Are you looking for an easy way to bring nutritious and delicious meals on your next camping or hiking trip? Or even to your everyday kitchen? Making your own organic dehydrated rice can be a great solution that provides delicious and healthy meals with minimal effort.
I don’t know about you, but there are some convenience foods that I have missed since starting my Traditional Foods journey.
One of these is instant rice. I used instant almost exclusively before, because it was, ya know, instant.
Instant organic rice used to be almost impossible to find at the grocery store.
And when I could find organic instant rice at the store, it was way more expensive that regular ole instant rice. So it wasn’t always in my budget.
I also have some family favorite recipes that call for instant rice. And those recipes don’t work with not-instant rice.
So I didn’t make those recipes any more. Which made people cranky.
And while cooking not-instant rice is not a big deal, it can add considerably to the time it takes to get dinner on the table.
And for busy people, like we all are, that can be a big deal.
But now, through the magic of dehydration, you can make your own organic instant rice!
If you’re new to dehydrating foods, you can find more information in this post.
Here’s the secret to making your own organic instant rice:
Cook organic rice. Dehydrate organic rice. Done. 🙂
And by “cook rice” I mean cook LOTS of rice.
Like, a whole bag of rice.
All at one time.
BIG pot. 🙂
Pro tip: Did you know that if you rinse the rice well before cooking it, it doesn’t stick together quite so much?
Homemade instant rice
Ingredients:
- white or brown long grain rice, basmati rice, etc.
- filtered water
Cooking the Rice
This is great for both brown rice and regular ole white rice as well. I like them both and use them both. So I make them both. 🙂
For every cup of uncooked rice you have, you will need 2 cups of water. Since we are dehydrating it, don’t use anything but water.
When we use it later we can rehydrate it with something else, like homemade turkey bone broth or beef bone broth.
Start by measuring out your rice. Then measure out the amount of water that you need into a large stock pot or Dutch oven.
Lightly salt the water, throw in the rice, and bring it all to a boil.
After it reaches a rolling boil, cover the pot and reduce the heat to the lowest setting.
You don’t want it to continue boiling, but you need it to stay hot.
Allow the rice to cook for 30-45 minutes.
I usually check at about 30 minutes to see if all the water is absorbed yet.
When the rice is cooked through and all the water has been absorbed, remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 10 or so minutes with the lid on.
After those 10 or so minutes, remove the lid from the pot and fluff up the rice with a fork.
Don’t stir the rice, cuz that will make it a big pot of mush.
And ain’t nobody wants that.
Just stick the fork down into the bottom of the pot and lift it up to sort of separate it all a bit.
Prepping the Rice
Then put the cover back on the pot and put the rice in the fridge to chill out.
I just stick the whole pot in there overnight.
You could, of course, take the rice out of the pot and into a big bowl (or bowls as the case may be) if you have a thing about pots in the fridge. I won’t judge. 🙂
I’ve found that the rice is easier to spread out on the dehydrator trays when it’s cold. But you can actually skip that whole rice in the fridge step if you really want to.
Drying Process for Dehydrated Rice
After the rice is cold, I take about 3 cups and spread it out in a single layer or really just a thin layer on each dehydrator tray. Making a single layer is really hard and fiddly.
I currently have an Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator that I just love, but I had a round dehydrator before and that worked too.
Tray liners came with my dehydrator so I use those, but if you don’t have any you can line the trays with parchment paper.
So load up all your trays, put them into the dehydrator, close it up, and turn it on.
If you have some rice left over, just stick it back in the fridge until the first batch is done.
If you have a dehydrator that lets you set the temperature, 125-145°F is good for rice.
Drying time will vary depending on how thick the rice is on the tray and your current humidity level, but it should be around 5 hours.
I like to check it every few hours and kinda break up any clumps, but that’s just my OCD kicking in and isn’t really necessary for normal people. 🙂
Now see, isn’t that better?
My Organic Instant Rice is Dry, Now What?
