How long to cook brown rice
How long to cook brown rice
Brown and wild rice take far longer than white and need more water. Simmer times and ratios for each.
Simmering time on the lowest heat with the lid on, then 10 minutes resting off the heat.
How to cook brown rice so it is not crunchy
- Rinse it, briefly. Thirty seconds under cold water is enough. Brown rice has far less loose surface starch than white, so the long rinsing that white rice needs does nothing here except waste time.
- Use more water than you think. 1 part rice to 2.25 parts water. The bran layer is the whole difficulty: it is intact on brown rice, it repels water, and the grain has to hydrate through it. Less water and the centre is still hard when the pan runs dry.
- Bring it to the boil uncovered, then drop it right down. You want the barest simmer once the lid goes on. A rolling boil under a lid pushes starchy water out around the rim and cooks the outside of each grain far faster than the middle.
- Do not lift the lid. Every look costs steam, and steam is what is doing the work. Forty five minutes, lid on, no exceptions.
- Rest it off the heat for ten minutes. This is the step people skip and it is not optional with brown rice. The grains at the top are drier than the ones at the bottom, and ten minutes of trapped steam evens them out. Fluff with a fork only after that.
Soaking cuts the cooking time substantially. An hour in cold water gets you to about 30 minutes on the hob instead of 45, because the bran has already begun to soften and let water through. Overnight works too and does no harm. Drain the soaking water and use fresh.
If it is still firm when the water is gone, add a splash of boiling water, put the lid back on and give it five more minutes. Undercooked brown rice does not fix itself while resting the way slightly undercooked white rice does.
More rice times
Common questions
Why does brown rice take so much longer?
The bran layer is still on it. Water has to work through that layer before it can reach and soften the starch underneath, and bran is both tough and water-repellent. Milling it off is exactly what makes white rice fast.
Does soaking help?
Yes, more than with white rice. An hour in cold water cuts perhaps ten minutes off the simmer and gives a more even result. Reduce the water slightly if you soak, since the grains come in already carrying some.
Can I cook brown and white rice together?
Not in one pot from the start. Brown needs roughly three times as long, so the white would be destroyed. Start the brown, then add the white for the last twelve minutes if you want them finishing together.
Egg times come from the thermal-diffusion equation for a spherical egg published by Charles D. H. Williams (University of Exeter), calibrated so a large fridge-cold egg at sea level matches the times cooks actually use. Size, starting temperature and altitude then follow from the physics. Treat the result as a very good starting point, not a guarantee, because pans, hobs and eggs all vary.