Cooking Brown Rice In An Oven Is Unbelievably Easy
When I originally encountered the idea of baking brown rice in an oven rather than cooking it on a stovetop, I was eager to give it a try! It turned out perfectly, and not just the first time either — this oven brown rice method produced perfectly cooked brown rice time after time, which is why I’ve taken to calling it “foolproof!”
Before I learned about the oven method, I didn’t make brown rice very often — but not because I didn’t like eating it! It just takes longer to cook brown rice compared to white rice, and I didn’t love having to keep an eye on a pot for an hour to make sure it didn’t boil over or run dry!
Luckily, there are no such issues when you bake brown rice in an oven. The rice comes out fluffy and tender, and you get consistent results every time. This method makes it easy to enjoy the benefits of incorporating more brown rice into your diet (and I’ll tell you about some of those benefits later in this post!)
Related: Add This One Ingredient To Make The Best Rice Ever
How To Make Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated
Ingredients:
- 3 cups brown rice, rinsed (see link below)
- 4 2/3 cups water
- 4 tsp butter
- 1 tsp salt
Related: Should You Rinse Rice? The Answer Is Surprisingly Important
Directions:
Spread rice out in an even layer in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish, then top the rice with 4 pats (teaspoons) of butter.
Bring the water to boil in a saucepan, your microwave, or in a kettle, then stir in the salt.
Pour the salted water over the rice in the baking dish, then cover the dish tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil
Bake at 375°F for 1 hour, or until the rice is tender. After an hour, remove the baking dish from your oven, remove the foil, and fluff the rice with a fork. Re-cover the baking dish with the foil and let it stand at room temperature for 10 more minutes before serving.
BONUS: 5 Benefits Of Brown Rice
- Brown rice contains more nutrients than white rice because only its outermost layer, or hull, is removed during processing. White rice, on the other hand, is stripped of several of its outer layers in to reveal the white color beneath.
- Brown rice contains more than 80% of the recommended daily value of manganese, a coenzyme that aids in metabolizing carbs and protein, and that helps keeps your immune and reproductive systems in good working order.
- The fiber in brown rice helps you feel full, thereby decreasing your chances of overeating.
- The fiber and selenium found in brown rice may also have a protective effect against certain types of cancer, which is never a bad thing!
- Whole grains like brown rice can help lower bad cholesterol.
There you have it: five good reasons to incorporate more brown rice into your diet. And there’s simply no easier way to cook brown rice than by baking it!
Do you prefer brown rice or white rice?
More Ideas You'll Love
Foolproof Oven-Baked Brown Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 cups brown rice
- 4 2/3 cups water
- 4 teaspoons butter
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Spread rice in a 9×13" baking dish and top the rice with 4 pats (teaspoons) of butter.
- Bring water to boil, remove from heat, stir in salt and pour over rice.
- Cover baking dish tightly with a double layer of foil. Bake for 1 hour at 375°F, or until tender.
- Remove baking dish from oven and uncover. Fluff rice with fork, then re-cover and let stand for 10 more minutes before serving.
You could always cook up a double batch and when cooled, freeze the extra. Then you have your rice that is heated up in just a few minutes in the microwave. Great for those “need supper in a hurry” nights! :0)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.This is the only way I cook brown rice, ala Alton Brown as well. I also freeze my leftovers. I usually make it on the weekend if I’m planning a rice dish during the week. Does anyone else rinse their brown rice before using (the arsenic thing)? I didn’t see anyone mention it. I use about a 1/4 cup less water when baking to make up for the wet rice. I also only use one layer of foil. Just wipe the foil off (it’s only steam), crumple it up to use in the dryer. For those of you with pets, it really helps to get the hair off your clothes. Thanks Jillee for all the great ideas & comments with so many more ideas!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I LOVE brown rice. When I cook it I just boil it like pasta. Boil a pan full of water, put the rice in and once it tastes done I drain the water and eat it or add it to a recipe that calls for cooked rice. I never have much luck making it according to the bag’s directions (I don’t have much luck with white rice this way either!). I think I will try this method out one of these days though to add a new way of cooking brown rice to my repertoire. Thanks Jillee! Love your site :0)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’m with Nicole on the short grain brown rice, which I also get it at Sprouts. I love the texture and taste! But in the summer, when it is flat out too hot to turn on the oven, I use the method I found at Saveur.com: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Perfect-Brown-Rice
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I don’t have a rice cooker, but maybe this method is the next best thing?
I cook brown rice in my pressure cooker, 17 min.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.These are all great, yummy ideas. Anything that can up the healthy fiber in our diets is fantastic. The stovetop over-night recipes are great, too!
The only step I find missing in these recipes: I usually rinse my rice to pick out any debris or “bad” (unripe) rice that might be in the bag. It typically floats to the top.
