Rice in a slow cooker?

[DougL]

OK, everyone says that rice is GREAT when made in a slow cooker. I tried it on HIGH several times, and it cooks up well in 2.5-3 hours, but is quite sticky. Sure not fluffy. Nothing like stove-top rice. I'm using plain white rice.

 

I'm using the standard 2:1 water:rice, with salt. I don't lubricate the sides with butter, because it doesn't burn or stick to the sides. I did that once, and wondered if I needed to. Did it again without the butter, and it worked fine. But sticky every time. As in, sticking to itself. The rice spoons out in big clumps.

 

Is there a trick? I've heard about people who rinse their rice, to get the excess starch off (sort of a PIA), and I've heard about people who only add the rice to the water once it has heated up. Not clear if these things are done to make fluffy rice, though.

[pastrygirl]

Who is this everyone?  Lots of people are fans of rice cookers for rice, but I can't imagine rice coming out better after three hours in a slow cooker than 20 minutes on a low burner.  But then I don't really "get" slow cookers.  Anyway, I'd either try less water or go back to stove top. 

[liuzhou]

If your rice is coming out in sticky clumps it is way overcooked.

 

You don't say what rice you are using (what is plain white rice?), but 2:1 water:rice seems excessive. I use Thai Hom Mali rice at around 1:0.8 in a rice cooker.

 

There much better and easier ways to cook rice.

[DougL]

Plain white rice is the cheap white rice you get in the supermarket.

 

Spend a few milliseconds on the web, and you'll see beaucoup reassurances that slow cookers are GREAT for making rice. I "get" slow cookers, and use them for a lot of things, but I never tried making rice with them. Contrary to these reassurances, I am not impressed. Nobody said it was "better" with a slow cooker, but there are a lot of conveniences in using one.

 

The 2:1 is the standard water:rice ratio for just about any rice I've ever heard of.

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by DougL (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, DougL said:

Plain white rice is the cheap white rice you get in the supermarket.

 

Spend a few milliseconds on the web, and you'll see beaucoup reassurances that slow cookers are GREAT for making rice. I "get" slow cookers, and use them for a lot of things, but I never tried making rice with them. Contrary to these reassurances, I am not impressed. Nobody said it was "better" with a slow cooker, but there are a lot of conveniences in using one.

 

The 2:1 is the standard water:rice ratio for just about any rice I've ever heard of.

 

 

 

Cheap white rice you get in the supermarket where? Rice varies immensely. Even different batches of the "same" rice can vary. Age, humidity and other factors come in to play.

 

Spend a few milliseconds on the internet and it will tell you that the moonlanding was fake. Or, even better, look up almost anything on Wikipedia. 

 

i live in China where we we usually cook and eat rice twice a day. No one uses 2:1. It is NOT standard. Although, washing off excess starch certainly is. I repeat: if your rice is so sticky and coming out in clups it is overwet and overcooked.

 

What are these conveniences you mention when it comes to cooking rice this way? It seems to me you have only made convenient glue.

 

(I am aware that slow cookers have their uses. I have two of the things myself.)

 

 

Edited May 8, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

The owners manual for my Rival Crock Pot (copyright 1982) says to use 1/4 c water per 1/4 c raw rice, so a 1:1 ratio. It also recommends using long grain converted rice for best results in the Crock Pot.

 

I always cook my rice on the stove top, though, so I haven't tried it myself.

[DougL]

OK, I think I get "long grain converted rice" here in the U.S. The directions on the package say 2:1, and all the slow cooker for rice reassurances on the web give the same water:rice ratio. See, for example, http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-crock-pot-rice-16465. Or here http://www.livestrong.com/article/458453-how-to-cook-rice-in-a-slow-cooker/. That's fascinating that in China, the 1:1 ratio is standard.

 

I have the Rival crockpot cookbook, and what it actually says about rice is that if you're adding it to some other recipe, add the same amount of water with it. That's a little different than just cooking plain rice.

 

Yes, I absolutely agree that you can't necessarily trust things on the web, but there are loads of people who claim that you can prepare rice in a slow cooker. You can! It just doesn't come out very well, at least for me, and I'd like to understand why.

Edited May 8, 2017 by DougL (log)

[liuzhou]

44 minutes ago, DougL said:

That's fascinating that in China, the 1:1 ratio is standard.

 

It isn't only China, by any means.

[DougL]

I happened upon some research that suggested that arsenic levels in rice can be pretty high. One way to reduce those levels is to soak the rice overnight and drain the water. Then cook with a 5:1 ratio of water to rice for 15 minutes, and then pour off the extra liquid. Hah.

 

BonAppetit calls for 2:1 for long grain, with 2.5:1 for brown rice. In fact, they say "If you don't add enough water, the rice will be underdone and likely burn on the bottom before it's done gently steaming. If you add too much water, the rice will be sodden, mushy, and overcooked."

 

Now, it is VERY interesting that the water:rice ratios for rice cookers are quite different than for stovetop or slow cookers. I had never researched this before, and I don't use a rice cooker, but I'm seeing 1.5:1 or 1:1 as noted. So I'm baffled. How does a rice cooker work so differently than a stovetop or slow cooker? I mean, it's just all about heat, no? I KNOW how to make great long grained rice on the stovetop, and the ratio is 2:1. Period.

 

I believe it also has to do with evaporation, so the longer you cook, the more water you have to allow to be evaporated. That doesn't make perfect sense, because stovetop rice cooks very fast, and there can be little evaporation. As a result, you shouldn't need extra water.

Edited May 8, 2017 by DougL (log)

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, DougL said:

I happened upon some research that suggested that arsenic levels in rice can be pretty high. One way to reduce those levels is to soak the rice overnight and drain the water. Then cook with a 5:1 ratio of water to rice for 15 minutes, and then pour off the extra liquid. Hah.

