Whether it’s due to over-ordering or preparing excess food, in any case, the result is the leftover rice. Upon storage in the refrigerator, these leftover rice becomes cold, dry, and starts to form clumps.
It’s much difficult and unlikely to consume rice in such a state unless it is adequately reheated.
This article will go over the top three methods of reheating rice to yield yummy, fluffy, and warm rice.
But remember to consume the refrigerated cooked rice in less than five days or else Bacillus cereus bacteria may grow, which can make you sick.
Before discussing the reheating methods in detail, let’s first have a quick look at storing rice?
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How to Store the Rice:
Rice is not advised to be left for a long time at room temperature. Doing so develops many bacteria inside the rice.
Thus, it’s advised to store the rice inside the covered container and should be kept refrigerated.
Additionally, the cooked rice must be consumed within 4-5 days if kept in the refrigerator. Else, they will start to develop bacteria and will turn you sick upon consuming it.
Although, if kept in the freezer, it can last weeks. But make sure that you cool the rice before storing them in the freezer. Also, it’s great to store the rice covered in the freezer just like a refrigerator.
Best Methods to Reheat Rice:
Following are the top methods to reheat rice:
Reheating Rice in the Oven:
The oven is an excellent way of reheating rice. Especially if you want to reheat a large quantity of rice. Oven yields excellent quality warm and yummy rice and is a speedy way of reheating rice if done in bulk.
- Excellent for large quantities
- Best results
- Takes much time
- The oven is not available for most people
Follow these easy steps to reheat rice in the oven:
Step 1: Prepare Rice
Try to get a shallow dish. To reheat leftover rice in the oven, it’s essential to restore its moisture as the leftover rice loses much moisture.
To ensure proper and even reheating, it’s essential to drizzle a little water on the rice.
Also, if you want an even better taste, then a little butter will also work fantastic. Place all the rice in an oven-friendly dish.
You may use any material unless it’s oven-friendly. Next, add a little bit of water. Maybe a few teaspoons.
After that, spread the rice evenly in the shallow baking dish. And make sure it’s nicely moist. Then cover the dish with foil and place it in the oven
Step 2: Oven
Then start the oven. Make sure the reheated rice in the oven is intended to be consumed immediately or after some time.
Next, bake the rice in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit and for 20 minutes.
Step 3: Serve
Finally, after that time, check if they are reheated nicely. If it requires a little more reheating, give it another around a few minutes until it’s appropriately warm.
Finally, serve with your favorite dish and if there is still some time in serving, keep them covered in foil so that they remain warm.
Time Required: 20-25 minutes
Reheating Rice in the Microwave:
Perhaps, the microwave is the fastest way of reheating rice. Nothing can beat the class of speedy and easy procedure of reheating rice in the microwave oven.
- Fastest way of reheating
- Easy to implement
- Easily tool availability
- Prepares small quantity at a time
Just follow these easy steps, and you will have nicely reheated rice in no time.
Step 1: Prepare And Make It Moist
Take a microwave-friendly dish. Commonly the ceramics and glass are found safe to be used in the microwave.
Then place the rice in the microwave-friendly dish. Afterward, heating in an oven requires water to get moist. The same is with the microwave.
Drizzle some water splashes on the rice such that it’s appropriately moist. Make sure that you don’t put so much water in the rice.
Doing so will even worsen the taste of the rice. Try to break the large lumps of rice by using a spoon or fork. Then place a microwave cover/lid on the rice.
Step 2: Microwave
After the plate/ dish is made ready by making rice moist, it’s finally ready to be placed in the microwave.
Then heat it for a minute or so. Make sure to see the microwave manual for accurate time and temperature.
Once the timer is off, carefully check if the rice is evenly reheated. If not, then give another small round of a few seconds.
Step 3: Serve
Finally, serve the rice as they are now nicely reheated and ready to be consumed.
Time required: 2-3 minutes at maximum
Reheating on the Stovetop:
The last method of reheating rice is by the stovetop. This one is straightforward to implement and is an excellent option if you don’t have access to a microwave or baking oven.
- Easy to implement
- Easily tool availability
- Requires supervision and attention
Follow these steps to reheat rice on the stove.
Step 1: Find The Right Utensil
Find a saucepan big enough to cater to all the rice. Put all the refrigerated rice in the saucepan. Break the larger lumps of rice.
Like the above two methods, put some water per the rice’s quantity and cover the saucepan with a lid.
Or, you can also take a flat skillet and spread rice evenly on it. Add water splashes to make it reheat evenly.
Step 2: Reheat
Now let it rest on low flame and with a closed lid. Continue for some minutes until they are properly ready to be served.
Don’t forget to flip/stir a little bit for better warmth at halftime. The flame will create steam that will nicely reheat the rice.
Step 3: Serve
Finally, carefully take out the reheated rice and serve as per your requirement.
Time required: 5 minutes on average
Worth Reading:
Which Method is the Best for Reheating Rice?
The right choice depends on the tools you have and the amount of rice you want to reheat. If you have a large amount of rice and have the oven faculty, reheating in the oven is the best method.
And if you have a small quantity of rice and are willing to save your time, then microwave your rice, as it yields yummy and warm rice in no time.
Conclusion:
Finally, to conclude this article, we went over the best ways of reheating rice. These methods included the microwave, oven, and stovetop.
Undoubtedly, there are many other methods to reheating rice; however, these are the best ones as they yield the best results.
In our opinion, the best way to reheat rice is by microwaving. The microwave is indeed the fastest method of reheating the rice. The best part of reheating in the microwave is that it requires significantly less or zero preparation.
All you need to do is place the rice in a container, make it moist, and let the microwave complete its work.
The second method we saw was reheating rice in the oven. The oven is excellent in reheating large quantities of rice.
However, it takes a little more time and is undoubtedly not accessible for most people. But it is undoubtedly worth it.
All you need to do is prepare the rice by making it moist. Then place them in the oven, and it’s ready to be served.
And finally, we saw the last method that was reheating the rice on the stovetop. This was again a straightforward method and used all the tools that are readily available in every kitchen.
