Rice in Pressure Cooker VS Rice in Steamer: Which Way Of Cooking Is More Healthier?

Should you cook rice in a pressure cooker or boil it in a pot and drain the water? Experts explain which method retains the most nutrients and keeps you healthy.

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Which is the best way to cook rice?

Every Indian household cooks rice differently. Some people use an electric rice cooker. Others prefer a pressure cooker. Many people still boil rice in excess water and drain it. You might wonder which method actually locks in the nutrients.

Many people believe that draining the water removes the starch and makes the rice healthier. They also think that pressure cooker rice spikes blood sugar quickly. But experts say that the rice variety, water quantity, cooking time, and eating temperature completely change the nature of the rice.

Research shows that the rice type, processing method, and reheating process decide how fast your blood sugar rises after a meal. We cannot simply say that cooker rice is bad and drained rice is good. Both methods have some major differences.

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What happens when you drain rice?

We call it the draining method when we boil rice in excess water and throw away the leftover water. This method flushes out some water-soluble nutrients along with the starch water. We lose crucial B-complex vitamins when we drain this water. The Harvard Nutrition Guide states that washing rice too many times also reduces water-soluble B vitamins.

However, this does not mean drained rice loses all its nutrients. The draining method simply changes how your body digests the rice starch. One study found that cooking methods alter the levels of fast-digesting and slow-digesting starch in the rice. You make a mistake if you think drained rice has zero starch. The starch never goes away completely. The starch reduction depends entirely on the rice variety, water quantity, and cooking style.

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Cooking rice in a pressure cooker

You can cook rice very easily in a pressure cooker. The rice absorbs the limited water, so you do not need to drain anything. This process traps the water-soluble nutrients inside the rice. But we cannot claim that cooker rice is the most nutritious option. The cooker alone does not decide how the rice affects your blood sugar.

The rice variety, starch nature, polishing level, cooking time, and portion size play a massive role here. Studies show that the Glycemic Index or GI value of different rice types ranges from 48 to 93.

For example, long-grain rice like Basmati raises blood sugar much slower than short-grain rice. Some research proves that brown rice has a lower GI than white rice. But this difference can change based on the cooking time and rice nature. Therefore, the claim that cooker rice instantly spikes blood sugar is not entirely true.