Ultimate Wild Rice Bake

This dark and savoury Ultimate Wild Rice Bake will be a true treat in your recipe box. With flexible ingredients, this (not)Wild Rice Bake can fit anyone’s preferences. A forager’s specialty, from the wild or the grocer’s market, this dish is a unique treasure.

I was given a small bag of Canadian Pure wild rice once, which had this recipe on it. Even my mushroom haters eat this Ultimate Wild Rice Bake. I brought this dish to a family gathering once, and was told I have to bring it every time, or a certain person would not attend. (jesting!)

Tips for the Ultimate Wild Rice Bake

Flexible ingredients make this recipe one that I can make more often. If you get the chance, make this with wild rice. This is not the chewy bland wild rice I had the opportunity to try as a child. Of course, wild rice is not always available or affordable, so I have used brown or white rice instead.

The first step of soaking the wild rice is a unique process. (I soak brown rice with success as well). Using this technique will enhance the flavour of all your wild rice dishes. Most methods will ask you to pre-cook the wild rice in water first. This recipe’s method cleanses and softens the wild rice, and while cooking it will become infused with the flavours from the ingredients you have used, not just the water.

Lean ground beef is a convenient and economical option, but we actually prefer cubed meat of a wild variety, such as venison or moose. The long cooking time makes the meat wonderfully tender! Someone should try bison and let me know how it goes! Hey! This is one recipe where I do not recommend pork – haha!

Mushrooms really round out the flavours in this Wild Rice Bake! My husband started some mushroom logs last year, so it will be interesting to try those in this dish. Until then, for an affordable option, I prefer the brown Cremini mushrooms to the white button mushrooms for a nuttier flavour. What is your favourite mushroom?

When pre-frying the cubed meat, onions and mushrooms, sear on medium to high temperature. This is only to get some nice browning on these ingredients. They will finish cooking and absorb the flavours in the oven. Julia Child says, “Don’t crowd the mushrooms!” if you want them to brown. Depending on your pan size, you may have to fry the mushrooms and cubed meat in several batches.

My own addition to this recipe is a teaspoon or two of sage. I like adding this especially to wild game, as it compliments it well. Find out how to dry your own herbs in this article, to make this another home-grown option.

The cheese seems like an odd addition to this recipe. This is not the Cheese Whiz and rice my mom used to make when she moved out to “the big city” of Winnipeg when she was 17. Haha! And cheese is not usually one of the ingredients in my rice dishes, but everything is better with cheese, right? This is no exception. Everyone notices if I forget the cheese!