There’s nothing better than a wholesome bowl of camping rice by the campfire along with your flame-grilled vege’s and meat. Not to mention that it’s a great energy source, reasonably lightweight, has a decent shelf-life and fills you up. 

There are several ways that you can cook rice when you’re camping, and in this article, we will go through ten methods for how to cook camping rice that will cater to any camping situation you find yourself in.

Cooked rice in a pot and over a campfire

If you have a steady burning fire with some nice hot coals, then this is your go-to method. Using one cup of rice to one and a half cups of water, make sure you have your ingredients ready in your pot and covered with aluminum foil.

The next step will be to find a suitable resting area for the pot to be positioned to gain sufficient and consistent heat from the campfire. Camping grill racks are great for support if you have been fortunate to bring one along; however, if you are out of luck, you can opt to re-arrange the campfire logs in position to hold up the rice pot. 

Grills on the campfire

If you have a campfire grill and a saucepan, a similar method to the one previously mentioned is to use the grill as support for your saucepan and rice and water ingredients. Having a grill is tremendously handy because of the cooking space it provides to cook more than just one pot or dish at a time. In addition, good campfire grills will have several locking mechanisms which will allow you to get the proper distance from the coals when cooking your rice. 

On another note, once you have finished cooking your rice in the saucepan, why not add some extra ingredients and create a moreish stir fry by adding your favorite vegetables and meat to the saucepan of cooked rice.

Using a single burner or Jetboil stove

Jetboil stove systems are perfect for camping rice because it comes with everything you need in one unit to quickly boil up some camping rice without needing to make a campfire.

The Jetboil comes with a pot and a handy measurement cup that doubles as an eating bowl. A measuring tool is excellent for determining how much rice and water you need instead of relying on the finger length.

It also comes with the stove element, fuel canister, and a small tripod support, which provides a good support base, so you won’t need to worry about it toppling over midway through a cook. 

Why is the Jetboil the most efficient?

We have found that using a Jetboil for rice cooking produces the most consistent fluffy rice than the other methods here because of its pot or what they like to call a flash cup, but for this article, we will call it the pot.

So the pot will house your ingredients, but on the pot’s base are the patented fluxrings, which contacts and conducts the flame from the fuel canisters and disburses the heat evenly throughout the pot.

Because the flame is not directly in contact with the pot using this efficient heat distribution, the rice cooks quickly and uniformly without being burnt on the bottom while uncooked on the top. Each part of the Jetboil snaps onto each other, starting from the tripod to the pot in this order.

The tripod is fitted onto the fuel canister, the fuel canister then screws onto the stove element, and then the pot is then locked on top of the stove element.

From there on, it’s as easy as adding your ingredients and liquids to the maximum marker within the pot, and then there is a quick safety regulator to switch on and then press the igniter button, and that’s it.

You will need to observe your rice with the Jetboil as there won’t be much time to do anything else since it will cook rapidly.

Using a rice cooker 

While conventional at home, this method isn’t the most convenient when your camping in the backcountry. It is a workable method of cooking rice if you have access to a camping ground with electrical inputs or traveling in a campervan with electrical hookups.

However, most minimalist campers will often audit their backpack space, and the downside to rice cookers is that they are bulky and require electricity.

If you are lucky enough to have enough space, have convenient electricity to power a rice cooker, then for this method, all you would need is a cup of white rice (I prefer Jasmine) and then a cup of water.

Then pop on the ‘cook’ button, and from there, it’s ‘set and forget, a great method for pre cooked long grain rice. Most rice cookers will have a heating setting that will be deferred to once the rice has been cooked.

Travel rice cooker for your car

These portable rice cookers are precisely as described. They are used for small hospitality businesses like food trucks and can cook rice on the go and soups, broths, and risottos.

Usually, with a 1-liter capacity, a car rice cooker is perfect for camping only if you have driven your car to a camping ground or your car is close enough by.

Requiring only 12 volts of power, a travel rice cooker easily plugs into your car cigarette charger and requires about 30 mins to cook a nice batch of rice.

Using an electric pot cooker for rice, pasta, and soups

Like the rice cooker method, you will need an electricity source to pull this off. You will also face the same bulky packing issues that come with bringing a pot cooker on your camping trip.

That being said, an electric pot is a great way to cook short grain rice and other meals like pasta, ramen, soups, and broths that the rice cooker simple cannot if you have access to electrical hookups and have the spare backpacking space that we recommend you opt for an electric pot over a rice cooker because of its ability to cook various meals other than rice.

Using a kettle to cook rice

This method might seem misleading to you because you won’t be cooking any rice within the kettle, so that answers the following question: will cooking rice in my kettle destroy it? Well, no, because again, you won’t be cooking rice in the kettle, so you won’t have the arduous task of cleaning out the kettle.

The kettle method will only boil the water used to pour onto instant rice packets. This situation will only be required if you don’t have access to other methods to boil water and rely on having instant rice instead of uncooked rice.

Conclusion

Camping rice is perfect for feeding hungry campers, backpackers, and hikers alike. Not only because this staple carbohydrate is fluffy, filling, and a quick meal addition. But when you reheat cooked rice it lasts for a long time and can be integrated into many dishes. Keep scrolling below for items we recommend that will help you cook rice when camping.