Reheating Frozen Rice

[BerkshireTsarina]

Whenever I use my rice cooker I make extra so I can freeze portion sizes for another meal. The freezing part works fine. The problem comes in the reheating. The reheated rice almost always tastes dry to me, even though the original was great. What do people wrap the rice in for freezing? Then do you defrost it first? Just stick it in the micro? Full power? Part? How long? In general, freezers and I have a very bad relationship. I hope someone can help.

[Miss Needle]

I agree with the steaming comments. My parents used to cook extra rice all the time and freeze it in ziploc bags. They would steam it and it would turn out perfect every time.

[Karl S]

As a general rule of reheating, no more than half power is best, and for anything with animal protein often no more than 30% power is a good rule - longer and slower. It would be best if what is currently labelled "reheat" was labelled 100%, and there was a separate button for 200% power - that might help prevent the common abuse of food in microwaves.

Steaming is the basic method of heating rice.

[carlee134]

I don't freeze rice, but if I need to reheat refrigerated rice, I'll set it in a bowl with some ice cubes on top and microwave it.

[KaimukiMan]

just use it for fried rice instead.

[ipsedixit]

Steam.

[BerkshireTsarina]

Ipse, sorry for a really dumb question, but there it is. I usually wrap the rice in
Saran or Press 'n Seal. Should I unwrap it to steam it in the pan?
Cobweb, I could give this one a try ---

[kc72]

Yes, unwrap.

How long are you freezing the rice for? I keep leftover rice in the fridge for a few days w/o problems.

[BerkshireTsarina]

Not usually for very long. But if you keep it in the fridge, we're back at Square 1: how do you reheat the rice?

[kc72]

Fried rice or reheat it in a pot w/ a little water.

[ipsedixit]

BerkshireTsarina,

Regardless of whether it's from the freezer or fridge, steaming works wonderfully for reheating rice. Whatever you do, I suggest that you do NOT use the microwave. You'll end up with dry crumbly rice better suited to be croutons than anything else.

[BerkshireTsarina]

Ipse, how did you guess? That's a very accurate description. I'm gonna go the steaming route this time. (Fried rice works like a dream, I know, I know; but sometimes I just want to have white rice one more time without starting again from scratch.)

[goodhealthgourmet]

the particular method/vehicle you use isn't really the key here. it's all about moisture.

as ipse said, steaming is a great way to do it...as is ccbweb's suggestion for the microwave - just be sure to add some liquid. you can even do it on the stovetop if you moisten it and cover the pot with a lid.

[ccbweb]

I haven't had that problem so long as I cover whatever container the rice is in and add a bit of water to the rice before microwaving. I think the key is 1) a cover and 2) don't nuke it for too long a period of time. I get rice that is soft and tender and probably about 90-95% as good as the original rice right out of the rice cooker.

[ccbweb]

I put it in tupperware/rubbermaid containers to freeze. Then, I add some water or broth to the container and put the lid back on loosely and microwave it on high power for 3 minutes (I use a 2 cup container) from frozen.