I know, I know…by the title you’re expecting the most exciting blog post, EVER. Right? Stick with me. To pump up the excitement factor, I’m giving away something super cute, too. You’ll want one. But let’s talk brown rice for a minute, shall we? Brown rice is a whole grain. It’s a plain grain of rice with only the outer husk removed. To produce normal, white rice, the next 2 layers (the bran and the germ) are removed, leaving just the starchy white center. While brown and white rice have similar amounts of calories and carbohydrates, brown rice has considerably more nutrients, including fiber, magnesium, healthy fatty acids, and much more. It’s a little chewier than white rice and has a mild, nutty, flavor. It’s definitely a great way to add healthy grains to your diet.
The problem is that it can be a little tricky to cook. It’s not hard, by any means. You can certainly just follow the instructions on the bag, but I find the results are incredibly varied. Sometimes it’s still crunchy when it’s done, other times it’s really gummy and sticky. I almost always have a layer of rice stuck like super glue to the bottom of my pan. For me it’s really hit and miss when I cook it in a pot on the stove. However, using this method, it’s perfect every single time. The grains are perfectly textured and fluffy, and I don’t have to think about it since it’s just sitting in my oven. Here’s how it’s done:
Place your dry brown rice in an 8×8 pan.
Combine 2 1/3 cups water with just a couple teaspoons of oil. Bring it to a boil, and then add a little salt. You can also use broth for a little extra flavor.
Pour it over the rice and give it a mix.
Cover the pan tightly with foil. You don’t want any of that moisture escaping and evaporating during cooking, so wrap it down tight.
Pop the pan in the oven and leave it there for about an hour. When it comes out, remove the foil,
and give it a quick fluff.
Immediately cover the pan with a clean kitchen towel. Notice how I pulled the towel tight over the top and tucked the edges underneath the pan. That’s so the towel doesn’t actually sit on the rice and just stick to it.
Normally, you’d just leave a pot of rice with the lid on, but what happens is that all of that hot steam evaporates and has nowhere to go. So it collects on the underside of the lid and then falls back into the rice, making it sticky and gummy. The towel allows the moisture to stay in the pan, keeping the rice moist and fluffy, but excess steam is absorbed into the towel.
The result is simply, brown rice perfected. Sometimes simple tricks are the best.
This is a great little recipe to print out and tape to your rice container, or on the inside of a cabinet for easy reference.
And if you want to double it, just use a 9×13 pan, and the baking time remains the same. You can also use a ceramic pan with a tight-fitting lid.
Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice
Perfected by America’s Test Kitchen
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 1/3 cups water
2 teaspoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread rice in an 8-inch square baking dish.
2. Bring water and butter or oil to a boil, either in a saucepan or in the microwave. Keep an eye on it and take it off heat immediately after it starts boiling. Immediately stir in salt and pour water over rice in baking dish. Cover baking dish tightly with 2 layers of foil, or heavy-duty foil. Transfer baking dish to oven and bake rice until tender, about 1 hour.
3. Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Fluff rice with fork, then cover dish with kitchen towel and let rice stand for 5 minutes. uncover and let rice stand 5 minutes longer. Serve immediately.
Questions & Reviews
I think I cooked it a little too long because it was a little sticky. I usually make a big batch of brown rice on Sundays so that dinner assembly during the week can be done in minutes. I will echo the comment about making rice like pasta – the grains stay separate a lot of the starch gets rinsed away. This recipe from Saveur works (if I have leftover stock, I’ll throw that in too)
THANK YOU for this fabulous tip! I tried it tonight (with the brown rice that sits in my pantry and doesn’t get used because I can’t cook it right) and it absolutely worked! It was the perfect texture. I even had to rush the last part with covering it with the dish towel and letting it sit again, and it was still great.
As someone who often doesn’t plan enough time for my brown rice to cook, I found the boiling it like pasta works great every time and it’s much quicker. Boil your rice in a big pot of water for 30 minutes. Drain it and immediately put it back in the pot and cover it with the lid. Let it sit for 10 minutes. It turns out perfect…everytime.
Can’t wait to try this! Sounds & looks so easy!!
Is there a brand of brown rice that you recommend? I’ve tried just a brand I found on the shelf in Wal-mart but I didn’t like the taste. Is there brown rice out there that tastes better than sawdust?
I’m not really loyal to any brand, I usually buy what’s on sale 🙂
Tried this last night and it was perfect. I work in a school cafeteria and had to switch to brown rice but could never get it right. I can not wait to try this at school. Who knows maybe the kids will finally eat it 🙂
Hooray. I just got a big bag and wasn’t sure how to make it fluffy and not sticky mushy yucky! Thanks! I love your tips!
Somehow I seemed to mess this up. Not entirely, but my rice seemed to be a bit more crunchy than I thought it would be. The water content seemed low to me compared to normal rice, but judging by the fact that everyone else had success I must be wrong. Do you know why mine would be crunchy? I followed the recipe exactly. Maybe my foil wasn’t tight enough.
Not enough water or your oven was too hot. I’ve overbaked mine before, whoops.
Do you think it would work on multi-grain also? I struggle to get soft multi-grain, even in the rice cooker. I use the Organic Harvest Medley.
This is perfect every time. Chicken broth gives it more flavor and I double the recipe to freeze the extra for future use ( just let it cool first).
My pampered chef deep baker covered with foil and then the top is foolproof in the oven.