10 Creative Ways To Use Your Rice Cooker

Once known as a staple only in Asian households, rice cookers have gained quite a bit of popularity among Americans, too. Well, they were bound to become a kitchen essential for everyone eventually, given that cooking rice in rice cookers is a pretty low-effort task — even more low-effort than cooking it on a stovetop. But even though people have given this appliance credit for that, most still overlook that it can be used for much more than just cooking rice. Yes, that's true, and we bet you didn't know that there are so many things you can make in your rice cooker besides rice.

For instance, did you know you can easily boil eggs and steam veggies and dumplings in your rice cooker? That's just the tip of the iceberg — you can also use it to make delicious cakes, frittatas, homemade jam, and so much more. In this story, we'll explore some amazing and creative ways to use a rice cooker so it doesn't have to sit on your kitchen counter when you aren't making rice. For those of you who haven't bought one yet, this will make you realize that a rice cooker is a good purchase even if you don't make a lot of rice. Let's get right into it then, shall we?

Many of you probably make one-pot pasta dishes often, but you probably don't use your rice cooker for them. But that shouldn't be the case anymore, as we are here to tell you that you can definitely cook pasta in your rice cooker. In fact, there are a few advantages to making one-pot pasta in your rice cooker, the most obvious being that you can rely on the appliance to cook everything without having to check on it continuously. Besides that, it's great for those extra-hot days when you wouldn't want to stand near your stovetop.

And here's something more that'll probably make you happy — it's possible to whip up any one-pot pasta dish in your rice cooker. You can also make mac and cheese in it very easily.

To prepare a delicious one-pot pasta dish in your rice cooker, just throw all the ingredients into the pot and cook on the regular setting. This is a fantastic option for when you're using store-bought sauce. Or, you can boil the pasta first and then toss in cream and cheese, which is a great way to make creamy one-pot pasta or mac and cheese. Lastly, if you'd like to use tomato sauce made from scratch, you can prepare that first in the rice cooker, and then add in the pasta, water, and the rest of the ingredients, and cook everything until done.

We bet you didn't know that for a quick and delicious cake, you can just grab your rice cooker. A rice cooker works similarly to an oven, and so, you can bake a cake in it, as long as you've got the batter right! This is a particularly handy option for days when you really need to make a homemade cake, but don't want the oven heating up the whole house. And for those of you who don't have an oven but have a rice cooker, now you won't need to rely on store-bought cakes all the time.

To do this, you'll need to start by preparing the batter as usual. You can use any boxed cake mix of your choice to whip a quick batter, or you can let the baker in you shine and make it from scratch. Before you pour the batter into the rice cooker pot, you'll need to preheat the rice cooker for five to 10 minutes. Also, make sure you grease the pot with butter and then dust it lightly with flour so that the cake doesn't stick. Now comes the crucial part — baking the cake the right way and for the right amount of time. We recommend baking your cake on the "cook" setting for 30-45 minutes so that it turns out moist. That said, do start checking the doneness of the cake at the 30-minute mark so that you don't end up overbaking it.

To be fair, making chili on a stovetop isn't a difficult task. But the only thing is, while your chili is cooking, you might have to stir it now and then, and that can be inconvenient on hot days. Luckily, you won't have to give up on making chili, as you can bring out your rice cooker and make it in that. This way, you can let the chili cook without constantly keeping an eye on it, and even if you need to or want to stir it once in a while, you won't have to stand near a hot stovetop.

The best part about making this classic American dish in your rice cooker is that you can use any sort of meat, like beef, pork, turkey, or anything else you fancy. Or, you can also make a vegetarian or vegan chili. You'll have to brown the meat first in the rice cooker as you usually would when making chili on your stovetop, or brown the aromatics and veggies for a vegetarian/vegan version. Make sure you add spices then and there rather than later, as that's the perfect time to add them to your homemade chili to give it a deeper flavor. After that, pour in the rest of the ingredients, like beans, diced tomatoes, water, and tomato paste, and let your chili cook for 30 minutes — that should do the trick.

If you love steamed vegetables but haven't been making them because you don't have a steamer, we've got good news for you — you can steam them in your rice cooker. Since most rice cookers already come with a steamer tray, the entire process is much easier, too. But even if you have an old model that doesn't have one of those, you don't need to worry, as you can still steam veggies in this appliance with a few simple tricks.

First, let's understand how you can steam veggies in your rice cooker if you have a steamer tray. You'll need to start by adding water to the cooker's pot, then turn the appliance on and let the water boil for a few minutes. Meanwhile, you can cut the veggies and get them ready for steaming, but do make sure they're all cut to the same size. Once your veggies are prepped and the water has boiled, place them on the steamer tray and steam for 10-12 minutes with the appliance on the "cook" setting.

If you don't have a steamer tray, cook rice in the cooker first as usual, and then add the raw veggies to a bowl, place that on top of the cooked rice, and then turn the cooker off. Alternatively, you can also just boil water in your rice cooker and then place the bowl on a stand in it, and turn it off. The vegetables will cook perfectly with the steam that's released from the rice or boiled water.

Even though using a rice cooker to boil eggs is sort of a no-brainer, it's still often overlooked. This, by far, is the easiest thing you can use your rice cooker for besides cooking rice, and at the same time, it's still a pretty creative way to use the appliance, as not many people think of it.

There are two ways you can go about it. First, you can simply pour water into the rice cooker pot and add as many whole eggs as you'd like, then turn the appliance on and let it do its work. We'd recommend adding ½ teaspoon of baking soda to the water as well, as that's a hack to easily peel hard-boiled eggs. If you have a rice cooker with a timer, you can set it while boiling the eggs based on your desired doneness.

