Protein Packed Spinach & Red Rice Pesto

Updated April 16th, 2018

Red rice is a variety of rice with bran that is red, purple or maroon in color (unlike Mexican Red Rice, arroz rojo, which gets its color from crushed tomatoes). Among popular varieties are Bhutanese and Red Cargo rice. The reddish color of the rice is due to the antioxidant anthocyanin, which is linked to the alleviation of chronic health conditions.

WHEN IT’S A GOOD TIME TO SEE RED Red rice offers a visual change to traditional white rice. Pair it with a spinach pesto in this creamy recipe and you’ve got a colorful, healthy holiday meal. For gluten-free folks, red rice is a welcome change to Arborio. This pesto packs a heavy dose of veggies: spinach, asparagus, and orange bell peppers. Baby spinach is rich in vitamin K, which may help reduce the severity of under-eye circles, and is essential to bone health (baby spinach is the same as regular spinach; it is just harvested earlier in its life cycle and tends to be sweeter and more tender than regular spinach). When picking baby spinach, look for bright green leaves—paler leaves tend to have less antioxidants.

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