This rice washing bowl is a plastic bowl with a built-in strainer along one side: you rinse rice, beans or fruit in it, then tilt it to pour the water out through the drain holes while the food stays in the bowl.
Every rinse sends some of the rice down the sink
You run water into the pot, swirl the rice until the water turns milky, then tip it out over the sink with your hand cupped against the rim. A white trickle of grains goes with it. You do it again because the water is still cloudy, and again. By the third rinse there is rice in the drain, rice stuck to your fingers and less in the pot than you measured.
The colander doesn’t fix it either
A regular colander has holes big enough for rice to drop straight through, and a fine-mesh sieve traps grains in the wire that you then pick out one by one. Skip the rinse and the rice cooks up gummy, with starchy foam bubbling under the lid. So you waste rice, waste time, or live with gluey rice.
A rice washing bowl that pours off the water and keeps the grains
This is a deep bowl, about 23 cm (9 in) long, with a band of small drain holes along one side of the rim. Fill it with rice and water, swirl, then tilt the bowl toward the drain side: the water runs out through the holes and the rice settles against the inside wall. Repeat until the water runs clear, then tip the rice straight into the pot. The same bowl rinses lentils and beans, washes grapes and berries and drains salad greens — it is a soaking bowl and a colander in one piece. It is made of thick PP plastic and comes in pink, blue, green or white. Find it with our other kitchen gadgets.
What this rice washer strainer does well
- Pours off water, keeps the food. The drain holes sit along one side, so tilting the bowl empties the water without tipping out what is inside.
- Bowl and colander in one. Soak, rinse and drain in the same bowl instead of juggling a pot and a sieve.
- A bean washing bowl too. Use it for rice, lentils and beans, then for berries, grapes, cherry tomatoes and leafy greens.
- Easy to hold while you pour. The rim is shaped to grip, so you can tilt it with one hand under the tap.
- Nothing to unclog. There is no mesh for grains to wedge in; rinse it out and it is clean.
Specifications
| Type | Washing bowl with built-in side drainer |
|---|---|
| Material | Thick PP plastic |
| Packed size | 23 × 16 × 8 cm (9 × 6.3 × 3.1 in) |
| Colors | Pink, Blue, Green, White |
| Uses | Washing rice, beans and lentils; rinsing fruit and vegetables; draining greens |
Who it suits — and who it doesn’t
It suits anyone who cooks rice or beans a few times a week and wants to rinse them properly without losing any. It is a rinsing bowl, not a cooking pot, so keep it away from boiling water and the stovetop. Very fine grains such as quinoa can be small enough to slip through the drain holes; tilt slowly, or use a fine sieve for those.
Questions people ask
Do you need to wash rice before cooking?
For most white rice, yes: rinsing removes loose surface starch, which is what makes cooked rice gummy, and helps the grains stay separate. Some enriched rice is the exception, so follow the package if it says not to rinse.
How many times should you rinse rice?
Until the water runs mostly clear — usually two or three changes of water. With this bowl, each rinse is a swirl and a tilt.
Can you rinse quinoa in it?
Carefully. Quinoa grains are tiny, so pour slowly and keep the bowl only slightly tilted; for the finest grains a mesh sieve is safer.
Worth knowing before you order
It is a single bowl that does the work of a bowl and a colander. The drain holes run along one side, not all over, so pour toward that side. At about 23 cm (9 in) long it sits comfortably in most sink basins.
Why order it before the next pot of rice
Rice night comes round again soon, and so does the cupped hand at the sink and the grains in the drain. It travels in weeks rather than days — the estimate on this page is the real carrier quote — and our returns and refund policy sets out exactly what happens if anything goes wrong.
