This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for more info.
Let’s have a discussion about rice, shall we?
I have been going along thinking surely everyone knew how to steam rice, and using a steam oven to do so wasn’t much of a jump. Except it turns out a fair few of you have asked for help with this exact topic recently, and it’s brought to my attention the fact I need to write some more ‘how to’ posts so you can build your confidence and cooking repertoire with your wonderful steam ovens.
And so, a steam oven guide to cooking rice.
Rice is one of those things we should all be able to cook at the drop of a hat. Though the carb police might say otherwise, it’s a great way to bulk out a meal and is more easily tolerated by (most) peoples’ stomachs than bread or pasta. There are countless varieties of the stuff and if you can master cooking the main ones you’ll always have the base for a quick dinner or a simple but filling salad at hand.
Cooking rice in the steam oven isn’t much different to doing it in a rice cooker or by absorption in a pot (yes, that means you should give away your rice cooker now that you have a steam oven, you won’t be needing it anymore!). When you use the steam oven there are some variations for rice to liquid ratios and slight adjustment of cooking times but overall it’s pretty simple. Plus you’ll get the bonus of perfectly cooked rice without having to worry about lowering the heat of a pot on the cooktop enough, or scrubbing out the stuck-on layer at the bottom of your rice cooker after dinner (or maybe that was just my rice cooker…).
The guide below is not exhaustive but it covers all the major varieties of rice I ever cook in my steam oven. If there’s something not listed you’ll probably be able to figure it out based on one of the other types of rice. I hope you find the guide useful and can return to it over and over until you’ve memorised your favourites.
Happy steam oven cooking, see you here again soon.
PS Wait, I forgot to mention the video I made this week! Be nice, it was a first attempt at ANYTHING video related so there’s lots of room for improvement, but it’s a great quick-mix recipe to try in your steam oven. You can have a look at it right here, and if you want to see more videos, follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or sign up to the Steam & Bake mailing list. I’m planning more simple recipe tutorials in this style as they’re easy to follow and (relatively) easy to put together.
A Steam Oven Guide to Cooking Rice
A note about rice: the cooking times (and sometimes the quantity of liquid needed) for rice can vary according to how old your rice is and how humid your climate. I tend to buy and use rice within about 6 months at most (very old rice can be quite ‘dry’, requiring a touch more liquid and often longer cooking times).
And a note about cooking vessels: the below measurements work for rice cooked in a thin, even layer in a stainless steel tray. Most people will be able to use the solid trays which come with the oven for this. I use the smaller (1/3 size) tray for 1 cup uncooked rice, and the larger (2/3 size) for 2-3 cups uncooked rice.
After some meals to show off your now-perfect rice? I’ll be posting a new rice salad recipe video on Facebook in a day or two, but in the meantime, try the Maple, Lime & Ginger Chicken or (one of my favourites) Asian Style Sticky Beef.
Did you like this post? You can subscribe right here if you’d like to receive my recipes and other steam-oven-related things straight to your inbox! I won’t spam you, don’t worry.
What a wonderful site! Thank you for you hard work. I’m wondering about directions for sticky rice? It’s supposed to be more finicky?
I think it should work, although it might take longer to cook given the depth of the rice and water. I’d love to hear if you try it!
We are looking to cook our rice in deep 1/3rd pans 2quarts rice, 3 quarts Water. Do you think this would work? If not, what would you suggest?
Funny, this must be about the only thing on my site that’s not in both metric and imperial! I’ll see what I can do about adding the metric measures, but rice is more about a ratio so volume does make sense here.
Hi Emily,
First of all would like to say thanks for making so much steam oven resource available. We now have a steam oven and am keen to try it out on all your recipes. Would it be possible to have a rice cooking chart in metric? We are used to weighing out and measuring in grams and ml’s so it’s a bit confusing with the cup measurements.
Regards
Heather
I don’t have any experience cooking at high altitude, unfortunately, so I’m not sure! As best I’m aware, because boiling point is lower at high altitudes, you may need to increase the cooking time slightly. I’d love to hear if you have success!
Do the instructions change if I’m at a high altitude? I’m at 6000+ ft.
I keep the ratios the same when I scale up my quantities for rice. I think perhaps if you were making absolutely enormous batches this might change, but I frequently go up to 4 cups of rice and things stay the same. 🙂
What about cooking 2 cups of rice? Do you double the water or do you use less water per cup as you make bigger batches of rice?
You can! But it’s possible (and very easy) to do it in the steam oven, hence this post. As with most cooking, there are multiple ways to achieve similar results – knowing your options really helps, especially when you’re cooking for a crowd and trying to manage hob and oven space. Being able to use your induction hob and a pan for rice when your steam oven is full is still a great option.
What a great site!
I’ve been looking for advice and help with using my new combi-steam-sous vide oven and at last I’ve found it – Thanks!
Having also had an induction hob fitted and bought new stainless steel saucepans and frying pans, is there any reason why I can’t just use a stainless steel saucepan to stem rice?
Thanks
Yes, you can definitely sub other liquids for water. Seasonings I tend to add at the start of cooking, while vegetables I add according to how long they’ll take to cook. Carrots can tolerate a longer cooking so could go in at the start, however for something like peas I’d just throw them over the top of the rice a minute or two before the end of cooking.