Sponsored by Heaven & Earth

For feeding yourself and/or others on crazy busy weeknights, we love the newly returned Heaven & Earth Steamed Rice pouches!

You can literally pop them in the microwave and have dinner ready in minutes. See below for a few recipe ideas that turn rice into a complete meal.

Pulled Beef Rice Salad by Danielle Renov

Salmon “Poke” Bowls with Ginger-Sesame Dressing by Victoria Dwek

Brown Rice Salad by Brynie Greisman

One-Pot Teriyaki Chicken and Rice by Chavi Feldman

Frozen rice sounds like it shouldn’t work- doesn’t it get dried out? How does it come out so good?

We asked Heaven & Earth how they did it.

(Before reading this, put steamed rice pouch in microwave and press start.)

Through an important process called “flash freezing”. Lest you associate that term with freezer-burn icicles and unholy amounts of preservatives, let’s talk a little bit about what exactly flash freezing is.

Flash freezing is the process of freezing an item quickly at an extremely low temperature with cold, circulating air. This preserves the food much differently than if you were to take food from the grocery store and freeze it yourself.

In general, processed foods are full of salt in order to preserve it for longer. Sodium is also included in processed foods to enhance color and help bind ingredients.

Flash-frozen food, on the other hand, does not require preservatives; it’s just frozen in time until you are hungry, original nutrition and flavor still intact.

The benefits of our flash-frozen pouches extend beyond nutrition, but are extremely convenient for the time-pressed chef.

There’s no time-consuming prep and no annoying clean-up. Just pop it in the microwave, wait 3 minutes, serve and enjoy. For added flavor, sprinkle with your favorite spice and stir.

Well, enough talk about the rice. A timesavingly healthy meal should be ready in 3,2,1… Rice is ready.

Originally published December 2019. Updated and improved May 2024.