10 Things You Can Make in a Basic Rice Cooker Other Than Rice

Rice isn’t the only food you can cook in a rice cooker. This versatile and cheap appliance can cook a whole range of foods. Here are 10 rice cooker recipe ideas.

The humble rice cooker is excellent at cooking rice.

But it can cook so much more than rice.

When I succumbed to buying a rice cooker after many years of “Why do I need another appliance?” the first thing I Googled was “What else can I cook in a rice cooker?”

I was surprised that you could cook just about anything! People cook whole roast chooks in the rice cooker, cakes, braised ribs, and hard-boiled eggs.

Who knew?!

I love the rice cooker because it makes getting dinner on the table so quick and easy. Throw your ingredients in and set and forget! Pair it with something baked in the oven or air fryer, and you have a delicious, home-cooked meal with very little effort.

In this article, I share some foods you can cook in a rice cooker other than rice that I have tried and tested.

You don’t need an expensive rice cooker to cook a variety of dishes – ours is a $25 basic model that I bought years ago, and it’s still going strong.

I’ve seen them for as little as $14 in Big W and Kmart with pretty good reviews (although I haven’t tried those brands myself)

Also, at the bottom of the article, I’ve included a downloadable quick reference guide for grain-to-water ratios for the rice cooker.

I have this guide stuck to the inside of my pantry and refer to it all the time when cooking in the rice cooker.

You might also like 20 things to cook in the sandwich press other than sandwiches.

6 Benefits of a Rice Cooker

Why bother with another appliance when a stovetop is sufficient?

1. Inexpensive Small Space Cooking Appliance

Do you have a small kitchen or live in a college/dorm? Because a rice cooker can cook more than just rice, it’s a cheap option for small-space cooking. Pair it with a sandwich press, and you can cook just about anything.

2. Travel Cooking

Another way to use a rice cooker is for travel cooking, especially if you’re road-tripping or you’re on a cabin stay. A simple recipe like this baked tandoori chicken and rice pilaf means you can have dinner on the table with only 10 – 15 minutes of hands-on work. More holiday. Less cooking!

3. Convenience

With the rice cooker, you can pretty much walk away and let it do its thing without watching it.

It’s one less thing to worry about when you’re juggling other parts of the meal, plus kids who need help with homework plus everything else that goes on during a busy evening in your average family household.

4. Uses less electricity than the stovetop

Truth: you don’t get a massive saving in electricity costs, but it’s a bonus on top of convenience.

How much electricity does a rice cooker really save?

My rice cooker uses 400 watts per hour on the cook setting. The average small electric burner on a four-burner stovetop uses approximately 1,000 watts per hour.

For cost comparison, let’s assume it takes 20 minutes to cook, and the cost of electricity is 28 cents per kilowatt-hour. Here’s how to work it out:

Rice Cooker: 400 watts x 0.3333 (20 minutes) / 1000 = 0.133KWH x 0.28 = 3.73 cents

Stovetop: 1,000 watts x 0.3333 / 1000 = 0.333KWH x 0.28 = 9.3 cents

That’s a saving of 5.6 cents per pot of rice. It’s not a huge saving – about $9 a year if you cook three pots of rice a week – but it’s a nice bonus on top of convenience. At $9 a year, it would take nearly three years to recoup an initial $25 purchase price, less if you use it more often – we use ours nearly every day.

5. Less heat in summer

Using smaller appliances that don’t generate as much heat as the stove will keep the temperature down inside your house during Summer. This can reduce the need for air conditioning, saving you more money.

6. Free up stove space

If you have a small stove or if you’re using a few burners at once, a rice cooker frees up a stovetop burner, leaving you with more room and less stress.

Rice Cooker Basics – Cooking the Perfect Rice (White, Brown and Basmati)

Your rice cooker will come with directions. It’s best to refer to the instructions specific to your rice cooker, but as a general guide:

White rice: 1 cup of rice to 1 cup of water

White long grain: 1 cup of rice to 1.5 cups of water

Brown rice: 1 cup of rice to 3 cups of water

Basmati rice: 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water.

Once the rice is done and the rice cooker switches over to the ‘warm’ setting, taste the rice. If it’s not cooked to your liking add a little extra water (¼ – ½ a cup) and then switch to ‘cook’ again. Note down your ideal ratios for next time.

