You can be a student, a mother of three that doesn’t have time to fiddle with a lot of different devices or someone who is not cooking rice that often.
You can have any reason imaginable, in the end, you want to use your slow cooker to make some rice. And you are interested if it is even possible.
Well, look no further, the answer lies below.
Not only that, you can make rice in a slow cooker, but it is hands-free and easy. Just mix in together rice and water in the usual ratio of 1:2, set your slow cooker on high for 2 hours or low for 3 hours. Don’t cover the pot with the lid and wait.
The process itself is quite similar to a rice cooker or cooking rice in general. If you are interested in how rice cooker and rice cooking works, you can find more in my article here.
The magic behind
The whole thing is in time and temperature.
As the temperature rises to a simmering point, the slow cooker heats up, and it starts releasing steam that is being absorbed by the rice. Cook it without a lid on your slow cooker. This allows the steam to escape the pot.
If you would leave the lid on, it traps the vapor in, and you will end up with mushy, not fluffy rice.
In the meantime, you are free to do whatever else you need.
The difference between cooking on slow and high is mostly about personal preference. As you may already know from another article of mine, there is no temperature difference between the high and low settings on your slow cooker.
It defines how fast it gets to a simmering point (temperature under 212°F / 100°C). The size of a slow cooker matter a bit too, so if you have a small around 2.5 quarts (2.3 liters) or a huge one 10 quarts plus (9.4 liters), check on your rice now and then and stir it in a bit.
Also, you might think about rinsing your rice beforehand, as you most likely want to get starch-free, fluffy pieces and not a huge clump ball.
And believe that I had my share of failures in this regard while testing this. So keep that in mind.
Tips and tricks
Since we are dealing here with a slow cooker, we might as well leverage its capabilities to the fullest.
So while you are cooking your rice, you can, for example, switch water for chicken stock to add some flavor.
Or you can season your rice with not only salt but also black pepper and garlic. Or anything else that would ease your meal preparation.
Store it for later
Yes, you can store the rice for later. I know I also thought that it is not possible, but it is. Make a sizeable batch of rice, separate it into packages, and throw it into the freezer.
Later you can take it out of the freezer, put it into the microwave for a couple of minutes, and you have great ready-to-go rice.
Make a dish out of it!
And why not? As you are cooking the rice anyway, there is no need to make things like chicken, for example, separately. Please don’t be a hero in this regard. Go to Google and look for slow cooker rice recipes in one pot.
I will save you some time and give you one quick recipe to do chicken and rice in a slow cooker:
For this recipe, I have used my latest toy, the massive slow cooker from Hamilton Beach.
I have reviewed this beast and you can find a lot more details right here.
Coat its base lightly with oil. This is done to prevent the rice from sticking to the pot.
- Put in 2.5 cups (about 600g) of rice
- 2 cups (about 500g) of sweet corn (if you can’t get the fresh one, you can use canned)
- 2 cups (about 500g) of peas (the same rule applies here as with the sweet corn)
- 2 cups (about 500g) of diced baby carrots (it is easier to chop them)
- 1/2 of one medium-size onion
- Half a tablespoon of mustard
- One teaspoon of garlic powder
- Followed by thyme, salt, and black pepper to taste
I know this looks like a meal for an army, but our family is large, loves get-togethers and many among us go for seconds (and sometimes thirds).
Also, you won’t ruin anything with 2-3 cups of chicken broth. Mix everything and lay over it 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts.
Cover your slow cooker with a lid and cook at a high setting in your slow cooker for about 2 hours. Or until it is cooked through.
I do realize that above, I have said that you should cook without a lid on, but in this case, we are aiming at cooking the chicken first. Once it is done, you can remove the cover, put the chicken away, and cook without it for another hour.
By this time the meal should be cooked.
Chicken breasts can be chopped, diced, or served as a whole. Everything is fine. The best thing is that even if you leave it out of the slow cooker for quite some time it still keeps its moisture. So you won’t get the dry boring meat, but succulent moist one.
Before serving you can grate in your favorite cheese, in my case, it is cheddar, as you can improve most of the one-pot meals with it.
By the end, you have a sizable meal of creamy sexy chicken with rice and vegetables you like that can feed a family, are rich in nutrients and proteins. It is also super juicy, cheesy, and freezer-friendly.
Is there something not to love?
And there you have it, not only an answer but also a quick and simple recipe for yummy one-pot chicken with rice.
I do hope that this helped you as much as possible, and until next time, I wish you a relaxed and happy cooking.
Quick rundown gallery
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