Great Ideas For Food You Can Cook In A Rice Cooker
What Can You Cook In A Rice Cooker
What we’re about to reveal may shock you! Your rice cooker is capable of cooking more than just rice. Go figure! You probably don’t need to buy both a rice cooker and a slow cooker to enjoy lower-fat versions. A rice cooker works the same way as a slow cooker. The mechanism heats up and transfers heat to the bowl so that your rice cooks all the way through. A great benefit of this is you usually avoid oil, thereby lowering the fat content in your breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Now, replace the rice with some macaroni and powdered cheese. You have one-pot mac and cheese! Replace the water with some beaten eggs and fried vegetables, and you have a frittata.
Below are just a handful of suggestions you can experiment with. We’ve taken the liberty of searching around for each meal, from breakfast to dessert, to give you an idea of just how versatile your rice cooker actually is. We encourage you to try these and explore other options!
1. Breakfast
It’s generally agreed that the two best breakfast items are eggs and oatmeal.
Like many suggestions in this article, it may come as a surprise that you can cook both of these everyday breakfast meals in a slow cooker or even a rice cooker!
Try a frittata. The rice cooker bowl is the perfect shape for this delicious, fluffy treat. JustBento has a perfect summer vegetable frittata recipe you simply must try! Mix up the eggs and fillings as you normally would, then drop into the rice cooker and cook for about five minutes, or until the frittata has reached the desired texture.
As far as oatmeal goes, dump in a couple of cups of rolled oats, double as much water (or milk (best milk frother), if you like your oatmeal nice and creamy), plus a handful of your preferred toppings. For this method, we recommend dried fruits and nuts. The technique is the same as you would use for a slow cooker, or a stovetop set up. Just let it cook for ten to fifteen minutes and enjoy your breakfast.
2. Lunch
If you’re at home, feeling hungry but craving something decadent, yet wanting to be healthy, why not give rice cooker curry a try? Whether you are craving something meaty – in which case add in some diced chicken or beef – or vegetarian, simply add to the rice cooker with a curry sauce. We recommend adding a cup or so of liquid, as rice cookers tend to evaporate most of the liquid in sauces.
Hear us out on this next one: cheesy jalapeno bread.
Make a bread dough as per your favorite recipe, then drop it into the rice cooker to ‘bake’ for about half an hour, or until the bottom sounds hollow when knocked.
3. Dinner
Why not try a delicious, all-purpose vegetable broth? An excellent base for stews, soups, and gravies, a rice cooker-made broth tastes better than anything you can buy at your local grocery store.
Simply add a selection of vegetables, with about 2L of water and some salt, to your rice or slow cooker, and leave for, ideally, two hours.
Once you have your broth, you can use it in a wide array of slow cooker dishes. Everything from pot roasts to stews. Speaking of pot roast, place your cut of meat and a selection of vegetables into the cooker. Next, pour over as much of your homemade vegetable broth as you desire, and leave for 1.5-2 hours, or until cooked to your desired temperature.
4. Dessert
Let’s get back to the original point of a rice cooker, and that is simply to cook rice.
So why not give the classic rice pudding a try? Simply add the ingredients as you normally would when cooking it traditionally, set the timer, and go about your business. If you feel the need to keep an eye on it, we encourage it! A nice spoonful of jam on top afterward really elevates this humble dish.
Why not try some pancakes? Or a pancake. The bowl will heat up, as usual, add the batter, but don’t fill it all the way up! Leave enough room so that you can flip. Serve with a scoop of ice cream or lashings of maple syrup. Or both!
Rice cookers are wonderfully versatile things, aren’t they? We hope you’ve enjoyed this list and encourage you to keep experimenting!
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