Rice Cooker Meal

This Rice Cooker Meal of loaded fried rice is a quick and easy way to make dinner that everyone will love. This recipe combines rice with vegetables, tofu, soy sauce, and more for a fun one-pot dish that’s perfect for a simple and easy weeknight meal.

You know that the rice cooker makes it easy to cook rice perfectly every time. However, a rice cooker can make much more than just simple white rice. You can use a rice cooker to make entire meals!

And since I’m without a kitchen right now due to a home remodel, I’m having to find new and creative ways to make dinner. Rice cookers are a convenient and inexpensive way to cook for those in small spaces or without access to conventional kitchens, like me! Heck, this rice cooker meal would be a delicious dorm hack idea too! This Garlic Herb Bread is another recipe that uses a space saving kitchen appliance.

I’ve also used easy to find and keep ingredients that don’t require much chopping (because well, I don’t have much space for prep work right now). And, I’m trying to make sure we get some healthy meals in.

We appreciate your support

Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

What rice cooker do you use?

My rice cooker is a simple old school version with just two settings – cook and warm. Nothing expensive or fancy.

It’s just like this one on Amazon.

Rice cookers can vary, and may give slightly different results. But for the most part, this simple rice cooker recipe will work in any rice cooker.

If you have a fancy rice cooker, you may need to choose the setting. Typically, it will be something like “rice cooker”; go with your best guess, or take a look at the manual for assistance.

Also check out my Rice Cooker Tortilla Soup Recipe for another one pot rice cooker meal!

Can I make this in an Instant Pot?

Yes, you can make this using the “rice cooker” function on your electric pressure cooker or {affiliate link} Instant Pot. That function works great, just like a rice cooker.

Rice to water ratio

I use medium grain Calrose rice for this recipe. You can also use short rice or long grain rice.

For me, I like the way the white rice comes out when I use rice to water ratio of 2:2.5.

For brown rice and black rice, it’s typical to double the rice to water to 1:2 since these types of rice usually require more water to cook. These will also typically take longer to cook, so the vegetables may start to overcook (you can toss them in sometime during cooking if you want).

How to make

This is a super easy one-pot rice cooker meal that’s a great way to pack in vegetables and proteins. And it’s perfect for meal prep!

The full printable recipe ingredients and instructions are available in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. You can find important tips and tricks in the post.

The instructions are so simple for this. Simply prep the veggies and tofu by cutting them to the desired size, then pop everything in the bowl of the rice cooker and let it cook away.

In a few minutes you’ll have a complete meal. Or, you can add toppings and sauces to this rice.

I like to serve the rice with chicken for my family. I leave it vegan or vegetarian for me.

It develops a beautiful and tasty crust on the bottom of the rice cooker.

Let’s look at a couple of the ingredients:

Tofu: I love those baked tofu packages with the flavor baked right in. I suggest teriyaki flavor or Garlic & Herb. But really, any firm tofu will work here. Just cut it into bite sized pieces if it isn’t chopped already.

Oil: The oil gives a richness and great flavor to the rice, just like fried rice has. If you’d like to cut back on the oil, feel free. I’ve left it out entirely sometimes and the rice still comes out great. And, feel free to use your favorite variety of oil: olive oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, they all work well here.

Soy sauce: any soy sauce that you have will work great here. Normally I use low sodium soy sauce. As you can see in the picture, I had a mushroom flavored dark soy sauce. My regular green soy sauce seems to be packed away.

Variations to the recipe

Think of this recipe as a great starter or base recipe. Once you’ve tried it as written, feel free to swap and mix it up.

It’s a great way to use up any leftover veggies you may have.

Some other ideas of vegetables you may like in this are mushrooms, edamame, bok choy, or baby corn.

Add in some more or different flavors with toasted sesame oil, garlic or garlic powder.

For the protein, use shrimp, chicken breast, seitan, or chickpeas.

Top the rice with some sesame seeds, chili garlic sauce, chili oil, or green onions.

I’m thinking of doing a Mexican flavored version with black beans, cilantro, cotija, taco seasoning, and enchilada sauce.

Or a Cajun version with sausage, Cajun shrimp, green peppers, and Cajun spice.

Serving suggestions

Drizzle some Asian Plum Dipping Sauce over the top.

Serve with Air Fryer Snap Peas, bok choy, or Miso Glazed Black Cod.

Storage tips

Cooked rice lasts three to four days in the refrigerator in an airtight container. If the rice smells funny or looks pink and slimy, do not eat it and throw it away.

Reheat cooked rice in the microwave.

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