How To Cook Rice in a Rice Cooker

Before You Start...

1. Please note that Japanese short-grain white rice requires a soaking time of 20–30 minutes. The rice-to-water ratio [volume] is 1 to 1.1 (or 1.2) for short-grain white rice. Please read the blog post for a detailed explanation. ¾ cup uncooked Japanese short-grain rice is 1 rice cooker cup (150 g, 5.3 oz), which yields roughly 2¼ cups (330 g) of cooked rice. This is enough for 2 Japanese rice bowls (typically 150 g each) or 3 onigiri rice balls (typically 110 g each). 1 cup of cooked white rice weighs about 5.3 oz (150 g).
2. To make Japanese brown rice, see my post How to Cook Short-Grain Brown Rice in a Rice Cooker.

To Wash the Rice

1. Measure: Overfill a US cup measure (a ¾-cup measure works well for this) or a rice cooker cup with uncooked short-grain rice and level it off. Put the rice in a large bowl. Repeat until you have the measured amount of rice needed. Here, I‘m preparing 3 rice cooker cups (2¼ cups, 540 ml) of white rice.
2. Quick Rinse: Add just enough water to the bowl to submerge all the rice. Then, discard the water immediately. Repeat one more time. Tip: Rice absorbs water very quickly when you start rinsing, so this step helps remove impurities from the rice and prevent it from absorbing the first few rounds of milky water.
3. Wash: Next, use your fingers to gently agitate the wet rice grains in a circular motion for 10–15 seconds. Using very little water allows the grains to rub against each other. It also reduces the absorption of impurities from the milky water.
4. Rinse: Add water and immediately discard the cloudy water. Repeat one more time.
5. Repeat Wash and Rinse (steps 3 and 4) two more times.
6. Drain: When the water is almost clear, drain the rice very well. Tip: Use a fine-mesh sieve to drain and shake off any excess water.

To Soak and Cook the Rice

1. Transfer the well-drained rice to the inner pot of a rice cooker (I use the Zojirushi IH). Add the measured amount of room-temperature water (600 ml for my 3 rice cooker cups) to the pot. The water must not be warm or hot. Level the rice with your fingers so that it's evenly submerged in the water.
2. Soak the white rice for 20–30 minutes (especially if you‘re using an older rice cooker). Then, select your menu and press Start. Tip: Even though my rice cooker includes soaking time, I still soak my white rice for 20–30 minutes before I start the cooker. Note: This Zojirushi rice cooker takes 55 minutes to cook 3 cups of Japanese short-grain white rice; the program includes 10 minutes of soaking time and 10 minutes of steaming time.
3. When the rice is done cooking, let it steam for 10 minutes (if your rice cooker program does not include steaming time.) Open the lid and fluff the rice with a rice paddle.

To Store the Cooked Rice

1. Transfer the rice to airtight containers and close the lid to keep the moisture in. Let it cool completely before storing the containers in the freezer (read my tutorial post).