The Secret To Better Wild Rice Is In Your Pantry

Although it's been used in the kitchen for generations, you might be surprised to hear that wild rice isn't actually rice at all — it's a seed. This North American, semi-aquatic grass grows in bays, rivers, and lakes in the Great Lakes Region, which is how it came to be a popular choice for Minnesotan glorified rice recipes. But wild rice, for all its delicious flavors and nutritious benefits, is notoriously challenging to cook correctly. This dark-colored, nutty-flavored ancient grain can take upwards of 45 minutes to cook on the stovetop, making it quite a commitment. To shorten that cooking time and produce even softer wild rice, try "browning" it with some baking soda.

This simple pantry ingredient can transform your batch of wild rice from a time-consuming chore into a perfectly cooked, tender, and flavorful dish. Adding a dash of baking soda to the cooking water as you're preparing a batch of wild rice can lower the temperature needed for the grains to turn soft and delicate, speeding up the cooking process and producing a finished product you can be proud of. It has a naturally rich, earthy flavor, often tasting chewier than other types of rice. Adding baking soda to the cooking water enhances the richness of the stock, infusing it with more of the flavors from the wild rice for a more robust soup (if that's what you're going for) while also giving it an even nuttier, more satisfying taste.

Wild rice has a hard, pectin-rich shell that needs to be broken down before it can soften. The high levels of pectin in wild rice are one of its many benefits, a fiber that aids with digestion and overall health, but that tough exterior is also why it takes so much longer to cook than any other type of rice. Baking soda will raise the pH of the cooking water, which breaks down the grain's cell walls and softens the wild rice's strong pectin exterior much faster. It's important to moderate how much baking soda you put into the water, though, as too much can leave the stock thick and unpleasant, ruining the wild rice.

True wild rice — which is harvested from rivers, lakes, and creeks where it grows in the wild — is harder to find and often more expensive than cultivated wild rice, which is more readily available at grocery stores. A 15-ounce bag of true wild rice will cost about $14, whereas a 42-ounce bag of white rice only runs for about $6. The grain is also delicious in microwavable rice form, but even then, tossing the packet onto a skillet with water and baking soda will lead to even tastier results for a cheaper price point. Who knew that a simple pinch of baking soda could elevate wild rice from basic to bougie — even those stubborn pectin shells don't stand a chance.