Warm Rice, Artichoke, Spinach, and Chicken Salad

This is a recipe I came up with after looking at a few other recipes and not finding the perfect combination for what I wanted. This uses a rice cooker so please make it easy on yourself and buy one if you don't already own one; they're completely amazing.

• Preparation Time: 25 mins
• Cooking Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Calories: 393 Calories

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cups water
• ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup diced onion
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ cup pine nuts
• 1 bunch green onions
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 lemon, zested
• ¼ cup torn fresh basil leaves
• 2 cups rice
• 2 cups diced cooked chicken breast
• 1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon (such as Knorr®)
• 10 small thinly sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 bunch fresh spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 cup roughly chopped marinated artichoke hearts

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic in hot oil until onion softens, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir pine nuts into onion mixture; saute until fragrant and golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir lemon zest, vegetable bouillon, and turmeric into onion mixture; saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add rice to mixture and cook until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Step 2

Pour rice mixture in a rice cooker and add water. Set the rice cooker to the regular white rice cycle, and select Start. Fluff cooked rice with a fork and top rice with green onion and basil. Close rice cooker and steam green onion and basil until tender, about 5 minutes.

Step 3

Stir mushrooms into rice and place spinach on top. Close rice cooker again and steam until spinach wilts slightly, about 5 minutes more. Add chicken, artichoke hearts, and Parmesan cheese; stir to combine. Season with black pepper.