The Reason Your Rice Keeps Bubbling Over

Everyone has forgotten the rice on the stove at some point or another. And without a doubt, that rice has boiled over the edge to make a mess on your stovetop. Even if you only stepped away for a minute, rice has an uncanny way of spilling over your pot's edge in no time at all. And if you've ever wondered why rice is so bad about doing this, then you should know it has everything to do with how much starch the rice grains hold, according to Allrecipes.

Apparently, it's not the rice itself that causes the huge bubbly overrun you have likely seen; it's the starch that's sitting on the outside of the grains. The same thing happens with pasta, albeit to a lesser degree. As Today I Found Out explains, when the water boils, the starch from the rice (or pasta) coats the boiling bubbles, and it is this coating that keeps the bubbles from popping and deflating as quickly as they normally would. Steam then pushes the bubbles up and up, eventually spilling out of the pot. So what should you do?

While there are plenty of hacks out there that claim to solve the issue of bubbling over rice, the best and most reliable way to get rid of the bubbling nuisance is to rinse the grains of rice very well before cooking them, per The Whole Portion. While some cooks might opt to let the rice soak for an extended period of time to loosen the starch, it is possible to speed up the process. All you need to do is really rub and work the grains of rice as they are rinsed to get rid of the starch.

The Whole Portion suggests letting the grains soak for a while after rinsing the rice thoroughly, but Allrecipes claims this step is not absolutely necessary if you rinse the grains well enough. The trade-off with this approach, however, will be a longer cook time.