Carrot Brown Rice, cook ahead for convenience and more!

Having containers of Carrot Brown Rice in your freezer will make dinner time easier, tastier and hassle free! Rice is perfect to cook ahead, and have ready just when you need it, come and take a look.

Note: We are a brown rice eating family! When I began noticing and reading about arsenic in rice, I knew I would have to update my cooking methods to offer the most delicious and healthiest rice possible for my family. This added step to parboil the rice is quite easy to accommodate. Especially since we batch cook brown rice for storage in the freezer. Thank you for revisiting this post for the added information and instructions.  

 

We eat a lot of brown rice in this house! 

And for me, the easiest way to cook it, is in the pressure cooker, and when I do, I cook enough to make several packages for the freezer. One way to make our cooked brown rice seem a bit more festive is to add a grated carrot or two for each cup of rice cooked. 

I grate the carrots on the coarse side of the hand grater and throw it in with the salt. Give everything a good stir and let it cook. Leaving me free to not worry about a boil over on the stove and attend to other kitchen chores. Once the brown rice is cooked, I open the cooker, give a gentle stir and let it cool down for packaging. 

More than just convenient, cooked ahead and cooled, is actually better for your gut. 

Ironically for many foods cooking ahead has been the kitchen standard for flavor. How many times has that pot of beans been better the next day? Or the pan of lasagna or rigatoni? Yes the flavor has always been just a bit better, but so had digestibility of the starch in the dish. 

Once I learned about the benefits of resistant starch, with more info found here, I realized how many foods I routinely cooked ahead out of convenience. Turns out that all along it has been a good decision on my part, and not just convenient! Digestion and good digestion at that, is what we all need. 

Once in the freezer, the possibilities for use are endless! 

While I do not use menus as a guideline for our meals, I generally have the a general idea what our dinner will be. Dinner like each meal is based upon ingredients on hand in the pantry. For many (decades, actually!) years I have simply stocked the cupboard with the foods we need and want to eat, and those ingredients become our meals. 

No last minute runs to the store, or going for takeout. This works for us, and is the most convenient way to live, as rural as we do. We go to the market for fresh items about once a week or even less, and use food in what I call "freshness order". With purchased herbs and lettuce on the table right away and things that keep longer served later in the week. 

But why Carrot Rice?

While looking at some of the posted bean recipes I have shared here on Scratch Made Food! I noticed that they were served with a side of rice, that had been cooked with a grated carrot or two. Apparently, I have been cooking carrot rice for a few years now! It seemed only natural to simply continue cooking Carrot Brown Rice, but go ahead and make a larger batch, and share the process as a posted recipe. I store packages of it in the freezer. It is ready for use as needed...Come on, let's make Carrot Brown Rice. 

Some additional thoughts on this recipe:

You will want to put the rice to soak, the day before. I usually put it to soak in the morning, and then parboil the next day. Once parboiled, drain very well. 

You may use more carrots if desired. Do grate them using the coarse holes on your box grater for best texture. 

I have found that one large carrot (or the equivalent) per cup of rice is just right. 

I routinely cook 4 cups of rice, for us, this makes 4 packages of cooked rice to store in the freezer.

Note: I freeze a package of cooked rice for each cup of dry rice cooked. Perfect for when your recipe calls for, 1 cup of rice cooked! 

NOTE: To avoid overcooking the rice, open the vent immediately after the NPR phase. 

And finally this! Like most appliances, I have discovered that my Instant Pot cooks slightly different, from the many recipes I have tried, indicate. My current model seems to need an additional minute or two. Adjust the cooking time listed in the recipe if needed for your particular model. 

FINAL NOTE: All brown rice recipes have been updated for new cooking methods, regarding possible high arsenic levels. Thank you for re-visiting this recipe. 

Ingredients needed for this recipe:

• brown rice
• apple cider vinegar
• carrots
• salt

You will also need the following:

• pressure cooker, electric or stovetop
• box grater
• measuring cups
• measuring spoons
• storage containers

Now we are ready to begin! 

Carrot Brown Rice

by the seat of my pants

UPDATED: 09.07.2024

4 c brown rice, that has been soaked and drained

apple cider vinegar - for soaking the rice

4 large carrots

1 1/4 t salt

4 c water

How to Soak Rice.  

