How to Make Perfect White Rice

You can finally make long grain white rice perfect every time without a rice cooker!

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I have finally mastered white rice.

This may sound unimpressive but if you cook rice without a rice cooker then you know perfect rice is worth celebrating - raising the roof if you will.

I have tried many recipes with the promise of perfect rice only to end up with white mush or even worse - part mush, part crunch. (How is that even possible?)

So I did what any desperate cook would do - I bought a butt ton of rice, experimented and figured it out. I now use this recipe every time I cook rice and the best part is you don't have to measure! I know I'm blowing minds here. (Although for the sake of this recipe I did indeed measure.)

Typically white rice to water ratio is 2:1 but we needn't worry about that here.

What you will need for this white rice recipe

You only need three kitchen items:

1. Handheld strainer
2. Sauce-pot
3. Large Bowl

And three ingredients:

1. Long grain white rice
2. Water
3. Kosher Salt

If you don't have a handheld strainer this is what it looks like. I love mine. It's great for draining beans, pasta and rice.

How to cook white rice on the stove

Here's the method:

1. Soak white rice in a large bowl with cold water. Cover it by an inch.
2. Meanwhile bring a sauce pot of water to a boil.
3. Once water is boiling drain bowl of soaking rice into handheld strainer.
4. Carefully dump strained rice into boiling water.
5. Boil until it's perfectly cooked - for me this was exactly eleven and a half minutes. You can test how long to cook rice by trying a grain or two. Simply use a slotted spoon to catch a few pieces of rice.
6. Carefully pour pot of rice back into strainer. Let rice sit for a minute to drain all the liquid.
7. Throw rice in a large bowl and season with salt.

It really comes together quickly.

What do with leftover rice:

I like to cook a big batch of rice. You typically get three times the amount of dry rice you cook with.

For example in this recipe 1 cup of long grain rice yields about 3 cups of cooked rice. You can easily double this recipe. Just be sure your sauce pot and bowl are large enough.

I love love love white rice so half the time I make this recipe I don't even measure and I know it will get used up. I just dump some rice in a bowl to soak and use the method I explained above.

Rice can last up to seven days in the fridge if stored in an airtight container. You can learn more about storing rice here.

A couple of my favorite ways to use white rice:

• Alongside this Creamy Chickpea Curry
• Underneath a Spicy Black Bean Burger smothered in Chipotle Mayo
• Basically with any Mexican, Asian or Indian dishes