How to Cook Fluffy Rice with Tips (White AND Brown Rice)

If you want to make perfect rice every time without a rice cooker, this post is for you. It covers which type of rice is best for fluffy rice, the best water to rice ratio, how long to cook it, and 6 tips for making perfect fluffy rice every time.

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Want to make fluffy rice perfectly the first time? I want to help with that. So, check out this Table of Contents to see which sections of this post will help you the most.

Jump to:

• 🤷‍♀️ What are the types of rice?
• 🍚 Types of Rice That Cook Up Fluffy
• 🍚 What's the difference between Basmati and Jasmine Rice?
• 👩‍🍳 Do I Need to Rinse Rice Before Cooking?
• 👩‍🍳 How Much Water Should I Use to Cook Rice?
• 👩‍🍳 How Long Should I Cook Rice?
• 📝 Instructions Overview
• 🎯 Six Tips For Perfect Fluffy Rice
• 😋 Ways to Make Rice Flavorful
• Perfect Fluffy Rice with Tips (White AND Brown Rice)

I make a lot of rice. It's a perfect side dish for me with veggies of course, and I add it to this broccoli cranberry salad and vegetable rice soup. But it's also a fabulous canvas for infusing flavors. For example, I toss it with green mint chutney and top it with tomatoes and nectarines in the summer. But I also love to make biryani, mujadara, and this herbed rice salad.

🤷‍♀️ What are the types of rice?

Not all types of rice cook up fluffy. So it's important to start with the types of rice, and which types can be fluffy. Just like when selecting between the various types of lentils, each has its own flavor, texture, recommended uses, and cooking instructions. It can be confusing!

Rice that cooks up fluffy, are all classified as long-grain rice. Shorter grain types of rice such as arborio, a medium-grain rice, and sushi rice, a short-grain rice, will never cook up fluffy due to their physical composition.

Sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice or sweet rice, is an exception. It's a long-grain rice, but as it's name suggests, it's sticky. That's because of its unique starch content that makes it super sticky when steamed.

Black rice, also called Forbidden rice because it was reserved for the emperor and his family in earlier times, comes in long-, medium-, and short-grain forms, but is most often seen in medium. It tends to be sticky when steamed regardless of its length.

Wild rice is a wild variety of semi-aquatic grass which is native to America and Canada, and genetically differs from rice varieties.

Below are the types of rice that, when prepared correctly, cook up fluffy.

🍚 What's the difference between Basmati and Jasmine Rice?

They both produce a fluffy cooked rice, but Basmati rice has the edge.

Jasmine rice is grown in a humid climate, and holds a little more moisture. This means it cooks up a little softer, and just a tiny bit stickier. Basmati rice cooks up drier, and therefore fluffier.

If you want your best fluffy rice, use Basmati rice.

👩‍🍳 Do I Need to Rinse Rice Before Cooking?

Yes and no. It's less important to rinse long-grain rice before cooking than for medium- or short-grain types of rice, as it removes some of the extra starch in the grain. But I believe rinsing rice before cooking it is a good general practice to follow.

I place the rice in a fine mesh strainer, and rinse under a stream of cold water while I feather through the rice with my fingers. It only needs a minute. At the most.

👩‍🍳 How Much Water Should I Use to Cook Rice?

That depends on whether the rice is long-, medium-, or short-grain, and if you're cooking white rice or brown. Bottom line, follow the directions on the bag. But a good rule of thumb with long-grain white rice is 1 ½ as much water as rice, and 2 ½ times more water when cooking brown rice.

Water to Rice Ratio (white rice): 1 ½ cups of water per 1 cup of rice. Water to Rice Ratio (brown rice): 2 ½ cups of water per 1 cup of rice.

But many recipes on the internet state that the water to rice ratio is 2 to 1. Why is that? There are a few reasons, IMO:

• The amount of water needed can vary according to the age of the dried rice. The older the rice is, the drier it is, and more water it needs.
• Not having enough water means the rice sticks to the bottom of the pot, and may scorch. And whoever washes the pots and pans in your house will not be happy.
• This rice to water ratio is easy to remember 😁.

But using too much water means you must drain the cooked rice using a fine mesh strainer before quickly returning it to the pot to steam. It also risks soggy rice. Particularly if you don't drain the excess water off as soon as the rice is cooked.

👩‍🍳 How Long Should I Cook Rice?

Just as with the rice to water ratio, the cooking time depends on whether the rice is long-, medium-, or short-grain, and if you're cooking white rice or brown.

It also depends on whether you lightly toast the rice first in a little olive oil or butter (see the below Six Tips for Perfect Fluffy Rice). Toasting the rice shortens the cook time by 5 minutes for white rice, and by 10 minutes for brown rice.

Bottom line, follow the directions on the package, but here's a good guideline if you choose not to toast the rice first:

Cook time for white long-grain rice: 15 minutes. Cook time for brown long-grain rice: 50 minutes.

📝 Instructions Overview

🎯 Six Tips For Perfect Fluffy Rice

Cooking rice should be easy, and yet we often end up with sticky rice when we want it fluffy. Here are 6 tips for ensuring you always end up with tender rice that's fluffy.

1. Use a heavy bottomed pot to prevent burning or scorching. It's harder to control a heated surface that is thin.
   • This is important to the finished texture of the rice.
2. Sauté the rice in a little olive oil until lightly toasted before adding the water.
   • This not only kicks up the flavor of the rice, it also coats the grains, allowing them to slide against each other without developing starchiness. So, even if you don't sauté the rice first, still add that little bit of oil.
   • As a side benefit, this sauté step also shortens the cook time (see the above section on cooking time for rice).
3. Use the correct water to rice ratio (see the above section on how much water to use for white rice versus brown rice).
   • Too little liquid can result in partially cooked rice stuck to the bottom of the pot, a seemingly permanent condition.
   • Too much liquid can give you soggy rice.
4. Cover the pot while the rice is simmering and be sure to keep it at a low simmer.
5. Don't be tempted to stir the rice while it cooks. Ever.
6. When the rice is done, remove from the pot from the heat and keep it covered for 10 minutes before tossing it with a fork.
   • This gives the rice time to evenly distribute its moisture. Otherwise the rice on top will be dry, and rice on the bottom will be wet.

As a note, you can also rinse the rice under cold water to remove excess starch. But, while rinsing the grain is a good practice, this is less important to getting a fluffy rice when cooking long-grain rice.

However, if you want to reduce the starch in medium-grain rice such as arborio, or short-grain rice, soak the uncooked rice grains for 30 minutes, followed by a thorough rinse.

😋 Ways to Make Rice Flavorful

• Toast uncooked rice grains in a little olive oil or butter for 5 - 10 minutes before adding water.
• Use homemade vegetable stock or Better Than Bouillon - Roasted Vegetable Paste in place of water.
• Add salt to the water when it's added to the rice. This ensures an even flavoring throughout the rice. This is the time to add other spices, such as cardamom or cinnamon.
• Make chipotle seasoned rice by adding dried chipotle powder and a few other spices.
• Add fresh herbs to the rice while it steams at the end. Fresh thyme leaves are a particularly wonderful addition at this time for both white and brown rice.
• Stir in some herb compound butter.