Brown Rice
Brown rice, from left to right: Frozen brown rice, Instant Brown Rice, Brown rice from scratch
Perhaps due to my husband’s Chinese heritage, we consume very large quantities of rice in our household. Rice is probably the side dish that I make most often in one form or another. We eat it with stir-fry, with Mexican food, in risotto, paella and many other dishes. Last year, I decided to make the switch from white rice to brown rice (for most dishes) as it is more nutritious and provides a lot more fiber. I actually really enjoy the nutty flavor and firm texture of brown rice but it has one major drawback in that it takes forever to prepare. With white rice, you can put a pot of rice on to cook when you start making a meal, and it is usually done at the same time as the main dish. Brown rice takes about twice as long to cook as most stir-fries, or most other week night meals at our house, so I’ve tried out a few alternatives lately. I’ve mostly been using “instant” brown rice (not exactly instant, since it takes 10 minutes to cook) as a quicker alternative to regular brown but I decided to try frozen brown rice this week since it takes only 3-5 minutes to heat up in the microwave. Worth a try, right? We recently tried out all three varieties of brown rice side by side to see if there were noticeable difference in the flavor or quality.
All three of the brown rice varieties (frozen, instant, and dried) looked very similar once cooked but there were subtle differences in texture. The frozen and regular dried rice were pretty close to tasting the same, although the frozen rice was a little softer and looked paler. The instant rice was the most different and it was definitely chewier than the other two (you can see how different the instant rice grains look in the picture below). Now, as I mentioned above, I like the firmer texture of brown rice, but the instant brown rice really was too chewy even for me and also had less of the nutty flavor that I enjoy.
As for ease of preparation, the frozen rice wins hands down. Not only can frozen brown rice be cooked in only 5 minutes in the microwave, but there is no need to get a separate pan or bowl dirty as it can be steamed right in the freezer bag! Instant rice came in second with only about 15 minutes of preparation time while regular brown rice was a distant third since it takes at least 45 minutes to prepare.
However, regular, dried brown rice easily won in the cost category. A cup of prepared regular brown rice costs only about 45 Cents while the frozen rice was the most expensive at about $1.35 per cup.
Regular unprepared brown rice on the left, Instant brown rice on the right
Bottom Line: Brown rice is a much healthier, whole-grain alternative to regular white rice but it can be time consuming to prepare. If you’re in a time crunch, frozen brown rice is a good option since it tastes almost identical to regular brown rice, but keep in mind that it costs 3 times as much. Instant brown rice is both more expensive and worse tasting than regular rice making it the least appealing option.
Have you tried cooking extra brown rice and freezing it yourself? I keep meaning to try that since I do like the convenience of the frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s!
That is a really good idea! I have heard other people say that freezing rice works well, but I’ve never tried it myself. Maybe I’ll try it out this week and update the post.
I recently tried to puzzle this one out too, but between different brands of dried brown rice. I bought Uncle Ben’s last, I think, and it is definitely better than the generic store brand. Thanks for posting!
Have you tried brown basmati rice? I love it.
Something I’ve started doing is cooking my brown rice like pasta, in a large pot of salted water, for 45 minutes, almost boiling, kind of a fast simmer. I saw Sarah Moulton do that one time with regular rice and thought I’d try it with brown. I think it gives the brown rice a fluffier texture, similar to white, but with nice nutty flavor. If there is too much leftover, or if I’ve remembered to make a larger amount, I freeze and reheat the rice later in the microwave.
Last night I tried a mixture of brown and red rice ( from the Carmague region of France…it’s kind of like wild rice, long and thin) It was quite yummy with chicken and vegetables. And we made a beet and orange salad with basil chiffonades (Anna’s idea).
So you can freeze brown rice yourself and it thaws out well? That is very good to know! I will definitely be making extra in the future for nights when I don’t want to wait for 45 minutes. The store bought frozen rice was very similar to freshly cooked so I thought freezing it at home would work, but I hadn’t ever tried it. Thanks for the input!