The second way to boil eggs in your rice cooker is to arrange them on the steamer tray, add water to the pot, and turn it on. Here, the steam will cook those eggs. In fact, this method is slightly more foolproof, as it reduces the chances of the eggs cracking, which is quite likely when you boil them the usual way. Keep in mind that you'll need to steam the eggs for around 20 minutes for hard-boiled doneness, and 13-15 minutes for soft-boiled.

We get it, not everyone likes oatmeal. But if you're one of those people who strongly believes that it's the best breakfast option out there, you'll be happy to know that you can make the creamiest oatmeal in your rice cooker. This appliance will make the entire process hands-off, which is especially great for those of you who are always rushing around in the morning and want to prepare a quick breakfast with minimal effort. Besides that, since rice cookers are really large and oatmeal cooks at a slightly slower pace, the chance of it all boiling over is very low. So, you'll also save yourself some time by avoiding a potential mess.

There's honestly no rocket science to making oatmeal in your rice cooker. All you need to do is add as much oatmeal as you'd like to the pot along with water, some salt (don't forget that), and any sweetener of your choice. A good ratio is 1¾ cup of water to every 1 cup of old-fashioned oats. Then turn the appliance on. Of course, you can skip the sweetener for savory oatmeal. Also, you can add in fruits like apples, pears, or even berries to the pot so they can cook along with the oatmeal and soften up while giving this breakfast dish an amazing fruity flavor. We'd also recommend adding spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamom to sweet, fruity oatmeal to make it tastier.

In case you love making curries, you'd agree that while the process is fun and the end result is delicious, there's also the downside of needing to use multiple pots and pans. We get it, guys. It isn't fun to wash all that cookware after you've devoured your curry. Luckily, we have a simple solution to this problem — you guessed it, you can whip up any curry in your rice cooker pretty easily. It doesn't matter whether it's a vegetarian or non-vegetarian curry, as they'll both turn out pretty well in your rice cooker.

One question that might have crossed your mind: What if you need to sear the meat separately before adding it to the curry? Well, you can use your rice cooker for that, too. Just put it on the "cook" setting, add oil into the pot, then sear the meat in it and take it out once its surface has browned. After that, you can sauté the aromatics in the same oil, then add the remaining ingredients, spices, and meat, and let it all cook until the dish is ready. For a vegetarian or vegan curry, you'll need to prepare the curry base as usual, then add vegetables or plant-based protein and let them simmer in the curry for a bit so they can soak up all that flavor.

Yes, it's indeed possible to make a delicious frittata in your rice cooker. In fact, we'd highly recommend it. This appliance makes the process hands-free and low-effort, and you won't have to constantly keep an eye on the frittata while it cooks, unlike when you're making it on the stovetop. Plus, you can use up all those random leftovers in your refrigerator to make your frittata. It's a win-win situation overall.

To make a frittata in your rice cooker, you'll first have to grease the pot generously, then set the appliance to "cook" for a few minutes to heat the oil. Meanwhile, you can mix eggs with any seasonings you like, along with the leftovers. If you don't have any leftovers or aren't particularly inclined towards adding them to your frittata, you can also use fresh veggies or deli meats instead. Once the oil is hot enough, add the egg mixture to the pot and let it cook for 15-20 minutes, depending on how many eggs you've used. Consider topping the frittata with cheese before putting the lid on the rice cooker so that it melts well.

Alternatively, you can also make a frittata cake. For that, you'll just have to add self-raising flour (or all-purpose flour and baking powder) to the egg mixture and then cook it the same way. Also, remember that you don't need to flip the regular frittata or the frittata cake.

Since you can steam vegetables in your rice cooker, it's obviously possible to steam dumplings in it, too. But here's something that will pleasantly surprise you — you can also fry dumplings in this appliance. Of course, you can't deep-fry them, as that would be a disaster, but you can shallow-fry them, similar to how you'd pan-fry them on the stovetop. 

Steaming dumplings in a rice cooker is actually pretty simple. You just need to add some water to the cooker's pot and let it boil. Then grease the steamer tray, arrange the dumplings on it, place the tray in the rice cooker, put the lid on, and let them cook for 20-30 minutes. It's ideal to check if they're ready at the 20-minute mark, so that they don't turn into mush.

When it comes to shallow frying the dumplings, you'll have to start by adding oil to the rice cooker pot and letting it heat up for a few minutes on the "cook" setting. After that, arrange the dumplings in the pot in a single layer, place the lid on the rice cooker, and let them cook for roughly 10 minutes. You can also add a little water to the pot along with the dumplings to prevent them from sticking to the base and reduce the risk of burning.

You'd mostly agree with us when we say that homemade food is a lot better than store-bought, and yes, that includes jam, too. So why not switch to homemade jam altogether? It's preservative-free, and honestly, it also tastes a lot better. We get it, though, some of you have probably never considered switching to homemade jam just because you might be dreading standing near the stovetop for hours to cook it. Luckily, you can easily make it in your rice cooker.

Making jam in a rice cooker is actually pretty convenient, since you just have to stir it once in a while as it cooks to prevent it from sticking to the base, unlike on the stovetop, where you'd surely have to stir it often. You can add any fruit of your choice (like berries, apples, pears, pineapples, or anything else) and some sugar to the rice cooker pot, and turn it on. The jam should be ready in 30-40 minutes, depending on how much fruit you've used. Also, keep in mind that you can use fresh or frozen fruit to make your jam, and you can add other ingredients to enhance its flavor, such as spices or lemon juice. In fact, we'd highly recommend adding a little lemon juice, as it will balance the sweetness and help thicken the jam.