How To Cook White Rice

Cooking white rice shouldn’t be frustrating or difficult. Once you nail down the basics, you will master the art of cooking white rice! This post is all about that and here are the topics we are going to cover:

There are so many different methods to cook rice and while my tried and true method that I grew up on is to always cook rice in a rice cooker, I realize not everyone has one.

In surveying and talking with various people, I noticed this pattern:

1. Majority were frustrated with cooking rice because they couldn’t “get it right.”
2. Majority don’t know what they’re doing wrong and why their rice doesn’t turn out fluffy and tender, rather mushy and congealed into a big glob.
3. Mostly everyone just buys frozen rice.
4. People want to buy a rice cooker but are intimidated with all the options on the market and not sure which to buy and what to look for.

You’re in luck because in this post today, I hope to teach you how to properly cook white rice (this excludes specialty rices like sushi rice and sticky rice) with three different methods: rice cooker, stovetop, and Instant Pot. I promise that you will master the art of fluffy, tender rice — never mushy, gummy, or globby!

I don’t have a microwave as an option. In general, I don’t particularly like cooking any rice in the microwave. The results aren’t good so I am not including microwaving in my instructions as the failure to success rate is extremely low and with so many variables, I feel like it’s not worth it to even give you that option to try.

How to Cook White Rice

Everyone should know how to cook rice perfectly and these are the three methods of cooking rice:

• Rice cooker (best, most consistent, hands-off, and forgiving method)
• Stovetop (great results if properly cooked, need to be more hands-on and watchful)
• Instant Pot/pressure cooker (fastest and hands-off)
  • I use a 6 quart Instant Pot

What Type of Rice to Use

For this specific guide, the white rice to use for this recipe are:

• Long grain white rice
• Medium grain white rice

Do not use this for the following:

• Jasmine rice – it needs less water than the traditional white rice ratio.
• Brown rice – the exterior hull requires it to cook longer.
• Sushi rice – this type of short grain white rice is specifically labeled “sushi rice” as it’s specific to making sushi!
• Sticky rice – this is also known as glutinous rice and it’s a short grain rice that needs to be cooked a completely different way.
• Wild rice – this is usually like a long grain black or purple rice.
• Arborio/risotto rice – this is used in risottos and cooked low and slow with a lot more liquid.
• Paella rice – this is similar to arborio rice and cooked similarly as well.

Rice Grain Sizes

Majority of the time, the rice you see in stores are medium grain rice or long grain rice. The short grain rices are usually for sushi because the shorter the grain, the stickier they are – which is perfect for sushi since you need to compress it together to form the sushi!

Long grain rice is less sticky. Basically, the rule of thumb is the longer the grain, the less sticky it is. The shorter, the more sticky.

How to Cook Rice in a Rice Cooker (my preferred, go-to method)

1. Add 1 cup of unrinsed white rice into the insert of your rice cooker. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the rice. Close the rice cooker lid and cook.
   • If you rinsed your rice, take out 2 tablespoons of water.
   • Various rice cookers have different settings. Mine is a basic 1 switch – cook or keep warm. If yours has various settings, toggle it to WHITE RICE.
   • For me, since mine has only two settings, I timed it when I pressed the cook button and it took 13 minutes to cook the white jasmine rice. If you have to manually set your time, I would do 13 minutes.
2. After it is done cooking, allow to rest and steam for an additional 10-15 minutes.
3. Open and fluff the rice with your rice paddle or fork.
   • If it’s basmati rice, do not fluff with a fork or you’ll break it too much. Use a rice paddle!

How to Cook White Rice on a Stovetop

1. Add 1 cup of unrinsed white rice and 1 ½ cups of water to a pot on the stovetop over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and keep the lid off.
   • If you rinsed your rice, take out 2 tablespoons of water.
2. Once the water is boiling, turn the heat to LOW, cover with a lid and leave for 13 minutes.
3. After 13 minutes, remove the pot from the stove top and allow it to sit covered for an additional 10 minutes.
4. Once 10 minutes have passed, open the lid and fluff the rice with your rice paddle or fork.
   • If it’s basmati rice, do not fluff with a fork or you’ll break it too much. Use a rice paddle!

How to Cook Rice in an Instant Pot

1. Add 1 cup of unrinsed white rice and 1 ½ cups of water to the insert of your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
2. Place the lid on the Instant Pot and make sure the venting knob is on SEAL. Press MANUAL, HIGH pressure, and set the time to 2 minutes.
3. Once the rice is done, wait 20 minutes then manually release the pressure.
4. Open the lid and fluff the rice with your rice paddle or fork.
   • If it’s basmati rice, do not fluff with a fork or you’ll break it too much. Use a rice paddle!

