Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker? That’s an EXCELLENT question, and a fair one. The good news is you can cook almost any grain in rice cooker, including quinoa and any other whole grains you might be wanting to try. This trick makes cooking quinoa SUPER easy!
Cooking quinoa in rice cooker means you don’t have to worry about the water boiling over and making a huge mess on your stove. It also means perfectly fluffy quinoa every single time, without fail. It’s seriously the easiest way to cook quinoa and add more whole grains to your diet.
Quinoa is one of those super healthy foods that’s tasty and fast to prepare. A lot of folks get intimidated when they try to branch out past everyday grains like white rice (which is basically like a Snickers bar, as far as your pancreas is concerned). They look to quinoa for its nutty flavor and the fact that it’s high in amino acids.
Honestly, quinoa and brown rice are two of the healthiest grains you can buy for cheap at the grocery store.
Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker?
But here’s the thing:
Most grains cook the same way rice does. So, there’s really no difference whether you’re making white rice, brown rice, quinoa, farro, or anything else. (Hell, you can even turn quinoa into a pudding, like rice pudding!)
The only thing that MIGHT change is the amount of time it takes to cook, but generally your rice cooker will worry about that for you. So if you’re wondering if you can cook rice in a rice cooker, the short answer is yes. But how?
How does your rice cooker know when the quinoa is done?
When you cook rice in a rice cooker, it usually work like this:
The cooker boils water, which never gets hotter than 212°F
The white rice absorbs the water and also stays at 212°F
When the water is absorbed by the rice, the rice begins to overcook
The rice gets hotter than 212°F
The rice cooker notices this via the sensor and turns off before the rice burns
Voila, perfect rice (assuming you’ve added enough water, otherwise if can get crunchy)
So, now that you know all of this, I can safely tell you that quinoa cooks the exact same way as rice. HUZZAH! That mean, yes, you CAN cook quinoa in a rice cooker. Woot! (And FYI, you can also make grains in the slow cooker, like this slow-cooker whole-grain porridge.
You can even substitute quinoa for other grains — a great example is cheesy quinoa recipe, in place of cheesy grits. So good!!
Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker? Yes!
Equipment
- rice cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa dry
- 2 cups water cold
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- First, rinse the quinoa in lukewarm running water. There’s a coating on each grain called saponin, and it doesn’t taste very good. Rinse the grains for a minute while agitating with your fingers. When you don’t notice any tiny bubbles forming on the quinoa, that means the saponin is gone.
- Add the rinsed quinoa to the rice cooker. Add cold water or broth, as well, and salt if you’re using it. Don’t use salt if you’re cooking the quinoa with broth, because it’s salty enough.
- Give the rice cooker a gentle swirl to get everything mixed in. Cover the cooker and set it to the rice setting.
- After this, a lot depends on your individual rice cooker. Some cook quinoa in as short as 15 minutes, while others can take as long as 30 minutes. A cup of quinoa doesn’t take very long to cook, though, so it’s still a quick, easy, and healthy grain to make.
- Once the rice cooker switches itself off, carefully open the rice cooker — it will be hot, and steam can burn your face and hands. Once the steam has dissipated, gently fluff the grains with a fork to get that fluffy quinoa texture.
Video
Notes
- You can also use vegetable or chicken broth instead of water, for a richer, more savory flavor. NOTE: If you use stock, do not add salt! Your dish will likely be too salty.