Wild Rice with Pomegranate Seeds- The perfect festive side dish! Naturally green and red from the celery, scallions and pomegranate seeds.

Every time Christmas comes around, I love thinking up fun green and red recipes but almost always my mind wanders to desserts. (Like this recipe and this one.) This year I finally switched things up and tried something savory! I saw this recipe in the Food Network magazine and was excited to try it. It was fun and easy to make and turned out so delicious! I LOVE the natural green and red colors. (This recipe does call for scallions but I didn’t see them at the grocery store I went to so that’s why it’s not pictured.)

This is the perfect Christmas side dish! It has great flavors and looks so pretty.
To make it is simple, you just sautee chopped onions and celery in a little butter, add the wild rice blend, chicken broth, apple cider, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Then when it’s cooked you add the pomegranate seeds and scallions.

I used Lundberg Basmati & Wild Rice Mix. It has part brown basmati rice and part wild rice. And don’t get confused and add apple cider vinegar. It’s apple cider the drink! You could use apple juice if needed.
Enjoy!
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Wild Rice with Pomegranate Seeds
Ingredients
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 1/4 cup wild rice blend (brown rice and wild rice mix)
- 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
- 3/4 cup apple cider
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 scallions, sliced
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
Instructions
- In a large saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook onion and celery in butter 5 minutes. Add wild rice blend; cook and stir 1 minute.
- Stir in chicken broth, apple cider, salt, pepper, and bay leaves. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 45 to 50 minutes or until rice is tender. Let sit 5 minutes. Drain any liquid if needed. Remove bay leaves. Stir in sliced scallions and pomegranate seeds.
Adapted from The Food Network Magazine, December 2017

This was a great use of pomegranates. It was a fun combo of sweet & savory. I wouldn’t have ever thought to combine the two but it was good.
Thanks for trying it! I love the red pop the pomegranates bring to the dish! 🙂