Instant rice vs. Regular rice

TipMcE
TipMcE Posts: 158
in Recipes
I need some input from anyone who is familiar with rice. I cooked up a recipe of rice and beans tonight that called for 2 cups of uncooked instant rice. Since I only have regular Jasmine rice, I used 2 cups of that instead. It made a TON of food, 8 cups total and the recipe said it was 4 servings (as a side dish). When I added the recipe to MFP the total calories was about 1800, that would be 450 per serving (at 4 servings)! Is the yield for uncooked instant rice different from the yield for uncooked regular rice? Thanks :)

Replies

  • rmhand
    rmhand Posts: 1,067 Member
    When I read the nutritional information on the instant brown rice and the regular brown rice they were the same. So I buy instant because I don't have 40mins to dedicate to rice. I am going to assume the same for white rice. I think you math is correct.
    Yay for awesome low cal foods.
  • AdrienneinTO
    AdrienneinTO Posts: 111 Member
    In general, uncooked rice expands about 2-3x once it cooks. Instant rice is partially cooked. That means that you would start with a larger amount of instant rice if you are following a recipe (because it has already expanded a bit).

    So by starting with the same volume of uncooked rice, yeah, you got yourself a lot of rice. And the calorie content sounds about right.

    I hope that helps.
  • TipMcE
    TipMcE Posts: 158
    Thanks. By the way, a friend of mine recommended soaking brown rice in water overnight so you can cook it in the same time as white rice. I haven't tried it yet but I want to at least mix white and brown for a healthier meal.
  • TipMcE
    TipMcE Posts: 158
    In general, uncooked rice expands about 2-3x once it cooks. Instant rice is partially cooked. That means that you would start with a larger amount of instant rice if you are following a recipe (because it has already expanded a bit).

    That's what I started to wonder as I saw the massive amount of cooked rice!

    So by starting with the same volume of uncooked rice, yeah, you got yourself a lot of rice. And the calorie content sounds about right.

    I only managed to eat about half a cup of the cooked rice, so it was a little over 100 cal for the side dish. I had that with 1.5 home made enchiladas and was stuffed.
    Thanks for your reply :)

    I hope that helps.
  • AdrienneinTO
    AdrienneinTO Posts: 111 Member
    I'd rather not buy instant rice because it is more expensive. If you are using white rice, I'd say just get regular uncooked, in bulk. White rice only takes ~15 minutes to cook. It's pretty easy to work around that.

    I just bought instant brown rice for the first time in my life. You need to boil regular brown rice for an hour, I don't usually have that kind of time. So after seeing that there are no other ingredients aside from rice, I thought it would make sense to buy instant if it is brown. Interesting about soaking it overnight. I wonder if that works. I've been eyeing the huge bags of brown rice in my health food store, trying to work out in my head if you can boil that stuff ahead of time (like, on a weekend when you have some time) and freeze it to use later in the week.

    Lol. Don't call me cheap. I like to think of myself as optimization-focused.
  • lazatin
    lazatin Posts: 452 Member
    You do realize how many calories white rice has in it. 1/4 cup is usually the serving and has between 170-210 calories depending on the brand...we use Kukuho (sp) rice and it is insane..i have really cut out white rice and switched to brown...i like the instant Uncle Ben's brown rice..not a lot of sodium like the others and you get a bigger serving size.

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