Batch {Bulk} Cooking with Rice

I’m back to share with y’all another batch cooking session. This week I’ll show you how cooking big batches of rice saves time when preparing a meal. Sure rice is real easy to fix, but you won’t regret having some already prepared ahead of time. First I'll share that I like cooking different varieties of rice. I use white long grain, brown, Basmati, Jasmine, parboiled, and even wild rice.

For this session I'm using long grain white rice. I do wash my rice before I cook it. I learned this from my hubby when we first got married. The first time I saw him washing rice I thought it was weird. I didn't recall ever seeing my mom wash her rice before cooking it so that's why I gave him strange looks. At the time I didn't know he was trying to teach me something beneficial. Moving forward years (and many Food Network Shows) later I learned why one would choose to wash the rice first, then put it in the pot, and fill with the appropriate amount of water needed to cook it. Washing the rice gets rid of the coating that's on the rice when they package it. It's best to rinse it under cold water in a fine mesh strainer until the water runs clear. Doing this will result in rice that won't be mushy/gummy after you finish cooking it. I do this for my white and brown rice.

I cooked up a huge batch of long grain rice in my pressure cooker. I used water this time to cook it, but I often do use chicken broth most of the time. It just gives it a little more flavor. I needed some rice for dinner so I just went ahead and cooked up four cups of it. For dinner I used some of it to make Stuffed Bell Peppers. I will share that recipe later on this week.



After I separated the rice I ended up with four quart sized Ziploc bags full. Each had 2 cups of the cooked rice in it. As stated above I used one of them for dinner. I only used 1 cup of the rice and put the other in the refrigerator to use later on in the week. Once the rice had cooled off a bit, I stacked the labeled and flattened bags in the freezer. When ready to use you do not have to thaw it out overnight. All you have to do is take it out of the freezer when you need to use it, put the bag of rice on a microwave safe plate, and thaw it out just a little. Next open the bag and pour the partially thawed rice in a bowl or container, and put a couple of teaspoons of water over it. Heat it until fully thawed then fluff with a fork. Now what can I use pre-cooked rice for?

Uses for pre-cooked rice:

* Eat with a Stir-Fry
* Make Fried Rice

* Serve Rice bowls
* Eat with Curry

* Make Breakfast or Regular Burritos
* Enchiladas

* Skillet Meals

* Casseroles

* Soup

* Stew

* Chowder

* Stuffed Peppers, mushrooms, or tomatoes

* Taco Rice

* Spanish/Mexican Rice

* Dirty Rice

* Red Beans and Rice

* Gumbo

* Jambalaya

* Rice Pilaf

* Rice Pudding

* Use in Meatloaf or meatballs (in place of breadcrumbs)

These are just examples of some things you can do. If any other things come to mind, I may come back to add to this list later. What can you think of that I haven’t added to the list? Please fee free to let me know in the comments below. I will be back with you later in the week with that Stuffed Bell Pepper recipe.