 

BonAppetit calls for 2:1 for long grain, with 2.5:1 for brown rice. In fact, they say "If you don't add enough water, the rice will be underdone and likely burn on the bottom before it's done gently steaming. If you add too much water, the rice will be sodden, mushy, and overcooked."

 

Now, it is VERY interesting that the water:rice ratios for rice cookers are quite different than for stovetop or slow cookers. I had never researched this before, and I don't use a rice cooker, but I'm seeing 1.5:1 or 1:1 as noted. So I'm baffled. How does a rice cooker work so differently than a stovetop or slow cooker? I mean, it's just all about heat, no? I KNOW how to make great long grained rice on the stovetop, and the ratio is 2:1. Period.

 

I believe it also has to do with evaporation, so the longer you cook, the more water you have to allow to be evaporated. That doesn't make perfect sense, because stovetop rice cooks very fast, and there can be little evaporation. As a result, you shouldn't need extra water.

 

 If you spend a little time researching how rice cookers work you will discover that they are not nearly the same as slow cookers or as cooking rice on the stove top.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[liuzhou]

22 minutes ago, DougL said:

I mean, it's just all about heat, no?

 

Obviously not.

 

But you seem determined to go with 2:1 despite your own experience of sticky clumps of rice. Have fun.

[FeChef]

I prefer 1:1 ratio in the pressure cooker set for 3 minute with a 10 minute natural pressure release. Or if i want sticky rice, i prefer using my bamboo rice steamer. Which requires atleast 8 hour or overnight soak in room temp water then steamed.

[gfweb]

My Zojirhishi uses something like 1 part rice to 1.5 parts water.

[DougL]

8 hours ago, Anna N said:

 If you spend a little time researching how rice cookers work you will discover that they are not nearly the same as slow cookers or as cooking rice on the stove top.

 

 

If you spend a little time typing, you could tell me how they are different. I know they're "not nearly the same". I just don't know how they are different.

 

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

But you seem determined to go with 2:1 despite your own experience of sticky clumps of rice. Have fun.

 

I'm determined to read the instructions on rice that I buy in the supermarket. You are determined to tell me those instructions are wrong. I think we're done here.

 

[btbyrd]

Do the instructions on the rice you buy at the supermarket say to cook it in a slow cooker?

[Kerry Beal]

Dale Carnegie you ain't!

[liuzhou]

23 minutes ago, DougL said:

 

I'm determined to read the instructions on rice that I buy in the supermarket. You are determined to tell me those instructions are wrong. I think we're done here.

 

 

You are the one with the sh*t rice, not me. We were done long ago.

Edited May 9, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Tri2Cook]

The bottom line is, you're not getting the result you want using what you "know" to be true. It doesn't matter that you get the result you want on the stovetop with the rice:water ratio you use. You're not getting the result you want using it in a slow cooker. That means you have a couple options... quit worrying about what you know and the google reassurances and try something different or stick with the stove top cooking. The rice cooker was used as an example that you may need to adjust your ratios using different methods. That 1:1 or even 1.5:1 ratio mentioned for the rice cooker might still not be what you need to get the result you want in a slow cooker. It's a different cooking method. Regardless of whether or not the 2:1 worked for the people who's articles you read, it's not working for you. You need to figure out what does work for you and the people here were giving you suggestions for starting points to help you figure that out.

[dcarch]

1:1 ratio, or any other ratio, by weight? or by volume?

 

Also rice in a container if shaken, the volume can be much smaller.

 

Water is level in a container, not rice.

 

Not only that, slow cookers vary in temperature, depending on the brand and wattage.

 

dcarch

Edited May 9, 2017 by dcarch (log)

[scubadoo97]

On May 8, 2017 at 7:41 PM, DougL said:

 

 

I'm determined to read the instructions on rice that I buy in the supermarket. You are determined to tell me those instructions are wrong. I think we're done here.

 

 

 

From my experience I find the 2:1 ratio commonly seen in the instructions for standard white rice in the US does not produce the best outcomes.  

 

Ive eaten my share of over cooked gummy rice by people that accepted the recipe as non flexible 

 

1.5:1 or 1:1 works better in my kitchen

 

Often I don't measure and just put the water up to my first finger joint or lower from the top of the rice. After a while you can just eye it.   On the stove I simmer uncover until the water reaches the top of the rice then cover and reduce the heat to low for 10-15 min.   I have even just shut off the heat when the water reached the rice  and just walked away for 20-30 min. That even worked.   The biggest issue is too much liquid

Edited May 12, 2017 by scubadoo97 (log)

[FeChef]

3 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

 

 

From my experience I find the 2:1 ratio commonly seen in the instructions for standard white rice in the US does not produce the best outcomes.  

 

Ive eaten my share of over cooked gummy rice by people that accepted the recipe as non flexible 

 

1.5:1 or 1:1 works better in my kitchen

 

Often I don't measure and just put the water up to my first finger joint or lower from the top of the rice. After a while you can just eye it.   On the stove I simmer uncover until the water reaches the top of the rice then cover and reduce the heat to low for 10-15 min.   I have even just shut off the heat when the water reached the rice  and just walked away for 20-30 min. That even worked.   The biggest issue is too much liquid

 

if using 1:1 and still too much liquid, is usually bad rice with too much moisture to absorb anymore liquids. Ive run into this with cheap supermarket rice of all types. I only buy rice from asian markets nowadays.

[nickrey]

I use a microwave. I add sufficient rice for around three to four people, rinse the starch out of it until the water is mostly clear. Then add water so that it comes up to the first knuckle of my index finger above the rice. Twelve minutes on high, eight minutes resting with the lid on. Perfect rice every time.