17 Surprising Dishes Your Rice Cooker Can Make — Other Than Rice
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Rice cookers are a work of wonder, designed to make life in the kitchen easy with their ability to cook perfect, fluffy rice every time. But did you know that despite what the name implies, a rice cooker can make something else that isn’t just rice?
Yes, you’ve read that right! More than just rice, a rice cooker can make not one, not two, but a whole variety of delicious foods, ranging from breakfast cereals, meat, vegetables, side dishes, pizza, cake — everything!
No matter what the brand of your rice cooker may be — Aroma, Cuckoo, Black & Decker, Instant Pot, and more — they’re all more than capable of making food other than rice. Yes, even the barest rice cooker is multifunctional and can make food items other than rice. If you haven’t acquired a rice cooker for yourself, this is your sign to go through rice cooker reviews, pick the one that best suits you, take these recipes, and transform yourself into a master in the kitchen with this gem of an appliance.
In this article, we’ve rounded up several things you can make in a rice cooker. Dive in and try out all these rice cooker recipes for yourself!
What Other Recipes Can You Make In A Rice Cooker?
There’s a surprising number of recipes that you can cook in rice cookers. When we say a lot, we do mean a whole lot of recipes! Our list doesn’t even cover all the recipes that you can do in this one pot wonder of an appliance. These recipes are just some suggestions to get you started.
Hard-Boiled Eggs
Making hard-boiled eggs is perhaps the easiest one you can do with your rice cooker. Rice cookers usually come with a steam basket as an accessory, and you can load your eggs in that basket. All you need to do is put around 2-3 cups of water in the inner pot, close the lid, and set your cooker to work. If your unit doesn’t come with a steam basket, you can just put your eggs on top of your rice and they’ll cook at the same time.
Rice Cooker Oatmeal
This breakfast staple can be made using the rice cooker method. It’s ideal as you can make oatmeal in small amounts and don’t even have to worry about it sticking to the pan. To make warm oatmeal, you can use steel-cut oats or regular oats, and add in your choice of liquid, which can be water or your favorite milk, and add in a pinch of salt.
Mashed Potatoes
Here’s another easy item to make with your cooker! Simply pierce the skin of your potatoes and place it in the cooker to soften them up. Once that’s done, you can mash the potatoes, add butter and milk, and voila! You’ve got the perfect mashed potatoes.
Vegetable Frittata
Here’s a short recipe for an easy and healthy frittata, done the rice cooker way. First mix your vegetables together in a medium bowl. Add in your eggs, spices, cheese, and mix well until all the ingredients are combined. Spoon the mixture into the inner pot, close the lid, and cook it for about 12 to 15 minutes.
Steamer Basket Shrimp and Broccoli
Your cooker’s steam basket can be used for so many items! Simply load up the shrimp and broccoli on the steam basket while the rice cooks underneath it. You can also season the shrimp with garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and other spices for that great flavor.
Country-Style Ribs
You don’t even need a crock pot anymore just to make fall-off-the-bone country style ribs! For this recipe, you’ll need ingredients such as brown sugar and dark beer to amp up the ribs’ flavor. Here’s another tip: you can load about 4 ears of corn on the steam basket and cook it with the ribs for about ten minutes to have it as a perfect side dish.
Pork Roast
Ribs aren’t the only meat you can cook in your rice cooker. Aside from the pork roast itself, this recipe requires onion, curry, soy sauce, chili sauce, lemon juice, garlic, and a couple more spices. Similar to a slow cooker, it’s best if you leave the pot alone as it cooks so that the heat doesn’t dissipate inside the cooker. If you let the cooker do its job, you’ll end up with a mouthwatering tender pork roast.
Sausage Jambalaya
Here’s a recipe idea for those you-can’t-think-of-anything-to-cook evenings. A quick and easy Jambalaya can be made in a rice cooker with just five ingredients! All you need is rice, a can of french onion soup, sausage, dice tomatoes, and blackeyed peas. For a fuller, more hearty Jambalaya, you can check out our Jambalaya recipe here.
Pasta with Vegetables
A sibling in the carbohydrates family, it’s not a total surprise that pasta can also be made in a rice cooker. This particular recipe suggestion combines grains with broccoli, kale, and cherry tomatoes but you’re more than free to modify this recipe as you so wish. There’s a whole lot of one-pot pasta recipes out there that you can look up for more interesting combinations.
