Okay, okay, before you get angry and say that wild rice pilaf isn’t keto – we’re definitely not using wild rice in this recipe. We’re using keto friendly alternatives, shelled hemp heart seeds to mimic this taste and texture, and boy does it do a good job. I grabbed these hemp seeds when I first heard about them and immediately knew I was going to do a rice type of dish. I highly recommend grabbing a pack to try out yourself!
The slightly crunchy, slightly al dente texture really gives off a vibe of a couscous or a wild rice. The flavor is very earthy and natural, exactly what you’d expect with a bowl of wild rice.
All in all, this is a great side dish. You just have to be a little careful with portioning, as hemp seeds are very high in fat – so just a little can go a long way (in terms of calories). I gave about 1/3 cup servings, which is what it came out to be when I added in all of the other ingredients – just enough to give you a perfect side dish with just about any meal.
Though I find this works extremely well paired with chicken, I can see pork or beef being an amazing meal with it too. You can easily change the spices up to form to the flavors you want, and make different kinds of wild rice dishes with it. Bon appetit!
Yields 4 servings of Keto Mushroom Wild Rice Pilaf
The Preparation
- 1 cup hemp seeds
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 ounces cremini mushrooms
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
- salt and pepper, to taste
The Execution
1. Wash and slice mushrooms into small chunks.
2. Add butter to a pan over medium heat and let melt and bubble. Once bubbling, add sliced almonds and mushrooms to the pan.
3. Once mushrooms are soft, add hemp seeds to the pan. Mix together well.
4. Add chicken broth and seasoning to the pan and stir together well. Turn down the heat to medium-low and let the chicken broth simmer and be absorbed.
5. Once you’re happy with the consistency, turn the pan off and dish out!
6. This goes great with chicken dishes, but can be used with almost anything.
This makes a total of 4 servings of Keto Mushroom & Wild Rice Pilaf. Each serving comes out to be 315 calories, 28.4g fats, 3.3g net carbs, and 14.6g protein.
| NUTRITION | CALORIES | FAT | CARBS | FIBER | NET CARBS | PROTEIN |
| 1 cup hemp seeds | 885 | 78 | 13.9 | 6.4 | 7.5 | 50.5 |
| 2 tablespoon butter | 203 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 |
| 2 ounce cremini mushrooms | 16 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 2 | 1.4 |
| 1/4 cup slivered almonds | 142 | 12.2 | 5.3 | 3.1 | 2.2 | 5.2 |
| 1/2 cup chicken broth | 7 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.6 | 0.8 |
| 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder | 5 | 0 | 1.2 | 0.1 | 1 | 0.3 |
| 1/4 teaspoon dried parsley | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| — salt and pepper | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 1259 | 113.6 | 23.3 | 10 | 13.3 | 58.4 |
| Per Serving (/4) | 315 | 28.4 | 5.8 | 2.5 | 3.3 | 14.6 |
Keto Mushroom & Wild Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
- 1 cup hemp seeds
- 2 tablespoon butter
- 2 ounce cremini mushrooms
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
- ½ cup chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon dried parsley
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Wash and slice the mushrooms into small chunks.
- Add butter to a pan over medium heat and let it melt and bubble. Once bubbling, add the slivered almonds and mushrooms to the pan.
- Once the mushrooms are soft, add the hemp seeds to the pan. Mix together well.
- Add the chicken broth and seasonings to the pan and stir together well. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let the chicken broth simmer and absorb into the mixture. Let cook until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve and enjoy!
this is absolutely scrumptious! Great recipe and I am thinking these hemp seeds could lend well to some form of risotto dish. What do you reckon?
For a side dish it’s obviously really high calorie because of the hemp itself, but I had 1 serving alongside some chicken plus some broccoli since broc or green beans are very low calorie for huge portions. I also used beef broth and I think that was the right call. This is even still good COLD like, grab it from the fridge and slap it on there, cold. I literally only bought my hemp seed from Costco for this specific recipe, but that’s okay since it was only 8 bucks 🙂 I’m glad I discovered hemp seed (thanks to you!); lots of fiber and has an earthy taste to it, I usually add a tbsp to my chicken or tuna salad!
amazing recipe so scrumptious. Perhaps this hemp seed could lend well to some kind of risotto dish as well. what do you reckon?
Made it exact, without substitutions & I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you. (Quick Note: depending on brand, some of my ingredients/brand were different cals, mainly my hemp was a total of 640 cals compared to the 900 and my almonds were 190 cals compared to 160… Just a reminder to those counting calories to read labels for specific brands 😉 Five stars. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Thanks so much – and that’s definitely true about different brands and where the source of the ingredients are from. Glad you liked it!
This was delicious! I added more broth than called for, but even my seven year old wants me to make this every day. Super success.
Really glad to hear and thanks so much for the awesome feedback!
Thank you!!
