12 Leftover Rice Recipes That’ll Bring Out the MasterChef In You

Can you guess the most common leftover food item in every household? You guessed it right- it’s rice! If you are sitting there wondering what to do with leftover rice in your fridge, we have something for you. Check out out these amazing leftover rice recipes that will help you create mouth-watering delicacies for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Leftover Rice Breakfast Recipes

You can make some really yummy breakfast delicacies using leftover rice. Don’t believe us? Check out these leftover rice breakfast recipes that are not just tasty, but also very easy to cook.

Leftover Rice Dosa

Ingredients:

•  1 cup leftover rice
•  1 cup rice flour
• 1/4 cup wheat flour
• 1/4 cup curd
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• Butter
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Add leftover rice, rice flour, wheat flour, curd, and water (as required), and blend all these ingredients until a smooth batter is formed.
• Transfer the batter to a bowl, add salt and baking soda to it, and mix the batter well.  
• Next, heat a non-stick tawa, and pour the batter over it using a ladle.
• Spread out the batter in a circular motion, starting from the center and moving outwards.
• Once it is slightly cooked, spread butter on the dosa.
• Once cooked, fold it in half, and your leftover rice breakfast recipe is complete! Serve the dosa with chutney and sambar.

Vegan Dinner Recipes Easy

Rice Cutlet Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked leftover rice
• 1 boiled and mashed potato
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 3 tablespoon gram flour
• 1-inch grated ginger
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• ¼ tsp chilli powder
• ¼ tsp garam masala
• ¼ tsp chaat masala
• ¼ tsp cumin Powder
• Bread crumbs
• Oil

Method:

• Add leftover rice, boiled potatoes, ginger, onion, gram flour, green chillies, salt, chilli powder, garam masala, chaat masala, and cumin powder in a bowl, and mix all the ingredients well.
• Once done, grease your hands with oil and roll the mixture into small patties.
• In another bowl, take some bread crumbs, and coat the patties with the bread crumbs.
• Take a wide pan, pour some oil and shallow fry the patties until they turn golden brown.

Chocolate Pancake Recipe

Rice Pakoras

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked leftover rice
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1 green chilli
• 1-inch ginger
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp coriander powder
• ¼ tsp haldi powder
• 5 tablespoon gram flour
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Method:

• Add cooked rice to a bowl, and mash it well.
• Add onion green chilli, ginger, coriander leaves, gram flour, salt, and all the spice powders in the bowl, and mix them all together. Keep this mixture aside for a few minutes.
• After a few minutes, add some water (as required), stir the mixture and mix well. The batter for your pakoras is ready.
• Take spoonfuls of this batter and deep fry the pakoras until they turn slightly brown.  
• Serve rice pakoras with green mint chutney! 

Cooked Rice Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups leftover cooked rice
• ½ cup grated carrot
• ½ cup finely chopped spring onions
• ½ cup shredded cabbage
•  ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup gram flour
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp asafoetida
• 2 tsp finely chopped green chillies
• 2 tablespoon curd
•  2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander
• Salt to taste
• Oil

Method:

• Take leftover cooked rice in a bowl, and add carrot, spring onions, cabbage, whole wheat flour, gram flour, turmeric powder, asafoetida, green chillies, curd, coriander and salt.
• Add some water little by little, and mix it well to form a batter of pouring consistency.
• Grease the tawa/pan with oil. Once heated, pour the batter with a ladle and spread it out evenly.
• Add some oil on top, and cook it on both sides until it is golden brown on both sides. Your leftover rice pancake is now ready! 

Indian Leftover Rice Recipes

You’ll be surprised by how many recipes you can actually make using leftover rice! From dosas to leftover rice pancakes and fried rice with leftover rice, the options are endless. Here are some more Indian leftover rice recipes that you might wanna try. 

Leftover Rice Appam

Ingredients:

• 2 cups leftover rice
• ½ cup rava
• 1 medium-sized onion finely chopped
• 1 capsicum finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
• 1 tsp red chilli flakes
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ¼ tsp black pepper powder
• Salt to taste
• ¼ tsp baking soda

For tempering:

• 1 tablespoon oil
• ½ tsp mustard seeds
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• 8 chopped curry leaves.

Method:

• Add leftover rice in a blender, and ½ cup of water along with the rice.
• Blend it into a fine paste and transfer it into a bowl. Add rava and ½ cup water to this rice paste, and mix thoroughly.
• Cover this batter and keep it aside for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, check the batter and make sure it is of pouring consistency. If not, you can add some more water, and mix it well.
• Now, add onion, capsicum, coriander leaves, chilli flakes, cumin seeds, black pepper powder and salt, and mix it thoroughly to make the batter for the appam.
• Now, for tempering, take another small pan and add oil. Once heated, add mustard seeds to it.
• Once it starts to splutter, add green chillies and curry leaves to it.
• Add this tempering mix in the appam batter and mix it all together.
• Add baking soda to the batter.
• Grease an appam pan, keep it on the flame, and start pouring the batter mix into the appam pan.
• Cover the appam pan, and cook for 3-4 minutes on low flame. After that, turn the appams upside down, and cook them for 2 minutes on low flame without the lid.
• Remove the appams, and serve them with mint chutney or tomato ketchup! This leftover rice recipe is not just yummy, but also healthy! 

