How to Prepare Brown Rice in Microwave? Simple, Tasty, Healthy Recipe

The ultimate essence to a wholesome meal in Asia starts from a bowl of rice! Rice has a long and valuable history in Japan. Stemming from meticulous rice cultivation to its accessibility we have today, it’s no wonder people yield to its nutritious qualities more and more. With no need of slow rice cooker or extra storage space, we introduce you the microwaveable brown rice that will leave you wanting more. Learn why brown rice is the way to go, useful tips to preparing it and some easy-to-follow recipes for that extra boost of flavour!

What is Microwave Brown Rice?

Have you ever cooked brown rice? If yes, how do you usually cook it?

Brown rice may be tedious to cook because of the rice husks. However, with the Microwave Brown Rice, all you need is to rely on the microwave to do the work for you. Goodbye additional rice cooker!

How does it taste like?

Since Brown rice is whole-grain rice with the outer hull removed, it contains nutty flavor, fragrance, chewy texture, and natural color.

Brown Rice Nutrition

According to USDA, brown rice contains a rich amount of potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin B. This nutrition can keep you healthy, such as preventing heart disease.

Source:
Rice, brown, long grain, cooked (includes food for USDA’s Food Distribution Program)

Related Post on Brown Rice

Is Brown Rice Healthy? Find out Its Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits There are many types of rice we can identify—white rice, black rice, sticky or glutinous rice, long-grain jasmine rice, and basmati rice, etc. They are all c...

Types of Brown Rice that can be Cooked in the Microwave

There are two types of brown rice that can be cooked in the microwave, retort brown rice and raw brown rice. Retort brown rice can be made by following the package instructions. Here, we show you a step-by-step guide to cooking raw brown rice in the microwave. Try it out with us!

Best Way to Cook Brown Rice in the Microwave

Some people might be short on time and don’t always have the opportunity to prepare brown rice, so microwave brown rice is a big time save. Read on to see how you can make perfect brown rice with just a few steps.

What do You Need?

Preparing tasty brown rice in the microwave all you need is:

⇒Brown Rice: 300 grams
⇒Cooking alcohol: 15ml
⇒Salt: 5 grams
⇒Heat-resistant bowl: 1

How to Microwave Brown Rice?

There are six steps to make brown rice in the microwave:

USEFUL TIPS TO KNOW  
● Unlike white rice, brown rice has a shell on its surface. Soaking for a while can help soften the texture.
● In winter, we recommend soaking the brown rice in water for at least 4 hours. You can also soak it a day in advance before going to bed.

Microwave Brown Rice Recipe

Let’s try our hands on cooking simple, tasty and healthy meals with our one pan recipes!

Brown Rice Curry

Curry is an easy and common dish paired with rice in Japan. Try using brown rice as an accompaniment for elevated taste and nutrition.

5 from 3 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 200 grams Pork
• 1 Carrot
• 4 cups Brown Rice
• 1 tbsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Pepper
• 1 tbsp Salad Oil
• 700 cc Water

Instructions

 

• Peel and cut the carrot in rolling wedges and cut the pork into bite size pieces.
• Add salad oil, fry the pork and stir sufficiently. Add salt and pepper until the color changes.
• Add 700cc of water and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and add curry roux.
• Boil for 10 minutes and enjoy it with your Microwave Brown Rice.

Chicken Teriyaki Brown Rice Bento

Teriyaki chicken and brown rice would be the nice combination for bento. To make the nutrients more balanced, complete the bento with stir fry dishes or with steamed vegetables.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings 1

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 200 grams Chicken Breast
• 2 cups Brown Rice
• 2 tbsp Cooking Alcohol
• 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp Mirin
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• Vegetable Oil (a little)
• Steamed vegetables (carrot, red pepper, green pepper, sweet potato, etc)

Instructions

 

• Mix cooking alcohol, soy sauce, mirin, sugar with chicken breast and leave to marinade for about 30 minutes.
• Turn on the frying pan and heat the vegetable oil in low heat. Cook the marinated chicken until lightly browned on bottom. Flip over and cook through.
• Take it out, serve it at the bento box with brown rice you have microwaved, and add some steamed veggies.

Keyword Brown Rice, Chicken Teriyaki, Bento

Natto Brown Rice

Natto is a widely-known Japanese superfood made of fermented soybeans, which not only increases immunity but also good for bone health. For this recipe, all you need to do is open one box of natto, place the natto above your microwaved brown rice and mix them. In just 3 minutes, a very traditional Japanese dish- Natto with brown rice is ready to serve!

Advantages and Disadvantages of Microwave Brown Rice

After understanding the microwave brown rice, let’s review their advantages and disadvantages!

Advantages

● You don’t have to prepare extra equipment such as a professional rice cooker or a saucepan in order to cook brown rice. This will save you money, space and time.

● Fresh brown rice is ready-to-eat in just an hour!

● If you want to save more time, we highly recommend trying Koso Genmai which will be ready after 5 minutes of heating.

Disadvantages

● In order to cook the brown rice, we will need to run the microwave for about 1 hour. It may be difficult to guarantee the safety issue.

● It may not be cost effective to buy steamed packages regularly.

Healthier than Brown Rice: What is Koso Genmai?

As compared to white rice, brown rice is full of nutrition. Therefore, brown rice is a staple for many in Japan.

Besides brown rice, Koso Genmai is another popular option these days. Koso Genmai is brown rice cooked together with Azuki beans (red beans) and salt before being fermented.

Here are some comparisons between Regular Brown Rice and Koso Genmai.

Microwave Brown Rice vs Koso Genmai

Annotation: ○ stands for “Good”; ◎ stands for “Excellent”.

Nutrition Facts Comparison for Brown Rice and Koso Genmai

Compared with white rice, brown rice and Koso Genmai both offer more nutritious ingredients such as potassium and calcium. While Koso Genmai not only contains nutrition which brown rice includes, the fermentation process allows the nutrition to stand out even more. Read on for the comparison:

* Per 150g of rice bowl. Percentage is the nutritional amount of white rice and Koso Genmai when brown rice is 100

* From “Standard Tables of Food Composition in Japan 2015 (7th edition)”

* Reference book: “Poisonous Koso Genmai Diet” Uka Okamoto (SHUFUNOTOMO)

* Source: HIRYU-type Koso Genmai Nutrients contained in 150g of rice

Note: Please use this information for reference. Each manufacturer has its own nutritional value.

In short, Koso Genmai is a power-up version of brown rice. You can also take in polyphenols because of the red beans. It is also popular with entertainers in current Japan because it is excellent in terms of beauty.

How to make Koso Genmai

Do you know that you can also make Koso Genmai at the comfort of your home?

Koso Genmai is known for its incredible health benefits, with abundant enzymes that are considered to be one of the most important elements for human activity.

Related Post on How to make Fermented Brown Rice

How To Make Fermented Brown Rice (Koso Genmai) Fermented brown rice (Koso Genmai) is very good for diet and health. Even for those who can't eat normal brown rice, they can eat fermented brown rice because it has fluffy texture with more umami. Let's easily make fermented brown rice with organic ingredients at home!

Microwave Brown Rice FAQ

Recommended Products for Microwave Brown Rice

Would you like to try brown rice? Here are our all organic recommendations, crafted just for you!