Can you reheat rice?

Uncooked rice commonly carries Bacillus cereus spores, and cooking does not destroy them. If cooked rice sits at room temperature the spores germinate and produce a toxin that is heat stable — reheating kills the bacteria but not the toxin, so food that has been left out is not made safe by being made hot. The controlling step is cooling, not reheating. Spread rice out to cool quickly, refrigerate within an hour, use it within a day, and reheat it once until steaming hot throughout.

How to do it properly

1. Spread cooked rice in a shallow layer so it cools fast.
2. Refrigerate within one hour of cooking.
3. Use within 24 hours.
4. Reheat once only, to steaming hot all the way through — 74 °C or 165 °F.
5. Add a splash of water and cover, so it steams rather than dries out.

What goes wrong

• Bacillus cereus toxin survives reheating and causes vomiting within hours.
• Rice left out overnight is unsafe no matter how thoroughly it is reheated.

Other "can you reheat" questions

• Can you reheat chicken? Yes — Yes, to 74 °C (165 °F) throughout. Reheating more than once is where the risk creeps in.