Crock-Pot® rice is rice cooked in a slow cooker, usually along with water or broth and some butter. Slow cookers are basically electronic kitchen appliances which can be used to cook most foods over a long period of time. Chefs can make Crock-Pot® rice as part of a general meal being cooked in the Crock-Pot® or as a side dish on its own. The slow cooker will have a lid, which keeps steam in the dish and therefore simultaneously boils and steams the rice. Generally, rice cooked in a slow cooker takes around two-and-a-half hours to be ready, compared to the half-hour required for rice cooked over a hob.
As opposed to being a dish in itself, Crock-Pot® rice is basically just ordinary rice cooked in a slow cooker. Crock-Pot® is a popular brand of slow cooker, but in terms of the actual rice dish produced, there is little difference between Crock-Pot® rice and any other type of slow cooker-made rice. The slow cooker does feature a lid, which prevents moisture from being lost in the cooking process and actually partially steams the rice as a result. Rice made in a slow-cooker can be done as a side dish on its own or as part of a main dish.
Making Crock-Pot® rice as a side dish is the simplest way to make the dish. To begin, the chef greases the Crock-Pot® with butter or oil and then adds rice. Twice as many cups of boiling water than the amount of rice are then added to the mixture — so for one cup of rice, two cups of water are required. After that, chefs add any remaining butter and a bit of salt to season the rice, and leave it to cook on high heat for between one-and-a-half and two-and-a-half hours. Besides water, chefs may choose to cook the rice in stock to increase the flavor of the finished dish.
Different dishes can be made which include Crock-Pot® rice, and some can be made entirely in the slow cooker. Such dish often use a variety of different soups, mushrooms, onions, and seasonings for flavor, and feature rice and some form of meat. The Crock-Pot® rice is cooked in essentially the same way, except that the meat is added on top of the rice and then covered with the seasoning mixture. These kinds of dishes are best cooked at a low temperature for between six and six-and-a-half hours.
Any other dishes which feature rice can be made with Crock-Pot® rice as a replacement. The process of making the rice doesn’t affect the taste of the dish noticeably, which means that chefs can use the slow-cooker for all rice they cook, if they prefer the texture achieved. It is important to bear in mind that cooking most rice in the typical manner takes between 15 and 45 minutes, making it at least half as quick as using a slow cooker.
