How To Cook Rice

How to cook rice- this post shows you three easy tips to give you perfect fluffy rice every time! Instructions for cooking long grain white rice and brown rice.

How to cook rice

Rice. Is it a staple in your house? It sure is in mine!

Unfortunately, we’ve put up with sub-par rice for way too long. Sometimes it would be bland bland rice, and half of it sticking to the bottom of the pot. OR I’d end up with undercooked, crunchy rice. Does this sound familiar?

After digging around, I’ve found out it’s incredibly EASY to get perfect rice, and I want to share my findings with you, so you can learn how to cook rice and get it perfect and fluffy every time.

Looking for some easy ways to add flavor to your rice? Check out this post with 7 Easy Rice Recipes!

My 3 tips for PERFECT rice

We all know that getting fluffy rice depends on getting the correct water/rice ratio (which differs by each type of rice), as well as the proper cook time, but a few other variables can also influence it.

1. Rinse your rice- Rinsing your rice removes extra starch that can make it stick together and get gummy. Some people rinse using a colander, however I’ve found the most effective way is to cover the rice in the pot with 2-3 inches of water. Swirl, dump the water (through a colander or just carefully without). Repeat 5-6 times for long grain white rices or until the water becomes more clear. For long grain brown rice, I only needed to do it 1-2 times.
2. Add a teaspoon of vinegar to the cooking liquid- I can’t remember where I read this, but I was dubious. I thought the rice would clump together like sushi rice and I thought it would have a vinegar flavor. HOWEVER it produces the fluffiest rice, and you can’t taste the vinegar at all! We have used white vinegar but switched to apple cider vinegar since we are always looking for more ways to add it to our diet.
3. Rest your rice- take your rice off the burner and let it sit (no peeking!) for 10 minutes. This helps the moisture to evenly distribute in the pot so you don’t get dry crunchy rice on the bottom of the pot.

I have tested these tricks for three types of long grain white rice (one bag just said ‘long grain white’ and I suspect it is ‘long grain American rice’ but I’ve also tested basmati and jasmine rice), as well as for long grain brown rice.

All four types of rice benefited from these three tips…in fact, I’ve never had such moist, fluffy brown rice before!

Here are the water ratios/cook times that worked for me:

• jasmine rice- 1 cup rice : 1 1/4 cups cooking liquid; 12 min cook time, 10 min rest time
• basmati rice- 1 cup rice : 2 cups cooking liquid; 15 min cook time, 10 min rest time
• long grain rice- 1 cup rice : 1 1/2 cups cooking liquid; 12 min cook time, 10 min rest time
• long grain brown rice- 1 cup rice : 2 cups cooking liquid; 40 min cook time, 10 min rest time

How do I cook brown rice? See this post on How to Cook 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 you can adjust the liquid ratios for other long grain rices)

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