How to Cook Brown Rice (Stove & Rice Cooker)

How to cook brown rice to fluffy, flavorful perfection! Three easy tips and instructions for cooking it on the stove and in a rice cooker.

It's another rice post! After showing you how to cook white rice, today I'm going to show you how to cook perfect, fluffy brown rice...that's right, fluffy!

Brown rice is a much healthier choice than white rice as it sill has the bran and the germ intact. Translation? More vitamins and nutrients, and it takes longer to break down, preventing huge spikes in our blood sugar levels.

But brown rice also has a bad rap for being chewy and flavorless. Well today, we're going to fix this problem!

*this post is discussing long grain brown rice. For information on how to cook short grain brown rice, check out this recipe!

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3 simple tricks for perfect, fluffy brown rice

Wondering how get fluffy brown rice? I've got your back! After testing and retesting, I'm sharing the three essential steps to get that perfect brown rice texture.

1. Rinse your rice. Getting extra starch off your rice helps it get nice and fluffy and not gummy and dense. A lot less starch comes off your brown rice (versus white rice), but this is still a step I wouldn't skip. I like to cover with a few inches in the pot, swirl, and carefully dump it into the sink (do this through a colander if you are worried about the rice dumping into down drain!).
2. Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar. GUYS. This is the absolute most important step to getting fluffy brown rice. I don't know why it works, but it truly makes a huge difference, and you can't taste it at all! Pinky swear. You can use white or apple cider vinegar.
3. Rest your rice. After you've simmered your brown rice, do not skip the resting step! Remove the pot from the burner (no peeking!), and let it sit, covered, for 10 more minutes. This helps all the liquid evenly absorb into the rice.

How to cook brown rice on the stove

Cooking brown rice can seem daunting but I promise, it's not! After doing it a few times, you'll be a pro.

1. Rinse brown rice.
2. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar, ¼ teaspoon salt and broth (or water) at 2 parts to the 1 part rice.
3. Cover and simmer...I look for steam coming out beneath the lid, then I turn the temp down so that it's just simmering and not boiling. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over!
4. Simmer (covered) for 40 minutes. NO PEEKING!
5. Remove pot from heat after 40 minutes is up, and let it rest (covered) for 10 minutes.
6. Fluff with a fork and serve!

Cooking brown rice in rice cooker

I love my rice cooker and it is my go-to method for perfect brown rice. I definitely find that it cooks a better texture than my Instant Pot, and it saves me from having to watch my pot on the stove and worry about it boiling over. Here's my rice cooker, but if you have a big family you'll want an even bigger one!

1. Rinse your rice and add to the rice cooker.
2. Add 1 teaspoon vinegar, ¼ teaspoon salt and broth (or water) at 2 parts to the 1 part rice.
3. Press "brown rice" button.
4. Wait for it to beep and you will be greeted with perfect, fluffy brown rice!

How can I add more flavor to my rice? I love cooking my rice in chicken or vegetable stock, and I highly recommend adding salt to your cooking liquid. This helps every grain of rice absorb the right amount of seasoning.

You could also check out the following rice recipes:

(these were tested with basmati rice, but should work well with long grain brown rice as well!)

• Herb Lemon Rice Recipe
• Coconut Rice
• Saffron Rice
• Mexican Rice Recipe
• Cilantro Lime Rice
• Pesto Green Rice
• Turmeric Yellow Rice

Did you make this? Tag me on social @sweetpeasandsaffron and be sure to leave a comment and rate the recipe!

How to Cook Brown Rice

5 from 7 votes

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 40 minutes mins

Resting Time: 10 minutes mins

Total Time: 45 minutes mins

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How to cook brown rice to fluffy, flavorful perfection! Three easy tips and instructions for cooking it on the stove and in a rice cooker.

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Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup long grain brown rice
• ▢ 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or white vinegar)
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 2 cups stock or water

Instructions 

Stove

• Add rice to a 4 quart pot and cover with a couple inches of water. Swirl and carefully discard liquid. Repeat 2-3 times until liquid becomes clear.
• To the rinsed rice, add vinegar, salt and either stock or water (stock for more flavor!).
• Cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for 40 minutes.
• Remove pot from the heat and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.

Rice Cooker

• Add rice to the insert of a rice cooker. Cover with a couple of inches of water. Swirl and carefully discard liquid. Repeat 2-3 times until liquid becomes clear.
• To the rinsed rice, add vinegar, salt and either stock or water (stock for more flavor!).
• Select the 'brown rice' option of your rice cooker. Rice is ready when your rice cooker beeps.

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Nutrition Information

Serving: 0.25of the batch, Calories: 171kcal, Carbohydrates: 35g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 0mg, Sodium: 148mg, Potassium: 103mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 0g, Calcium: 11mg, Iron: 0.7mg

Author: Denise Bustard

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

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