The Best Sticky Brown Rice Recipe! (2024)

FAQs

What makes brown rice sticky? ›

It's not as easy to achieve sticky brown rice because the bran layer is a natural barrier with the starch required to make the rice sticky.

Build flavors early on!

Ginger and garlic both make for exceptional brown rice. If you're going the spice route we love turmeric, cumin, oregano, and smoked paprika with brown rice. Try adding some of these spices to the pot as you cook your aromatic vegetables. Cook in a flavorful liquid.

The key to sticky rice is to not rinse the rice — this washes away the starch dust that allows the rice to clump. Soak the sticky rice for in enough water to cover the rice. This softens the grain and the extra water helps add that fluffy texture. Soaking for 4-24 hours is a good range.

A note on rinsing: Rinsing rice removes the starch and any debris from the grain, making the rice fluffier and less mushy. But if you'd prefer to rinse for good measure, by all means feel free!

Drain the water once the rice has finished soaking. Fill a large pot with 2 cups (450 milliliters) of water and add a few extra tablespoons of water. Using more water than you actually need will help make the ricer stickier and clumpier. Consider adding a dash of salt.

Do you have to soak brown rice before cooking? Soaking is optional, but we recommend it! Soaking grains helps to remove some of the naturally-occurring phytic acid in the grain, which helps improve digestibility and speed cook time.

Brown rice is a whole grain that still has the hull, the bran layer and the germ intact, allowing it to have high levels of fiber and other nutrients. White rice, on the other hand, does not have any of the aforementioned, which makes it less nutrient-dense, although enriched rice has more of certain nutrients.

Making tender, nutty-tasting brown rice takes one little trick that costs zero pennies. The step that is so important, and often overlooked, is simple: just take the pan off the heat and let the cooked rice sit, covered, for about 10 minutes to finish steaming.

As we said above, sticky rice contains a type of starch called amylopectin, which is particularly good at retaining moisture and forming a gel-like substance when cooked in hot water or steamed. It's this gel that makes sticky rice… stick. Perfect for dishes like sushi, rice cakes, and steamed rice dumplings.

If you cook rice that has a high amylose content, the rice grains will fully disconnect and remain untethered after they are cooked. In contrast, amylopectin molecules make rice grains stickier when the rice is cooked.

What makes restaurant rice sticky? ›

Amylopectin is a highly branched starch molecule that is responsible for making rice gelatinous and sticky. Rice with a high amount of amylopectin will be very sticky once cooked.

Soak the rice in a container that holds at least twice the volume of rice: Cover the rice with 2 to 3 inches of room-temperature water and soak for 6 to 24 hours. If you need to shorten the soaking time, soak the rice in warm (about 100 degree) water for 2 hours.

I love the chewy bite of glutinous rice that's so good with the savoury sauce, tofu, mushrooms, and some mustard greens. I finished it off with some roasted peanuts and chopped scallions for a super satisfying and flavour-packed rice meal.

First, rinse the rice.

This step is essential for removing excess starches on the outside of the rice. If they're not washed away, they will cause the rice to clump and become gummy as it cooks. Our goal is to make perfectly fluffy brown rice, so don't skip this step!

Rinse the rice thoroughly before cooking

Rinse your rice, just as you do for Perfect White Rice. Rinsing the rice removes starch. Starch makes rice stickier. I rinse until the water starts to run almost clear.

Brown rice contains the whole part of the grain, including the fibrous bran, germ and endosperm. Because the bran is intact, brown rice takes longer to cook (almost twice as long as white rice) and tends to have a chewy consistency.