Jeera Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked basmati rice
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 inch cinnamon
• 1 star anise
• 2 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 green cardamon
• 1 green chilli
•  Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat ghee in a pan, and add star anise, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, cinnamon, and cumin seeds. Sauté it for 2 minutes.
• Then add green chilli, and mix it.
• Add cooked basmati rice in the pan, salt, and mix it well. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add some fresh coriander leaves on top, and mix it. Your instant jeera rice is ready! This leftover rice dish is easy to cook, and takes very little time. 

Tawa Pulav

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked leftover rice
• 2 tablespoon butter
• 2 onions cut lengthwise
• 1.5 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
• 1.5 finely chopped capsicum
• 4 tomatoes finely chopped
• 1 medium-sized boiled potato
• ½ cup boiled peas
• 2 tablespoon Coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon pav bhaji masala
• 2 green chillies finely chopped
• Salt to taste

Method

• Melt butter in a tawa, and add onions to it. Fry only until they turn translucent, not brown.
• Add ginger-garlic paste to it, and sauté well. Once cooked, add capsicum, and let them cook.
• Then add tomatoes, coriander leaves, green chillies, pav bhaji masala and salt.
• Cook this well until the tomatoes become soft.
• Once this masala is cooked well, add boiled potatoes, peas to it.
• Lastly, add cooked rice to this masala, and cook it on low flame for 2 minutes. Your leftover rice dish-  tawa pulav is ready! 

Lemon Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked leftover rice
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice squeezed
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp urad dal
• 2 dry red chillies
• 1 tsp chopped green chillies
• 12 curry leaves
• ½ tsp haldi powder
• ¼ tsp asafoetida
• ¼ cup peanuts
• 3 tablespoon oil
• Salt to taste

Method:

• In a pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil, and fry peanuts until they are crunchy. Set the peanuts aside.
• In the same pan, add 1 tablespoon oil, and add mustard seeds. Once they crackle, add urad dal and fry them on low flame until the dal turns golden.
• Add dry red chillies, chopped green chillies, and curry leaves, and saute for a few seconds. Once done, turn off the flame, and add asafoetida and haldi powder, and mix it all well. Your tempering mixture is ready.
• Add this tempering mixture to cooked rice. Add fried peanuts, lemon juice, salt, and keep it on low flame for 4 to 5 minutes.
• Your lemon rice is ready! You can garnish this leftover rice recipe with coriander leaves on top.

Vegetarian Leftover Rice Recipes

Looking for some more leftover rice recipes? From matar pulav to veg fried rice, check out these amazing vegetarian leftover rice recipes that you’ve gotta try at least once! 

Veg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked rice
• 3 tablespoon oil
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic
• ½ tsp finely chopped ginger
• ¼ cup chopped spring onion whites
• ¼ cup finely chopped French beans
• ¼ cup finely chopped carrots
• ¼ cup chopped capsicum
• 3 tablespoon soy sauce
• ½ tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tablespoons chopped spring onion greens
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, add ginger and garlic, and sauté for a few seconds.
• Add spring onion whites, and sauté for 2 minutes. Next, add french beans, and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
• Once the french beans have been cooked, add carrots and capsicum, and thoroughly stir fry all the veggies together.
• Make sure they cook evenly and don’t get burnt. Once stir-fried, add soy sauce, salt, and pepper.
• Add cooked rice to this, and mix it all well together. Let it cook on low flame for 2 minutes.
• Your veg fried rice is ready! Garnish it with spring onion greens and enjoy this yummy leftover rice dish. 

Matar Pulav

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 black cardamom
• 1 green cardamom
• 1-inch cinnamon
• 10 cashew nuts
• 1/4 cup green peas
• 1 cup cooked basmati rice
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat ghee in a pan, and add bay leaf, cardamoms, cinnamon stick, and cashew nuts. Fry until they turn golden brown.
• Add green peas and sauté for 3 minutes.
• Add cooked basmati rice and salt, and mix it all together. Cook on low flame for 2 minutes, and it’s ready! 

Spinach Rice

Ingredients:

• 100 grams spinach leaves
• 1 teaspoon oil
• 1 star anise
• 2 green cardamom
• 2 cloves
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
• 1 medium onion
• 1 medium potato
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 10-12 mint leaves
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Take some spinach leaves and blend them with a little water to make spinach puree.
• Heat oil in a pan, add star anise, green cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, and sauté.
• Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté well. Add onion, salt, and again sauté together until the onions turn slightly golden.
• Add potato, sprinkle some water and cook it all together for a few seconds.
• Add garam masala, haldi powder, and cook for a few seconds.
• Add spinach puree and mint leaves to the pan, and sauté them until they are cooked properly.
• Once done, add cooked rice, lime juice, and mix them all together. Let it cook for 2 minutes on low flame so the flavours get absorbed well. Your leftover rice dish is ready! 

Maggi Masala Fried Rice 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp oil
• 3-4 garlic cloves finely chopped
•  2 chopped green chillies
• 1 sliced onion
• 1 sliced capsicum
• 1 packet Maggi Masala
• 2 cup cooked rice
• ½ tsp soy sauce
• Spring onion for garnishing

Method: 

• Heat 1 tbsp oil, and add chopped garlic to it. Cook on low flame.
• Add green chillies, and sauté. Add sliced onion, and cook for 1 minute on low flame.
• Add capsicum and sauté for a minute. Add 1 teaspoon Maggi masala and cook the veggies with it for 1 minute.
• Add cooked rice, mix well, and then add soy sauce.
• Add remaining Maggi masala (as per your taste), and cook on low flame for 2 minutes. Enjoy this delicious leftover rice dish by garnishing some spring onion greens on top. 

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Use these leftover rice recipes the next time you have excess rice, and don’t know what to do with them! 

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