I also like to brown my rice (especially basmati) in butter before adding the water. Adds a nice toasted quality to the flavor.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I am spoiled by my rice cooker, does brown rice take longer to cook? I really appreciate all of your tips!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Brenda
I have often cooked rice in a similar manner (1cup rice, 2 cups water, tsp of butter) – but in a greased loaf tin and covered with foil – great to pop in beside caserole or other such dishes (good way to save power/gas) as oven already on.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love brown rice!! I’m definitely trying this. Especially in the colder months when I like heating my house with the oven cooking something………dual duty. In the hot spring and summer months, I will be trying that microwave method that some folks mentioned. I got rid of my rice cooker because my townhome is so small and I just didn’t have the room to try to find a place for another small appliance. Thanks for sharing.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My micro actually has a rice setting. One button cooking, lol even easier than anything. I put the rice and water in a vented covered pot that allows a little steam out and hit that rice button. 25 min later, ready to eat brown rice. So much yummier than white, but takes a little getting used to if you have never eaten it before.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I make all my rice in the microwave oven
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Covered cassarole 1 1/2 qt
Brown rice 1 cup
water 3 cups
Micro water for 8 min on high power
Add -rice
Micro for 25 min on 50% power
Makes 4 cups cooked rice
for variety, I add a can of onion soup mix and canned mushrooms, in addition to the water and butter, (omitting the salt) to oven-baked rice; it’s so good!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I make that too, only I use the dry onion soup packet. It’s so good w roast beef.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I just use a rice cooker. I make more than I need and put what’s left over in a glass container and keep it in the fridge. It reheats perfectly in the microwave with just a splash of water.
It doesn’t take 20 minutes, as Deborah says, more like an hour, but if you use a rice cooker you can start the process any old time and you don’t have to keep an eye on it to figure out when it’s done.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve been oven baking brown rice exactly like this for years, based on the Alton Brown recipe. I don’t bother with foil – I just use my Corning Ware with a lid. The round dish works just fine. I also will bake an entire bag of rice at a time, then divide it up into quart freezer bags and freeze it. That way I have rice on hand whenever I need it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I LOVE brown rice, but found that you can also cook it in a rice cooker. Simply add rice, water, press “Cook”, and voila!… perfect brown rice in about 20 minutes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The oven method is a great idea if you don’t have a rice cooker, but being Asian, it’s all I’ve ever used.
Last – if you’re in a pinch, Trader Joe’s sells quick cooking brown rice that’s done in 10 minutes!
I’m not getting how you can get 3 cups of rice softened up with only 4 2/3 cups of water? All other instructions for rice have you using at least twice as much water as rice. Is it because you aren’t losing so much that boils over the side of the pot?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I’ve never been a brown rice fan until I tried short grain brown rice. Wow! What a difference. The chewier texture doesn’t try to compete with white rice and I like that. :) Long grain is all that most grocery stores sell around me but then I noticed the short grain at Sprouts. So glad I tried it.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Ditto, Nicole. Also, brown sushi rice is amazingly unlike regular brown rice.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I do love this method for cooking brown rice when I have the time. If I need it faster, though, I use my electric pressure cooker. It cuts the time down to about 20 minutes, start to finish. It has to get up to pressure, cook for 10 minutes, and then the pressure has to come down. It works much better than my rice cooker to do an even job.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great ideas. I cook up a batch of brown rice and wild rice and then freeze in small containers. When I make a white rice dish that I want to add more nutrition to, I add a package of the frozen brown rice to the white rice.
Good way to use up food storage white rice and to make it more likeable for younger children who may not like all brown rice.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Jillee thanks for the great post. I do agree with Michele about no taking much longer than white rice. I always add some wild rice to any rice I cook, which requires more time anyway.
But if there is already something in the oven why not use this recipe? I was also wondering about placing fresh broccoli on top of the rice.
Here’s my latest rice method. I use coconut milk instead of water. I just add about 1/2 C more for every 2 C water called for in the recipe. After about 20-25 min. remove from heat–(don’t raise the cover) let sit about 8 min. I judge the amount of liquid that hasn’t absorbed by the weight of the pot & by swirling a little (to feel what’s still sloshing around) with the lid still on. A little sloshing and it can be removed from heat. Stir & serve. Very creamy.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I buy a box of wild rice and cook the whole thing. I freeze it in small baggies and add to other rice dishes.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I love this suggestion of cooking brown rice in the oven. I hated cooking brown rice because of the time involved. I have found that cooking brown rice in a pressure cooker is very quick and easy.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I read somewhere that brown rice contains more lead or other dangerous ingredient, perhaps because of the coating left on. I still eat brown rice but perhaps people with children should check this out.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.There have also been studies showing that some brands of rice tested high for arsenic. I wonder if it’s the soil that it’s grown in.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.I read that too! If you are concerned, I have read that the best way to reduce the arsenic content is to either rinse the rice well (or soak) before cooking or cook it the boiling method. As I rinse anyway, I find it makes ANY rice cook better- less sticky, I just make sure that I rinse it that bit extra.
You might be thinking of arsenic. All things grown in the ground contain traces of thing we wouldn’t want to eat. But it’s in there naturally & in quantities that will not harm unless there’s some ground contamination involved.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Thank you for sharing this way to cook brown rice. I know it’s healthier. I also like the comments saying that it freezes well! As always, Jillee, you and your followers rock!
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