Did you ever feel that the brown rice you cook gets too mushy and never turn out to be perfect? Well, that happens with most of us, but no more. We have got you the perfect cooking technique of brown rice that never disappoints.
What’s special about this technique?
- No need of a rice cooker, just a large pot, a lid and kitchen stove.
- It is very easy to remember. No complex methods to cook brown rice.
- You can cook any type of brown rice using this technique, be it long, short or medium grain.
- You need not measure the quantity of water. Just put it in abundance.
How to cook Brown Rice?
- Preparation time: 2 minutes
- Cooking time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 32 minutes (add 10 minutes for steaming)
- Servings: 3
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Whole Grain
Try using this cooking technique once and you will never go to the old process. Like, you won’t cook it in any other way! You can scale the amount of water and rice as required. The normal ratio is one part of brown rice and six parts of water to yield three parts cooked rice.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup brown rice (short, large or medium grain – whatever works for you)
- Salt, soy sauce or any other seasonings as per your taste
- 6 cups of water
Cooking Instructions:
- Take a large pot and fill it with six cups of water. Bring it to boil after adding 1 cup of brown rice.
- Keep it uncovered and boil for 30 minutes.
- Drain off the water and keep the rice in the pot.
- Cover the pot with the lid and let it rest for around 10 minutes.
- Your fluffy rice is ready. Season it the way you desire.
Important note:
Keep it gluten free: Rice is already gluten free. You need to ensure what you use for seasoning. Soy sauce is not gluten free. We would rather suggest using gluten free tamari.
For wild rice: If you want to make wild rice, take eight cups of water and increase the boiling time to 40-45 minutes. Cook it until tender and chewy.
Two-way cooking method for brown rice
Servings: ½ cup servings
Cuisine: Vegan, gluten free
Freezer friendly: One month
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of water
- 1 cup of brown rice
Cooking Instructions:
Method 1:
- Add rice and water to a medium-sized saucepan. In case you have soaked the rice, add 1.5 times of water to the amount of rice. In this case, it will be 1.5 cups. If the grains are not soaked, add double water – here 2 cups.
- Bring the saucepan to boil and then simmer the flame and cover.
- Cook until you see the water completely absorbed by the rice and it gets tender. The cooking time varies from 15 to 25 minutes depending on whether the rice is soaked or not.
- Drain off excess water if any.
- Turn off the flame and keep the saucepan uncovered for 10 minutes to make the rice fluffier. You can even try fluffing it with a fork. Cover it back to keep it warm for serving.
- Store the leftovers in a covered vessel in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. You can freeze it up to a month. You can reheat it on the stovetop or in a microwave with water or oil.
Method 2:
- To make the rice fluffier, boil 12 cups of water in a large pot. Once it starts boiling, add the rinsed rice and stir well.
- Boil it uncovered for around 20 minutes (soaked) and around 30 minutes (not soaked) or until it gets tender.
- Strain excess water and keep the rice in the pot. Turn the flame off. Cover the pot with a lid to steam it for the next 10 minutes.
- Serve hot.
- You can store the leftovers in a refrigerator for a few days. Reheat using oil or quick boil in warm water.
Optional Instructions: When you soak the rice grains, it removes the phytic acid from it making it digestible and improves the cooking time. Add rice in a large bowl and cover it adding twice the amount of warm water. Keep it uncovered for 2 hours or overnight (as you desire). Drain it and rinse before use.
Top Brown Rice Recipes you will love
Recipe #1
Thai Red Curry with Vegetables
- Preparation time: 10 minutes
- Cooking time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 40 minutes
- Servings: 4
- Cuisine: Thai
- Method: Stovetop
Thai Red Curry Recipe doesn’t take much to prepare and is super delicious and healthy. You can change the vegetables as per your desire. Just make sure the quantity is 3 cups. If you want it to be completely traditional, skip the kale. It is a vegan, vegetarian and gluten free recipe everyone can enjoy. Read on for the recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 ¼ cups of jasmine brown rice or long-grain grains (brown rice)
- 1 small chopped white onion
- 1tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 1tbsp olive oil or coconut oil
- 1 red bell pepper sliced into long strips of 2 inches
- 1 green, orange or yellow bell pepper sliced into long stripes of 2 inch
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- Salt to taste
- 14 ounces of coconut milk (regular)
- 2tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 3 peeled and sliced carrots. Slice it diagonally into thick rounds (1/4 inch)
- 1 ½ cups thinly sliced kale (the cup should be packed). Lacinato/Tuscan/dinosaur variety suggested.
- 1tbsp soy sauce or tamari
- 1 ½ tsp raw (turbinado) sugar or coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ½ cup of water
- Sides/garnishes – chopped fresh cilantro or basil (handful), optional chili garlic sauce, optional chili flakes
Cooking Instructions:
- Take a large pot, add water and bring it to boil. Add the rinsed brown rice and let it boil for around 30 minutes. Reduce the flame whenever required to make sure the water doesn’t overflow. Remove the pot from the flame and strain the water. Keep the rice in the pot covered to let it steam for another 10 minutes until ready. Season the rice as desired before serving.
- For the curry, take a large skillet having deep sides and warm in on medium flame. Add oil, onion and salt. Stir often until the onion turns translucent for around 5 minutes. Now add garlic and ginger for 30 seconds. Stir it continuously.
- Add carrots and bell peppers. Let the bell pepper cook properly for around 3-5 minutes. DO not forget to stir it often. Add the Thai red curry paste and cook 2 minutes. Again, stir continuously.
