Cooking rice is easy, like seriously easy. Even if you’re a newbie in the kitchen, you can – even without rice cooker! Not convinced? Well, keep reading and learn how to cook rice in just 4 easy steps.

Here’s what you’ll need – the rice, a pot or skillet with a cover, and water. If you have rice cooker, then even better, you just make cooking rice even a whole lot easier. But for this purpose, let’s stick with the regular pot and stove.

Where talking about long, medium, or short grain white rice here. (Brown rice is cooked pretty much the same, although it requires a lot more water and takes longer to cook – so to not confuse you with that, let’s stick with white rice for the mean time)

Your pot or skillet doesn’t have to be non-stick – although it will help of course, especially for the nervous cooker. I observed that they tend to panic when they feel like they’re rice is either sticking to the bottom or worst – burning.

Rice can be cook with just plain water – especially when you intend to make it a side dish. It can be bland but that what makes it perfect for accompaniment in really saucy or strong-flavored main dish. Otherwise, you can use broth as well. Some also add a pinch of salt or sometimes even cooking oil.

So, once you gather everything that you need (basically, you literally need just three), it’s now time to learn how to cook rice.

4 Steps on How to Cook Rice

1. Measure the rice.
2. Wash the rice.
3. Measure the water.
4. Cook the rice.

No kidding, this is how easy it is to cook rice.

1. Measure the rice.

Depending on how many people are you cooking for, measure the rice by using a cup. Just keep in mind that 1 cup of uncooked rice can yield up to 3 cups cooked rice. So be prepared, that rice grain will balloon up exponentially once they’re cooked.

Before you complain that you don’t have a measuring cup at home, then use whatever you have – a coffee cup will do, or a small bowl, a mug perhaps. Just keep in mind that whatever amount of rice you’re using multiply that 3 times so you can gauge how much cooked rice you’ll be getting.

2. Wash the rice.

Washing the rice involves literally washing the rice grain with water. Simply fill the pot with water and agitate or stir the rice grains using your hands. Empty the cloudy water out and start over again until the water runs considerably clearer – say up to 3 or 4 times. Others prefer to wash their rice until the water is actually clear. This process gets rid of the extra starch which makes your rice fluffier.

Now, if you’re having trouble draining the water in between washing, simply use a strainer if you have one. Don’t worry too much, once you get the hang of it, you’ll be washing and draining rice like a pro.

3. Measure the water.

Now that you have washed your rice, it’s time to add water. First check the packaging for instructions for adding water. But more likely than not, rice usually needs half a cup more water than the rice – so if you’re cooking 2 cups of rice, you’ll need 2 ½ cups of water, if you’re making 4 cups of rice, then it’s 4 ½ cups of water. The same thing applies even if you did use a small bowl or even a glass – just add half more of water to your rice. (If you measure 1 bowl of rice, then use 1 ½ bowl of water)

Now while the above measurement works, you also have to adjust it if you prefer a tender or chewier rice. So, it’s really up to you, you can go from 2:1 or 1:1 water to rice ratio. After a few tries, you’ll surely find which water measurement system works perfectly for you.

4. Cook the rice.

Now that you have your rice with the water ready, it’s now time to cook the rice. Cover your pot or skillet and simply wait for it to boil – medium to high heat. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat and allow it to simmer until all water is gone (this may take about 10 to 15 minutes). Turn off the heat and let it sit there for about 10 to 15 minutes more – it will continuously cook.

Avoid checking your pot every so often while you’re cooking your rice. You want it covered as much as possible. Just give it a quick check once you can hear it boiling (sometimes you’ll notice the steam escaping from the lid), and then quickly adjust the heat, cover it again, and try not to disturb until you’re ready to serve them.

Now all that’s left is for you to serve your steaming rice! With the use of fork, gently fluff it a bit, scoop a good serving to your plate and tadaa!

Now that you already have an idea on how to cook rice, are you ready to give it a try? Worry not, because once you get the hang of it, you’ll be making rice left and right even with your eyes closed.

And to inspire you even more – did you know that you can then easily make rice dishes once you perfected your rice-making skills?

For starters – fried rice! You can simply saute whatever meat or veggies you want to accompany your fried rice (say shrimp or ground pork or bacon, and then minced scallions or carrots or bell peppers) with onion and garlic, add cooked rice, salt and pepper (or soy sauce instead of salt), give it a good stirring, and you’re done!

Another super quick and easy rice dish – yellow rice or turmeric rice. Simply saute onion and garlic in oil, add uncooked rice, sprinkle turmeric powder, give it a good stirring, season with salt and pepper, then add whatever broth you have (measurement is the same as you would normally cook rice, except you’re using broth instead of plain water). Cook per usual and serve with your choice protein or veggies, or both!