How to Store Rice? Several ways

Rice is available in many varieties at the supermarket, such as white rice, brown rice, basmati rice, and brown rice. The rice is usually boiled and eaten or first cooked and further processed in a stir-fry dish. In this blog, we will discuss how to store rice because there is always some leftover, and throwing away is not necessary.

Pure cooked rice without other ingredients can be stored in a closed container in the refrigerator for 2 days and in the freezer for 3 months. Uncooked dry rice has a long shelf life. You keep these in a cool, dark, and dry place for a year.

In Asian countries, a lot of rice is eaten and this is seasoned very tastily. You can read how to do this in our blog about seasoning and flavoring rice. We cook rice for our dishes and there is usually some leftover. How can you keep this cooked rice? Start with this question now.

Preserve Cooked Rice

First of all, I assume that we only want to keep the rice. Not a stir-fry dish with other ingredients and vegetables. I will come back to this later. You can store the pure rice that you have steamed or cooked in different ways.

Boiled Rice Store In Refrigerator

The refrigerator is the first place if you want to use the rice again within a few days. Before you place it in the fridge, it must be well cooled. You can do this by spreading out the leftover rice on a plate and allowing it to cool.

Then put the rice in a plastic sealable container and place it in the refrigerator. You can keep the rice for about 2 days.

If you want to use it again in your dish, I advise you the following: look, smell, and taste. Check if the rice still looks fresh. Smell like it hasn’t gone bad. If you are not sure, try it and you will know soon enough. This advice applies to anything that you keep in the fridge for a few days.

Freezing And Thawing Boiled Rice

If you have deliberately cooked more rice for the next time or if you have a lot of rice leftover, you can store the rice for a longer period in the freezer of your refrigerator. Let the rice cool down again now.

Then put the rice in a sealable freezer container or bag and place it in the freezer compartment. You can store the rice for 3 months.

Another thing you can do is pack the rice in batches and then freeze it. This way you do not have to defrost all rice, but you can take the correct amount from the freezer and let it thaw.

To defrost, take the rice out of the freezer the day before and place it on a plate in the fridge. This way it can thaw quietly.

You can of course also use your microwave for this. Place the rice in the microwave and use the defrost setting on your microwave. If you do not do this, you will already heat the rice and this will not go well. The outside will quickly heat up while the inside is still frozen, so use the defrost setting.

Keep Boiled Rice Outside Of Refrigerator

Storing cooked rice out of the fridge is not such a good idea. Of course, 2 to 3 hours is no problem to cool down, but certainly no longer. Outside the refrigerator, you can quickly grow bacteria.

If you have left it outside the fridge and you want to eat it again, apply the above advice, namely; look, smell and taste.

How Long Can You Keep Rice?

How long you can keep the rice depends on the rice and how you handle it yourself. Have you carefully kept it in the fridge or freezer or placed it open and naked on a plate in the fridge.

I am assuming here that you have taken the correct actions to preserve it. Boiled rice can then be stored for 2 days in a closed container or bag in the refrigerator. In the freezer of your refrigerator, you can store the rice for 3 months in a closed container or freezer bag.

How Long To Store Dry Uncooked Rice

Uncooked dry rice has a very long shelf life. If you look at the packaging, it shows expiration dates of about a year or longer. This is independent of the type of rice. Every dry rice has a long shelf life.

If you put the rice in a glass jar or bell jar, stick the expiration date on the jar. That way you will never be mistaken. Then place the rice in a dark, dry and cool place.

Sushi Rice Store in Refrigerator

Sushi rice is separate rice that sticks and the storage of this rice is the same as everything described above. There is no difference.

What does make a difference is if you have already processed the rice in sushi. This also applies to all other types of rice that you have processed in a dish with other ingredients. These other ingredients can then determine the storage method and storage time.

Since I don’t know exactly what kind of dish you want to keep, it is difficult to give advice. If you saved it and want to eat it again, first check if it still looks good, smell if it still smells fresh and taste the taste to determine if it is still edible.

In short, storing rice comes down to this:

Rice Store in Refrigerator

All pure cooked rice, rice without other ingredients can be stored in a closed container in the refrigerator for two days.

Rice dishes can also be kept in the refrigerator, but the storage time is partly determined by the other ingredients used.

Rice Store Freezer

You can store the pure cooked rice in the freezer for 3 months in a sealed container or bag in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator. Place a sticker on the tray or bag with the expiration date on it.

Rice dishes can also be stored in the freezer, but the storage time is partly determined by the other ingredients used.

Store Rice Outside The Refrigerator

You don’t keep cooked rice out of the fridge. The chance of bacteria forming is very high. Just don’t.

The only rice you will keep out of the fridge is dry uncooked rice. This rice can be kept for approximately 1 year outside the refrigerator in a dry, dark and cool place.