Can You Freeze Cooked Rice…?
Can You Freeze Cooked Rice?
Yes, You can freeze cooked rice. We do it all the time at our house. My wife found this out from her sister I believe. But anyway we have been doing it for a long time.
It is really easy. First you need to cook your rice. We always add some black rice and a few beans to make it a little more exciting. Then, when you have eaten all you will eat, simply put the rest of it in a zip-loc bag.
Freezing Rice Process
Then put your bag in the freezer. We usually set it out for a bit until it is not so hot anymore. This is more for making sure that our freezer doesn’t have to do too much work.
I am not sure how long you can keep rice in the freezer but we have kept it for a few days up to a week. We eat rice every day so this is not a big deal for us, but if you want to know longer term… according to stiltasty.com:
How long does rice last once it is cooked? The shelf life for cooked rice — all varieties, including white, wild, jasmine, basmati, Arborio, brown — is as follows:
• Refrigerator: 4 to 6 days
• Freezer: 6 months (best quality only — foods kept constantly frozen at 0° F will keep safe indefinitely)
So that is a pretty long time.
Thawing Rice Process
Now that your rice is nice and frozen, what about when you are ready to eat it again? Well that’s simple. Simply take your ziploc bag out of the freezer and throw the whole thing in the microwave. I usually open it up a bit just to get some air flowing.
This is a lot easier than taking the frozen rice out and putting it in a bowl. I don’t do defrost on the microwave, just normal high setting. I am usually doing 1/2 quart sized bags that are about 3/4 the way full. And this takes about 4 minutes to thaw on high.
If you are worried about microwaving ziploc bags then you can take your rice out and put it in a bowl, but I have never done that so let me know if that turns out alright. Plus, quora says it’s fine.
Enjoy your rice!
More Resources:
TheKitchn – Freezing Cooked Brown Rice
BudgetBytes – How to Freeze Rice
FoodieWithFamily – How and Why to Freeze Cooked Rice
Dorothy Teel
January 9, 2016 @ 6:18 pm
Thank you interesting, I have frozen rice before in things like gumbo or hoppin gater and we have not eaten all of the meal, it is good as long as it is microwaved, cooking in a pan means you usually have to add some fluids then the rice gets too soggy for our liking, will continue to just microwave.
Tom
January 9, 2016 @ 10:11 pm
Oh good. I have never frozen gumbo. I will need to try that. Yeah I think one of the best things we found was going straight to microwave in the plastic bag was better than reheating in the pot and having to add water. Thanks
Ashley
January 9, 2016 @ 7:42 pm
My mother used to freeze rice when our fridge broke , albeit her process was a bit erm…. less refined. She would cover the pot w/ aluminum foil and leave in the deep freezer overnight and then she’d take out to defrost in the morning before work. I suppose it might seem a bit weird but it worked out. Cool post.
Tom
January 9, 2016 @ 10:13 pm
Thanks Ashley. I want to try that now. But i dont know if I have space in my freezer to put a whole pot. Yeah I have done it where I leave it out to defrost but it just takes so long hehe.
Michelle
January 10, 2016 @ 4:16 am
I admit that my household hardly has any leftover rice due to its versatility in being able to be cooked for not only sides but, main and desserts. However, on the occasions that I have had to freeze rice I do it the exact same way in a Ziploc bag; I freeze pasta the same way. Also, when I make yeast based breads I double up the recipe and cut off the desired sized chunks from the final raised dough, spray the inside of a Ziploc bag with non-stick, and freeze. Yes, I love freezing extras, etc. Waste not want not.
Tom
January 18, 2016 @ 7:06 am
Exactly. I love freezing leftovers too. But I have kind of been having the opposite problem lately, where I feel like I have too many leftovers and end up not having any choice as to what I can eat because I have to eat what is gonna go bad first hehe.