How Much Water to Put in Rice Cooker

Just about anyone who owns a rice cooker would agree with me when I say a rice cooker is an amazing piece of kitchen utensil, you can cook just about any type of rice with a rice cooker from white rice to brown rice, medium-grain rice, sushi rice, you can even cook up some oats or porridge with your trusty rice cooker.

Despite the versatility of rice cookers, many home cooks often request to know the rice to water ratio when using a rice cooker, if you are one of the people who also ask this question, you have come to the right place, because you are not just going to find out how much water you need to cook different varieties of rice, but you will also get some helpful tips and guidelines that would help elevate your rice game and hopefully make your next rice dish the best one you’ve ever made.

Rice Nutrition Facts

Tips to Cook Rice in a Rice Cooker

Cooking rice in a rice cooker should be a very exciting thing to do as it does not require you to babysit the rice while it cooks. Here are some helpful tips that would make your rice cooker experience even better;

Measure your rice – before you can proceed to cook rice with a rice cooker, you must first know the quantity of rice you want to cook, the next thing to do from there would be to measure it. Every rice cooker comes with a small plastic scoop that is used for measurement, the reason you should always use this scoop is that it has been pre-measured to fit the scale inside the rice cooker, if you lost your scoop, or you do not have it, you can always purchase a new one from Amazon.

Rinse rice – Rinsing the rice before you cook it would ensure you do not have sticky rice. When you rinse the rice in water, excess starch is washed away from the rice, the starch is what makes rice sticky, I like my rice grains separated.

Use the same amount of liquid as the rice used – one of the most asked questions about rice cookers is “how much water do I need to cook it?” Well for most rice varieties, you should use the same measurements as the rice you want to cook, so for 3 cups of rice, use 3 cups of water. If you want your rice to be more flavorful, you can use chicken or beef broth in place of water.

Your rice grains matter – most rice cookers come with different cooking options, you would find options for white rice, sushi rice, brown rice, and so on. Let’s say you want to cook white rice, you should stick to the measurements of white rice, you should also change the setting to “white rice” before you cook. If you have a different model of rice cooker where you don’t have these options, just hit start and you should be good to go.

Give the rice a good stir before cooking – I don’t think anyone would like to have their rice cooked unevenly, so before you close the lid on your rice cooker, it is good to give the rice a good stir, you could also shake the rice cooker to level the rice on the bottom, this helps the rice to cook thoroughly and evenly.

Let the rice rest after cooking – after cooking rice with a rice cooker, you may want to dive in without hesitation, well this would be wrong. You should allow the rice to rest with the lid off, this allows the steam to cook off which will result in much fluffier rice with separate grains, you do not have to worry about the rice getting cold because when the rice is done cooking, the rice cooker will move into a “keep warm” mode.

Stir again before serving –  the last thing to do before serving your deliciously cooked rice is to give it another good stir. Since the rice cooked is keeping the rice warm, stirring it would ensure the rice doesn’t burn and it will also help separate the grains that are stuck together.

Rice-to-Water Ratio When Cooking Rice in a Rice Cooker

Type Of Rice	Amount Of Water
Long grain white rice	1 cup of water for 1 cup of rice
Basmati rice	1 cup of water for 1 cup of rice
Brown rice	2¼ cups of water for 1 cup of rice
Jasmine rice	1 cup of water for 1 cup of rice