We really enjoyed this! I used thyme instead of parsley, but otherwise followed the recipe. We will absolutely add this to our regular menu.
I’m glad you liked it Shawndra! That sounds like a great sub 😀
I’m wondering if I can do the same with whole hemp seeds..I bought em just for the added nutritional factor, now I can’t figure out what to do with them.
I made this today. Forgot to add the almonds. It looked nothing like your picture but it tasted very good. Will make it again. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for this. I doubled the recipe, added a whole zucchini to the mix, and ate this as a main dish. I’m sure you could do any mixture of veggies and it would be great. There isn’t enough hemp seed recipes out there. Simple enough to throw together after a long day of work.
Can leftovers be frozen?
Does the hemp absorb water like rice does? Will you be making a video?
It certainly won’t absorb like rice does – but the mushrooms and hemp will abosrb some of the liquid. Some is also reduced down.
Made this with quadruple the mushrooms and cooked it in chicken fat with bacon, turned out great
That sounds delicious Tim.
Absolutely delicious! I added 1/2 cup of chopped onions. Will definitely make again.
Nice! I’m glad you liked it. 🙂
I am curious. Why call it “wild rice” pilaf at all? Why not “hemp heart” or “hemp seed” pilaf? Are you more worried about people thinking hemp=marijuana (it doesn’t!) than ketoers being upset because wild rice isn’t keto? LOL Anyway, glad to find a hemp heart recipe.
It’s simply so that people looking for keto versions of their favourite recipes can easily find this one or quickly see what the recipe is aiming for.
Hi there! Can you sub something different for the hemp seeds?
Made this again last night. Doubled recipe except kept only 1 cup hemp and added 1 cup riced cauliflower. Also switched to freshly pressed garlic instead of powder. Awesome – best yet for my tastes and goals.
Your additions sound great – glad to hear you found a balance to make what you wanted!
Great recipe, this is super tasty! Also an easy recipe to adjust to taste. This has got to be the best savory hemp hearts recipe on the internet! Would love to see more.
Awesome recipe! I never knew what to do with these hemps!? I also added cauliflower and a bit broccoli to the mix and used walnuts instead of almonds and it came ou great. Thanks!!!
Awesome👍 What a respite from cauliflower. Finally a great idea and recipe. Will make this regularly for sure.
How are you getting your numbers? I looked at the product on Amazon and the label says 1 g carbs, 1 g fiber per serving. To me that says zero net carbs, but the label also says 1 g sugars. Are you splitting the difference?
I typically get my nutrition information from the USDA nutrition database. It gives nutrition per 100g of an ingredient, so it’s usually a bit more accurate. With smaller serving sizes, the FDA allows you to manipulate the numbers some.
Thank you so much for these recipes w/o cauliflower.I have cauliflower growing out of my ears and arm pits. And my dog has one riding on his shoulders (he like the core/stems that crunch.
This was delicious! I also added some cooked ground lupin beans that I got at Costco which made it even fluffier. My husband, who is doing Keto wants this all of the time now.
Glad you enjoyed it, Debbie. Thanks for the feedback!
I’m here from the KetoTwins. This is a great recipe! A nice change from cauliflower. I used dried mushrooms and I added a little of the hot water used to rehydrate them in addition to the chicken broth. Nice flavor boost! Thank you so much. I’m definitely gonna be making this regularly.
Glad to have you here – I’m super happy you enjoyed the recipe, too! The dried mushrooms sound like a great addition, too. If you try any different twists/flavor additions let me know how they turn out 😊
Hi Lilly, I used chicken broth to rehydrate dried mushrooms ….and it’s a game changer!
This recipe is delicious. I had the pilaf with scallops from the air fryer, and the combination was terrific. It was definitely better tasting for me than cauliflower rice.
Glad to hear it! The only downside is that it’s quite calorie dense. A recommendation I have if it becomes a regular dish is to mix it with cauliflower rice. 50/50 usually does well!
After watching the Keto Twins making your recipe, I was apprehensive about this “rice”. But the reviews were praising it. I went ahead and made it. WOW! Blow my mind. The flavours were excellent. This is a keeper! What other rice recipes do you have, mexican, curry, fried rice. Please make more videos hemp hearts, they are great…
This is the only rice recipe that I have with hemp hearts in, but I am super happy to hear that you enjoyed it! If you do make some alterations to something like our fried rice (https://www.ruled.me/low-ca… with hemp hearts, I’d love to know how it goes!
What a home run! Great side dish with my oven roasted salmon! Best yet it is so easy to whip it up! Thank you!!!
This is amazing!
This was perfect, I really enjoyed it. Easy to make and no time.
Favor tasted just like wild rice. I am new to Low Carb Recipes and this was my favorite so far.
This was delicious! I haven’t had rice pilaf in years, and this is my first taste of hemp seeds. Very good. The only thing I changed was that I had some fresh parsely, so I used it instead of dried.