Over a billion people depend on rice as a food staple. But surprisingly, theres some confusion about how to cook it. Do you stir it? Should you let it boil the whole time? Whats the proper liquid-to-grain ratio? Do you cook white rice the same way as brown? We asked our food editors to clear up the questions surrounding this starchy staple. Find their advice for making the fluffiest rice, below.
1 cup rice : 1 ¾ cup water While you don’t need anything else to cook rice, I do recommend adding ½ teaspoon of salt for every cup of rice to flavor the rice from the beginning.
Over a billion people depend on rice as a food staple. But surprisingly, theres some confusion about how to cook it. Do you stir it? Should you let it boil the whole time? Whats the proper liquid-to-grain ratio? Do you cook white rice the same way as brown? We asked our food editors to clear up the questions surrounding this starchy staple. Find their advice for making the fluffiest rice, below.
The directions given on packaging are usually wrong, even from reputable producers. If youre using a new bag from a company that youre unfamiliar with, use this technique: Make a small pot using ½ cup rice and 1 cup of water (for brown rice, change that to ½ cup rice and 1¼ cup water). Youre looking for fluffy rice where each grain is tender and holds its individual character. If you dont add enough water, the rice will be underdone and likely burn on the bottom before its done gently steaming. If you add too much water, the rice will be sodden, mushy, and overcooked. So cook it, taste it, and adjust your rice-to-water ratio accordingly for larger pots of rice the next time.Treating brown rice like white rice
The rice cooker manual has different ratios depending on the rice type, but I hate reading manuals and just remember the ratio that always worked for me 🙂
When the rice cooker beeps, the rice is ready! You don’t even have to take it out right away – the rice cooker will keep your rice warm for you for hours!
For white rice in a rice cooker, I always use the ratio of 1 cup of rice to 1.5 cups of water.
The laziest way to cook perfect rice is to use a rice cooker! Put rice, water and salt in a rice cooker, press the button and walk away 🙂 Rice cooker will do all the work in cooking the perfect rice for you.
Then I add 1/2 tsp of salt to a rice cooker, and press the “Cook” button:
Rice to water ratio – How to cook perfect rice
FAQ
How much salt and water for 2 cups of rice?
Should you salt the water in a rice cooker?
Should you salt water before boiling rice?
How much salt do you put in sticky rice?