Once yous learn how to cook rice in a rice cooker, it will be dead simple to repeat for consistent, fluffy and delicious rice every time. Hands off too! Simply rinse the rice, use a 1:ane ratio of water to rice, start the machine and you're skilful to go. For more details almost the reasons 'why', read on!

I first learned to cook rice from my maternal grandmother many years ago. She'd have me become into the garage and take a few scoops out of those vertical rice bins that look like water coolers–y'all growing up in Asian households know what I'm talking about.

electric rice cooker on a table

Any meal without rice in that house was only Non a complete meal, so you tin bet everyone living there got a lot of practice making rice, and that I am now particular about how my rice is cooked!

Why utilise a rice cooker?

Using a rice cooker is an well-nigh fool-proof method of cooking rice at domicile. It's a convenient (and consistent) fashion of achieving those perfect fluffy and sticky grains that completes any meal. Yes, you lot can cook rice on the stovetop–but why add the extra hassle of watching rice cook, when you tin just set information technology and forget it? It'southward important to remember, you can even use a rice cooker to make quinoa besides!

I use a relatively cheap rice cooker that was given past my mom but has used fifty-fifty cheaper (~$xv range) and super pricy ones at my family's and friends' houses. If you lot prefer not to buy a uni-tasker similar a rice cooker, you tin can easily cook your rice in a microwave, on the stove, cook jasmine rice in an Instant Pot, Instant Pot basmati rice, or cook curt-grain rice in an Instant Pot too.

Just if you eat rice only about every day, a defended rice cooker with a uncomplicated interface and keep warm function should deserve some consideration. If you have an Aroma rice cooker, you should cheque out my Aroma Rice Cooker Instructions post.

Choose a type of rice

measuring rice

First things first, yous need to choose the type of rice yous desire to eat. While at that place are plenty of different types of varieties of rice, at that place are 3 main sizes of rice grains and the type you choose can greatly affect the proportion of water you lot demand to apply:

  • Long grain: Iv times longer than they are wide and have a lighter texture (ex: Jasmine rice)
  • Medium grain: Two times longer than their width and have a more than tender and chewy bite (due east.g.: Arborio or risotto rice)
  • Short grain: About as wide as it is long and have a plumper and stickier consistency (e.thousand.: sushi rice or rice for salmon poke bowls or TikTok salmon rice bowls)

At abode, and for this recipe, we like to cook with medium grain sushi rice for its pleasant, slight stickiness and wet.

Rinsing the rice

rinsing rice directly in the pot

Lightly rinse, swirl, then drain the h2o from the rice 1 to 2 times with common cold water to go rid of extra starch build up from broken grains or other droppings. You desire to retain some of the starch so at that place's a chip of stickiness, adept for being able to choice up your rice with chopsticks.

You lot tin launder the rice in the rice cooker pot directly and use your hand to movement the rice grains around. Cascade out the cloudy h2o from the pot and repeat in one case or twice if necessary–yous don't want or demand the h2o to be completely clear.

It's important to note that some white rice produced in the United states is enriched with powdered nutrients (atomic number 26, folic acid, etc.), and washing your rice could potentially remove these added nutrients.

Adding the proper water to rice ratio

Measuring loving cup method (preferred!)

measuring rice to water ratio

If you lot care virtually consistency, accuracy, or being able to tweak this ratio for other kinds of rice, you should be using a measuring cup. Please note, I utilise the same measuring loving cup for BOTH rice and h2o in gild for the ratios below to work.

For whatever type of grain size (short, medium, or long) you can follow a 1:1 ratio of water to rice. If you want to add more rice, you lot tin can adjust the recipe in a similar way, 2 cups of rice to 2 cups of h2o. This should produce fluffy, but slightly sticky grains of rice when cooked, and works well for up to 3 cups in our rice cooker.

This ratio gives me perfectly fluffy rice every fourth dimension. You lot may demand to tweak them a tiny bit to your taste and specific brands of rice, and possibly even your rice cooker (run across adjusting section below).

Note that these ratios are dissimilar than when cooking rice on a stovetop or cooking white rice in the microwave. This recipe also differs from cooking dark-brown rice in the microwave and brownish rice in a rice cooker.

The knuckle measuring method

If you've made rice in an Asian household, you should know total well that the standard method of measuring an appropriate amount of water merely requires the utilise of (anyone's) first knuckle of your index finger.

The knuckle method can work, only my problem with it is that it'due south not precise enough for repeatable results. If you use this method and your results come out different everytime, don't come up wagging your finger at me.

