Tangy, flavorful and easy to make Southern Indian Lemon Rice is a crowd favorite. It is vegan and gluten free and can be made nut free as well.

Long grains of white rice that is flavored with curry leaves, mustard seeds, crunchy lentils and peanuts and perfumed with lemon juice and turmeric to make this delicious lemon rice.

This is yet another South Indian recipe that I grew up eating. Packed in lunch boxes for school, train travels, picnics and family get-togethers, lemon rice or elumichai sadam made a very frequent appearance. Lemon rice is also served in temples as prasadam or offerings blessed by God.

Why we love lemon rice?

It is tangy, lemony, fresh and extraordinarily delicious.
It is super easy to make and is ready in under 30 mins. It can be ready in 10 mins, if you have pre cooked or leftover rice.
It is an extremely travel friendly food and packs well for picnics and road trips.
It is vegan and gluten free. Can be made nut free by skipping the peanuts.
It is a great dish by itself or can be had with most Indian curries or chutney as a side.

Lemon rice gets its beautiful yellow color from turmeric. Turmeric is a superfood and has many health benefits to it, including its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties.

This Turmeric Raw Mango Rice, Turmeric Lemon Quinoa and Breakfast Lemon Vermicelli, all have the same combo of turmeric and lemon/raw mango sourness that packs in all the flavor as in this lemon rice.

Ingredients in lemon rice

Ingredients for lemon rice set out in bowls

Rice – obviously this is the main ingredient in this recipe. You can use any short grain or long grain white rice for this recipe. You can cook the rice fresh or use leftover rice for it. I usually make it when I have pre cooked rice leftover from making something else.
Avocado Oil or any high heat oil.
Spices and herbs – curry leaves, dried red chillies, turmeric powder and cilantro.
Salt
Mustard seeds, chana dal lentils and peanuts for the crunch and flavor.
Juice and zest of lemon – traditionally only juice of lemon is used in this recipe. But I love the concentrated fresh flavors from the zest, and I use some of it as well.

Step by Step Method to make Lemon Rice

Since, I usually make this recipe with leftover rice, I am going ahead with the assumption that you already have some leftover or pre cooked rice. If not, cook any favorite short grain or long grain white rice and let it cool down to almost room temperature.

Heat a dutch oven or kadhai on medium heat. Add the peanuts to it. Roast the peanuts in the oil by moving them around every now and then, till the skin turns color but does not burn. This should take about 7-8 minutes. Remove the peanuts from the pan and let them cool on a plate.

Heat the oil over medium high heat in the same pan. Add the mustard seeds to it. Once they splutter, add the chana dal, curry leaves, dried red chillies and Thai green chillies. Give it a quick toss till the chana dal starts to turn darker.

Add the turmeric powder and remove the pan from heat. Mix the turmeric well to the rest of the ingredients. Add the rice to this and mix gently, so as not to break the rice.

Add salt, lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix well gently.

Top with the roasted peanuts and some minced cilantro.

To make lemon rice in the Instant Pot

Honestly, I wouldn’t bother trying to make this in the Instant Pot, just because there is no need to use a pressure cooker for this easy recipe, except to cook the rice. I personally feel that if you roast the peanuts and fry the chana dal in the oil and then add water and rice and cook it, the crunch which is an essential part of this lemon rice will be lost.

If you still have to make it in the Instant Pot, I will make it with pre cooked rice, like in the regular stove top recipe here. Use the saute setting to roast peanuts, remove and keep aside. Temper the seasonings of mustard seeds, chana dal, curry leaves, dried chillies etc in oil.

Turn off heat, add turmeric powder. Then add rice and salt and mix well. Add the lemon juice and give it a quick mix. Top with peanuts.

Recipe tips

Make sure the rice is at room temperature before you add it to the seasonings and mix. This will cause less breakage to the rice as you mix it.
Add the lemon juice and zest to room temperature rice. This minimizes loss of Vitamin C from the lemon and also helps the rice from becoming bitter.
You can skip the peanuts to make it nut free.
Skip the chillies or reduce the quantity to make it less spicy.

Serving Suggestions

Lemon rice is usually served as it is or with some sides. A simple side of potato fry, coconut chutney and papaddam is delicious with lemon rice.

If you love lemon rice, you will love these other Southern Indian rice dishes

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