I love rice and have been cooking it regularly for all of my adult life.
It’s a perfect staple to serve alongside salmon or steak, stir-fry with veggies and tofu, or mix into soups and stews.
Many swear by making it with a rice cooker, but I don’t have one, and I was curious to see which other appliance in my home could produce the best results.
So, I tried cooking rice four different ways: in an Instant Pot, on the stovetop, in the microwave, and in the oven.
For each method, I prepared a cup of jasmine rice with an equal blend of vegetable broth and water, along with a small amount of olive oil.
Here’s how these different ways of cooking rice stacked up in terms of ease, timing, and, of course, taste and texture.
Pressure-cooked rice is hands-off.
First, I measured out a cup of rice, which I then rinsed well under tepid water. Next, I added ½ cup of broth, ½ cup of water, and a bit of olive oil to a lightly sprayed Instant Pot pressure cooker.
Then, I secured the lid and pressed the “rice” button. And that’s it — that’s the beauty of this device. It’s so easy to use.
After a brief period of pressurization, the rice cooked for all of 12 minutes, then the appliance beeped, indicating it was rice time.
This still feels like a reliable way to quickly cook the grain.
My pressure-cooked rice was plenty flavorful and had a soft, though not quite fluffy texture. All of the grains of rice were cooked through.
The process was so easy, and I have no big complaints about the taste or texture of the rice. This has been my go-to method for cooking rice for several years.
The stovetop rice required a bit more effort.
The stovetop was my go-to way of cooking rice before I got an Instant Pot.
For this method, I measured and rinsed a single cup of rice, then added it to a medium-sized saucepan with a cup of water, a cup of broth, and 1 teaspoon of oil.
I placed the pan on the stove over a medium-high heat. As soon as the rice came to a boil, I reduced the heat to a low simmer and covered the saucepan with a lid.
I kept an eye on the rice, turning up the heat slightly when the simmer dropped to just a few bubbles every few seconds, then easing the heat back off again once the bulk of the liquid seemed to have been absorbed or cooked off.
Once I could see little pockets of air between the rice grains, which typically takes between 15 and 20 minutes, I cut the heat and let the rice sit, covered, for another five minutes.
Then, I fluffed the rice with a fork and took some bites.
I actually liked this better than the pressure-cooker rice.
This was, to my surprise, better than the pressure-cooked rice.
Before this experiment, the two had been more or less interchangeable to me. Now that I had eaten each rice side by side, I could definitely tell the difference in the taste and texture.
The stovetop rice was truly plump with a nice flavor, and there wasn’t even much of it caked to the bottom of the pan. This method took a little longer than the pressure cooker, but the resulting rice was slightly tastier and fluffier.
This is a great way to cook rice as long as you have the proper grain-to-liquid measurements and keep a close eye on your pot. With this method, it can be easy to accidentally overcook rice.
I wasn’t excited about trying to make rice in the microwave.
Before cooking rice in a microwave, I cross-referenced at least a half-dozen recipes I found online, so I’m confident my approach was decent. But the outcome? I can hardly describe it as such.
I rinsed the rice, combined it with 1 ¾ cups of my water-broth blend, and added the olive oil to a microwave-safe glass container.
Next, I partially secured the container’s lid — not too tightly, as I didn’t want it to explode — and popped the rice in the microwave on full power for five minutes.
Then, I microwaved it for another 15 minutes on half power and let it rest for an additional five minutes before retrieving it.
I won’t be using this appliance for rice again.
I had low expectations, but I was still disappointed.
The microwaved rice was clumpy and dried out, except for the largest gobs, which were gummy and unevenly cooked.
Only a generous dose of a sauce and further cooking in a frying pan could have made this rice tasty. I took three or four bites and then composted the rest.
The oven was the dark horse of the taste test.
The thing about oven-cooked rice is that you need to start with boiling water — or a water/broth blend, in my case. So, you’ll probably also need a stovetop or electric kettle.
Once I preheated my oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, I rinsed the rice and brought a cup of water and a cup of broth up to a full boil on my stovetop.
Next, I greased a 2-quart glass baking dish and added the rice and oil to it. Then, I carefully poured 1 ¾ cups of my boiling liquid over the rice.
Finally, I quickly covered the dish with aluminum foil and popped it into my heated oven. I pulled the baking dish out after 25 minutes and let it sit, still covered, for five minutes.
I’m amazed by how good the oven rice was.
I pulled back the foil to reveal the best rice I have ever made.
It was evenly cooked, and each grain was fluffy and full of flavor. The oven-cooked rice had taken on the taste of the broth and had a faint, yet pleasant, roasted flavor.
Plus, other than having to boil liquids, this cooking method was fairly hands-off. I was able to pop my dish in the oven and work on other tasks.
I may have found a new favorite appliance for cooking rice.
I had my wife do a blind taste test of all four versions of the rice, which I’d carefully timed to be ready at the same time. She agreed that the oven-cooked rice was the best on all fronts.
I had never thought to cook rice in the oven, but I’ll consider doing it every time going forward, provided I have enough time on my hands.
This experiment also had me second-guessing my switch from stovetop to Instant Pot, but the convenience of the latter is still so hard to beat.
When I’m in a rush, the pressure cooker will still be my go-to for preparing rice, but on more relaxed days, into the oven it goes.
Click to check out the other appliances we’ve put head-to-head so far.
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