Sushi rice (using an electric rice cooker) (2024)

Lean how to easily make Sushi Rice (white short grain rice), using an electric rice cooker. It’ll turn out perfect every time.

Read through the instructions and most importantly the PRO TIPS and notes at the end before you go shopping and start cooking. Reading everything will help you finish faster and prevent mistakes that could make the dish more challenging or frustrating to cook.

Makes 3 cups / 10 min prep time / 40 min cook time

• 1:1 ratio Equal parts rice to water
• 3 cups / 484 ml Water
• 3 cups / 484 g Rice
• 1 Japanese cup is about 161g of rice. This recipe uses the Japanese measurement.
• 1 American cup is about 200g of rice.
• 3/4 American cups is about 1 Japanese cup of rice.

Measure out the rice into your pot and fill the pot with just enough water so the rice has the consistency of wet sand. You only add a little bit of water so the rice creates more friction when you wash it. This removes more starch in the process, giving you more plump individual grains of rice, not a soft sticky clump after cooking.

Wash the rice for 5 minutes using a small claw-like grip. Swirl the rice around counter clockwise in small circular motions, making sure to scrape the rice that moves up the edges of the rice pot so that all the rice gets washed.

Fill the pot with water and agitate the rice. Pour off the starchy water and repeat this process 6 times until the water is clear. It helps to use a strainer to catch the rice when you pour out the water.

After the final rinse, let the rice dry for 20–30 minutes in the vessel or in the strainer. Most of the rice should turn from a shiny grain to an opaque pure white. I find this step helps ensure the ratio of water is exact and slightly plumps up the grain of rice. (If you are short on time, you can omit this step.)

Fill the pot with the appropriate measurement of water and let the rice soak for 20–30 minutes.

Push down the button to start the rice and wait until the rice is ready.

• Every farm, brand, and manufacturer has slightly different rice. This means not all short grain white rice is exactly the same or should be cooked the same. Additionally everyone’s tap water, equipment, and heat source is different as well. The above recipe is a good guideline but try to find a brand of rice you like and adjust the ratio to achieve the result you want.
• Some rice may need slightly more water or less depending on its characteristics. If you prefer soft or more plump individual grains you’ll need to adjust the amount of water you add. More water will make the rice more cooked and soft, less water keeps the rice more plump and firm.
• If you don’t have a strainer to catch the rice, use the lid. Put the lid on the cooking vessel and crack the lid just enough to let the water pour out, keeping the rice trapped inside.
• When the rice is ready, I like to wait 5 minutes to let the rice steam out a bit and plump up. This step is optional.
• Fluff up the rice to stop the cooking process and ensure the rice stays in nice individual grains. Don’t smash the rice but gently cut through it and fold it up. This step is optional.
• Use an earthenware pot or high quality rice cooker for the best results.
• Earthenware pots require a gas flame but retains the heat the best and in my experience, cooks the rice the most evenly every time.

• “Follow the Recipe.” A quote from Colette in one of my favorite movies, Ratatouille, is advice I’d like to give, but also expand on. I think it’s important to follow the recipe, but I think it’s more important to think of the recipe as a guideline. All the ingredients could be the same but each ingredient tastes different. For example, a carrot I buy at the store isn’t going to taste or be exactly the same carrot you will buy at the store. Different brands, farmers, and processing techniques means each dish you make following this recipe may taste slightly different than mine. In this case it’s important to adjust the seasoning to suit your taste and not get too focused on following the recipe exactly. I’m sharing this recipe hoping you’ll attempt to make it and adjust it to make it your own. That’s real cooking, not following the recipe to a T.