10 Dishes You Can Make Right in Your Rice Cooker

You already know that your rice cooker can (obviously) make rice. And, you may have tried it with other grains, like quinoa, too! But believe us when we say that a rice cooker can be used for so much more. With the right rice cooker, you'll find that you can have one-pot meals that hardly require you to lift a finger, including everything from complete dinners to breakfasts and desserts. Wondering where to start? This ultra-simple dish, inspired by Spanish garlic shrimp is one of our favorite things to cook with rice — and is cooked entirely in a rice cooker. It’s boosted with the smoky flavors of chorizo and paprika, then rounded out with crunchy red peppers and a bright squeeze of lemon at the end.

This recipe uses a rice cooker to get a full rice dinner on the table in a fun, fast, hands-off way. We used a Japanese-style cooker, but you could do this with almost any version. The tomato gets super soft and stirs right into the rice, making an instant sauce. Feel free to play with the ingredients and flavor profiles once you have the technique down.

Five ingredients and just one pot — what more could you ask for in an easy comfort meal?! Plus, it will be on your table in less than an hour! To make this simple mac' and cheese, you'll cook the macaroni in a rice cooker until soft, then stir in evaporated milk, cheese and a few spices. The end result is a creamy, cheesy dish that couldn't be more convenient.

Your rice cooker can do a lot more than just steam rice, and enjoying a bowl of this light, flavorful salmon dish is a delicious way to prove it. Adding the ingredients to the cooker takes just minutes, and when the cycle is finished, you’ll be rewarded with silky soy-marinated salmon, tender mushrooms and super-flavorful rice that gets a boost from dashi powder. We suggested selecting about five toppings like sliced cucumber, scallions, seaweed salad, avocado and kimchi for your bowls, but feel free to use whatever combination you’d like.

Rice isn't the only thing you can make in a rice cooker. With roots in Japan, this method that took online communities by storm requires little effort and leaves you with an easy to share pancake that is reminiscent of the fluffy Japanese souffle pancakes. Because rice cookers cook differently depending on the model, be sure to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

Your rice cooker can do more than just steam up a batch of rice. This recipe puts it to work to get a full meal on the table in a fun, fast and nearly hands-free way. A peeled and halved sweet potato gets soft enough during the cooking process so it can be mashed into the rice for an instantly sweet, almost creamy sauce for the pilaf. Italian sausage, fennel, wild mushrooms and sage add big flavor for a hearty, comforting meal.

This hearty tender pork belly in a rich, savory sauce is made entirely in a rice cooker with flavors inspired by the Chinese classic, steamed pork belly with preserved mustard greens (mui choy kau yuk in Cantonese; mei cai kou rou in Mandarin). Here, we’ve streamlined the process, cooking the pork and mui choy (preserved mustard greens) all together with jasmine rice. To mimic the deep, long-braised flavor of the original, we fortified the sauce with umami-rich chicken broth, fish sauce and fermented red bean curd.

This recipe is inspired by the popular Taiwanese sticky rice dish you fan (“oil rice”), a comfort food favorite that’s packed with umami. We took the savory elements of the dish and streamlined them to make the whole thing quick and easy to prepare in a rice cooker. We subbed jasmine rice for the usual glutinous rice, which usually requires several hours of soaking before cooking.

A rice cooker is the surprising secret to a creamy, rich and hands-off rice pudding that’s perfect every time. Making rice cooker rice pudding is easy and unlike the stovetop version it doesn’t need to be stirred constantly. The pudding can hang out in the rice cooker on the “keep warm” setting until you’re ready to serve it or you can refrigerate it until chilled. Either way you’ll have the beautiful, sweet scent of fragrant jasmine rice infused with vanilla and cinnamon wafting through your kitchen.