Basic Stovetop Rice

Basic Stovetop Rice
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
Total Time
Up to 45 minutes
Rating
4(655)
Comments
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Here’s how to make plain rice in the simplest way, and once you get the hang of all the steps (rinsing, simmering, fluffing and resting) you can make infinite, delicious variations by adapting one or more of these steps.

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Ingredients

Yield:3 servings
  • 1cup rice (long-grain or medium-grain, like basmati or jasmine; short-grain, like sushi rice; or brown rice)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (3 servings)

234 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 52 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams protein; 1 milligram sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Pour rice into a bowl, and fill it with cold water. Swirl the grains, using your fingers. Tip out any starchy water, and repeat until water runs almost clear.

  2. Step 2

    Combine rice and water in a pot: For most long-grain and medium-grain rice, pair 1 cup rice and 1⅓ cups water. For short-grain rice, use 1 cup rice and 1 cup water. For most brown rice, combine 1 cup rice and 1¾ cups water. The rice and water should not come more than halfway up the sides of your pot; the mixture will double in volume as it cooks.

  3. Step 3

    Bring water to a hard boil over medium-high heat. The water's entire surface should break with big, constant bubbles. As soon as water is boiling, give it a vigorous stir with a spatula or wooden spoon, making sure to scrape at any grains at the bottom of the pot. Cover it with a lid and turn the heat to low.

  4. Step 4

    Cook long-grain and medium-grain rice for 15 minutes; short-grain varieties for 20 minutes; and brown rice for 30 minutes.

  5. Step 5

    When allotted time has passed, or when you hear a change in sound – if you listen closely, you’ll notice the sounds will slowly change from a bubbly simmer to a steamy sort of flutter – turn off heat and let rice rest for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Tip
  • To cook in an oven, bring rice to a boil on the stovetop, stir, cover and put it in a 350-degree oven to cook through (about 17 minutes for most white rice). Rest it covered at room temperature, for 10 minutes. To cook in a multicooker, rinse rice and pressure cook on high (about 3 minutes for short-grain rice; 8 minutes for long-grain rice; 22 minutes for brown rice). Open cooker after it’s depressurized naturally, then loosely cover the pot with a dish towel and plate and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Ratings

4 out of 5
655 user ratings
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Comments

Uh, if you buy enriched medium or long grain white rice (very common in the USA), the "enrichment" is in the form of vitamins and minerals that are applied to the surface of the grain AFTER the brown hull is milled off. When you rinse this kind of rice you are rinsing off these materials the YOU PAID EXTRA FOR! I know, I know, just goes to show we shouldn't be eating white rice, but, sigh...

Try Dumbed-Down rice. No measuring of water; cook like pasta. Boil 3+ cups of water in a large saucepan or pot. Rinse 1+ cups of rice in a strainer, then add the rice to the water and return to a gentle boil boil. Cook uncovered for N minutes, where N = 10 minutes for long grain, white jasmine or basmati rice N = 15 minutes for converted rice N = ~30 minutes for brown rice (Rice should be very slightly al dente) Put rice back in drained pot, fluff and let sit for 5 minutes. Voila!

Perfect rice — EVERY TIME: Two-to-one; two cups liquid — one cup rice. Both in a pan, turn it on, bring to a high boil, turn to low and put on a lid for 20 min. Done. Perfect. Works for barley, quinoa...most grains.

I learned to make rice from my Persian friends in College many years ago. ALWAYS rinse rice. For health reasons, I boil my rice in distilled water.

good article, thanks. never had a good rice cooker fail at making excellent cooked rice. and tho' not automatic, one may cook pasta in one of these, steam veggies (with a basket above boiling water) and i'd be doing better than imagining that many cooks better than eye can do several to many other things with this instrument. a good cooker is probably not the cheapest, a very expensive cooker probably only has gold-look plating on it somewhere to make you feel better about an exorbitant price.

Every microwave I’ve owned since 1984 has had a rice setting, and they have always produced perfect rice at a 2:1 water to rice ratio. Works great for quinoa, spelt and farro (on brown rice setting).

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