10 Foods You Can Cook In a Rice Cooker

A rice cooker isn’t a one-show pony. It’s more versatile than the name suggests. And the convenience transfers to the other foods you can cook in a rice cooker.

Note: It’s normal to have a ‘skin’ on the bottom of the rice cooker when you cook grains. Some people (like me!) love this crusty bit and fight over it. If you don’t enjoy it, you can smear a little oil or butter on the base of the cooker to prevent the crust, or just leave it on the bottom when you scoop out the food. Leave to soak, and the skin will lift right off – no scrubbing!

1. Oatmeal in the Rice Cooker

Because you don’t have to watch the rice cooker, you can switch it on when you get up in the morning, have a shower or a cuppa and then come back to hot porridge!

The general ratio for cooking rolled oats is 1:2. So 1 cup of oats to 2 cups of water. Or 1.5 cups of oats to 3 cups of water. You get the idea.

I like to put the oats and water in the cooker the night before to let soak so that all I have to do is switch the rice cooker on in the morning.

You can substitute the water with part or all milk if you prefer and add flavourings like cinnamon to the cooking oats.

2. Rice Cooker Quinoa

Quinoa is super easy to cook in the rice cooker and comes out perfect. Rinse your quinoa in a fine sieve before putting it in the rice cooker.

Water ratio: 1 cup of quinoa to 2 cups of water.

3. Other Grains

You can cook just about any grain hassle-free in the rice cooker.

Pictured above is a freekeh and barley blend, cooked with cabbage and served with chicken marinated in black bean sauce.

In fact, I’ve been experimenting a lot lately with the McKenzie’s grain and bean range to eat extra fibre after reading about them in the CSIRO’s Healthy Gut book.

You can buy the grain blend at the supermarket (Australia) for around $4, depending on the store.

For the lentil and bean blend, the packet instructions for the stovetop are 1 cup of grain mix to 3 cups of water, but in the rice cooker, I prefer 1 cup of grain to about 2.5 cups of water. Experiment to see how you like it. If it’s not cooked through to your liking, you can add a little extra water and set to cook again.

For other grains like buckwheat, the ratio is 1 cup of grains to 2 cups of water.

4. Polenta in the Rice Cooker

Polenta is messy and time-consuming on the stove. Save the bother by cooking it in the rice cooker. I don’t think I’ll ever cook polenta any other way now that I’ve cooked it in the rice cooker.

Ratio: 1/2 cup of polenta (not instant) to 2 cups of liquid (stock or water). Once the rice cooker clicks over to the ‘warm’ setting, stir in some parmesan cheese and a little cream for deliciously creamy polenta.

I use this recipe with a few variations for delicious cheesy polenta.

5. Lentils and Dhal in the Rice Cooker

I used this lentil dahl recipe for inspiration when creating this delicious meal in the rice cooker. So much flavour!

I adjusted some of the quantities because my rice cooker only holds five cups, and I was worried it would boil over. There are a lot of spices in the recipe – you can substitute good ol’ keens curry to simplify it.

Should you soak lentils before cooking?

They are better digested if you do soak them, but it’s not essential. Let your tummy be your guide.

The ratio for brown or green lentils in the rice cooker is 1 cup lentils to 3 cups water.

Red lentils go mushy when cooked, which is great if you want a dhal. Add spices and vegetables for a delicious vegetarian meal.

6. Stewed Apples in the Rice Cooker

Confession: I’ve ruined a pot stewing apples. They are not something you can forget about and leave on the stove.

But they are something you can leave in the rice cooker and not worry about while they stew.

Here’s how to stew apples in the rice cooker: peel (if you like) and chop apples. Place apples and any favourite flavourings (like cinnamon or sugar) in the rice cooker along with a little water to cover the bottom so they don’t burn (about 1 tsp to ¼ cup of water, depending on how many apples you cook). Let cook until mushy to your liking.

If there is too much liquid, cook for a further few minutes with the lid off to reduce the liquid.

7. Rice Cooker Steamed Vegetables

Most rice cookers, even the basic models, come with a steamer rack. Place vegetables on the rack over rice or other grains to steam while the grains cook. This saves you time, washing up and electricity!

If you have the basic model and don’t have a steamer basket, you can cook vegetables in rice. I use this method to serve rice and vegetables alongside apricot chicken or other meats.

