Recipe video above. The best method and cook time for truly fluffy, perfectly cooked brown rice depends on what type of brown rice you have. Did you know that basmati rice cooks in less than half the time as long grain brown rice?BEFORE YOU START: Determine what rice you have and read the "Before You Start" in the notes below.BIGGEST TIP - skip the absorption method (high risk of gluey) and ignore the packet directions!! Servings: 1 cup uncooked brown rice makes 3 cups cooked rice which will serve 3 people.
Prep Time1 minutemin
Cook Time30 minutesmins
Resting10 minutesmins
Course: Rice, Side
Cuisine: Asian, Indian, Western
Keyword: brown basmati rice, brown rice, brown short grain rice, how to cook brown rice, long grain brown rice
Servings: 3
Calories: 229cal
Author: Nagi
Ingredients
Boil and Drain:
1cupbrown rice - medium grain, long grain or basmati
8cupswater(Note 1)
Baked Rice:
1 1/2cupsshort grain brown rice(medium grain ok too)
Rinsing rice: only required if you purchased from bulk bins. If you rinse, reduce water by 1/4 cup for baked version.
Boil and Drain:
Boil water: Bring water to a boil in a small pot or large saucepan over high heat.
Boil rice: Add rice, then boil rice until just cooked, a tiny bit firmer than you want (it gets softer during Rest step). Use these times as a guide (Note 3):- Medium and long grain rice: 30 minutes- Basmati rice: 12 minutes (1st check) to 14 minutes
Drain VERY well (key tip! Note 4): Drain rice in a colander, shaking the pot well to remove as much water as you can, and shaking the colander to remove excess water from the rice. Pot should steam dry from residual heat.
Rest: Return rice to now-dry pot. Put lid on and put it back on the turned off stove. Leave for 10 minutes.
Fluff and serce: Fluff rice with fork and serve.
Baked Rice:
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F (all oven types).
Combine rice and water: Pour rice and boiling water into a 20cm/8" square pan or round casserole pot. Cover with lid or foil.
Bake 1 hour 15 minutes.
Rest, fluff & serve: Remove from oven, stand 10 minutes then fluff with fork and serve.
Notes
1 cup uncooked brown rice = 2 3/4 cup cooked = 2 to 3 servings.BEFORE YOU START:a) Identify what type of brown rice you have. If you do not know, use the photos in the post to match your rice grain. If you are still unsure, use the Boil and Drain Method and start checking rice doneness from 12 minutes - it's the most universally safe method;b) Determine the cooking method based on rice type by looking at the ingredients list above;c) Rinsing - only required to clean if you purchased from bulk bins. If you rinse, you MUST reduce water in baked method. Read Note 5; andd) Boil and Drain First Timers, or if using a new type or brand of rice, always check the rice (very!) early to see if it's cooked. Rice goes from soft to overcooked in mere minutes, and not all rices are created equal.Brown rice type and method:
Short grain - this sticky rice is best baked. Boil and drain isn't suitable for sticky rice.
Medium grain - sits between sticky short grain rice and fluffy long grain rice. Boil and Drain is best (fluffiest result) but baked is very good too (useful hands-off method).
Long grain and basmati - these long slender grains of rice are most definitely best cooked using the Boil and Drain method for the fluffiest result. Baking works too, but the texture of the rice at the base ends up stickier than ideal, while the rice on the surface is closer to what it should be.
1. Water volume - as you scale up the recipe, you don't need to scale up the water volume as much. You just need plenty of water that the rice can absorb (it will almost triple in volume) and enough extra bubbling water to keep the rice bouncing around. Think of it like pasta! So for 1 cup rice, you need 8 cups water, but then for 2 cups of rice, you need only 12 cups of water. And so on.2. Boiling water - important to use boiling water to skip the time it takes for water to heat up in the oven. If you don't use boiling water, the rice is just soaking in water for 20 minutes or so until it starts cooking, and you'll end up with soggy rice (as well as increasing cook time).3. Why do you have to check early when boiling? Because I've found that from brand to brand, the perfect cook time can differ. It's utterly frustrating! But there seems to be no universal standard for brown rice grain sizes, and rice can go from perfect to overcooked in mere minutes. So the golden rule is - CHECK EARLY!(And once you've perfected your preferred rice brand, you'll know the perfect boil time - stick it on your fridge!).4. Excess water - shaking off excess water from rice and pouring out every drop of water from the pot so it steams dry in seconds with the residual heat are two key tips for perfect rice using the Boil and Drain method. If the rice is soggy or if the base of the pot is covered in water when you return the rice to the pot, it will absorb that water and end up over bloated.Resting rice after cooking is especially critical for Boil and Drain because the rice is "wet" straight out of the pot. During the resting phase, the water on each rice grain gets absorbed into the rice, leaving you with perfect rice grains!5. Rinsing rice - You don't need to rinse brown rice for it to be fluffy with these cook methods. You only need to rinse if you are concerned about cleanness - eg if you purchased from bulk bins.How to rinse rice: Place rice in bowl, fill with water, swish until murkey, drain, repeat 3 more times. Water will never be fully clear. If you rinse, DO NOT leave rice soaking in water before cooking, it will affect the cook time (soaked rice cooks faster). In fact, you should rinse immediately prior to cooking.If you rinse rice, REDUCE water in Baked Method by 1/4 cup (65 ml).6. Nutrition per serving, assuming 1 cup of uncooked rice serves 3 people.