- Now add the coconut milk, sugar, kale and water. Stir well to mix it. Turn the heat to medium and keep stirring often until kale, carrots and bell pepper gets cooked. The cooking item varies from 5 to 10 minutes.
- Remove the pot from heat and season it with rice vinegar and tamari. Add salt to taste for optimal flavor.
- Divide the curry and rice in a bowl and garnish with chopped basil or cilantro. Sprinkle chili flakes if you want. If you want it spicy, serve with chili garlic sauce
Recipe #2
Kale, Black Bean and Avocado Burrito Bowl
- Preparation time: 20 minutes
- Cooking time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 50 minutes
- Servings: 4
- Cuisine: Mexican
This one is a fresh burrito bowl recipe with flavorful ingredients like seasoned black beans, lime marinated kale, avocado salsa verde, and brown rice. It is both vegan and gluten free.
Ingredients:
For Brown rice:
- 1 cup short-grain brown rice (you can also take long-grain, Arborio or basmati)
- 1/4 tsp salt
For seasoned black beans:
- 3 minced garlic cloves
- 1 shallot chopped red onion
- 2 cans rinsed and drained black beans or 4 cups of cooked black beans
- 1/4tsp cayenne pepper, if desired
- 1/4tsp chili powder
For Lime Marinated Kale:
- ¼ cup of lime juice
- 1 bunch of curly kale – chopped into small pieces. Make sure it is ribs removed
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- ½ seeded and chopped jalapeno
- 1/2tsp cumin
Avocado salsa verde
- ½ cup mild salsa verde
- 2tbsp lime juice
- 1 pitted and sliced avocado (cut it into big chunks)
Garnish
- Hot sauce
- Sliced cherry tomatoes
Cooking instructions:
- For the rice, take water in a pot and bring it to boil. Add the rinsed brown rice and boil uncovered for around 30 minutes. Strain the excess water and keep the rice covered in the pot for the next 10 minutes. Fluff it using a fork and season as desired.
- For the kale salad, whisk lime juice, jalapeno, olive oil, salt and cumin together. Now toss in the chopped kale into lime marinade in a bowl and mix.
- For the avocado salsa verde, blend salsa verde, avocado chunks, lime juice and cilantro in a blender or food processor.
- To warm the black beans, heat 1tbsp olive oil in a pan on medium flame. Saute the garlic and shallot until you get the fragrance. Add black beans, cayenne pepper and chili powder. Cook it until warm and softened. The cooking time will vary from 5-7 minutes. If it seems dry, add little water.
- To serve, take everything in small portions in a plate and garnish with the chopped cherry tomatoes.
Recipe #3
Extra Vegetable Fried Rice
- Preparation time: 20 minutes
- Cooking time: 15 minutes
- Total time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 servings
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Method: Stovetop
This one is a simple and delicious brown rice featured recipe that you will love. The recipe has got extra brown rice and vegetables. You are going to love this we bet!
Ingredients:
- 1 small chopped white onion
- 2 whisked eggs
- 2 cups additional veggies – cut it into small pieces to cook it quickly (you can add cabbage, broccoli, fresh peas and bell pepper)
- 2 medium chopped carrots
- 1 cup greens like baby kale, tatsoi or spinach
- Red pepper flakes to taste
- ¼ tsp of salt
- 2 large minced garlic cloves or ginger
- 1 ½ tsp and 2tbsp avocado oil or safflower oil
- 1 cups brown rice (cooked)
- 3 chopped green onions
- 1tsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce or tamari
- Sriracha or chili garlic sauce to serve (optional)
Cooking Instructions:
- Before you start the preparation, ensure you have all the ingredients ready at your arm’s reach. Take an empty bowl to put the cooked veggies and eggs. We would suggest starting cooking at medium-high flame but if you get the slightest hint of the food burning or whiffing of oil, better reduce to medium or low.
- Warm a large stainless steel or cast-iron skillet on medium-high flame and add 1 ½ tsp of oil and swirl it to get the bottom coated. Add scrambled eggs and again swirl. Cook until you have it set. Keep stirring and flipping all the while. Empty the eggs in the large bowl handy and wipe the pan clean.
- Put the pan again over the flame and add 1tbsp oil. Add carrots and onion and cook while stirring continuously. Make sure the onions turn translucent and carrots get tender.
- Now add the rest of the vegetables and salt, to taste. Keep cooking with continuous stirring (not too often, give the veggies time to turn golden on all sides). Wait for the vegetables to cook properly (until they turn golden). The cooking time will be around 3-5 minutes or more. While the veggies cook, break the scrambled eggs with the help of a spatula or spoon. The eggs must be in small pieces.
- When the veggies are cooked, transfer it into a bowl and add the cooked eggs. Put the pan again on heat and add the last 1 tbsp of oil. Add garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes to the oil. Cook until you get the fragrance. It will take around 30 seconds. Add cooked brown rice and mix it properly. Keep stirring and wait for the rice to turn golden. The cooking duration will be around 3-5 minutes.
- Add the greens (if you are using it) and the chopped green onions and mix well. Now add the mixture of cooked veggies and eggs and again mix. Put off the flame and stir it in the sesame oil and tamari. You can add little extra tamari if you like soy flavor (don’t add too much as it will overpower the other flavors of the dish).
- Divide it into a different bowl and serve hot. You can add sriracha or chili-garlic sauce alongside.
- In case of leftovers, store it covered in the refrigerator. You can keep it for 3-4 days.
Some more brown rice recipes for you
You can also get a healthy Artichokes recipe from our food archive.
