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@CheesePlease & @ Airedalelover, I add a sprinkle of curry powder with the s&p and roast at about 425 -- less time, more crisp.

I like to cook rice in chicken broth with slivers of onions, a can of drained mushroom pieces and some caraway seed. I have done this for years and it has always gone over well with my family. Some folks might not like the taste of caraway, but it is well liked here in my house in recipes featuring sauerkraut and apples, rye bread and in white rice. Try it, you'll like it.

@sugartoast, Its called Tahdig and you get the crusty rice at the bottom by adding oil before the cooked rice, then heating it slowly and very carefully so it doesn't burn.

As kids, we always ate our hot white rice with butter and sugar. Still yummy to this day.

I have tried many ways to jazz plain white rice. here are a few of my families favorites. butter, garlic powder, salt & pepper and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. The next one is cook rice and heat and stir in diced tomatoes and green chiles salt and pepper.

Since I only like white rice, I like to sautee finely chopped onion, bell pepper, garlic and parsley in a quarter stick butter and then add chicken stock and stir well. Bringing it to a boil and then I place it in an ovenproof casserole dish and bake it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes until done. You may want to cover it the last 10 minutes so it doesn't brown too much. It's my version of rice pilaf. Any rice can be used but I like unhealthy foods more than healthy ones.

while there are tons of good suggestions here, truly the best way to "jazz up" your rice is to forget white rice in the first place. There are so many interesting varieties of "non-white" rice.... I can't see any reason to ever make white rice. It has zero flavour, and more importantly, zero nutrition or fiber. There are so many varieties of whole rice (basmati brown, short and long-grain brown, red rice, black rice, Texmati etc), and they all are subtle flavourwise and delicious all by themselves. And if you do choose to "enhance" them with any of the above suggestions, a little will go a long way; it's best to let whole/brown rice's flavour be what it is. Plain or lightly "jazzed", it's a wonderful and delicate foil to the more savory or strongly flavoured foods it accompanies not to mention how much healthier it will make your meal without those naughty white-rice "empty" calories. Whole rice can be the basis for many complete meals too such as pilafs, risotto's, etc.

Also, here's a nifty tip that I got from a friend from India who was a wonderful cook... lightly toast the grains in a hot, dry skillet before adding to their cooking liquid. Toast a couple minutes while stirring them around the whole time - toast just enough till you can detect a nice nutty aroma. then add very slowly to their hot or boiling cooking liquid - it can boil over fast with the grains so hot - be careful... The light toasting really brings out the delicate flavour and seals the grains from getting sticky too.

it's delicious to replace about 1/4 of the stock with orange juice. it adds a lovely taste and a bit of color. you can also throw in some baby peas at the end to make it even prettier and tastier.

I really just like plain rice but if I am having it with a flavorful dish I like to add a complimentary flavor to the rice. Sweet, savory, hot or whatever.

I'm down with garlic cloves and bay leaf.

any aromatic ingredients that you can remove easily - gives the rice subtle flavor but it's still nice and fluffy and pure.

if I'm going asian style- lemongrass, thai chili, kaffir lime leaves, a slice of fresh ginger, maybe lime zest if you've got it...

problem with fresh herbs is they cook and disintegrate into the rice & mess with the color.

Try a little grated ginger, or substituting sherry for some of the water/stock. Gives it a little more oomph.

I don't think I've seen this posted---- try adding some golden raisins just before serving. I actually craved this after the first time I had it.