Healthy One-Pot Lunch in a Rice Cooker

If you’re in search of an easy, healthy, quick midday meal look no further than your trusty rice cooker. I’ve recently discovered that this humble appliance is more versatile than its name implies and it’s opened up a simple route to better eating.

For a while I was on a stir fry kick and my lunch was often some combo of sautéed veggies, beans and sometimes leftover rice or other grain if I had it from another meal.

I still love the stir fry meal in general. Lots of whole foods and great flavors, plus a hot lunch is always nice. It’s not too difficult and is pretty healthy but it requires a bit more time in the kitchen supervising the stove.

Earlier this summer we picked up a new, larger, rice cooker but I only just found it buried in the cabinets. When I took it out to try it on some farro I flipped through the instruction book and it mentioned using the rice cooker to make other meals like stews.

If it could make a stew, why not try throwing some other stuff in with my farrow? Could the rice cooker cook my “stir fry” for me while I was off doing something else?

To find out I chucked in whatever random veggies I could find in the fridge, a can of pinto beans, garlic and a few spices and let it go. Twenty minutes later I had a ready-to-serve farrow bowl and a newfound appreciation for the rice cooker!

One-Pot Rice Cooker Lunch Recipe

Here’s the very simple ingredients list and steps to put this together. Keep in mind there are no real rules here… add or subtract to your heart’s content.

• chopped veggies (onions, peppers, carrots all work great)
• 1 cup of some grain (farro, rice, or quinoa)
• 1 can of beans
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes or tomatoes w/chilies (like Rotel)
• about a cup of liquid (water, vegetable stock)
• garlic, spices to taste

1. put all ingredients into rice cooker
2. set rice cooker to “cook”
3. there is no step 3, you’re done

That’s it—about 5 minutes of prep and you can walk away for the next 15-40 (depending on how much stuff you put in and what kind of grain), and when you come back your meal is ready!

It makes several servings so you could actually make this once and have a few lunches ready to go. Each serving probably costs about $1 for ingredients.

Enjoy!