Copycat "uncle Ben's" Long Grain & Wild Rice

This recipe has nothing to do with "Uncle Ben's." It couldn't be further from what it's trying to copy; Uncle Ben's has no chicken, no turmeric, no cumin, and no ginger. The finished product is actually orange-colored from the turmeric. It's not bad, it's just not at all a copycat of Uncle Ben's as it claims.

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Not even close to the Uncle Ben's in flavor. I loved the finished product, though as many other reviewers point out, the wild rice needs to be cooked a bit before hand. I used the full teaspoon of turmeric, and it did impart something of an Indian flavor, but not objectionable. Used finely chopped fresh sweet onion instead of the dried onion flakes, and forgot the parsley, too. The overall product was quite yummy.

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Yummy! I used brown jasmine rice & omitted the wild rice (forgot it actually). I didn't actually measure the spices, just used the basic proportions. I didn't have any turmeric, so that was also omitted. The whole family loved it - this will definitely be added to the menu list. I made this to accompany baked salmon & it was a very nice balance of flavors. Thanks!

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Ok...so I reduced the turmeric to 1/4 tsp, as suggested by Scrivener1, and I thought the flavor was outstanding! Not sure what a full teaspoon would have done, but I'm so happy with the 1/4 tsp, I won't bother trying the full teaspoon. Similar to other reviewers' comments, my rice was crunchy, even after doubling the cooking time, which was kind of disappointing. But the flavor was SO GREAT, that we just ate crunchy rice (and my fiance even had seconds) ;-). I love that this can be pre-mixed and stored in Ziplocs for quick side dishes. I'm gonna mix up a bunch!! (Next time I'll try pre-cooking the wild rice for 15 minutes, then adding the rest of the ingredients and cooking for 45...)

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I made this as written, and my rice was crunchy too. There was definately too much turmeric in this recipe. The Uncle Ben's version does show turmeric in the ingredient list, but maybe it should be cut back to 1/4 tsp. This really didn't taste like the Uncle Ben's version.

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I am not sure if this tastes like the Uncle Ben's version but it was very tasty and easy to make. I agree with the previous poster that turmeric, cumin and ginger are not typical of a American boxed food but the dish was nice all the same.

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The turmeric made the shade really wrong as a copycat. I thought the spice mix was completely off - the ginger, cumin, and turmeric aren't flavors I would expect in American boxed foods.

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We really liked this! It's very close to the real thing, almost identical. Next time we're going to add some slivered toasted almonds. Thanks for the recipe.

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This was very tasty. As another reviewer said, wild rice needs to be cooked first. I cooked it for about 45 minutes and then started the rest. Great with some sauteed onions, mushrooms and toasted almonds. Thanks for sharing!

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Wonderful flavor! I was afraid my husband wouldn't like it because it's a little different than the "real" stuff, but after a couple of bites he said," I think I like this better than Uncle Ben's!" We use brown rice in everything, so this was a great option that still allowed me to get that Uncle Ben's flavor I've been missing. Will definitely use again, but I think I'll heed luvmybge's advice and do some parboiling next time.

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We loved the combination of spices in this rice. I have a similar recipe but it is definitely not as good as this one. Great flavor, BonnieZ, thanks for sharing.

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Wow, this was really good. Very close to the Uncle Ben's box we have recently tried. Kids liked it too! I scaled the seasonings and used the ready rice and I wouldn't do that again because the seasonings were too dry, but the flavor was great.

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Not bad at all....Flavor was good, color was nice. Next time I'll need to parboil my wild rice.. It was crunchy. My package says it takes an hour to cook that wild rice, so the 15 minutes cooking time was a little off for me. The white rice was well done.. but not the wild. I'll use a little less wild rice next time, too.

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