If you wonder how to make white basmati rice without rice cooker, read on! Perfect, fluffy long grain white rice like basmati rice can be easily cooked on stove top using a good pan or pot which is large enough t hold the cooked rice!
If you have a good quality rice cooker or if you have a programmable instant pot, cooking rice is so easy (if its instant pot you can quickly cook most of your favorite dishes too) sometimes its just a pan or pot is all we need to cook white rice so perfectly.
In this blog post, you can read in detail how to make white basmati rice without rice cooker, including many tips that will help you to make the perfectly cooked white rice.
There are many kinds of white rice available in the market and there may be differences in the cooking time as well, so here we are going to use white basmati rice, which is very delicious and fluffy when cooked and makes great rice for one pot rice recipes or rice bowls.
You can enjoy this rice for lunch or dinner along with any delicious vegetarian/vegan curry or any vegetable side dishes or paneer curry.
Basmati rice is a popular long grain rice traditionally from India which is perfect for many rice recipes.
Basmati rice is available as white basmati rice and brown basmati rice.
White basmati rice is especially very popularly used in recipes including pulao, biryani etc or as plain white rice served with curry & other side dishes, pickles etc.
Once cooked perfectly, white basmati rice is soft & fluffy in texture.
So this blog post is specifically for how to cook white basmati rice without a rice cooker, though you can try with other brands of white rice as well following the directions in the package, as cooking times may vary for other brands.
If you have a pretty large pot or pan, you can easily cook white basmati rice or any other quick cooking white rice in it.
Having a rice cooker is a good thing, but you don't have to worry if you don't have a rice cooker since you can also cook perfect rice on stove top if you follow the tips and instructions.
Just make to use a pan or pot which can hold the rice once its cooked. The white rice cooked in pots and pans are tasty, fluffy and you can really make them non sticky with little effort.
How Much Water For 2 Cups Of Rice?
Depending on the type of rice, the amount of water required will vary.
In this recipe, we use white basmati rice.
For white basmati rice, we use 4 cups of water for 2 cups of rice.
If it was white jasmine rice, we will need to use only three cups of water for two cups of rice, but the cooking time is slightly more for jasmine rice.
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As I already mentioned above, I used white basmati rice, but other brands of rice should also work fine with slight differences in cooking time, you can try and see yourself if you wish!
So here is the simplest method, instructions and tips on how to cook white rice without rice cooker using a regular pot or pan.
How to make fluffy white basmati rice on stove top?
We use the following ingredients to make easy, fluffy rice on stove top using a pan or pot.
ingredients used:
2 cups white basmati rice
4 cups water
Optional Add Ons
salt adjust to taste
1 tablespoon oil (recommended)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (recommended)
Step by step instructions
Wash the rice and keep it aside.
Heat the water in pot/pan and bring it to a boil.
When the water starts boiling gently add the rice to the boiling water.
If you don't want to do that or if you are in a hurry, you can also add the rice and water together to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil.
I do this all the times and it works fine, but if you add rice later to the water it will reduce the tendency of rice to be sticky while cooking.
Also add salt, lemon juice and oil if you are using them, mix in.
Close the pan with lid and cook for 10 minutes (cooking time may vary slightly if it is not basmati rice).
Open the pan and see if the rice is cooked completely, if not, you may close the pan and cook for another couple of minutes (some times it may take around 12 minutes of cooking as the cooking times can slightly vary based on the stove used).
Once the rice is cooked completely, gently fluff or you can gently stir using a steel spatula or fluff the rice using a fork.
If there is any little water remaining in the pan after the rice is cooked, you can keep the pan open and heat in medium heat for another 1 to 2 minutes so the water will get evaporated.
Serve hot with any side dishes or if you are not using the rice right away, you should gently stir the rice again twice (using fork, good quality spatula or rice paddle) with an interval of 15 minutes in between, so that the rice won't stick together as it cools down.
You can also add other flavorings like butter (instead of oil), dried spices like parsley etc to the pot or pan while cooking the rice, so that the cooked rice will have a nice flavor.
Notes: If you are in a hurry, you can simply add the rice and water in the pot or pan, and then boil the water.
Once the water starts boiling, you can close the pan and cook for 10 minutes.
However, if you boil the water first and then add the rice, it will result in a better texture for the cooked rice.
Another thing I want to mention is that if you want to make perfect fluffy rice that is not sticky at all, even without adding oil or butter or lemon juice (adding lemon juice helps with reducing stickiness) the only thing I do is to stir the rice gently using a good quality steel spatula or rice paddle in an interval of about 15 minutes for about 3 times once the rice is cooked so the rice won't be sticky at all.
If you are serving the hot rice immediately after you are preparing, stirring once is enough but if you are saving for later, make sure to stir in between.
Things helpful
Pot or pan with lid which can hold the cooked rice
good quality steel spatula, fork or rice paddle
Below you can get the recipe for stove top fluffy white basmati rice in detail.
How To Cook White Basmati Rice On Stove Top
Ingredients
- 2 cups white basmati rice
- 4 cups water
Optional Add Ons
- salt adjust to taste
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Wash the rice and keep it aside.
- Heat the water in pot/pan and bring it to a boil.
- When the water starts boiling gently add the rice to the boiling water. (if you don't want to do that or if you are in a hurry, you can also add the rice and water together to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil. I do this all the times and it works fine, but if you add rice later to the water it will reduce the tendency of rice to be sticky while cooking).Also add salt, lemon juice and oil if you are using them, mix in.
- Close the pan with lid and cook for 10 minutes (cooking time may vary slightly if it is not basmati rice)
- Open the pan and see if the rice is cooked completely, if not, you may close the pan and cook for another couple of minutes (some times it may take around 12 minutes of cooking as the cooking times can slightly vary based on the stove used).
- Once the rice is cooked completely, gently fluff or you can gently stir using a steel spatula or fluff the rice using a fork.
- If there is any little water remaining in the pan after the rice is cooked, you can keep the pan open and heat in medium heat for another 1 to 2 minutes so the water will get evaporated.
- Serve the cooked white rice hot with any curry or side dishes or if you are not using the rice right away, you should gently stir the rice again twice (using fork, good quality spatula or rice paddle) with an interval of 15 minutes in between, so that the rice won't stick together as it cools down.
- You can also add salt and butter to the pot or pan while cooking the rice, so that the cooked rice will have a nice flavor.
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