Our Best Tips & Tricks for Cooking Grains

December 30, 2015

Now's about the time we've eaten our weight in pie and cookies and start dreaming about roasted vegetables, soups, and grains.

And then we ask ourselves a lot of questions (again): Do I soak? Do I have to? How much quinoa for a cup of water? Why am I eating quinoa again?

Luckily, there are resources to help us (not the answer to that last question, though)—and now they're all in one place. Here are your answers to all your grain-cooking questions (click the images to see which article you're getting):

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Let's start with the chicken of grains—rice:

Make it perfect and fluffy and stress-free—brown rice, too.

Then graduate to rice 2.0: Make Persian tahdig or Thai sticky rice.

And then there's the best of the rest:

If you feel like you need a glossary to know your kasha from your kamut, head here. And then read up on one of the most unsung grains: sorghum.

Before you put the grains in water, you're supposed to do something—rinse them—but do you have to? Or skip the whole boiling thing entirely and toast your grains.

More: Yes, there's a lot to say about how to cook quinoa.

If you're ready for something else besides a pot of quinoa, sprout them—and other grains, too. And learn about how the heck to cook with spent grain.

Then, make a good recipe or 50:

Still have more to eat up? Here's how to turn leftover grains to riches:

Tell us: What grain questions still trip you up?

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Editor/writer/stylist. Last name rhymes with bagel.