Some of you may already know this, but I’m going to let the rest of you in on a little kitchen secret; you can’t make proper fried rice without using leftover cold rice. It’s the truth. If you start fried rice with freshly cooked, hot rice, it’s going to be mushy and it won’t develop that little crusty, flavour-packed exterior that makes good fried rice so, well, GOOD.

And if you try to use freshly cooked rice that you’ve quick cooled on a sheet pan, you’ll only be marginally better off than you were with the hot rice. It’s something about that rest time and letting the rice get cold all the way through that makes the magic in fried rice. The same holds true for cold rice salads (one of my favourite whole-grain goodies: cold, leftover brown rice, some veg, some dressing, and a little time for flavours to meld.) and rice pancakes.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m positively dismal at thinking 24 hours ahead on what I’d like to eat. If I’m LUCKY, I’ll think “Hey. Fried rice sounds AWESOME. I have some leftover meat, a few veggie odds and ends, and all the other things I need to make a rockin’ fried rice” the day before I actually want it. Most of the time, though, I think it at the very moment I’d be willing to elbow a grandma out of the way to get a bowl of steaming hot fried rice. I’m a loser that way. BUT I KNOW MY LIMITATIONS and have figured out a way around them.

The Solution

I deliberately make BEAUCOUP rice whenever I make rice for a meal, both because we eat a ton in a sitting, and because I now have the way to ensure that I always, always, ALWAYS have my fried rice cravings in hand. How? I chill the rice overnight (because that helps it set up more firmly so it doesn’t stick to itself), spread on a silpat, and freeze ’til rock solid before transferring to a labeled, dated, resealable zipper top bag and stashing in the freezer. I do this will all of the kinds of rice we cook: white jasmine, brown jasmine, basmati (white or brown), medium grain white, short grain white, and sticky sweet brown rice.

If you’re not a fan of fried rice, I’m sorry. No wait. That’s not what I meant to say. I meant to say that even if you’re not a fan of fried rice, this is a great solution for you. Why? Because a bag full of cooked rice in the freezer means you’re just a few microwaved minutes from tasty hot rice with a meal. That means you don’t have to wait however long to cook that pot of brown rice to serve with your beef stew or soup or Chickpea Tikka Masala. Let’s be real here. Sometimes the difference between ordering out and having a home cooked meal can be determined by how fast we can have our sides ready, right?

Is anyone interested in a good, solid, customizable fried rice recipe?

Cook’s Notes

• This works best with rice that’s cooked firm and not mushy. I think most rice dishes (with the notable exceptions of rice pudding and jook) work best when cooked firm and not mushy.
• I’m a BIG fan (and by big, I mean huge) of rice cookers. This takes the guess work out of cooking any variety of rice from the most mundane to the most exotic. Even my little sister who routinely refuses kitchen gadgets because of her extremely limited kitchen space grew to rely on a rice cooker. You can cook all kinds of whole grains in them from rice to quinoa to barley to teff to freekeh and everything in between.
• DO let the rice cool in the refrigerator overnight before spreading on your silpat lined sheet pan. This gives the starch on the outside of the rice grain a chance to set up so it will be easier to separate on the pan which makes it more separate when frozen and less clumpy in your fried rice, rice salad, or rice pancakes.
• While you don’t have to be strict about spreading your cold rice in a single layer, the closer you can get to that, the better your overall results will be and the less clumping you will have.

How to Freeze Rice {for fried rice and other dishes}

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Rebecca Lindamood

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Ingredients

  

• Any amount of leftover rice well chilled

Instructions

 

• Line a sheet pan with a silpat or silicone baking liner to prevent sticking. Use your hands to crumble the cold rice over the silpat lined baking sheet, gently breaking apart any clumps. While it doesn't need to be a single layer, it should be as close to that as possible. Divide the rice between as many sheet pans as needed to keep the rice close to a single layer. Freeze for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before breaking the frozen rice up into labelled, dated, resealable freezer bag. Keep frozen for up to 3 months.

To Reheat Frozen Rice:

• Add desired amount of rice to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and vent one side. Heat for 2 minutes on HIGH in the microwave, carefully pull back the plastic wrap and fluff with a fork, recover the plastic wrap and reheat in 1 minute increments or until hot all the way through.

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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