Turn Leftover Rice Into Breakfast Food With This Innovative Trick

You can never make too much rice... or can you? As an essential food for nearly half of all the people around the world, many would argue not. But, with one cup of dry rice yielding about three cups of cooked rice, those of you used to cooking for yourselves likely end up with more leftovers — and not enough ways to use them — than you'd like. Fortunately, if your evening stir fry recipe leaves you with a Tupperware of plain rice in your fridge, it doesn't have to take up space for very long. In fact, when you wake up the next morning, there's an innovative trick you can use to turn it into a breakfast frittata.

Commonly known as "frittati di roso," Italian for "rice omelets," this breakfast frittata has long been made as a way to repurpose rice leftovers. Considered to be a classic home cooked fish, frittatas are typically what Italians prepare when they have a whole lot of nothing on hand — that being a bunch of leftovers they don't know what else to do with, hence the addition of rice. Added to a bowl of whisked eggs, cheese, seasonings, and cooked in a pan with oil, you get a crispy and oozy frittata that doesn't waste a single grain.

It should only take about eight to 10 minutes for the frittata to cook in your pan before it's time to flip it and enjoy. But, you might want to consider a few tips before you attempt it at home yourself.

Rice frittatas are traditionally finished off with a satisfying flip of the pan onto a large serving plate — putting its golden and crispy brown top on full display. But you should take some precautions. First and foremost, before adding your egg and leftover rice mixture to your pan, you have to give the cooking oil time to heat up. Doing so ensures that the top layer of the frittata begins cooking immediately, resulting in that delicious, golden brown color and crispy texture. However, the catch is that this also means you'll need to be extra careful to cook the frittata through without burning it.

After you pour your egg mixture into the hot pan, turn the heat on your burner down to a medium-low setting and cover it with a lid. Adding the lid will trap the heat inside, so that it goes back onto the surface of your frittata and cooks it from both sides. Another tip is to use a fork to poke holes into the frittata. Again, this should only take a few minutes, but you'll want to check in between to ensure the bottom of the frittata isn't burning. Once your frittata looks like it's ready, take the pan off the heat and let the frittata sit for about 30 seconds, give the pan a good shake to make sure it doesn't stick, and with a good grip, give it a quick flip.