Where has this tip been all my life? I’ve had rice cookers, made rice in my instant pot (works great), done the stovetop method (eh… hit or miss) but this is by far the easiest way to cook and store rice I’ve found.

What is it? Baking it! Yep! You can actually cook a big 9×13 pan of rice in the oven, let it cool and put portions in freezer baggies to freeze and reheat (see below) later!

Here’s how:

2 cups white rice

3.5 cups boiling water

4 Tablespoons butter – divided into 1T pats (doesn’t have to be perfect)

2 teaspoons salt

Turn on your oven to 375 degrees.

Grab your 9×13 pan (I like glass for this) and a sheet of foil large enough to completely seal the pan.

Boil the water (I just use my electric tea kettle but stovetop would work too)

Pour the rice into your 9×13 pan. Top the rice with your pats of butter and the salt. Pour the boiling water over the top of it all. Give it a light stir. Then cover tightly with the foil to seal the pan.

Bake the rice for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven but don’t peek inside yet. Allow it to sit and steam for another 5-10 minutes. Then carefully remove the foil and fluff the rice with a fork.

Once it cools a bit, you can divide the rice into quart-sized freezer bags. Seal them with as little air in there as possible and then flatten the rice out in the baggie to make for easy stackable storage in the freezer.

When you’re ready to eat the frozen rice, get your kettle and boil some water. Put the frozen block of rice into a large bowl and pour boiling water over it. Wait a minute or two and give it a little stir to break up the rice. Strain the rice out of the water and voila, perfect rice for whatever you’re serving.

Do you have a favorite way to make rice?