How To Cook Brown Basmati Rice On Stove Top (Video)

If you are looking how to cook brown basmati rice on stove top using a pot or large pan or how to cook brown basmati rice without a rice cooker or pressure cooker, here is the guide or easiest recipe for you.

What Is Brown Basmati Rice?

Brown basmati rice is a long grain rice popular in India.

It is also available as extra long grain rice which is even longer than the long grain rice!

Basmati rice is an aromatic rice available as white rice or brown rice and the brown basmati rice is more nutritious and healthy because it contains the outer bran which is full of fibers.

Cooked brown basmati rice is great for lunch or dinner, you can enjoy it with any vegetarian curry or you can use it in many brown rice recipes calling for cooked brown rice.

Basmati rice is popular in India though white basmati rice is most often used in recipes like pulao, biryani etc.

Rice cooker is helpful to make the perfect rice, but if you have only a pot, don’t worry, you can still make the perfect rice every time.

In fact, you can use a rice cooker, a good quality pressure cooker or a programmable instant pot to cook the brown rice more efficiently.

See here how to cook brown basmati rice using instant pot more easily!

However, you can still cook the perfect brown basmati rice in a pot or pan if you follow the directions here.

The important thing is to have a pot (or pan) which is large enough to hold the cooked rice. It is best to have a pan with a wide base which is enough to hold the cooked rice.

See my post here on how to cook white basmati rice without a rice cooker for the best tips and instructions which will help you to cook white basmati rice in a pot or pan.

You can also cook perfect white basmati rice in instant pot pressure cooker!

If you have a pot or pan large enough to hold the cooked rice, that is enough.

Making white rice is much simple and more easy, but cooking brown rice requires more patience.

Brown rice is available from different brands, and I have tried the brown rice from Basmati, so here is the recipe for making easy brown basmati rice in a pot or pan.

Even with brown basmati rice, there can be different varieties, so it is important that you always make sure to read the cooking directions in the package to see the cooking time for the specific rice.

Make sure to see the water to rice ratio and instructions in this post to make brown basmati rice easily on stove top using a pot or pan.

So here is how you can easily make brown basmati rice on stove top using a large pot or pan.

How To Cook Brown Basmati Rice On Stove Top?

Ingredients used:

2 cups brown basmati rice

6 cups water (may use 5 cups instead if you want more firm texture)

Step By Step Instructions

Wash the rice twice in water, drain it properly and keep aside.

If you wish, you may soak the brown basmati rice for about 20 minutes in water which will make it more soft and fluffy and will also reduce the cooking time.

Drain the water used for soaking if you decide to soak the rice before cooking.

However, for this easy brown basmati rice recipe on stove top, you do not really need to soak the rice in advance.

Add the rinsed brown basmati rice and water to the pot (you may also add a spoon of oil, lemon juice, little salt etc if you wish, which will give a better texture and more flavor for your rice but this is not necessary).

Switch on the stove and cook in high heat till the water starts boiling.

Let it boil for a few seconds in high heat, then close the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to low.

Cook for about 35 minutes, but I recommend checking the rice a few minutes before the recommended time because heat distribution can vary based on the kind of stove and also the brand of rice used and the kind of pots or pans used.

Once the rice is cooked and water is absorbed, gently fluff the rice with a fork, spoon or good quality steel spatula.

Do not stir the rice while it is hot because the rice can turn mushy if you do so.

If there is any water left in the pot after you have cooked the rice, you can keep the pot open and cook in high heat for about 1 to 2 minutes.

Don’t worry if there is still water (it won’t happen always), the rice will absorb it and it will be fine.

Notes:

Make sure you gently stir the rice preferably with a fork or good quality steel spatula once it’s cooked and cooled for few minutes, so that no lumps are formed.

If you are not serving the rice immediately, it is good to fluff with a fork once more after about 15 to 20 minutes.

This will prevent the rice from being sticky.

As I have mentioned earlier, this recipe is specifically for brown basmati rice which usually cooks perfectly in 35 minutes.

Different brands will have different cooking times, for example, I tried another long grain brown rice recently where it only needed 4 cups of water for 2 cups of rice and it was cooked in 20 minutes of time in a pan (the package showed a cooking time of 45 to 55 minutes but it cooked faster).

The cooking times can also vary based on the stove and heat distribution based on the kind of pans that you use and also slightly vary based on the brand you use, so if you are cooking a new brand of rice for the first time, its always a good idea to check the rice few minutes before the time mentioned in the package or any recipe.

Also if you have a glass lid for the pan or pot, you can see when the water is all absorbed, so its a good idea to check in and see if the rice is cooked, once all the water is absorbed.

More Rice Recipes:

How to cook white basmati rice on stove top

instant pot brown basmati rice

vegetable rice pilaf with mixed vegetables

simple egg fried rice recipe

easy eggs & vegetable fried rice

instant pot brown sona masoori rice

instant pot ponni rice

instant pot yellow rice

Below you can get the recipe for cooking the brown basmati rice on stove top in detail.