Bring water to a boil, then add the rice. Fill the pot with water (no need to measure) and salt it — just like you do with pasta water. Bring it to a boil and then carefully add your desired amount of rice.
Cook the rice with chicken or vegetable broth.
If not, I'll add a dab of chicken or vegetable bouillon. I sometimes find that using 100% chicken broth can make the rice feel gummy or overly-starchy — personally, I usually go for a 50/50 mix of broth and water.
Whatever the case, if your rice is looking dried out, or the texture is still hard or crunchy when all the liquid has been absorbed, add up to ½ cup water and return to a simmer with the lid on. Be patient. Don't raise the temperature to rush the rice—that'll just put you right back where you started.
What Causes Mushy Rice? Mushy or soggy rice is simply overcooked rice that has absorbed too much water. Water over-absorption causes the rice grains to split open, ruining the texture and creating a starchy, gummy result.
When rice is shipped, grains jostle around and rub against one another; some of the outer starch scratches off. When the now starch-coated rice hits the boiling water, the starch blooms and gets sticky.
Bring to a boil, then cover pot with a tight-fitting lid and reduce heat to low, aiming for the lowest possible flame. Cook rice, undisturbed—that means NOT opening the lid!
Simmer until water is completely absorbed and rice is tender – about 15-25 minutes (will depend on size and freshness of rice). Drain off any excess water if there is any (there shouldn't be).
Why Your Rice Boils Over. Rice grains are coated in lots of starch — more than you'd think possible for such tiny grains. When boiled in water, those starches form big, soapy, angry bubbles that steam pushes up and out of the pot.
You can make great rice without soaking it, but if you want to create the ultimate rice, soak it. Soaking rice is just one of the tricks to keeping rice just the right amount of sticky. Soaking any variety of rice covered in water for just 30 minutes plumps the grains of rice.
Rice is like pasta—you have to salt the water, or else you'll have bland rice. I put a ½ tsp. to a tsp for each cup of rice." Start with a boil, then bring it down to a low heat. If you cook rice too quickly, the water will evaporate and the rice will be undercooked.
Best way to rinse rice
Gently swirl the grains in cold water. Note that the murkiness will not subside much and the water will not become completely clear. For best results, complete washing the rice in less than 30 seconds to prevent it from absorbing the starchy water.
Add a minimum of 500ml of water with the washed rice to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Stir and cook for 10-12 minutes over a medium heat, uncovered. Drain, cover and leave to stand for 3 minutes. Fluff it up with a fork and serve.
Simmer gently for 10 mins and do not take the lid off.
Check the rice is cooked at the end by trying a grain - this should also be indicated by the appearance of small holes on the surface and all the water having been absorbed. Keep cooking for another couple of mins if it isn't quite ready, then turn the heat off.
Check at 18 minutes.
For long grain white rice, I always set a timer for 18, knowing that it could need another minute or two. Let the rice be your indicator, not the water. If there's a little water leftover, it's totally fine! Just tilt the saucepan slightly to drain it out.
After running a series of tests, we confirmed that rice absorbs water in a 1:1 ratio, no matter the volume. So in our original rice pilaf recipe, which calls for 1 1/2 cups of rice and 2 1/4 cups of water, the rice absorbed 1 1/2 cups of water. The remaining 3/4 cup of water evaporated.
The secret to making perfectly steamed rice is to make sure you cover the rice with 1 inch of water above the surface of the rice. The OCD side of you may want an exact ratio of water to rice, but trust me… this method works!
If you're cooking sticky rice, you might wonder if rinsing away the excess starch will reduce its tacky texture. According to Sharma, you shouldn't be concerned about that outcome. "Even with a short grain like sticky rice, washing doesn't affect the much-desired stickiness," he says.
As I mentioned above, sticky rice overcooks very easily. So if we're going to cook sticky rice IN water it's important that you do not accidentally use too much water by not draining well enough.
Mushy or soggy rice is usually caused by two things: the rice is overcooked, and too much liquid is absorbed into the rice. When the rice overcooks and absorbs excess water, the grains can split open, increasing the starchy and sticky texture.
The rice to water ratio is to use 2 cups water for every 1 cup white rice. In general, use double the amount of water than rice. If you're making 2 cups rice, use 4 cups water. This ratio is for white rice only.
That friction creates the starchy dust that coats the rice, and it's that starch that is responsible for the grains clumping together and sometimes giving the finished pot a gummy texture. Rinsing or washing rice removes that excess starch, resulting in grains that are more separate when cooked.