9 Vintage Rice Sides That Used To Be Dinner Staples

Think back to grandma's dinner table: Alongside vintage mains like meatloaf or Hawaiian chicken, there was probably at least one or two rice-based side dishes gracing the table. Rice sides are an American classic, and the past century has seen some especially inventive dishes. But just like beehives and bell-bottoms, some rice side dishes come in and out of fashion.

During the Great Depression, rice was a popular budget-friendly option, so this era spawned many simple and practical rice recipes. By the 1940s, the invention of Minute Rice reshaped American cooking by making the staple starch easier to prepare. This led to an explosion of innovation in rice-based recipes, as pioneering mid-century chefs attempted shocking culinary feats — like suspending rice in Jell-O.

But among the more questionable vintage rice sides, there were also some forgotten gems. In this list, we take a look back at some of the highs and lows of the rice renaissance this country has experienced over the past hundred years. And just like bell-bottoms, some of these rice sides might even be ready to stage a comeback.

Molded rice rings have been popping up in cookbooks for upwards of 100 years. From dessert-based rings flavored with sweet mix-ins like whipped cream and canned pineapple, to savory rings that use either a traditional mold or gelatin as a binder, the rice ring is not a singular recipe — it's an entire genre. But the variations all have one thing in common: The recipe features a circular, molded ring of rice. Despite being less popular today, rice rings still offer a ton of culinary possibilities.

In one especially striking recipe from a 1935 cookbook called "Rice, 200 Delightful Ways to Serve It," home cooks were instructed to arrange their rice in a circle around a pile of diced ham, pour white sauce over top, and garnish with prunes. During the 1950s through the '70s, midcentury chefs fell in love with using molds in their cooking — sweet Jell-O molds were especially popular, but rice rings also had a place at the table. Redditors even recall a Mexican-style rice ring from the '80s featuring a green chili pepper rice with Monterey Jack cheese.

And in Texas, an entirely different type of rice ring was born in 1967. The Texan three-ring rice was a dish that layered a circle of ground beef with green peas and cooked rice on top, with nothing at all in the center of the ring.

In 1960, an organization called the Rice Council for Market Development — a group dedicated to promoting American-grown rice — published a formative cookbook. This old-school rice cookbook was called "Miss Fluffy's Rice Cookbook," and it included one especially iconic vintage rice side dish recipe: shrimp and rice mousse.

The recipe called for mixing dissolved gelatin with mayonnaise, shrimp stock, and lemon juice before adding heavy cream, rice, and a few other ingredients. That mousse was molded into a round shape, then garnished with additional shrimp on top. Given the unorthodox combination of shrimp, mayo, rice, and gelatin, this is a dish that sounds like it's best left in the past.

Actress Katharine Hepburn is probably best known for her role in the 1967 comedy film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." But according to Reddit users, her most lasting legacy might just be what was on her dinner table. You guessed it: a rice side dish.

Redditors report that, in 1934, a newspaper published an article describing Hepburn's favorite recipe. The paper called her "pet dish," that she called "rice to the occasion." The dish is best summed up as fried rice balls with shrimp. It came together by mixing the rice with chopped onions, cooked shrimp, green peppers, celery, and eggs, forming the mixture into small balls, and frying the balls until they were browned on both sides. Hepburn didn't weigh in on what to pair these rice balls with, but given that they're made with shrimp, a fancy seafood main like fresh lobster would do the trick.

Stick of butter rice dates back to at least the '90s, if not decades earlier, and has long been a staple at church functions. It was popular in church cookbooks, though no one knows for sure where the recipe first originated. Regardless of where it came from, it's not hard to see why it took off and is still enjoyed today.

This old-fashioned side dish, made with a stick of butter and soup, is particularly impressive because it's both simple and decadent. The rice is mixed with either beef broth or canned French onion soup and, as the name suggests, a full stick of butter is sliced up and placed on top. The resulting savory side is baked in the oven and pairs well with a red meat main dish, like a pork chop recipe or these beef bulgogi kebabs.

