Sticky rice is one of the most popular staples in Asian cuisine, both for desserts and salty foods. I’m going to show you how to quickly cook sticky rice in 30 minutes using a rice cooker.
When using a rice cooker, you don’t have to pre-soak your rice or use a vaporizer. This means less work, but still amazing results for your next sticky rice dessert or savory dish!
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What is
sticky rice?
This recipe specifically uses white short-grain sticky rice (also known as glutinous rice). Don’t confuse it with sushi rice or non-glutinous short-grain rice because you’ll end up with a completely different dish.
What makes this type of rice different from its non-glutinous cousins is in reference to its name: it is much stickier and brighter than traditional non-glutinous rice like sushi rice or other short-grain varieties. This is due to the high amounts of amylopectin starches in the grains.
Different rice varieties contain two main starches that contribute to their texture: amylose and amylopectin. The more amylose starches, the more separated the grains are after cooking. The more starches of amylopectin, the stickier the rice becomes after cooking, like sticky rice!
There is also
black glutinous sticky rice with its bran intact, so it has a darker color on the outside and white sticky rice. It will still give it a sticky consistency, but its color is simply different.
Using
vaporizers to make sticky rice is
an ancient tradition and method, but when we don’t all have time to wait and pre-soak the rice for a couple of hours (or even overnight), a rice cooker works wonderfully. I’ve
found that using a rice cooker can give sticky, sticky rice that is comparable to steamed sticky rice. While you can also use a sticky rice steamer with good results, I like to use a rice cooker as a faster, hands-off method of making sticky rice.
Tips for making sticky rice, also known as glutinous rice<
For this recipe, I made a 1:1 ratio for rice to water. This means I used 8 fluid ounces (or 244 grams) of water for every 1 dry measuring cup (or 208 grams) of glutinous rice. This equates to about 2 servings. For a serving of sticky rice for 4 people, you can reuse this ratio and measure 16 fluid ounces of water (or 488 grams) per 2 cups of glutinous rice (or 416 grams).
Note that this ratio is only tested up to a serving of 4 people, so it may differ if you add more than 2 cups of rice.
To get the
thickest, stickiest grains, here are some tips for cooking sticky rice in a rice cooker:
- For best results, use weighted measures. Not all measuring cups are created equal in terms of manufacturing differences, and this will eliminate confusion caused between measuring tools for dry and liquid foods.
- with a strainer before cooking to remove dirt from your rice. I like to pass it under the kitchen faucet and stop when the water is clear.
- , use clean hands to spread the rice to cook evenly on the surface. Use the
- manual and instructions specific to your rice cooker. For this recipe, I used my national brand rice cooker in the “normal” setting and simply hit start. It took about 20-25 minutes to finish cooking.
- Use a popsicle to fluff the rice and remove excess moisture. Then let it sit with the lid open for about 2 minutes. This allows the rice to remove excess moisture and refill.
Wash your rice
After adding water and rice to the rice cooker
Serve and store
Sticky rice is best served fresh and steaming. You can use it to make sticky rice with mango, fried rice with Chinese sausages or just eat it only with any side dish you want! I like to store my sticky rice in an airtight container in the fridge and it should last for a couple of days.
You can reheat it in the microwave, just be sure to add a few pinches of water to rehydrate it and cover it with a towel. I like to heat in the microwave at 30-second intervals until it’s nice and steaming.
Can you cook glutinous rice in a rice cooker?
absolutely. Follow my recipe below on how to cook glutinous rice in a rice cooker with perfect results. There’s really not much downside to using a rice cooker if you already have the machine. It will be more hands-free compared to the stove or steam method, you will not regret the results!
Can sticky rice be made with regular rice?
No! Sticky rice is called glutinous rice, it is not simply a description or adjective of how sticky rice is. If you try to cook long-grain rice like basmati or other medium-grain rice varieties, it will be extremely difficult to make it sticky.
If you use
short-grain rice, you will have a higher proportion of amylose which makes the rice label compared to long-grain varieties, but its level of stickiness and final texture is NOT as sticky, and it is completely different than sticky rice (glutinous rice).
