How to Cook Perfect Rice

Name: How to Cook Perfect Rice
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 5
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 1 1/2 c. long-grain white rice, jasmine rice, or basmati rice; 2 c. water

Here’s exactly how to cook perfect rice, so you never end up with mushy rice or hard pieces ever again!

Let me start by saying how difficult it is to take pretty pictures of rice. It’s just…… rice, you know?

I feel a bit odd sharing this “recipe” as it’s hardly a recipe so much as it is a method.

Rice was one of those things that took me a while to really “nail.” I tried following recipes on the bags of rice themselves or following the advice of friends and family but I always seemed to end up with a huge pot of mess. I kept asking myself, “Why is my rice mushy?”

Sometimes the rice would still be crunch, other times it was total mush. Sometimes I’d find a pool of water in the bottom of the rice pot, other times the bottom half-inch of rice was a blackened burnt mess.

This method produces tender, fluffy rice like the kind they serve in Thai restaurants. You know what I’m talking about, right? When you can see each individual grain of rice, rather than just a glob of white mush? Yeah, that’s the good stuff. I had to find out how to make rice not sticky.

Now that I cook rice about 17 times per week, I’ve got the whole thing figured out and figured I’d share it with you!

This method is not just how to cook white rice. This method will work with long-grain white rice, Jasmine rice, and basmati rice. Don’t try to use brown rice!

The recipe below will make about 5 cups of cooked white rice – enough for a side dish at a family meal.

Since it’s just the husband and me at my house, I like to make this rice and then save the leftovers in the fridge to make Thai-style fried rice.

OKAY. Take a breath.

Here’s the looooong explanation for what is really a SIMPLE process. I promise.

I also think it’s an absolute MUST to rinse your rice properly before you put it over heat.

I’ve tried rinsing mine in a strainer with running water, but I’ve found the most effective way is to measure the rice, put it into your cooking pan, then add about an inch of water over the top and use your fingers to swirl the water around. You’ll be able to see the starch coming off of the rice as the water turns murky.

Then, pour the contents of the pot (both rice and water) into a fine strainer to let the water drain off. Return the wet rice to the pan, add another inch of water, swirl again, and drain again. Repeat that process one more time and you’re good to go.

I’m really not kidding about doing it 3 times. It’s essential!

Once you’ve drained the rice for the final time, return the rice to the pan and add the measured amount of water. Stir. Set it on your stove and set turn the burner on to medium heat. Wait patiently as it comes to a boil.

Don’t make a rookie mistake and turn the heat up to get it to boil faster. That will turn your rice into a mess of mushy nasty grossness. No one likes mushy nasty grossness.

Oh, and another thing. Don’t stir the rice EVER except for the one time you did it when you added the measured water.

Once it comes to a boil, keep an eye on it and wait until the water level dips below the level of the rice. Once you can see a few mounds of rice peeking out above the water you’re ready to use your…

SECRET RICE WEAPON.

Intrigued?

Well don’t get too excited, because it’s just a regular old kitchen towel.

Lay the kitchen towel over the top of the pot, then put the lid on the pot and ensure the whole thing is as sealed up as it can be.

Lift the hanging edges of the towel up off of the burner so you don’t burn your house down, and fold them up onto the top of the pot lid.

What’s with the towel, you ask? Well, it absorbs the condensation coming off of the rice as it steams so it doesn’t “rain” back down onto the top of the rice, which makes it soggy. SCIENCE!

Turn the heat down to the lowest setting. Set a timer for 15 minutes and walk away. Have a drink and peruse my latest pins on Pinterest in the meantime.

When the timer goes off, turn the heat off and set another timer for 10 minutes. Leave the lid on the pot. Do not peek.

When that second timer goes off, remove the lid and the towel and use a fork to fluff the rice into those perfect individual grains.

Voila! Now you know how to cook perfect rice.

Phew! That was kind of a long post to write all about plain old rice. But hey, there’s no point in you making a delicious Panang curry or a fragrant Indian Chicken Korma if you completely botch the rice, right?

Then your food is just sad and lonely and all of that yummy sauce goes to waste because there’s nothing to soak it all up! Tragic, I tell you.

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OK friends, so you don’t have to try to extract the “recipe” out of the above instructions, here’s a handy printable for you to keep in your kitchen (might I suggest the awkward cabinet above your stove?) until you have it memorized.

Here’s How To Cook Perfect Rice!