How To Make Rice for Fried Rice on a Blackstone Griddle

If you're planning to make fried rice on your Blackstone griddle, the rice itself is one of the most important parts. Here’s exactly how I make it—and why I try to do it the night before.

What Kind of Rice I Use

I personally like to use jasmine rice for hibachi-style or chicken fried rice. You can definitely use other types if you’ve got a favorite, but jasmine is my go-to. It’s fragrant, fluffy, and works great on the griddle.

Make It the Night Before

If there’s one tip I think really matters, it’s this:
Cook your rice the night before and let it chill in the fridge.

Cold rice fries way better than freshly cooked rice. I usually prep most of my fried rice ingredients the day before too, just to make griddle day easier—but even if you don’t do all that, making the rice early is key.

If you forgot to do it the night before that's fine, you can still make it the day of. I would just reccomend trying to cool it down in the fridge before putting it on the griddle. So if you can, cook it and cool it a few hours before.

My Simple Jasmine Rice Method

I know this might sound boring, but when I cook jasmine rice, I just follow the instructions on the bag. Yep—literally. Different brands can have slightly different rice-to-water ratios, so I always go with what they recommend.

For the brand I used in this example, the instructions were:

1¼ cups water for every 1 cup of rice

So I used:

2 cups of rice
2½ cups of water

Step-by-Step: How I Make It

Wash the rice – I rinse it in warm water, swish it around with my fingers, and drain it off.
Add to the pot – The rice can stick to the bowl a little, so I pour my water back into the bowl first to catch the extra grains, then pour it all into the pot.
Boil – Bring it to a boil on high heat.
Simmer – Once boiling, put the lid on, turn it to low, and let it cook.
Cook time – The box said 12 to 15 minutes. Mine looked done in about 10, so I took it off the heat.
Let it rest – I let it sit covered for another 10 minutes to finish steaming.

Getting It Ready for the Fridge

While it’s resting, I grab a big cookie sheet and lay down parchment paper. Pro tip: crumple the parchment paper first, then flatten it out—it helps keep the edges from curling up on you.

Before spreading the rice, I add a little oil to the parchment. This step matters. Without oil, the rice will stick like crazy.

Once the 10 minutes are up, I fluff the rice and spread it evenly across the pan. Then it goes in the fridge, uncovered, until I’m ready to griddle the next day.

That’s it—cold rice, ready for the griddle!

If you’re ready to throw down some chicken fried rice, check out the full recipe here:
👉 How to Make Chicken Fried Rice on a Blackstone Griddle

And I’ll have the video posted below if you want to watch it all come together.