Various pasta

oksix/iStock/Getty Images

Cooking pasta in your rice cooker isn't every bit much of a stretch as information technology might seem at first. A rice cooker is basically just a pot that boils itself, and a pot that's boiling is all you need to melt some noodles. In fact, it's even easier than cooking rice. With rice, y'all have to make up one's mind the ratio of h2o to rice, which changes depending on the kind of rice you're cooking.

With pasta, you can ignore fifty-fifty that basic requirement. Even the smallest rice cookers will concur enough water to cook pasta for one or ii, and larger ones tin can serve the whole family.

Evidently Pasta in Your Rice Cooker

If your rice cooker is the simple type with a single "melt" button, the process is pretty straightforward. Fill the pot about two-thirds of the way with h2o – you lot need a bit of space for information technology to foam upwards in one case the pasta is cooking – add some salt, and and so close the chapeau and push button the button. In one case the water comes to a boil, remove the lid, and add ane or more portions of uncooked pasta.

Cook until the pasta is al dente, usually 4–10 minutes, depending on the type of pasta. Virtually brands take the cooking fourth dimension printed correct on the front of the box, and then you'll know when to start checking. Once it'due south done to your liking, drain the pasta and serve.

Multi-Function Rice Cookers

Larger, more sophisticated rice cookers usually have a number of extra functions controlled by some combination of push buttons and menus. The process for making plain pasta is much the aforementioned. The regular "rice" function or the "soup/stew" or "saute" functions found on some machines – all bring your pasta water to a boil.

Both larger and smaller machines work well for pasta. Minor machines in the 4- to six-cup size are ideal for making only a portion or two, while large machines with their wider pot piece of work well for family portions or long pasta. If you're making spaghetti in a rice cooker, for case, you won't take to interruption upwards the noodles if you utilise a larger model.

Cooking Pasta in Sauce

If you're cooking pasta in sauce, things change a bit. I option is to cook and drain your pasta and then add it dorsum to the pot with your sauce, and permit it heat through. That'due south how y'all work in a regular pot, so there's no mental aligning to brand. It isn't the virtually user-friendly fashion to work, though. Ideally, information technology would be nice to only add ingredients to your rice cooker, starting time information technology, and walk away.

Most rice cooker recipes for pasta practice, in fact, follow that pattern. They simply provide enough liquid in the sauce to cook the pasta, while leaving the sauce with a suitably not-stodgy, not-runny texture. This can exist catchy to effigy out, so until you gain some experience, information technology's best to piece of work with recipes that have been designed and tested for the rice cooker.

Preparing Ane-Pot Recipes

In a simple one-push button cooker, you'll usually start out past calculation the ingredients and pressing "cook," then switching information technology to "keep warm" once the pasta is almost done. More sophisticated models provide additional options. You can utilize the "saute" fashion to caramelize onions or brown beef as your starting betoken; and so use the "soup" mode to cook your sauce, add together the pasta and finish it in "soup" or "slow cooker" fashion.

A given recipe may or may not – but probably won't – be written for your specific motorcar, so you might have to experiment a piddling to find the best modes and settings to use.

References

Writer Bio

Fred Decker is a trained chef, former restaurateur and prolific freelance author, with a special involvement in all things related to food and diet. His piece of work has appeared online on major sites including Livestrong.com, WorkingMother.com and the websites of the Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle; and offline in Canada's Foodservice & Hospitality magazine and his local daily newspaper. He was educated at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.

YOU MAY ALSO Similar