A few years ago, I had to make dozens of onigiri (Japanese rice balls) for a cooking demonstration at my son’s school, and the only way to pull it off was to cook the rice the night before and reheat it the next morning.
The steamer and my rice cooker’s “reheat” function both work well, but they’re slow processes. There’s also the stovetop method, but I find it fussy. It takes a lot of babysitting and cooks the grains unevenly, so you’re constantly fluffing the rice to keep the bottom from scorching. So I had to find a faster, more efficient way—and now it’s the only way I reheat rice.
The Easiest Way To Reheat Rice
I decided to give my microwave a try and discovered a quick and easy technique: Just add a little water to the bowl. The idea came from how I soften hardened brown sugar. I’d put it in a bowl, cover it with a damp paper towel, and microwave it for 30 seconds, and the hardened mass of sweetness would turn soft, sandy, and scoopable again. Cold rice responds the same way to a little moisture and the microwave.
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Here’s exactly how I reheat rice now. I take cold, leftover rice straight from the fridge and put it in a microwave-safe bowl. I add about a tablespoon of water per cup of cooked rice. The water creates steam in the microwave, so if you add too much, the rice can become mushy.
Then I cover the bowl with a microwave-safe lid or a damp paper towel and heat it in short bursts, about 45 seconds at a time. Between each burst, I take the bowl out and fluff the clumps of rice with a rice paddle. You can also use a fork or chopsticks.
Stop reheating when the rice is warmed through and no clumps remain. The bowl and rice can get quite hot, so be careful when handling them. The result is tender, soft, and fluffy rice. Its texture ends up remarkably close to freshly cooked rice. A safety note: Refrigerate cooked rice within an hour, reheat it only once until steaming hot, and toss any rice left out at room temperature for over two hours.
To make my onigiri, I seasoned the grains with rice vinegar, MSG, and mirin. Then, once cooled enough to touch, I made dozens of rice balls for my son and his little classmates to enjoy. No one could tell the rice wasn’t freshly cooked that morning, and many asked for seconds. Thankfully, I had time to make extras.
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