Quick Answer: How to Dehydrate Rice?
The best way to dehydrate rice is using an oven or a food dehydrator. Both methods can be used for bulk drying of rice and take around 12 hours to complete.
In this article, I will be outlining the best methods to dry cooked rice from the comfort of your home. You’ll be requiring your everyday kitchen appliances for the same.
I’ve not only poured my personal experience with drying cooked rice but have also incorporated hours of research on what food bloggers and experts have to say on drying cooked rice at home.
There are many ways to dry cooked rice and I’ve got you covered with the two simplest methods.
Since each of these methods are unique in their own way, let’s kick things off with the most common method referred to for drying cooked rice at home.
How to Dehydrate Rice Using an Oven?
Using the oven to dry rice is one of the most common and simplest methods. The method doesn’t take long to complete and you get perfectly dried rice in the comfort of your home. However, you will have to keep an eye out to make sure your rice doesn’t overdry or burn.
Materials
- Drying trays
- Parchment paper
- Salt
- A big pot
- Raw rice
Tools
- No special tools needed
Instructions
- Wash the rice - Place your raw rice in a bowl and fill it with water. Mis the rice a little and strain the grains to remove water.
Repeat this until the water in the bowl becomes clear. - Boil the water - Fill a big pot with water and bring it to a boil. If you are using brown rice, you’ll have to use a bigger pot to cook it.
- Cook the rice - Place your rice in the water and add ½ tablespoon of salt. Let the white rice cook for 20 minutes.
If you’re cooking brown rice, let it cook for around 40 minutes. Let the rice cool after it’s cooked. - Rinse the rice - Rinse your cooked rice to remove excess starch from the grains.
- Spread the grains - Place a parchment sheet on the dehydrator trays and spread your rice on top.
It isn’t necessary to spread even layers as cooked rice already has grains stuck together which won’t affect the drying process. - Dry the rice - Place the trays in the oven for the required time. Wait a few hours before checking up to see if the rice is dried.
In case you’ve got any clumps on the tray, press them down to help them dry faster.
Dehydrate Rice Using the Food Dehydrator
Time Taken:6 to 8 hours
Optimum temperature – 125 degrees Fahrenheit
What You Need:
- Drying trays
- Parchment paper
- Salt
- A big pot
- Raw rice
A food dehydrator is another alternative to using an oven.
The method takes a shorter time than the other one since more heat is applied to help dry the rice faster.
It only takes up to 8 hours before you get perfectly dried rice in the comfort of your home.
You can skip the first few steps if you’ve got cooked rice and follow along after.
Wash the Rice
Place your raw rice in a bowl and fill it with water. Mix the rice a little and strain the grains carefully to remove water.
Repeat this until the water in the bowl becomes clear.
Boil the Water
Completely fill a big pot with water and bring it to a boil. You’ll have to use a bigger pot if you’re cooking brown rice.
Cook the Rice
Place your rice in the water and add ½ tablespoon of salt.
If you’re cooking brown rice, let it cook for around 40 minutes. White rice should be cooked for 20 minutes. Let the rice cool after it’s cooked.
Rinse the Rice
Rinse your cooked rice to remove excess starch from the grains.
Spread the Grains
Place a parchment sheet on the dehydrator trays and spread your rice on top.
It isn’t necessary to evenly spread layers as cooked rice already has grains stuck together which won’t affect the drying process.
Dry the Rice
Place the trays in the oven for the required time. Halfway through the drying process, check to see if the rice is dried.
In case you’ve got any clumps on the tray, press them down to help them dry faster.
The Proper Way to Store Dried Rice
After drying your rice, you can place it in glass mason jars with regular canning lids.
However, avoid plastic mason jar lids as they don’t keep the dried rice as airtight as it needs to be.
Therefore, proceed with using metal lids and rings instead.
Then, for best taste, store your jar in your cabinet, cupboard, pantry, or another dry, dark place for as long as needed.
To extend the shelf life of dried rice, you can keep it in containers too.
Our Take on Which Method is The Best
If you want to dry your rice in bulks, you can opt for the dehydrator method.
That combined with the oven method is ideal for bulk drying to get perfectly dried rice at home.
Both methods are quite quick and take less than 12 hours to complete
FAQs
The dehydrator should be used if you are looking for the fastest method to dry rice. Since a dehydrator provides more heat than an oven, it dries the rice grains faster.
Your rice slices will be perfectly dried when they are crisp, dry, and have shrunk a considerable size.
No, it isn’t possible to dry raw rice since the grains are already dry and have no moisture in them. Refrain from trying to dehydrate raw rice as it isn’t advised to do so.
Bottom line
Hopefully, this guide has aided you in understanding how to dry cooked rice at home with ease.
In case you have any queries to ask regarding the process, do let us know. Feel like we have missed out on something?
Let us know any tips we can include in our guide to make it better!
Kindly share this guide with your friends and family to assist them with drying rice at home.