
It’s a great side dish, but I’ve been known to just fill up a bowl and enjoy it by itself. Pass another Hoe Cake please. Smile.
Mama made this for us when I was a kid. Like a lot of folks, we saw some tough times of our own. But, I’ve always said that I grew up poor, I just didn’t know it.
It was also a great way to use up some of those fresh tomatoes coming out of her garden. Somehow, they just all seemed to be ready at the same time. Of course, she spent many a late night setting up and canning lots of tomatoes to get us through the winter months as well.
Ready to give our recipe a try? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Tomatoes and Rice – You’ll need these ingredients.
Dice the onion.
I’m only using half of the onion in the photo. It will equal about one half cup diced up like this.
Place 2 Tablespoons of Bacon Grease in a large sauce pot.
Bacon Grease is a key ingredient in this recipe. While butter or cooking oil will still work, it’s the flavor from the bacon grease that really enhances the dish for that old time flavor.
Add the diced onions to the sauce pot.
Place the pot over Medium heat on your stove top. Saute the onions until translucent, stirring often.
While the onions are cooking, chop up the tomatoes.
Onions should be cooked until tender. Mine were even starting to brown a bit.
Add 1 teaspoon of chopped garlic. Stir this in with the onions and let it cook for about a minute.
Fresh garlic would be great, but I keep a jar of minced garlic in the refrigerator most of the time. Just saying.
Then, add the tomatoes to the pot.
Stir the tomatoes often, and let them cook for about five minutes.
Add the 1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper.
I added 1/2 teaspoon of Salt. Be careful with the salt. The chicken stock I used was unsalted. If yours contains salt, you may not need to add salt at all.
Getting the salt “just right” is very important. You certainly don’t want to add too much or it will be too salty to enjoy. But, rice needs salt to give it great flavor. Start off easy, you can always add a bit more if you need it. Smile.
Add 4 cups (32oz) of Chicken Stock.
Bring this up to a boil over Medium heat.
When the stock begins to boil. Add 2 cups of dry white rice.
Stir everything together.
Let this come back up to a low boil, stirring often.
When the ingredients start to boil, cover the pot. REDUCE the heat to about Medium-Low.
SIMMER the tomatoes and rice for 15 minutes. Keep it covered, and do not stir. You want to cook it long enough for most of the liquid to evaporate from the pot. You might also want to consult the package for directions on cooking the particular rice you’re using. It may require more or less time to cook than the 15 minutes I’ve suggested here.
Remove the pot and set it on a folded towel. Let the pot remain cover and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
Remove the lid and fluff the cooked rice with a fork or large spoon prior to serving.
Enjoy!
