Yes — for almost every rice on this site. The cloudiness you wash off is loose surface starch left over from milling, and leaving it on is the usual reason cooked rice comes out gummy instead of separate. Two grains are the exception, and one of them is the opposite on purpose.
When rice is milled, the grains rub against each other and against the machinery. That friction throws off a fine dust of starch, and it sits on the outside of every grain when the bag is packed. Put the rice in hot water with that dust still on it and the starch gels — the same way flour thickens a sauce — and it glues the grains to each other on the way to the plate.
Washing it off does two things at once. The grains stay separate, and the water you add behaves the way the ratio assumed it would. That second part is the one people miss, and it is why the number moves.
This is the half that trips people up, because both schools are certain they are right. On a long grain, the difference is a whole half cup:
| Long grain, before it goes in the pot | Water per 1 cup of rice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rinsed and drained | 1 : 1½ | the grain arrives already wet, so it needs less added water |
| Straight from the bag | 1 : 2 | dry and dusted in starch, so it drinks more |
Rinsed rice sits at the low end of each range; unrinsed rice sits at the top. So the answer to "what is the right ratio" depends on a step that happened before anyone measured anything. If you rinse, use the lower number. If you do not, use the higher one. Doing one and measuring the other is how a correct ratio produces a bad pot.
Long enough for the water to stop looking milky. For most white rice that is three or four changes of water, and for basmati it is worth going until the water runs almost clear rather than perfectly clear — going further takes longer than it is worth. A black or purple rice is dustier and the water runs coloured no matter how long you go, so for those two or three rinses is plenty.
The step that matters as much as the rinsing: drain it well afterwards. Rice that goes into the pot carrying a film of unmeasured water is being given water nobody counted.
Arborio runs the other way. Everywhere else on this site the rule is to rinse the surface starch off and then leave the rice alone in the pot. With arborio it is the opposite: you keep the starch, and you stir. That starch is what makes a risotto creamy instead of broth with rice in it. Rinsing it off is not a small mistake there, it is the wrong method. See how to cook arborio rice.
Enriched rice in the US is a judgement call. Much of the white rice sold in the US is coated with added iron and B vitamins after milling. Rinsing removes some of that along with the starch. If the bag says enriched and that matters to you, either skip the rinse and use the top of the range, or rinse and accept the loss.
Rice takes up more inorganic arsenic from soil and water than most crops do, and washing does reduce it — published studies put the reduction somewhere in the region of a quarter to a half, depending on the rice and how thoroughly it is washed. Cooking in a large excess of water and draining the rest takes it further.
That is worth knowing, and it is a separate question from texture. The pot that comes out separate and the pot that is lowest in arsenic are not the same pot, and the usual advice on this site is written for the first one.
Almost always, yes. The cloudiness is surface starch from milling, and leaving it on is the usual cause of gummy rice. The two exceptions are arborio, where you want the starch, and enriched rice, if you would rather keep the added nutrients.
Two reasons that are worth separating. The everyday one is texture: the starch dust gels in hot water and fuses the grains. The other is that washing measurably reduces inorganic arsenic.
No, and skipping it is not a mistake if you adjust for it. Unrinsed rice needs the top of the range rather than the bottom — on a long grain, 1 : 2 instead of 1 : 1½.
Until the water stops looking milky — usually three or four changes for white rice. Black and purple rice keep tinting the water, so two or three is enough there. Then drain it well.
Yes. Rinsed and drained rice carries its own water into the pot, so it needs the low end of the range. Rice straight from the bag needs the top. Rinse and then use the top number, or skip the rinse and use the bottom one, and the pot will be off in the same direction both times.
Yes — the starch behaves the same way in a sealed pot as it does on the stove, and it is harder to fix afterwards because you cannot stir a cooker mid-cycle without lifting the lid. Rinse, drain, then use the lines in the bowl.
Rinse almost every rice, until the water is no longer milky, then drain it well — and take the low end of the water range afterwards, because the grain is already carrying water. Skip it for arborio, where the starch is the point, and think twice for enriched rice, where rinsing takes some of the added nutrients with it.