As in the name, a rice cooker implies appliances for cooking rice. Many people don’t know – not too dissimilar to a pressure cooker. Rice cookers can be used for far more than rice. You can make quick, “set and forget” meals for the whole family. Saving time, mess, and even money!
Rice cookers are ideal for cooking one-pot meals. Rice cookers are great for cooking pasta, soups, seafood, meats, and cakes. The set-and-forget nature of rice cookers and the inexpensive nature of the appliances make them ideal for families or individuals with time pressures.
I’m not going to outline the recipes for all the dishes you can make in a rice cooker. For one, there are way too many recipes. Secondly – there are way too many websites on the internet to find recipes. I will briefly outline each type of meal and how easy they are to whip up in a rice cooker!
Perfect for a meal for one or a whole family! Pasta in a rice cooker can be done two ways – or both ways!
First, you should remember that pasta expands, and based on your chosen shape – you should make sure your pot can hold the amount of expanded pasta you want to cook. As a LOOSE general rule of thumb, pasta doubles. Some expand a little more, and others a little less.
Because pasta comes in so many different shapes, each shape takes up different volumes in the pan. It’s not wise to go on a standard 1:2 ratio of pasta to water. Instead.
Add the desired amount of pasta to your rice cooker bowl, cover with an extra 1/4 inch of cold water and add a splash of oil. Set on a cook cycle, stirring regularly.
Oil will stop the frothing and any potential overspill onto the heating element of the rice cooker. Once your cycle is done, depending on how you like your pasta, you may want to run another “quick” cycle to soften up any harder pieces.
Tried and tested, my go-to and most used rice cooker recipes always involve an iteration of this method! Simply:
Add cooked and any ingredients you traditionally use for a pasta bake – Set on a cook cycle.
This is such a great “set and forgets” meal that saves the hundreds of pans you would usually use to make one pasta bake. I love to use a tomato base, throw in some great herbs, precooked chicken, lashings of cheese, and bingo! Cheesy chicken pasta bake. Without the bake!
With all rice cooker recipes, be aware that pans get very hot, and any food coming out will be piping hot and may need to cool down for a little while.
A staple of all homes here in Shanghai. Using a rice cooker to brew a great soup is just as common as using a rice cooker to make rice! There are many options, from Asian hot pots and Thai Tom Yam to Western broth-based soup and even thicker tomato soups!
To cook soup in a hot pot, add your broth and ingredients, and set on a cook cycle. To brew your soup for longer, keep the soup on the “keep warm” setting for deeper flavors and a meal ready to serve at any time.
Top Tip: If you intend on making soups with noodles, you should put the noodles in for about 5 minutes to soften before serving. If you put noodles in with the broth to brew, the noodles will fall apart, go soggy and disintegrate into a starchy soggy mess.
Cooking meat is not the first thing many think of when a rice cooker comes to mind. However, rice cookers can be an excellent way to prep and cook meats. These can be especially handy when cooking for many people or cooking complicated meals that seem to take up the whole kitchen.
Popping some meat in the rice cooker and moving it into another room can be a meal and a space saver!
There are two great ways to cook meat in a rice cooker – That I can recommend at least!
The easiest method of cooking meat in a rice cooker is to stew it. This process works almost identically to a slow cooker – You can put chopped pieces of meat, with ingredients for a one-pot meal, into your rice cooker and hit the cycle button. Most rice cookers come with a “long cycle” button. Often you may have to hit run for a couple of cycles to get your meat nice and tender! This is great for casseroles or even chilies.
Some fancy rice cookers will come with a steam setting and a steaming rack. The good news is that all rice cookers can steam! You could easily find a makeshift alternative if your rice cooker didn’t come with a steaming rack. Luckily, my microwave rack fits perfectly in my rice cooker bowl. Because you will fill the rice cooker with a bit of water in the bottom, you will need to find something to raise the rack up. I use three egg cups as an extra lift-up, but you can use anything, as long as the rack and food stay above the water.
To steam meat in a rice cooker.
Fill your rice cooker bowl with 1 inch of water. Put your desired meat on a steaming rack, taking care not to let the food submerge in the water. Set your rice cooker to steam – If it doesn’t have a steam feature, set it to run a cook cycle. You will need to run more than one cycle, checking on meat regularly until thoroughly cooked.
Again, great use for a rice cooker is when you have run out of cooking room in the kitchen. You can move the rice cooker somewhere out of the way. Leaving your room to make more magic in the kitchen!
Yes – You heard me right. You can cook a great cake in a rice cooker. Usually, “kitchen hacks” churn out subpar food for nothing more than a little novelty by using your kitchen appliances for cooking things they aren’t supposed to.
A rice cooker cake – is an exception! Light, fluffy, and moist every time, with little prep needed.
Because of the way rice cookers work, they are the perfect appliances for cakes! I said I wouldn’t give recipes here, but this one is so easy – it barely counts as a recipe!
To cook a cake in a rice cooker, whisk 2 cups of self-raising flour, two eggs, 375ml milk, and 2tbs of sugar. Set your rice cooker to cook for 2/3 cycles. Checking between cycles.
The best thing about this is you will ALWAYS get a consistently great cake with zero mess (well, maybe just the rice cooker bowl!)
Rice cookers are the unsung hero of the kitchen. Once you have a rice cooker, learn to understand the appliance’s versatility. You will think twice before making a mess and cooking anything on the hob.
Rice cookers are great one-pot cookers, steamers, and even cake makers.
Next time you’re cooking a meal. It’s time to get creative and unleash the power of the rice cooker!
