Baked Rice-A-Roni for 50

15 years ago

I want to make Rice-A-Roni for 50 teens.

My current recipe calls for sautÃ©ing a small chopped onion and 3/4 cup vermicelli pieces in 2 tbl butter until the onion is translucent and the pasta is starting to turn brown. I then add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and 1 cup of rice and sautÃ© for an additional 3 minutes before adding 2 1/4 cups of chicken broth.

To bake in the oven, I plan on sautÃ©ing as above, transferring the mix to a steamer pan and adding the hot broth - - cover and bake.

I have 3 questions:

1) Do you think I can do all the sautÃ©ing the night before? The next day, I will be finishing this on site Â but if I can do the sautÃ©ing the night before, I will save myself time and dirty pans. Will sautÃ©ing the rice and then refrigerating it with the onion, butter, etc. overnight have any adverse affect???

2) How many times would you multiply the above recipe for 50 hungry kids? This will be one of two side dishes being served with chicken. But the other dish is a broccoli dish, so I donÂt know how many of the teens will eat that. :-)

3) Should I reduce the liquid because I will be baking this?

Thanks! I canÂt wait to read your replies!

Jeri

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Comments (6)

artsyshell
15 years ago
This is just my opionion and others may differ.

I have sauteed and baked rice lots of times with no noticeable change to rice. I never reduce the liquid when baking. the only thing is the rice needs to be brought to room temp before cooking and then stirred really well before baking (this is if you are adding liquid ahead of time. If you are the only thing that it may affect would be the vermicelli as it would soak up the liquid). If you are adding the liquid just before baking, then I would still bring rice mixture to room temp and stir well.

I would say that your recipe would serve about 6 people giving them 1/2c serving each. I don't know what else is being served, but counting on 1/2 c servings if you multiply your recipe by 9 it would feed 54, and 10x would feed 60 etc.

Just make sure if you are baking that your pans are covered really well with foil.

Shelley S.
annie1992
15 years ago
I'm not an expert on this by any means, because I've never made Rice A Roni, baked or otherwise.

I think you could definitely saute ahead of time, and I'd make at least 10 time the recipe because, as you said, many won't eat the broccoli and that's the only other side dish.

Bake it? Beats the heck out of me, I probably wouldn't reduce the liquid only because rice seems to suck up all the liquid I ever manage to add to it.

Good luck.

Annie
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busylizzy
15 years ago
Yes, you can sautee ahead of time and construct it the next day.
One 2 inch deep hotel pan it's going to be enough for teens,figure on 2.
Your best bet is to make one batch, weigh it and figure 4ozs per kid average. This is assuming there are other items for them
quanitative cooking is easier to figure using weight.
I never made this so it is tough to guage liquid, although general rule is not to reduce the liquid.
Does the recipe say to cover the pans in the oven? If so,
Cover your pans with saran type first, then foil make for steaming in an oven.
I looked in my old catering recipe book and we only had a recipe for baked chicken/rice casserole for 350 people.
eileenlaunonen
15 years ago
I agree with a half cup serving...what else is being served? Just curious ...Why Rice A Roni?
jeri
Original Author
15 years ago
Hey Â Thanks for all the replies! :-)

If you Google "Baked Rice" Â you will find lots of hits. I think baking works as well as stove-top but the recipes IÂm finding seem to all call for less liquid than the 2:1 ratio I have always used on the stove top. I just assumed that baking produces less steam??? It does cook for a longer period of time Â maybe that has something to do with it? Anyway, I think IÂll do a trial run since I have the time. :-)

The only reason for "Rice-A-Roni" (which this really isnÂt) is because I want to find a dish that will appeal to most of the kids. If I was feeding my family, it would be Olive Oil instead of butter, brown rice, and whole wheat pasta Â but I worry some of the kids will not even try it if I did that.

Somehow, IÂve found myself as co-chair for the food committee so IÂm on the lookout for fairly easy, inexpensive, and tasty dishes to feed these kids. If you have any other suggestions Â I would definitely appreciate it! Last week, we fed them Beef Barley Soup (a delicious CookÂs Illustrated CrockPot recipe), Baked Potato Bar, and a mandarin Orange Salad. That meal went over well. IÂm also thinking about doing Baked Ziti, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread, and Cantaloupe.

For this menu, IÂm working on serving Hawaiian Chicken Kabobs, Rice-A-Roni, and a delicious Broccoli Casserole I found on Allrecipes.com. For the Kabobs, IÂm planning to brine for 1 hour in Apple Juice+Salt+Brown Sugar. I will then thread the Kabobs with alternate meat and pineapple chunks, Bake till done (350 for 15-20 minutes), then slather with KikkomanÂs Teriyaki & Pineapple Glaze for the finish. IÂll be testing this on my family tonight. :-)

Again Â this is all new to me Â so any tips are greatly appreciated. :-)
kathleenca
15 years ago
Jeri, Ellen's Kitchen is a helpful site for quantity cooking. Here is a link to the servings section, which gives how much to make for type of dish: 50 servings of baked beans needs 1 1/4 gallons.

Other sections of the site have quantities, pan size & recipes for spaghetti & many other dishes.

Hope this helps.

Kathleen

Here is a link that might be useful: Food quantities for 25, 50 AND 100 servings

Baked Rice-A-Roni for 50

Comments (6)

artsyshell

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Baked Rice-A-Roni for 50

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