Sticky Rice Shortcut: Make Delicious Sticky Rice in 20 Minutes – No Soaking Required!

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

Fast 20 minute sticky rice? YES! We've all been told that sticky rice needs to be soaked overnight and then steamed but did you know that you can make amazing sticky rice in 20 minutes without soaking at all? It is entirely possible to make delicious sticky rice in no time.

Before discovering this method I made Thai sticky rice the usual way. I soak it for 2 hours or overnight and then steam it, usually in my Thermomix. That is fine and great if you have time but I'm going to tell you how to make it in 20 minutes, TOPS.

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

The quickest way to cook sticky rice is in a rice cooker and you do not need to soak it! I have to admit I was super skeptical because I had always read that you must soak the rice beforehand but I swear you don't have to. You just have to measure the same volume or rice and water and that's it. 1 cup of sticky rice is 228g/8ozs while 1 cup of water is 250g/8.8flozs.

What is Sticky Rice?

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

Sticky rice is also called "Glutinous" or "sweet" rice. It can come in either white or black rice and is a popular rice in Laotian and Thai cuisine. Jasmine, arborio or sushi/koshihikari rice is not the same and will not give you the stickiness and chewiness. Traditionally you will soak sticky rice in water and then steam it but after discovering that you can put it in the rice cooker, I make it this way from now on because it is so much easier and tastes comparable to the traditional method. I now always make it this way when I make mango sticky rice!

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

Tips For Making Sticky Rice in a Rice Cooker

1 - Measure the ingredients using a measuring cup or scale (rice is heavier than water).

2- Add salt, otherwise the sticky rice will be bland.

3 - You don't need a sticky rice setting on your rice cooker, just the cooking setting will do (as opposed to the "keep warm" setting)

4 - Let your sticky rice cool a bit and then the real stickiness will come out!

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

While I love bread, I also love eating rice and sometimes if I go too long like a couple of weeks without eating it, I start to crave it. It's not limited to just sticky rice, it's any sort of rice really. I love basmati, especially brown basmati and I love jasmine rice and koshihikari rice too although they're all very different. I think it's an Asian person thing haha.

Last weekend we had a guest in our house while we were away on the South Coast. Valentina had a lovely Japanese student stay with her and she knew that we were looking for a house sitter for the weekend so she recommended Yuki. It's literally our first time having someone stay at our house so I was worried whether she would like it.

We were mainly after someone to look after Teddy and Milo and she was more than happy to. In fact she told us that she found spending time with dogs healing for her which I totally understand. We left lots of food for her: Sardinian minestrone, spicy Jamaican chicken, Jamaican rice and peas and Boston cream pie. I wasn't sure if she could eat spicy food because Japanese food isn't very spicy so I figured that she might eat the minestrone and the rice and peas. She also looks very healthy so I didn't think she'd go for the Boston cream pie.

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

I emailed her a little guide to the house - we all have idiosyncrasies in our house that we don't know they're weird until someone stays over. "We have to teach her how to use the lights!" I told Mr NQN the night before. Our lights are controlled by google home so they don't turn on unless you give a specific voice command and nobody would know that necessarily. The house was very clean as our cleaning lady had come the day before. Still, we changed the sheets and ran the robot vacuum so that everything was as spotless as possible. But still I fretted a bit. "Did we give her enough pillows?" I said to Mr NQN who assured me it was fine.

Yuki was a dream house guest and dog sitter. Not only did she treat Teddy and Milo with such kindness taking them on walks and giving them cuddles, she really enjoyed their company and sent us some pictures where they looked so happy. She also said that it had been a long time since she had slept that soundly and she even had some naps. Yuki also said that the food was delicious and thanked me for making it for her. "I wonder what she ended up eating?" I said to Mr NQN on the drive home. It turned out that she loved the spicy Jamaican chicken and the Boston cream pie the most out of everything! I guessed all wrong really. And before we dropped her home I gave her some Jamaican chicken and the rest of the Boston cream pie to take home to eat.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have house guests over often?

20 Minute Sticky Rice In The Rice Cooker

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An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 2 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2

  • 1 cup (228g/8ozs) sticky rice
  • 1 cup (250g/8.8floz) water
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

Step 1 - Rinse the sticky rice in a sieve until the water runs clear. Add the rice, water and salt to the rice cooker and level rice so that it is flat. Set to cook and allow to steam away. When done take the lid off. At first the rice will not too soft but after 20 minutes or so the stickiness will come out.

Fast Sticky Rice Cooker

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