Homemade White Rice Recipe

This homemade white rice recipe is simple and will teach you how to make your own rice at home! Making rice at home is so easy, this post will cover all the basics you need to know.

We eat a lot of rice in our house, I know this is pretty unusual since we hail from meat and potatoes country. While we do love our potatoes, sometimes rice is a better option because it’s so much faster to prepare!

What kind of rice should I use?

My dad lived in Japan for a couple of years, and Andy actually did too – they both love rice. So growing up we ate more rice than was normal for our area and even now we eat it on a regular basis. There are many different kinds of rice, but the basic difference is going to be the length of the grain.

We prefer medium grain rice, but you can get long grain, short grain, and brown rice. The length of the grain will influence how long you cook the rice for, brown rice generally takes over 30 minutes to cook while white rice varieties are faster, near 15-20 minutes.

How much water do I need for rice?

One of the trickiest parts of any rice recipe is getting the amount of water right. How much water do you need for rice? The white rice to water ratio is 1 1/2 cups of water for every cup of rice.

I usually do more water for long grain rice, about 1 3/4 cups water for every cup of rice. Brown rice will need more water – usually double the water for the amount of brown rice.

How long do you cook rice?

The next question that gets asked frequently about rice is how long do you cook rice? This is actually much easier than most people think! You can see the water simmering in the rice in the picture above, for the first 10 minutes it will look like lots of water bubbling.

After that, the water is mostly absorbed by the rice and you’ll see small bubbles in the surface of the rice, the water will look creamy and white and you’ll be able to see the rice through the top.

The rice is finished when the water is absorbed, but the top still looks moist. This is usually at the 15-18 minute mark. I turn the heat off, take the rice off the burner, and let the rice sit and steam for 5 more minutes.

This allows that little bit of moisture to be absorbed in and will give you beautiful fluffy rice, not mushy rice. When done properly, the rice should be slightly sticky {medium grain is more sticky than long grain} but light and fluffy.

How do you make rice in a rice cooker?

See?? No special equipment required to make this delicious fluffy, homemade white rice recipe at home! But, just in case you have one, how do you make rice in a rice cooker? It’s even easier! Simply measure out the correct white rice to water ratio into the bowl of the rice cooker, and select the correct setting for the type of rice you are cooking. They all you do is wait for your rice cooker to finish, so simple.

Some of our favorite recipes to serve with rice are Korean Beef Bowls, Beef Stroganoff, and Creamy Chicken! Give them a try and let me know how you liked everything. 

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