Measure out the amount of rice you wish to cook, 

place in a large enough bowl to be able to cover it with water, 

add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 

cover with cool water, add enough water to cover the rice by one to two inches,

 

let it sit for at least 24 hours. 

When Ready to Cook the Rice: 

This process now includes parboiling with final cooking in your Pressure Cooker. 

Drain the soaked rice in a wire mesh strainer, rinse well, then let the rice drain.  

To parboil the rice, place 5 cups of water for each cup of rice into a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Add the drained rice and when the water returns to a boil, boil for two minutes. Use a timer, and drain the rice as soon as the timer signals. 

Let the parboiled rice drain until no drips are coming off the bottom of the strainer.  You are now ready to cook the drained rice.

If however, the day gets busy and I can not cook the soaked rice as planned, it can be stored (up to 3 days) in a covered container in the refrigerator until cooked.  Pretty simple, right?

Wash and peel the carrots, grate coarsely. Place the grated carrots, drained rice, salt and water into the pressure cooker. 

Secure the lid, close the valve. If using an Instant Pot set timer for 24 minutes. Once cooking has completed let rest NPR for 10 minutes. Important: for best cooking results, do not go beyond the recommended NPR standing time, to avoid overcooked rice. 

Open the valve, letting the steam escape. Remove the lid, gently stir the rice, let cool, then package and freeze. 

For stove top models, bring to a boil, adjust heat to maintain even pressure, cook for 24 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest NPR for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the pressure weight or oven the pressure valve, depending upon your model. Remove the lid, gently stir the rice, let cool, then package, into four containers and freeze. 

Storage options for Carrot Brown Rice. Store in the freezer for up to three months, let thaw before using. Once thawed, you may store in the refrigerator for up to three days. I do not recommend refreezing this dish. 

UPDATE:  For your convenience, a "copy and paste" version of Carrot Brown Rice has been included below. 

Recipes to use packages of Carrot Rice: 

Cilantro and Garlic Carrot Rice. 

Old Fashioned Red Beans and Ham with Carrot Brown Rice.

Spanish Rice. 

Red Beans with Garlic and Red Wine. 

#wholefoodingredients

#scratchmadefoodforyourfamily

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Printable "copy and paste" version:

Carrot Brown Rice

by the seat of my pants

UPDATED: 09.07.2024

4 c brown rice, that has been soaked and drained

apple cider vinegar - for soaking the rice

4 large carrots

1 1/4 t salt

4 c water

How to Soak Rice.  

Measure out the amount of rice you wish to cook, 

place in a large enough bowl to be able to cover it with water, 

add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar, 

cover with cool water, add enough water to cover the rice by one to two inches,

 

let it sit for at least 24 hours. 

When Ready to Cook the Rice: 

This process now includes parboiling with final cooking in your Pressure Cooker. 

Drain the rice in a wire mesh strainer, rinse well, then let the rice drain.  

To parboil the rice, place 5 cups of water for each cup of rice into a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Add the drained rice and when the water returns to a boil, boil for two minutes. Use a timer, and drain the rice as soon as the timer signals. 

Let the parboiled rice drain until no drips are coming off the bottom of the strainer.  You are now ready to cook the drained rice.

If however, the day gets busy and I can not cook the soaked rice as planned, it can be stored (up to 3 days) in a covered container in the refrigerator until cooked. Pretty simple, right?

Wash and peel the carrots, grate coarsely. Place the grated carrots, drained rice, salt and water into the pressure cooker. 

Secure the lid, close the valve. If using an Instant Pot set timer for 25 minutes. Once cooking has completed let rest NPR for 10 minutes. Important: for best cooking results, do not go beyond the recommended NPR standing time, to avoid overcooked rice. 

Open the valve, letting the steam escape. Remove the lid, gently stir the rice, let cool, then package and freeze. 

For stove top models, bring to a boil, adjust heat to maintain even pressure, cook for 25 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest NPR for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the pressure weight or oven the pressure valve, depending upon your model. Remove the lid, gently stir the rice, let cool, then package, into four containers and freeze. 

Storage options for Carrot Brown Rice. Store in the freezer for up to three months, let thaw before using. Once thawed, you may store in the refrigerator for up to three days. I do not recommend refreezing this dish. 

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