Mishry Reviewed Top Rice Idli Instant Mixes – Best Readymade Idli Batter Online

Many will agree that a batch of fluffy rice idlis and a bowl of tangy sambar is a soul-satisfying combination. Soaking and grinding of rice and urad dal to make rice idlis at home can be a time consuming and laborious task, which is where instant mixes come to our aid. Rice idlis instant mixes pack in a whole lot of convenience and the promise to give us home-style or even restaurant-style fluffy idlis. We reviewed rice idli instant mixes by three popular brands – MTR, Tops, and Nilon’s to see which brand of instant rice idli mix gives us the tastiest and fluffiest idlis.

Watch Video: Best Instant Rice Idli Premix

Idlis made using MTR Rice Idli Ready Mix were the tastiest and fluffiest.

Rs – Rs 120/-*

Net weight – 500 grams

*Price at the time of review

Why did we choose MTR Idli Mix (Rice Idli Ready Mix) as our Top Pick?

We chose MTR Idli Mix (Rice Idli Ready Mix) as our Top Pick because it yielded the fluffiest and tastiest idlis.

The texture of the idlis comes close to a freshly made homestyle/restaurant style idli. The idlis were very fluffy, and light. They are not dry, dense, or soft and squidgy at all. 

MTR’s Rice Idlis taste the best as it is, as well as with coconut chutney. 

The seasoning of the rice idlis is spot on. 

Unlike some brands of premixes, the instructions given on the pack are easy to follow. MTR Rice Idli Mix uses 1 part of the mix, 1 part water, and ½ part curd to make the idli batter.

A 500-gram pack is priced at Rs 120/-.

When we review idlis we look for fluffiness and softness. Idlis made using Nilon’s Rice Idli Mix and Tops Idli Mix lacked the correct texture and taste.

Nilon’s – While making the batter, Nilon’s batter consistency was runny but became thick within a few minutes. The outcome was a batch of sour-tasting idlis that were squidgy and sticky. We did not like the idlis even when tested with coconut chutney. 

Tops – The batter of the Tops Idli Mix was extremely runny and did not thicken with time. The idlis even though plumped up well, ended up being dense and dry. 

In both the idli mixes, texture and taste were not up to the mark which is why they did not win.

The clink-clank of mixing bowls filled our review lab on a gloomy weekday. After steaming over a dozen idlis, we landed on our winner. Here’s how we did it.

As we mentioned earlier, making rice idlis from scratch can be a time and energy-consuming process. This review is for everyone who loves eating rice idlis but does not want to get into the long process of soaking and grinding rice and dal at home. This review will also come in handy when you do not want to order in idlis, but want to steam some at home.

We picked three easily available brands that are popular when it comes to instant mixes. All these idli mixes are available online and offline as well. We chose idli mixes that had two primary ingredients – rice/rice flour and urad dal/flour. We did not take masala rice idlis or idli mixes with added spices into consideration. 

• Nilon’s Instant Mix Idli
• MTR Rice Idli Ready Mix
• Tops Rice Idli

To review the best instant rice idli mix, we gauged all the idlis on two prime parameters – 

• Taste – How nice did the idlis taste? Was the seasoning balanced or were the idlis oversalted? Any other distinct flavors? Was the sourness overpowering?

• Texture – We answered an important question here – How was the texture of the idlis made using these instant mixes? Dense and dry or fluffy and light? 

Other aspects like price and how easy or tough was the batter making procedure were also considered, and how accurate/apt are the instructions on each pack.

Our review process included a tasting session that lasted one full day. We made the idli batters according to individual instructions given on the back of the pack. MTR’s batter was the only one that used curd as an ingredient to make batter. Nilon’s and Tops idli mix required oil and water only. Here we noticed how simple or complicated the instructions were to follow.

There are multiple ways of steaming idlis these days – one of them, and the most common one, being steaming a batch in a regular cooker without the whistle on. The other way is to use a rice cooker. We steamed the idlis in our review lab using a standard round-shaped greased idli stand/idli plate in the Bajaj Rice Cooker, which was our Top Pick in our ‘Best Rice Cooker Review’. We added water until the mentioned waterline and started making our idlis. Not only was this easy, we observed one more thing. Usually the lowest section of the idli-stand, that is closest to the water, ends up getting a little soft and mushy. Here, in a rice cooker, this did not happen. This happened over multiple batches. 

Time-wise – apart from MTR, all the other idlis were ready in the mentioned time frame.

After checking them for fluffiness, we tasted the idlis as it is and with homemade coconut chutney as well.

After making dozens of idlis over multiple tasting sessions that brought a lot of smiles at the Mishry HQ, we chose MTR Rice Idli Ready Mix as our Top Pick because it made the tastiest and fluffiest idlis.

When do you usually eat idlis – Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner?

* If you do agree with our review, please give it a thumbs up! And, tell us which one is your favorite from this list. If you don’t, please tell us why!

* Food & Beverage is a constantly evolving segment with new products launched daily. Our endeavor here is to help shoppers buy better. If there’s a product you would like us to review tell us by clicking here.

* Our reviews are unbiased and all samples used during the reviews were paid for by us. Read our entire ethics statement here.

* No part of this review is sponsored by any brand. All expenses were borne by us.