Lemon Rice Recipe

Lemon Rice recipe under 10 mins!! Yes, making this amazingly delicious & refreshing Lemon Rice is very fast if you have some precooked rice. It uses only pantry staples yet will surprise you with great authentic Indian flavors. This much popular Indian Rice Recipe is made with cooked rice, tempering whole spices, curry leaves and peanuts. It is also known as Chitranna in Kannada and Nimmakaya Pulihora in Telugu. In this post I share making lemon rice in 2 ways – the traditional stovetop method and instant pot method (one pot).

About Lemon Rice

Lemon Rice is a staple in many South Indian homes. It is made by mixing precooked short grain rice with a tempering of mustard seeds, chana dal, green chilies, dried red chilies, fresh ginger and curry leaves. It is a comfort food for many and is most commonly eaten for a meal.

Lemon Rice has a delicate flavor of fresh lemon juice and a nutty aroma of the tempered ingredients like lentils, peanuts, spices and herbs.

If you are a newbie & love to cook for yourself then this is one of the best South Indian recipes to begin with. All you need is to cook the rice and make the tempering. Mix both of them with some freshly squeezed lemon juice. In no time you will get to enjoy a bowl of fresh home-cooked food.

You don’t need anything on the side with this lemon rice since it tastes good on its own. However many people love it with Curd (Indian yogurt), Pickle, Chutney, salad or kosambari. During festivals & occasions we serve it with some fried snacks like Masala vada, papad or Pakora.

Back home in India, lemon rice is one of the most common travel foods. Many people pack it for road or train journeys as the dish keeps good for long hours due to the addition of turmeric.

Many people make lemon rice with leftover rice but I always use fresh cooked rice. You can make it either ways you prefer. I have also included the instructions to cook rice perfectly for this recipe. So the 10 mins I said earlier is only for the tempering.

Sometimes I make this as a one pot dish in my Instant pot. Though it doesn’t taste the same I still make it on occasions. I have given the recipe details in the recipe card below.

How to Make Lemon Rice (Stepwise photos)

Preparation

Firstly we need perfectly cooked grainy rice for this recipe. You can use any kind of Non-sticky rice that’s available to you. Or in fact you can use even precooked rice. That’s what many people do.

1. Wash and soak 1½ cups rice in a bowl for at least 15 mins. If you do not have time you can just skip the soaking and cook the rice directly. If cooking in a pot, on a low flame cover & cook rice with 1:2 ratio (rice:water). or To cook in pressure cooker, pour 1 cup water to the cooker and place a trivet. Keep the rice & water bowl in it and cook for 2 to 3 whistles. If cooking directly in the cooker, cook for 1 whistle.

2. Cook the rice to grainy and not mushy. Cool it completely & then fluff up the grains.

Make Tempering

3. Heat half tablespoon oil in a pan. On a medium heat, roast 4 tablespoons peanuts until crunchy and deep golden. Remove them to a plate. You can also do this in an air fryer by following my pro tips below.

4. Next pour another 1½ tablespoons oil to the same pan. Add ¾ teaspoon mustard, 1 teaspoon urad dal and 1½ teaspoon chana dal. Fry them until lightly golden on a medium flame.

5. Add 1 sprig  curry leaves, ½ tablespoon chopped ginger, 2 slit or chopped green chilies and 2 red chilies (optional). Fry them for about 30 seconds until you smell the ginger and curry leaves nice.

6. Then add a pinch of hing, ¼ to ½ teaspoon turmeric & ½ teaspoon salt (assuming you did not add salt while cooking rice).

7. Stir quickly and pour 2 to 3 tbsps water.

8. Quickly the water will evaporate and the mixture turns aromatic. The chana dal and urad dal will soften slightly yet will keep the crunch. If you want them very soft then add 2 to 3 tbsps more water and cook further until all the water evaporates & the lentils soften a bit. Turn off the stove.

9. Remove from the stove and add cooled cooked rice. (OR Alternately you can also add the tempering to the bowl of cooled rice). Squeeze lemon juice all over and give a good stir.

10. Taste the lemon rice. Add more salt and lemon juice if required. Lastly garnish with crunchy roasted peanuts.

Serve lemon rice with plain yogurt, papad or with pickle.

More rice recipes on the blog,
Tomato rice
Fried rice
Jeera rice
Coconut rice
Tomato bath
Pudina rice

Ingredients & substitutions

Tempering ingredients: The addition of fresh ginger, curry leaves & green chilies totally elevate the flavor of the lemon rice. These are the 3 ingredients that are key to making the dish. However if curry leaves are not available in your part of the world just skip them & use some coriander leaves – cilantro.

Nuts: Traditionally peanuts are used to add crunch to the dish. If you do not have them just replace with some cashew nuts.

Cooking oil: Lemon rice can be made with any cooking oil like peanut oil, sesame oil or sunflower oil. I like to add a dash of extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil towards the end. Olive oil doesn’t really go well in Indian foods but lemon rice is an exception.

Lemons: To make a good refreshing lemon rice always use fresh lemons. I personally like the large variety of lemons as they are really flavorful. You can also use limes.

Rice: Most commonly short grain rice is used to make this recipe. But any kind of rice just goes well. The rice has to be less starchy as the cooked grains have to be separate & grainy without being sticky or mushy. You can also use precooked rice for this recipe.

Lentils: Urad dal and chana dal are used in lemon rice as they add crunch and aroma to the dish. However you may skip them if you don’t prefer the crunchy lentils.

Pro Tips

Roast peanuts in air fryer: You can also air fry the peanuts instead of doing it on the stove top. Spread peanuts in a air fryer basket. Air fry at 165 C or 330 F for 5 mins, stirring every 2 mins so they get roasted evenly. Later cool them and rub gently to remove the skin. Shake off the basket in the kitchen sink.

Green Chilies: If you have young kids at home, skip the green chilies and make the tempering with red chilies as they are lesser in heat or skip the chili totally. Fry the green chilies separately in the same pan later after the tempering. Serve them along with the lemon rice.

Lemon Juice over hot rice: Avoid adding lemon juice to the hot rice or to the hot tempering as it alters the flavor completely. Also some amount of nutrients in the lemon juice are diminished.

Soften Lentils: To soften lentils (dal), I pour some water to the tempering. This instantly softens them yet keeping them slightly crunchy. If you fry the dal longer on a low heat, they turn rock hard and need more water. So you can add anywhere from 2 to 4 tbsps water or as needed. 

Alternately you can soak the chana dal and urad dal in little hot water for 15 mins. But if you fry them on a low heat, they will still turn rock hard.

Variations

Karnataka style chitranna has some chopped onions sautéed in the pan along with tempering ingredients. A handful of coriander leaves are added towards the end. Also many people use only urad dal for this version. Again every home follows their own recipe.

Sometimes I make lemon mint rice where some chopped mint leaves are added. You can find the recipe here on my pudina rice post.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

This post was first published in June 2015. Updated & republished in November 2022.