Water-to-rice ratios by variety
Good stovetop rice comes down to three numbers per variety: how much water per measure of dry rice, how long it simmers, and how long it rests off the heat. Those numbers aren't the same across types, which is why a ratio that nails jasmine leaves brown rice crunchy. This tool stores a tested set per variety and scales the water to whatever amount of dry rice you start with.
The water ratio is volumetric — cups of water per cup of dry rice — because that's how most home cooks measure. Long-grain white wants 1.75 to 1; jasmine and basmati, lighter and quicker, take 1.5 to 1; short-grain and sushi rice sit lower, around 1.25 and 1.2. Brown rice is the outlier at 2.25 to 1 with a 45-minute simmer, because its intact bran layer takes far longer to hydrate. Multiply your dry amount by the variety's ratio and you have the water.
Rest time is the step people skip and shouldn't. After the simmer, pulling the pot off the heat and leaving the lid on for about 10 minutes lets the grains finish steaming in their own residual moisture and firm up, so the bottom layer doesn't go gluey. Risotto rice like arborio is the exception — it's cooked uncovered with stock added gradually and stirred, so it gets no rest at all.
If you'd rather weigh than measure by volume, switch the dry-rice unit to grams; the calculator carries a per-variety density (brown rice is heavier per cup than jasmine) so the water still comes out right. Rinsing helps too: for jasmine, basmati, and sushi rice, rinsing until the water runs clear washes off surface starch and gives you separate, fluffy grains instead of a sticky clump.
Worked example
You're cooking 1.5 cups of dry long-grain brown rice on the stovetop.
- Water = dry rice × ratio = 1.5 cups × 2.25 = 3.375 cups
- Simmer covered 45 minutes, then rest off the heat 10 minutes
→ 1.5 cups brown rice + about 3.38 cups water, for roughly 4.5 cups cooked (rice expands ~3×).