How to Clean Rice Out of Carpet (A Sticky Situation!)

Cooking a lovely meal with rice can go two ways, in your mouth and on the floor. Especially if you have kids! A dog would deal with the fallen rice, but you don’t have one. Now what?

To avoid a sticky, permanent stain and carpet fibers gluing together, you can tackle rice stains with these simple steps and no more frantic typing to discussion forums.

Don’t worry, I got you!

First Things First: Prep It Good

If you dropped rice on the carpet, there’s some prep work you need to do BEFORE handling the stain:

• Clean the spilled rice as soon as possible! This is to prevent the rice stain from setting in the carpet fibers and avoid anyone from stepping into the rice. Don’t leave it for later, because you might just forget, making it ten times harder to clean up!
• Use a dull knife to carefully scoop up the rice before it causes more of a mess. Don’t worry if you can’t get all of it out, as long as you got most of it.
• If you spilled plain rice, you have a good chance of it not staining the carpet. However, if it’s rice that has other ingredients, then you have a stain on your hands. When you see the stain, you have to deal with it immediately.

I know you want to deal with it later, but the longer you leave the stain to sit, the more likely it is to stick. We definitely don’t want that!

How to Treat the Rice Stain on Carpet

Your instinct is telling you to scrub the stain. 

Well I’m telling you NOT to!

One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen is scrubbing the carpet too hard. While this seems like a bright idea at that moment, you can actually cause the stain to travel deeper into the carpet and be at risk of damage.

Instead, you should use a clean cloth to blot the stain. Mix a teaspoon of laundry detergent with a cup of warm water. You should not use a detergent with any bleach as it can damage the color of your carpet. Eco-friendly detergent would be your friend here.

(You should also choose a colorless and dye-free one. Unless you want a bigger mess!)

Apply the mixture to the area where the rice fell using a spray bottle. Gradually blot the stain with a cloth. Keep doing this until the spot fades away. Always work going inwards as if you work outwards, you might make the stain bigger.

Can I Vacuum Spilled Rice?

Cooked rice is quite small and has a lot of moisture, which a vacuum cleaner is not really designed to pick up. It does pick up fine particles, but they are usually dry. Vacuuming the rice can damage the motor of your vacuum cleaner.

Vacuuming wet food such as cooked rice, baked beans, macaroni and cheese, and fresh produce can also clog your filters and actually get spoiled in there—uhm, gross! We definitely don’t want to faint when we clean our filters!

The same rule goes for uncooked rice. You might be thinking, but there’s no moisture now, so why not? Well, rice grains are larger than dust particles, so it’s not advised to vacuum them. A brush and dustpan is your best friend.

Next time you mistakenly spill these foods, use your trusted paper towel or microfiber towel. After picking up the food, you can go ahead and deal with the stain if there is one.

You can also wait for a while to clean spilled rice. This only applies to PLAIN rice, as the rice will harden and become super easy to sweep away. Just make sure no hungry human or pet picks it up for a late-night snack!

Freshen Up Your Carpets After Spot Cleaning

You’ve got the stain out, but now that spot looks way cleaner than the rest of the carpet!. You don’t have to do this instantly, but you can whip out your trusted steam cleaner to freshen up your carpet.

You can do it the next day, or wait until foot traffic is low and warm, dry weather. This can help you dry the carpet faster, reducing dampness.

My favorite steam cleaner for carpets is definitely Dupray Neat steam cleaner. It heats up quickly, with a large water tank and almost 1 hour of steaming. It can even sort out the residue you might have left from the rice stain.

Hit two birds with one stone and clean the rest of the house too!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you clean noodles off the floor?

Using chopsticks for the first time is a bad idea if you’re trying to watch tv at the same time. Now there’s noodles on the floor.

Pick up as much noodles as you can with a paper towel. Then mix some detergent with water and apply it to the stain. Wait a while before wiping it up. You can quickly mop the floor to ensure every particle is out.

How can I maintain my carpet floors?

My house has a strictly no-shoes-in-the-house rule. It’s one of the rules that I nag my family to follow because it saves me from constantly cleaning the carpets.

Have extra slippers by the door that are only for indoors, and make the switch when you come inside. You can also place doormats outside your door so guests can wipe their feet before coming in.

Don’t forget to regularly clean those doormats too!