Rinsing Rice vs. Not Rinsing

This is a widely controversial topic. I have been taught this ever since I was old enough to be in the kitchen with my mom to rinse rice. She says you want to wash the rice multiple times to rinse the starch off – and you will definitely see the water change each time you wash it; it becomes clearer and less foggy – but this is also the perfect time to pick out imperfect rice.

That is the only reason we washed our rice, but some people think that rinsing rice vs. not rinsing rice affects the fluffiness of rice and that is simply not true!

There is no right or wrong and you can do what you wish (I do suggest if you don’t buy it from retail to rinse it i.e. if you bought it from a rice farm or farmers market). You just have to remember that if you rinse your rice, either drain it extremely well with a strainer or take away 2 tablespoons of water otherwise your rice will be mushy!

Troubleshooting

• The bottom of your rice is burned. The heat was too high and the base of the pot scorched the rice. You want to keep it on low heat after you boil the water.
• Water still remains after letting the rice sit. You added too much water. Did you measure correctly (see tips below) and if you rinsed your rice, did you make sure you take out 2 tablespoons of water?
• The rice is unevenly cooked.
  • Did you keep opening the lid? This is like slow cooking or baking – you don’t want to keep opening the lid to peek because it allows the steam to escape and the cooking process has to start over again and/or build up again.
  • Did you let it rest? This is one of the most important steps! Allow the rice to rest allows it to fully absorb the extra liquid and allow the rice to fully cook through.
• The rice is still hard and crunchy. You didn’t cook it long enough or it didn’t have enough liquid to cook all the way through.
• The water overflowed. Make sure you use a pot that is 3 times larger than the water you need. For example, if you need 1 cup of water, make sure your pot can hold at least 3 cups of water or more.

Tips

• Measure correctly!
  • You don’t have to use measuring cups, although recommended. As long as you are using the same ratio, you can use whatever to measure. For example, you only have a drinking glass to measure. If you fill the entire drinking glass with rice, make sure you use that drinking glass for the water!
• Use the right pot size for the amount you are making. If you’re making 1 cup of rice, you don’t need to use an 8 quart stockpot. The water will evaporate faster and you’ll be left with burnt rice! You only need a pot that is about 3 times more than the water you are using.

Storage and Freezing Instructions

I keep leftover rice in a glass storage container with a lid in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. There is a bit of controversy around it and I have been doing it my entire life and haven’t had issues so you can take that with a grain of salt. To err on the side of caution, I would recommend only 4 days, but you do what you think is best. Use your nose!

Rice freezes so incredibly well and my favorite way to freeze cooked rice is to use Souper Cube trays so I can freeze 1 or 2 cups of rice into cubes that will easily pop out when I need them. Frozen rice can last up to 4 months!

For uncooked rice, I keep it in a large Cambro container with a lid in the pantry. I buy the large bags of rice at Costco and when I get home, I pour it out into the container. It seals it better than a bag.

How to Reheat Rice

If you’re reheating from the refrigerator in a glass container, I open the lid and put a damp paper towel on top of the rice then close the lid and heat for 2 minutes on high. The damp paper towel creates a steamy environment and your rice will be good as new!

For frozen rice, you can do the same in a microwave-safe container. Pop out the rice from the tray, cover with a damp paper towel and reheat for 3 minutes on high.

What to Make with Rice

After all that, of course you’ll want recipe ideas to make with white rice! Here are several suggestions:

• Fried rice – the classic Asian rice dish. Vegetable fried rice, chicken fried rice, steak fried rice, shrimp fried rice, even kimchi fried rice!
• Stir frys – white rice is the best base for stir frys because they’re a blank slate and soak up all the saucy goodness! Use rice with this vegetable stir fry or this ginger shrimp stir fry.
• Curries – again, rice soaks up all the goodness of sauces and what better way to serve curries than with a side of white rice?! Japanese curry is so comforting and tasty as is this chickpea curry.
• Soups – adding rice into soup is a great way to bulk up the soup and give extra fullness to the soup. Check out my lemon and chicken rice soup or this creamy chicken and wild rice soup (substituting white rice is probably an easy swap!).
• Rice bowls – rice is a great addition to any bowl meal such as a salmon rice bowl or a copycat burrito bowl. This tuna poke bowl is great too!
• Skillet dishes – adding rice into a skillet dinner is a way to bulk up the meal and to give a base to the skillet dish. This one-pot BBQ chicken and rice is a very popular and tasty dish!
• Casseroles – I love baking with rice. It’s so easy to throw everything into a casserole dish and bake away! Try my ever-popular broccoli chicken and rice casserole or my Tex-Mex chicken and rice casserole.