Never Fail Oven Baked Rice

Get light and fluffy rice every time with this super easy oven baked rice recipe. It’s a perfect side dish for your favorite recipes.

Early on in our married life, I discovered cooking rice according to the package directions on the stovetop didn’t work well for me. It always ended either too sticky or too dry (and stuck to the pan!).

I eventually discovered this easy oven baked rice recipe in my handy dandy red checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I’ve been making it this way ever since.

In fact, I used this method of baking rice in the oven when I cooked for a few years for a camp and retreat center. I found that it works well for 4 people and turns out perfectly for 250 people, too! At the bottom of this post, I’ll put my calculations for cooking rice for a crowd in case any of you are ever in a situation needing to cook for lots of people.

You’ll only need 3 ingredients for this easy oven baked rice recipe

• 3/4 cup long grain white rice – (Not quick cooking minute rice!)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water

Step by step instructions for oven baked rice

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
2. Rinse the rice in a fine mesh strainer. I never used to do that step but I have a friend who told me if I had ever seen rice harvested from the fields, I would always rinse my rice forever after!;)
3. Pour the rinsed rice in an oven safe casserole dish.
4. Add the butter, salt, and pour over the boiling water. Stir until the butter melts.

5. Cover with a lid or aluminum foild and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

How many cups of dry rice per person?

If you ever have to cook for a crowd or large group of people, you may find yourself asking these type of questions. I used this baked rice recipe for many, many meals during the time I was cooking at camp – and it never failed.

I dug out my quantity cooking notes I took back in those days and found I had written down the calculations.

To calculate the cups of dry rice needed, take the number of people and multiply by .23. That will equal the number of cups of dry rice you need. Here’s another way to look at that calculation:

#of people x .23= cups of dry rice

How much boiling water should you use per cup of dry rice?

As you can see in the initial recipe (for 4 servings) the water ratio to dry rice ratio is double.

When cooking for larger quantities, it’s a bit different. Here’s how to measure.

For “sticky” rice, measure 2 cups boiling water for each cup of rice.

For “fluffy” rice, measure 1.75 cups water for each cup of rice.

I often went right down the middle and used 1.85 cups water for each cup of rice.

The baking time was slightly more for larger pans of rice, too. Instead of baking 30-35 minutes, it usually took about 45 minutes. (I put up to 10 cups of dry rice per each pan. If you need more than 10 cups dry rice, use more than one hotel pan.)

Here are some other facts that may help you.

6 cups dry rice feeds about 35 people. For 130 people, prepare 2 pans with 10 cups of dry rice each.

Keep in mind, though, that there will always be exceptions to the rule when you are cooking for a crowd. You may have leftovers, or they may gobble it all up. No two groups are alike!

(If you want to see how I cooked rice this way for large groups, you can see pictures of it in this post on Butter Chicken. It’s an old post, but it may be of help if you’re doing camp cooking.)

Other side dish recipes

• I used to make this amazing meatloaf at the camp, too. At the bottom of that post is a recipe for smashed potatoes that are a great side dish, too.
• Roasting a big sweet potato is a great side dish option.
• This creamy potato salad recipe is my favorite!

Pin this to remember later: