Normally a rice cooker is used to cook rice.
What if one day the rice cooker suddenly breaks down and doesn’t have a spare rice cooker for use?
Maybe you have to think of a solution before you get a new rice cooker for you.
Let’s say you only have a nonstick pan in the kitchen, possible or not to use it for rice cooking?
Today I am going to discuss using a nonstick pan for cooking rice.
Table of Contents
Can you cook rice in a nonstick pan?
Yes, you can cook rice in a nonstick pan, but there are some concerns. A pan is shallow with a big surface, the boiling water will easily dry up and not favor cooking rice. Make sure when you use the pan to cook rice, you have a lid to cover the pan. A shallow pan will easily bubbles over (over boiling) compared to a deep pot.
Pan easily dries up with boiling water (evaporates faster).
Yes, you can use a nonstick pan to cook rice.
But there are some considerations you need to pay attention to.
The pan is designed to fry food (example frying egg, meat, or sausage) and evaporate the moisture in the shortest time, that’s why the pan shape is wide and shallow.
On the other hand, when cooking the rice, it depends on boiling water to rehydrate the rice.
The rice cooking process needs to be slow enough for the rice to be cooked properly.
The design of the pan will cause the water to evaporate faster and dry up easily compared to a deep pot.
So the rice is not going to benefit from the moistures being rapidly leaving the pan.
The pan had to have a lid to cover it while cooking rice.
Another thing to consider when using a nonstick pan to cook rice is you need a lid to cover on the pan during cooking rice.
If you don’t have a lid to cover the pan, the hot moisture will evaporate faster and the boiling water will dry up easily.
The rice needs to be cooked in a condition where the cookware is closed so that the hot moisture and hot boiling water is maintained long enough to cook the rice properly.
Unfortunately, most nonstick pans are not equipped with a lid.
So if you really want to cook rice with a nonstick pan, make sure you think of a way to cover up the pan, otherwise the rice will be cooked with bad quality.
Pan with a shallow design will easily bubbles over.
Another problem that we always face is bubble over (over boiling).
The pan is shallow, this feature can easily cause bubbles over when cooking rice.
Suggest when you put in the rice and water (ensure a correct rice to water ratio) into the pan, make sure the water level does not exceed 50% (this is just a rough estimation as every pan is not the same in terms of shape and size) of the pan total height.
Make sure the nonstick pan is heavy bottom.
The nonstick pan with a thin bottom that you use may burn the rice at the bottom.
Check the bottom of the pan to make sure it is heavy-bottom.
A heavy bottom pan is able to distribute the heat evenly to the rice and avoid the burning.
A nonstick coating layer will help you easily clean the pan.
A pan with a nonstick feature is good for rice cooking as you don’t need to worry about the rice stubbornly sticking at the pan bottom.
You may need to spend extra effort to remove the stubborn sticky rice without the nonstick coating layer.
When using a nonstick pan for rice cooking, avoid using a metal utensil (example, metal spoon or fork) if you are trying to stir or scoop the rice.
Final Thought
My opinion, using a nonstick pan for cooking rice is only just for temporary use, in case your rice cooker is faulty or you don’t have a pot which comes with a lid.
It is ok to use a nonstick pan for rice cooking if you just cook rice once in a while.
I suggest getting a good quality rice cooker for yourself if rice is your staple food.