The No-Frills Method For Cooking Perfect Brown Rice Every Time

Making rice can be tricky. Brown rice takes about 30 to 45 minutes to cook and a lot can go wrong during that time. If you undercook the rice, it could turn unpleasantly crunchy, and if you overcook it, you'll end up with gloppy mush — rice fails that no one wants to bite into. But could your cooking method be part of the problem? 

According to most recipes for brown rice, the way to go is to cook it on the stovetop. You can even try to remove human error from the equation by using a rice cooker. But rather than invest in a separate tool, there's a gadget-free way to make great brown rice that involves a common household appliance: the oven.

Yes, you can actually bake your way to better rice as the oven provides constant heat around the entire baking dish and allows the rice to cook from all sides.

So how do you pull off making great brown rice in the oven? Start with a baking dish and place 1.5 cups of rice inside – an 8-inch square pan works well. Then, boil 2.5 cups of water and pour the hot water over the rice.

It's up to you when to add either butter or oil to the dish. Some recipes like to add unsalted butter to the water before it boils and others call for the oil or butter to be mixed into the rice before adding the hot water. In either case, you're looking for about a tablespoon of fat and a teaspoon of salt.

Once you've combined the rice, water, salt, and butter or oil, it's time to tightly cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook it at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for one hour. 

While this method might take a bit longer than most stovetop recipes, you'll be amazed by how fluffy the rice turns out and you'll appreciate just how simple it is to make brown rice this way.