The Hassle-Free Way To Make Rice In Your Slow Cooker

Stovetop rice can be messy, and having a rice cooker may feel unnecessary if you're not a regular rice eater (although there are other uses for them). But fortunately, there's another simple option for cooking rice that only requires a few steps: your slow cooker.

While preparing rice in a slow cooker or Crock-Pot is fairly straightforward, getting it right can require some extra care to avoid a mushy mess. You'll want to rinse your rice under cold water first to get rid of excess starch, which can make it clump, something you should always do with any rice-cooking method. You may also want to grease your slow cooker with butter or nonstick spray to keep the rice from sticking. Use the same ratio of rice to water as any other method: two cups of water for each cup of white, jasmine, or basmati rice (more on other kinds later). Put the slow cooker on high, then leave it to cook.

This is where the slow cooker method can become a bit inconvenient: It can take a long time, from an hour to over two hours. The first time you do it will probably be the most annoying, as you'll need to check in to see when the rice is done. Once you learn how long your slow cooker takes, however, it will become something you can just turn on and leave alone. Basically, you'll want to stop the slow cooker when the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked through. If you leave it on past that point, the rice may either stick or turn mushy.

As with any rice-cooking method, the process can vary depending on the type of rice you're cooking (the instructions above are best for your standard long-grain white rice, and jasmine or basmati rice). For example, brown rice has a firm layer of bran, which means it needs both more liquid and more time to cook through. For each cup of brown rice, you'll need around 2 ½ cups of water and about an hour and a half to two hours of cooking time. Wild rice requires even more water (around 3 cups for each cup of rice) and about an extra half hour more than brown rice; sometimes a little more.

You probably noticed that the cooking times are open-ended: That's to account for the potential differences between slow cookers, including how hot they get while cooking. When you first cook rice in your slow cooker, you'll need to pay attention and check in regularly to figure out when it's done; as the exact heat of the appliance can make a big difference — crunchy rice is a sign of a machine that doesn't get so hot, while mushy rice is overcooked, courtesy of a hotter slow cooker.

You may also need to tweak the water ratios. While rice cookers are made to release excess moisture, slow cookers tend to keep it in, making for a greater risk of mushy rice. So, it may be worth using a little less water to counter this, adding more later if the rice isn't cooking through. While there is a learning curve the first time you make rice in a slow cooker, once you've got the basic timing and measurements down, it's a breeze.