perfect stovetop rice

The simplest things are sometimes the scariest to cook. Take a plain pot of stovetop rice. There’s no hiding behind fancy ingredients or a pretty presentation. It’s just rice and water. And when it goes wrong, it really shows.

Are your grains undercooked in the center and mealy on the outside? Is your pot one big, sticky clump? Did it look perfect when you first opened the pot, but proceeded to break up into millions of tiny mushy grains upon fluffing? Are the grains dry and impossible to eat without drinking big gulps of water between bites? We’re going to fix all that.

Sure, you could buy a rice cooker. But you don’t need to! All of these problems are actually very easy to avoid if you know what you’re doing. Or even if you don’t know what you’re doing, if you simply follow my stovetop rice recipe, you’ll be just fine.

After lots of testing, I’ve landed on my favorite rice:water ratio. And I’ve included two sets of measurements: one for a small pot and one for a medium pot, so you don’t have to scale anything. Whether you’re making a little or a lot, you’ll find exactly what you need.

Jump to the recipe if you’re ready to get cooking, or read on for a few best practices.

How to make perfect stovetop rice:

Everything you need is in the recipe below, but here are a few key principles for making stovetop rice:

1. Know what rice you’re working with.

Know whether you want rice that cooks up sticky and starchy or separate and distinct. Short-grain rice is best for sticky results, while long-grain rice is best for fluffy, distinct grains. Many of these principles apply to both short and long grain (although arborio/risotto is completely different), but the recipe in this post is specially formulated for long-grain varieties, like jasmine or basmati.

2. Use the right ratio.

When you use the right ratio of water to rice, you don’t have to mess with straining it afterwards. Use a recipe with solid ratios (like the one in this post).

3. Rinse your rice until the water runs clear.

Rinsing prevents the distinct grains from sticking together and getting gummy. If you don’t like running the tap, you can give it a short 2-minute soak, agitate, and then change the water once or twice afterwards.

4. Add fat and salt.

A little salt and fat go a long way. Butter or olive oil both work, but use less olive oil and more butter. Butter has less fat per tablespoon.

5. Cook stovetop rice over low heat.

Once the water comes to a boil, drop the heat to low. You’re looking for a quiet simmer with just the faintest wisp of steam sneaking out of the side of the pot. The lid shouldn’t be rattling or bubbling over. But on the other hand, it shouldn’t be totally silent and steamless.

6. Keep that lid on!

This is the hardest part. Once the lid goes on, don’t lift it. Not during cooking, but especially not right after turning off the heat.

If you must lift the lid while it cooks (to check on whether it’s simmering, e.g.), do so as quickly as possible. If you leave the lid off while it cooks, too much water will evaporate. Adding more water back in will disrupt the grain structure and the cooking process.

But once it stops cooking, do not lift the lid under any circumstances until it is done resting. The rice needs to coast and finish cooking with its own steam. If you lift the lid while it’s supposed to be resting, it’ll never be the same afterwards.

7. Hands off that spoon!

You can give it a stir right at the beginning. But once the rice has started cooking, do not stir it for any reason. If you stir it, it will get mushy, gummy, and undercooked. That’s because stirring it mashes everything together and then the steam has trouble reaching the mid and top layers of rice. By not stirring, you maintain a light, airy stricture with lots of space between the grains. And lots of space means there’s plenty of room for the steam to move around. Think of it like a house of cards that you don’t want to mess up.

More rice options!

Here are a bunch of my favorite recipes featuring rice! If you want an easy way to elevate a simple pot of rice, check out my rice with vermicelli recipe.

If you’re looking for a great recipe for a simple pot of medium or short grain rice, Just One Cookbook has a bunch of great guides. Here is her instant pot rice recipe, her rice cooker recipe, and her stovetop recipe.

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