You can even serve the combined rice and vegetables alongside chicken or beef skewers cooked on the sandwich press – great if you don’t have a stove.

I also like to stir some baby spinach through whatever grain I’m cooking and let it wilt on the ‘warm’ setting.

8. Super Easy DIY Rice Cooker Mac ‘n’ Cheese

Like most kids, mine love mac ‘n’ cheese. This rice cooker recipe from Around My Family Table is super easy and pretty tasty.

I found that the second cook in the recipe was unnecessary and just use the warm setting to melt the cheese.

9. Rice Cooker Jam

Do you have some extra fruit? Turn it into jam!

I got some half-price frozen ‘ruby red fruit’ (strawberries, cherries, and red currents) from Woolies. The kids didn’t like it because the red currents were a bit tart. So I used that berry mix to make an easy jam in the rice cooker.

I got the idea from this website but changed it to suit what I had on hand. For 500g of frozen berries, I used 1.5 cups of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice (the standard sugar-to-fruit ratio for making jam is usually 1:1).

(Here’s an article on how I made jam in the rice cooker.)

I started with the lid on, but you have to watch the jam as it comes to a boil; otherwise, it will boil over (speaking from experience). Once it came to the boil I removed the lid, and it cooked for about 40 minutes until it set.

To test whether your jam is set, put a small plate in the freezer to get cold, then spoon a little jam on the plate. Wait a minute or two and slide your finger through the jam. If the line stays, your jam is set.

I let mine cool and put it in a container in the fridge, knowing the kids would go through it pretty quickly (peanut butter and jam wrap is my son’s favourite after-school snack).

10. Dessert in the Rice Cooker (that’s not just rice pudding)

Why would you cook a cake in a rice cooker?

Well, if you don’t have an oven, you’re travelling, or you want to reduce the heat at home but still have dessert, then you can cook a pudding in a rice cooker.

This recipe from Baking Makes Things Better is banana pudding with caramel sauce, entirely made in the rice cooker. Other ideas include chocolate fondant, cheesecake or poached fruit.

Below are a couple of recipes we’ve tried.

Apple Crumble

While this apple crumble doesn’t crisp and brown like it would in the oven, if you don’t have an oven, you don’t have to miss out!

You can make this dish with just three ingredients – a tin of pie apple filling, half a bag or so of basic cake mix, and about 30g or so of butter.

Pour the apple into the rice cooker. In a bowl, rub the butter into the cake mix until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the cake mix on top, and place on the cook setting. Cook until it switches to warm.

I used up some fresh apples we got for free by stewing them a little first (see above). I also added some leftover tinned apricots that were super sour but cut through the sugary apples nicely. Home-brand cake mix costs 90 cents, and if you use half, you can get two crumbles from it.

Spanish Hot Chocolate

We made the most incredible-tasting Spanish hot chocolate in the rice cooker. Velvety smooth, thick enough to eat with a spoon but not too thick you can’t drink it, this is a truly decadent dessert at a tiny fraction of the cost of having one at a cafe or restaurant.

To make, warm 600ml of milk in the rice cooker on the cook setting until hot but not boiling. Switch to the warm setting. Add 100g of dark chocolate (we used Lindt; I buy it at half-price and hide it at the back of the pantry), broken into pieces and stir until melted. Mix about 3 teaspoons of cornflour with a little cold milk and stir through the hot chocolate. Continue to stir on the warm setting until thickened. Taste and add enough sugar to your desired level of sweetness (start with a couple of teaspoons).

Don’t have a stove?

You don’t need to miss out on delicious desserts if you have a rice cooker.

And between a rice cooker and panini press, you can cook a wide range of delicious meals without a stove.

Rice Cooker Quick Reference Guide (download and print)

There are so many things you can cook in a rice cooker besides rice, and there are whole books on the topic. The Everything Rice Cooker Book and The Pot and How to Use It are just two books that would make great gifts for college students and travellers wanting to cook where there is no oven or full kitchen.

For simple grains, I’ve included a quick reference for grain-to-water ratios but use your tastebuds to guide you and adjust the proportions according to your preferences and rice cooker!

Alternatively, for a super simple quick reference, use a sharpie to write the ratios on the back of the actual rice cooker.

Download the rice cooker quick reference guide as a PDF.