Healthy Baked Brown Rice

Bowl full of brown rice on napkin

What makes brown rice so much healthier than white rice? The outer coating on white rice has been stripped off, taking a good amount of fiber with it. This makes it easier for your body to break down. While that might sound like a good thing, it’s actually not. When your body breaks down a carb, it turns that carb into starches and sugars, then sends those sugars into the blood stream. It uses some of them to replenish it’s supply of energy in the muscles, and what doesn’t get used is turned into fat for long term energy storage via insulin. Now, when a carb is broken down very quickly, the starches from that carb flood into your blood stream. Your body will only store so much of them, so the rest become fat cells.

If your body is forced to break down a carb slowly, like when it has to get through the fibrous coating on whole grains, it releases those sugars in a slow steady stream, so less sugar is stored as fat. This also keeps your body full longer, as it keeps the food in the digestion state longer. Our Healthy Baked Brown Rice is not only full of flavor, it is also full of whole grains that will maintain your energy and keep you full.

How to Bake Rice

To make this simple dish we will be using a 2 inch deep 8×6 Pyrex dish. We liberally apply cooking spray so that the rice does not stick. We use 1 teaspoon salt, but if you’re restricting salt you can use a salt substitute. Another good option is to add 1 Tablespoon Better Than Bouillon condensed stock in place of the salt. If you macros allow, 1 Tablespoon butter can also be added.

Healthy Mexican Rice

To make Baked Mexican Brown Rice, we use 1 Tablespoon of Trader Joes taco seasoning, but feel free to use whichever brand you like, or make your own. You can also adjust the amount of seasoning to your taste. This version of a classic dish is not only made over for your health with whole grains, but it skips the frying process that add fats.