Easy Boiled Long-Grain Rice
You don't need measuring cups, a recipe, or even a specific water-to-rice ratio -- fill a pot with water, add the rice, bring it to a boil, then simmer until the rice is tender. Drain the rice, return it to the pot, and let it steam in its own residual heat until you're ready to serve.
What Kind of Rice Does This Make?
This method makes rice with distinct, individual grains and a fluffy texture, best eaten with a spoon or fork.
The Best Rice for This Method
This technique works best with long-grain white rice, like basmati, Texmati, jasmine, or long-grain brown rice. You can also use it to cook short-grain rice (or barley, farro, or other grains, for that matter), but you'll lose the unique textures and sticky, starchy properties that come from cooking those grains using other methods.
How Much Rice to Cook
Will this recipe work for multiple servings? Yes. You can cook any amount of rice you like, one serving or ten servings, as long as you use a big enough pot. One cup of dry rice will make about four cups of cooked rice, so just scale up or down depending on how much you need to make.
How Much Water to Use
You also don't need to measure out an exact amount of water or remember any water-to-rice ratios. Just fill a pot with water and add the rice -- the rice should be covered by several inches of water and have enough room to bob up and down. It's like cooking pasta!
A Few More Tips
- You can save the liquid from cooking the rice and use it to thicken soups, use in baking, or even drink on its own. Just remember when it's been salted, so you'll want to adjust the salt in the recipe where it's used.
- Scrub and clean your strainer right away after using, so the starch from the rice doesn't have time to dry on the strainer. Trust me, dried rice starch is very annoying to clean.
Fill a pot with water and add the rice:
The rice should be covered by several inches of water (use a 1:4 ratio of rice to water if you're nervous). If using, add at least 1 teaspoon of salt per cup of rice. Stir a few times to make sure the rice and water are mixed.
