Freezing Rice
Posted by Jenny Stanger in Healthy Snacks, Recipes, Stock Your Freezer Tips, Vegetarian Thursday, 6 May 2010 16:19 6 Comments
(Thank you Karly for letting me use this picture in my post! If you need some yummy dessert ideas, you should check out her blog!)
I received this comment the other day and thought it was a great question. Freezing rice is one of my favorite things to freeze. It is such a time saver! I can remember nights before I learned to freeze rice, waiting to serve dinner while everyone sat starving because the rice still had another 20 minutes before it would be done. When you freeze your rice already cooked, warm fluffy rice can be ready in 5 minutes!
Question:
Eek!! i”m so excited you commented on our blog Jenny. Your site is incredible. And these Cafe Rio recipes are delicious. Next thing I’m going to make off your site is the Hawaiian Teriyaki chicken.
I found your site after participating in a freezer meal exchange. The exchange was so successful, it made me excited about more things I could freeze.
I do have one question for you. I really liked the lime rice and I was surprised to see it in a freezer meal recipe. Does rice freeze well? I always thought the consistency would be bad. So what tips do you have on rice?
Answer:
All rice freezes well, (brown or white) I also love to use Bulgar wheat in place of my rice because it is even faster to cook, similar in taste and it is so much better for you.
I cook 6-8 cups of white long grain rice in my rice cooker every few weeks and then I bag up 2 cups of cooked rice sandwich sized baggies to freeze and reheat later. Squeeze the air out and freeze the rice flat, stacked like bricks. To warm the frozen rice, you can put it in the microwave with the zip top bag sealed for 4-5 minutes on high and the bag acts as a steamer, or if you are worried about plastics in your microwave, you can remove the wrappings and place the frozen rice in a microwavable steamer for 4-5 min. on high. The ice crystals in the rice add just enough moisture to fluff the rice up while it warms. The rice tastes as if it were freshly cooked!
Below is the recipe mentioned in the question above.
Thanks for the info and for answering so quickly. I’m excited to try it!
WOW i am so excited to try this!!! so you do not let the rice thaw first? that is so neat. I will be trying it to go with my crock pot chicken and gravy. I am really looking forward to not having to wait another 20 min for rice! thanks for the tip!!
Ookay! I too was under the impression that rice was not a good item to freeze (change in texture). I usually only make 2 cups (uncooked) at a time, so that we can use it up within a few days.
Thanks, I cannot wait to try this trick!
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I just found your website and I can’t wait to try your recipes. I have one question about reheating the rice. Is there a way to reheat the rice without using a microwave? We don’t have one (well, not one that works. Seems my house likes to fry our microwaves after having them for a few months. lol) I do have a steamer, would that work?
Good question. A steamer would work. I do know you can steam frozen food in a skillet or pot on the stove. Just add few tablespoons of water to a hot skillet with the frozen food and cover for 10 minutes (depending on how much rice you are trying to steam.) A bag of frozen rice may take 20 minute to steam. I’m not sure. I could not live without my rice cooker. I recommend buying one if you do not already own a rice cooker. It is so nice to pour the rice in (5 or 6 cups) add water until your finger touches the top of the rice and the water level hits your first nuckly. Push the “cook” button and in 20 minutes you will be stocked up on rice for a week or two. You’ll have to share with us what works to steam rice if your microwave breaks. Good luck.
I haven’t tried reheating rice in a pan on hot water. Did you have any luck with it? When I lived in China, the Chinese would leave their cooked rice in the rice cooker out overnight (refrigerators were not a common appliance where I lived) and they would add a little water to it the next day and recook it. It came out fluffy and tasted freshly cooked. I think you could heat rice again in a pot, just make sure you add enough water so the rice will not burn. Let me know if you recommend it.