Pull-Apart Pizza Bread
When we say you can make almost anything in a rice cooker, we truly mean it. This pull-apart pizza bread recipe calls for the use of a pre-made biscuit dough, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, olive oil, parmesan, dried oregano, and a marinara sauce for dipping.
Stuff up your biscuit dough with the pepperoni and mozzarella cheese, brush oil over the biscuit, and a dash of parmesan and oregano as well. Simply line up your rice cooker bowl with the dough, set it to cook for about 2 cycles or 2 hours, if your rice cooker has a timer.
Rice Cooker Banana Bread
You’ll find that there are a lot of rice cooker bread recipes out there as bread is one of the best things that you can make in a cooker! One easy bread recipe you can do is a banana bread. The cooking time for this recipe clocks at around 90 minutes, but for some rice cookers that don’t have a timer, this can take about two cooking cycles in total.
Rice Pudding
Craving for something sweet and soft? Fret not for you can make rice pudding to satisfy your cravings. Some pudding recipes call for as little as four ingredients, such as rice, coconut milk (or your milk of choice), sugar, and vanilla extract. But there are also recipes that require about 10 ingredients. No matter which recipe you go with though, all you’ll need is your trusty appliance and you’ll be sure to have a tasty pudding treat for your sweet tooth.
Cinnamon Apples
An apple is a great snack, and it’s even better when mixed with cinnamon in a rice cooker recipe. You can slice up about 5 to 10 apples, or as many as you can inside the inner pot, really. Add water and a sprinkle of cinnamon or a whole stick. Once they’re soft and ready, you can mash all of them to make applesauce or leave them as is to snack on.
Poached Fruit
Pears are the perfect fruit to make a poached dessert out of, and they taste incredible too when poached using a rice cooker. You can search up for recipes that give poached pears a stunning flavor, such as vanilla or a spiced one. You’re also welcome to use other fruits along with a variety of juice combinations to make your preferred elegant fruit dessert.
Fluffy Pancakes
Breakfast isn’t breakfast without pancakes, and you can totally go with the rice cooker way of making them! These pancakes won’t be your thin, regular-sized ones though. Instead, they’ll come out thicker, fluffier, and gigantic.
Simply pour in your batter in the cooker’s inner pot, and let your cooker do the magic. You can also mix in chocolate chips, blueberries, or even strawberries to make it even more delicious.
Cake
It shouldn’t surprise you anymore that your cooker can make cake, especially at the fact that it can make bread. There are a host of cake recipes out there that you can do with a rice cooker. Some suggestions include chocolate cake, carrot cake, and even a fluffy cream cheese cake.
Yogurt
We’re going to admit, out of all the items in this list, we were surprised at the fact that it’s possible to make this dairy delicacy in a rice cooker. This is due to the fact that a rice cooker provides the stable heating environment that a culture needs to do its work. There are several yogurt recipes you can do with a cooker, especially with the use of your favorite fruit.
There you have it! We hope that we were able to fill your heart, stomach, and mind with these recipes! These are just a couple of recipes and meals on what else you can do with your rice cooker. Have fun making them and become your own great star in the kitchen!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can You Make Popcorn in a Rice Cooker?
Yes, you can make popcorn in a rice cooker however, it is very hazardous and highly dangerous. We advise you not to risk it.
Can You Put an Egg in a Rice Cooker?
Yes, you can! We’ve detailed this in the article, but you can load eggs in a steam basket or with the rice itself to make hard-boiled ones. Other egg recipes that can be made in a rice cooker are scrambled eggs, egg and milk custard, egg fried rice, and Chinese steamed eggs.
Can Rice Cookers be Used for Baking?
Yes they can, especially if you don’t have access to a full oven! We’ve mentioned this in the article but you can try out recipes such as cake, bread, brownies, muffins, and more.
Can You Cook Meat in a Rice Cooker?
Sure! Although you cannot fry meat with a rice cooker, you can use the cooker to make braised meat, hearty stews, tender ribs, and the like, as you would when using a slow cooker.
Are There Other Rice Cooker Recipes Not Listed Here?
There are a whole lot more recipes out there that can be done in a rice cooker, it’s impossible to put all of them in this list! You can do recipes such as egg noodles, hot chocolate, risotto, polenta, quinoa, and more. It’s even possible to use salad recipes and do them with a rice cooker. You can also use it with recipes such as chicken curry, chilli, taco soup, porridge, and more. The recipes that can be done are limitless.
