No faffing – this is the easiest way to cook rice in a pan.
We eat a lot of rice, so I find myself making it at least a few times a week. This method of how to cook rice has been tested hundreds if not thousands of times. It’s the way I’ve been making it for decades and it has never failed me.
The Pitfalls of Rice Cooking
Do you rinse the rice? Stir it? Drain it after cooking? I’ve got all of your questions answered!
I’ve always followed the same method after watching my mum cook rice when I was younger. She still has the same saucepan that she uses for rice from when I was a kid!
It was only when I was at university (in the communal kitchens) that I saw how much trouble other people had with boiling rice. There was soggy rice, hard rice, burnt rice – and I witnessed people boiling it in huge pans of water and draining it off – like they were cooking pasta! That often ended up in a big soggy glutenous mess. It seemed like no one knew how to cook rice on the stove!
So I wanted to share my fail-proof method (or should I say my mum’s method) that I’ve been using for decades on how to cook long grain rice. The only time I’ve ever had an experiment with it was when I moved from a gas burner to an induction hob. But I’ll share the methods for both.
Here are my most important tips. Once you’ve got these down, you’ll be cooking rice perfectly every time.
Top Tips for Cooking Perfect Rice
#1 Add the Water
I fill the saucepan approximately 1/3 full with water for 6 portions.
#2 Add the Long Grain Rice
You can add the rice by eye – simply pour the rice into the center of the boiling water and keep pouring until a tablespoon or so of rice is above the water.
#3 Stir & Add the Lid
Once you’ve added the rice, give it a quick stir and then place a lid on the pan.
#4 Turn Down the Temperature
Immediately turn down the temperature (don’t wait to bring it back up to the boil again). For gas, cook at the very lowest temperature your hob can manage. For electric or induction, it may need to be a little higher. You may need to experiment, depending on your electric/induction hob. If you know what heat setting you need on your hob to maintain a rolling boil on a pan of water, go about 3 settings lower than that.
#5 Leave it Alone!
Cook for 20 minutes. This allows the rice to cook evenly, without burning the bottom.
Don’t stir or open the lid. You can check once after 15 minutes if you really feel the need, but if you keep opening the pan, the rice won’t cook (remember you’re only using a very low heat). The rice should be done after 20 minutes. If the rice is still hard and there is absolutely no water at the bottom of the pan, just add in a splash of boiling water and put the lid back on again. Don’t worry about overcooking the rice – so long as you haven’t got too much water in there, the rice can take a fair amount of extra cooking – so long as the heat is low. I’ve accidentally left mine for 30+ minutes before now and it was fine.
Your rice should look like this when cooked – there should be no water to drain off. If you’re serving it right away (not making it into fried rice), it will need a bit of a fluff with a fork to separate the grains.
There you have it. Once you know the key tips, cooking rice is easy.
Please note: These instructions are for long-grain white rice only. Other varieties of rice and brown rice require different quantities and cooking times. If you’d like me to write a post on different types of rice, please let me know in the comments, and I’ll write it up for you guys.
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This post was originally published on Sept 2019. Update Jun 2020 with additional information and for housekeeping reasons.
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