After your rice is completely dry, let it cool and then store it in something fairly airtight.
Y’all know how I love my canning jars for storage, right?
I have some rice in a 1/2 gallon jar, and I also have some that I used my FoodSaver vacuum sealer on and sealed up in 1 cup packages.
I have found that when sealing rice, it’s best to put it in a paper lunch bag first and then seal in the vacuum sealer. Otherwise the rice can puncture the bag.
Which kinda defeats the whole purpose of vacuum sealing.
Random thought for the day: Vacuum is a really weird word. 🙂
Make sure you label and date the packages and add the re-hydration instructions.
How to Use your Homemade Dehydrated Rice
I should probably give you the re-hydration instructions, too. 🙂
Of course, if you have a recipe that calls for instant rice, just use it as it is.
Every cup of dehydrated rice yields 2 cups(ish) of cooked rice.
If you are re-hydrating, boil 1 cup of salted water, or homemade turkey or chicken bone broth or homemade beef bone broth for every 1 cup of instant rice.
You can even throw in some butter if you want. I use about 1/2 Tbsp butter per cup of rice.
And by “throw in some butter”, I mean place some gently in the pan. Because throwing butter would just be wrong.
After the liquid has come to a boil and the butter has been thrown in carefully added, remove the pan from the heat, add the rice, and cover.
Let that sit for 10 minutes or so. Fluff with a fork, season if necessary, and serve.
Gotta love it!
I use this dehydrated rice when I make my Easy Beef and Rice Stuffed Peppers, and for my Easy Italian Sausage, Peppers, and Rice skillet meal.
This quick cooking rice is also perfect for backpackers who cook on the trail or those who enjoy camping.
Blessings!
Frequently Asked Questions About Dehydrated Rice
You can use any kind of rice you like. White, brown, basmati, doesn’t matter. This method works with all of them!
Store in an airtight, water proof container away from heat and light.
As long as it is stored properly, dehydrated rice should last for several years.
More things to replace in your pantry:
Homemade Dehydrated Rice (Instant Rice)
Ingredients
- 6 cups organic rice white or brown
- 12 cups filtered water (2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice)
Instructions
Prepare Rice
- For every cup of uncooked rice you have, you will need 2 cups of water. Since we are dehydrating it, don’t use anything but water.
- Lightly salt the water, throw in the rice, and bring it all to a boil.
- After it reaches a rolling boil, cover the pot and reduce the heat to the lowest setting.
- You don’t want it to continue boiling, but you need it to stay hot.
- Allow the rice to cook for 30-45 minutes.
- When the rice is cooked through and all the water has been absorbed, remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 10 or so minutes with the lid on.
- After those 10 or so minutes, remove the lid from the pot and fluff up the rice with a fork.
- Don’t stir the rice, cuz that will make it a big pot of mush.
- Just stick the fork into the bottom of the pot and lift it up to sort of separate it all a bit.
- Chill for several hours or overnight.
Dehydrate Rice
- I’ve found that the rice is easier to spread out on the dehydrator trays when it’s cold. But you can actually skip that whole rice in the fridge step if you really want to.
- Take about 3 cups and spread it out in a thin layer on lined dehydrator trays. If you don’t have tray liners, you can use parchment paper.
- If you have a dehydrator that lets you set the temperature, 125-145°F is good for rice.
- Drying time will vary depending on how thick the rice is on the tray and your current humidity level, but should be around 5 hours.
- After your rice is completely dry, let it cool and then store it in something fairly airtight and waterproof.
How to Rehydrate Homemade Instant Rice
- Every cup of dehydrated rice yields 2 cups(ish) of cooked rice.
- If you are re-hydrating, boil 1 cup of salted water or broth for every 1 cup of instant rice.
- After the liquid has come to a boil add tablespoon of butter, remove the pan from the heat, add the rice, and cover.
- Let that sit for 10 minutes or so. Fluff with a fork, season if necessary, and serve.