Canned salmon became popular in the early 20th century because it was inexpensive, protein-packed, and had a long shelf life. Naturally, this led cooks to seek inventive new ways to use canned salmon, and one popular dish that emerged from this quest was the salmon rice loaf (and eventually, the tuna loaf). The salmon rice loaf dates back to a cookbook published in 1904. By the 1930s, the recipe was gracing the pages of popular recipe books, and it's even listed in "Miss Fluffy's Rice Cookbook" from the 1960s, proving the popularity persisted through at least a few decades. 

Although we don't tend to see rice loaves made with salmon or tuna on our dinner tables very often these days, the dish was classically created from just a few simple ingredients: cooked rice, canned salmon or tuna, a dash of lemon and parsley, and eggs as a binder. The dish was finished in the oven, and the resulting loaf was savory, comforting, and had a subtle fishy flavor.

Redditors and recipe nerds alike have fond memories of a vintage classic known as rice pie. This '70s creation tends to show up one of two ways: Either the rice is cooked inside of a traditional pie crust, or, in a shocking reversal, the meat is the pie crust and the rice is the filling. One iteration of this recipe even appears to hail from Japan. In that version, the rice was mixed with ketchup and ground pork before being stuffed inside a traditional pie crust.

A Redditor also remembered a version of the dish where the rice is mixed with ham, Swiss cheese, spinach, and eggs; the result is reportedly similar to a rice-heavy quiche. But no matter how it's made, one thing is clear: This is a starchy side. 

If you are of a certain generation, you may remember the iconic commercial jingle for Rice-A-Roni, which debuted over 50 years ago and ran for decades. Known as "The San Francisco Treat," this boxed rice side was invented in 1958 when one of the owners decided to mix things up by combining regular rice with pasta and spices, in a nod to an Armenian-style pilaf. From that decision, a star was born.

Since all of the necessary ingredients come inside one box (outside of pantry staples like butter and water), Rice-A-Roni is particularly popular because of how easy and quick it is to make. It was (and remains today) a great base on which to improvise and make additions — like Rice-A-Roni casserole. Redditors share fond memories of a vintage Rice-A-Roni casserole recipe, which they recall being promoted on the Rice-A-Roni box in the '80s. The recipe called for baking Rice-A-Roni in a casserole dish along with a can of cream of chicken soup, cooked chicken, bacon, sour cream, and ranch dressing. One enthusiastic Redditor said, "For me, with a little Tabasco over the top this was sublime." Another Redditor suggested cutting up squares of this casserole and frying them the next day.

Rice salads were particularly popular in the 1970s, and some of the most iconic examples of the form were mayonnaise-based. Although mixing rice and mayonnaise may not sound like a recipe for success, consider how typical mix-ins, including pickle relish, hard-boiled eggs, and mustard, are similar to the ingredients of a classic egg salad. The main difference is this dish used rice as a binder and a base. 

Redditors have brought up examples like Calcutta-style rice salad, which included cooked chicken, pineapple, pears, cheddar cheese, curry powder, and mayonnaise. Despite its unorthodox ingredients, this dish has developed quite a few fans. "That Calcutta Chicken and Rice salad sounds the bomb," said one Redditor, while others on the thread share memories of different cold rice salad varieties they've known and loved, including one with wild rice and almonds. Another Southern rendition was prepared with pimento peppers and served over lettuce. 

A surprise hidden inside your meal isn't always a good thing. But in the case of surprise rice, the reveal is an absolute delight. This dish was composed of cooked rice placed in a casserole dish with a secret layer of tiny cocktail sausages hidden in the middle. The recipe, which was included in the 1935 "Rice, 200 Delightful Ways to Serve It" book, also called for a generous smattering of chopped peppers and onions, and it instructed home cooks to pour milk over the top of the concoction before baking.

The recipe appears in cookbooks as early as the 1930s, but its appeal is still evident today. Creamy baked rice is delicious, and who doesn't love cocktail sausages? Although the cocktail sausages are reminiscent of a handheld party appetizer, this meal is too messy to hold in your hand. If you prepare it today, serve it on a dinner plate, alongside a main dish with plenty of broth or juices to soak up the rice. If you want to double down on the sausage-fest, this one-pan Italian sausage and cannellini bean recipe could be the perfect pairing.