To clarify, this is how one would do the knuckle meausring method: rinse and drain your rice, then milkshake it a flake and so the rice is completely level in the pot. Put your index finger straight down into the rice and so that only the tip barely touches the top surface of the rice. Then add together water so the h2o level reaches your showtime knuckle, approximately one″. I'm not fifty-fifty going to post a picture of how to do it because I don't want you using this method.

While I grew up with this rule and it works well enough, I don't apply it anymore. I can't in good conscience rely on this or much less teach people to use this less than scientific method since it has many variables: how level you get the rice, the length of whomever's finger doing the measuring, cooking vessel size, etc.

If you're trying to tweak a recipe for different kinds or volumes of rice, the variations and pseudo finger-length method measurements get out of hand, apace.

Powering it on

pressing start on a rice cooker

Later filling your rice cooker pot with rice and water, identify it dorsum into the cooker and turn it on. Some rice cookers only have one power switch, and no options, so you lot're all gear up. For fancier ones, it may have normal or quick cook settings, so read your manuals to make certain you know what it'southward doing. The cooking typically takes from 20-30 minutes.

Once you printing start, DO Non open the lid! Yous don't want to lose that precious water/steam essence you've got going on. Trust your motorcar and it'll do the work for you. Most mod rice cookers will make a picayune sound or have an indicator light to let you know when it's done. Our cooker has a "keep warm" setting afterward the rice is washed cooking.

Let it rest, and so fluff

fluffing up rice with a paddle

Let the rice sit in the cooker for about 5-10 minutes after the automobile tells you it's done. If y'all're in a hurry yous can swallow it now, but waiting lets the moisture evaporate a bit, and along with the heat, distribute evenly through the grains.

Then open the lid, use a rice paddle to fluff it upwards a fleck earlier serving. This is a Mickey rice paddle a friend got for us, but whatsoever other type will practise too :). To learn how to properly eat rice with chopsticks, you tin can read my chopstick tutorial.

Adjusting your rice to h2o ratio for other rice types

Depending on the type of rice yous're using and the volume you desire to melt, you may need to adjust your ratios. Longer grain rice volition typically need more h2o, while shorter grain rice volition need less.

I similar to test any new type of rice I'm cooking with a 1:ane ratio, then adjust more or less h2o depending on the results. Once y'all're within ballpark range, endeavor adjusting the water by ¼ cup measurements and see how this changes your rice texture.

If you find that your rice is besides dry and a little hard, you tin add more water and go out the rice on warm for five-10 minutes.

If your rice is as well mushy, well that sucks because you'll need to first over and decrease the amount of water. If y'all HATE wasting food (hello paternal grandmother with dozens of bite-sized portion leftovers in the fridge), additional options for saving the rice could be turning it into fried rice with Chinese sausages, Spam musubi, or rice pudding for dessert (extra yum!).

To learn how to make brown rice, you tin can learn how to melt dark-brown rice in a microwave, brown rice in an Instant Pot, or brown rice in a rice cooker.

Rice Cooker Pinterest Image

fluffing rice

  • tap h2o for rinsing
  • 2 c rice short grain, long grain, or medium grain
  • ii c filtered water
  • Mensurate out ii cup of rice and add to the rice maker pot. My rice maker comes with a measuring cup and I ever use this to measure both rice and h2o.

  • Rinse the rice in the pot nether cold running water. Use your hands to move the rice around gently to make clean the grains. Pour out the water once it starts to change color. Echo this process 2 times. Make sure to bleed all the water when finished.

  • Later on you clean the rice and remove the rinsing water, add ii cups of filtered water to the pot.

  • Return the rice pot to the rice maker. Brand sure your rice maker is on and follow the manual instructions. Our rice cooker provides a "quick" setting along with a "normal" setting. I by and large cull "quick" considering it gives me the same results for a shorter amount of time. While the rice is cooking, exercise not lift the hat then as not to lose steam.

  • One time the rice is done, get out the cooker closed for an additional v minutes.

  • Open the lid and fluff the rice with a rice paddle.

  • Serve rice onto bowls and relish.

The blazon of rice grain in this recipe can exist interchangeable. Y'all can use short grain, medium grain, or long grain with the aforementioned ratio. If y'all would like more rice, yous can use the same ratio. For case, two cups of rice for two cups of water and so on.

Calories: 225 kcal | Carbohydrates: 49 thousand | Protein: iv g | Fatty: 1 g | Saturated Fat: one one thousand | Sodium: 7 mg | Potassium: 71 mg | Fiber: ane one thousand | Sugar: one g | Calcium: 20 mg | Iron: 1 mg

Grade: Side Dish

Cuisine: Asian

Keyword: jasmine rice, medium grain rice, rice, curt grain rice

Like this recipe? Subscribe to my newsletter!

flying envelope