When we first posted our Easy Chicken Chorizo Paella recipe, some readers were asking if it could be made in a rice cooker. Which got me thinking. What a brilliant idea.
Using a rice cooker for paella would certainly deviate from the dish’s authenticity (we’re already expecting cries of outrage in the comments. Have at it!), but it would certainly make that ultimate one-pot meal so much simpler. No more soggy rice or blackened rice bottoms.
In Chinese, this technique is called men fan (焖饭). Recipes like Chicken and Mushroom Clay Pot Rice, Hong Kong Style Clay Pot Rice and Shanghai Cai Fan all use this same technique but could also be turned into rice cooker recipes. For this dish of ribs and rice, however, we will be using the unassuming rice cooker instead of the clay pot for our first of hopefully many rice cooker recipes.
These days, a good rice cooker is a great investment, from modern models to simpler, more functional ones but the best rice cooker will be a simple model that does rice well rather than Swiss army knife versions that claim to steam, make porridge, etc.. They are great multitaskers, often with settings for regular rice, brown rice, sticky rice, porridge, soup, steaming, etc. With clear markings on the inside of most rice cookers to guide you in achieving the perfect rice to liquid ratio, you won’t go wrong.
This may be cliché of us to say as an Asian family, but it’s probably the most used countertop appliance in our kitchen, next to the coffee machine, of course. Just remember one thing: when measuring your rice, always use the cup-measuring tool that comes with the rice cooker. It’s usually different than the normal measuring cups you’d use when baking.
If you don’t have a measuring tool, just use the finger trick. Add rice to the rice cooker and even it out. Measure the level of the rice with your index finger, and then add the same level of water. That’s it!
If you have not purchased a rice cooker yet, then you really should consider purchasing one and we recommend that you purchase a simple one for cooking rice. Check out our Chinese Cooking Tools page for some more information and some useful links to products.
Okay, let’s get started with this delicious one pot meal. Feel free to use chicken instead of pork, add more vegetables, or make your own version by using this recipe as a guideline. I hope this recipe will germinate many more great one-pot meals for you and your family. Just let your rice cooker do most of the work and the possibles for variations of rice cooker recipes are endless.
To marinate the ribs:
- 1 lb pork ribs, cut into small pieces
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon dark soy sauce
You’ll also need:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 8 dried shiitake mushrooms, washed, soaked, drained, and cut in half (see note!)
- 3 slices ginger, chopped
- 3-5 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 cups uncooked rice
- Water (use the amount appropriate to the type of rice you’re using and your rice cooker’s instructions)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
Note: You can substitute the dried shiitakes with fresh mushrooms. If you do use dried mushrooms, and you like that earthy mushroom flavor, strain the mushroom soaking liquid through a fine mesh strainer and use it to cook the rice.
Ok, here’s how to make it:
Toss the ribs with the marinade ingredients and set aside for 1 hour.
When you’re ready to cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry until caramelized. Remove from the wok and set aside.
Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok (over high heat this time), and brown the marinated ribs.
Once browned, turn the heat down to medium, and add the ginger, garlic, and sugar.
Stir-fry for a minute, and then add the carrots, light soy sauce, and ½ cup water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, until the liquid has almost all evaporated.
While the ribs are simmering, add the rice to the rice cooker and add the proper amount of water (according to your rice cooker instructions/type of rice you’re using). This is when you can strain and add some of the liquid the mushrooms were soaking in, if desired. Alternatively, you could also use chicken, pork, or vegetable stock. Stir in the shiitake mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt.
Shake the pot around a little so the rice and liquid is in an even layer. Spread the rib mixture over the rice. Place it into the rice cooker and press the button to start it. Your dinner is now underway.
Most rice cookers these days will tell you how many minutes are left in the cooking process. When there are 5 minutes of cooking time left, open the rice cooker lid, quickly sprinkle the peas on top, immediately cover the lid and let it finish cooking. When it’s done, serve!
- 1 lb pork ribs, cut into small pieces
- ⅓ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 8 dried shiitake mushrooms, washed, soaked, drained, and cut in half (see note!)
- 3 slices ginger, chopped
- 3-5 cloves garlic, chopped
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup diced carrots
- 2 teaspoons light soy sauce
- ½ cup water
- 2 cups uncooked rice
- Water (use the amount appropriate to the type of rice you’re using and your rice cooker’s instructions)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup peas (fresh or frozen)
- Toss the ribs with the marinade ingredients and set aside for 1 hour.
- When you’re ready to cook, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and stir-fry until caramelized. Remove from the wok and set aside.
- Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok (over high heat this time), and brown the marinated ribs. Once browned, turn the heat down to medium, and add the ginger, garlic, and sugar. Stir-fry for a minute, and then add the carrots, light soy sauce, and ½ cup water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5-10 minutes, until the liquid has almost all evaporated.
- While the ribs are simmering, add the rice to the rice cooker and add the proper amount of water (according to your rice cooker instructions/type of rice you’re using). This is when you can strain and add some of the liquid the mushrooms were soaking in, if desired. Alternatively, you could also use chicken, pork, or vegetable stock.
- Stir in the shiitake mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt. Shake the pot around a little so the rice and liquid is in an even layer. Spread the rib mixture over the rice. Place it into the rice cooker and press the button to start it. Your dinner is now underway.
- Most rice cookers these days will tell you how many minutes are left in the cooking process. When there are 5 minutes of cooking time left, open the rice cooker lid, quickly sprinkle the peas on top, immediately cover the lid and let it finish cooking. When it’s done, serve!
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This is such a good recipe! Thank you! I loved it and will make it again, and even for my Chinese parents!
Yeah!!! So glad you like it, Amy.
Hi, Excited to try this one. How much liquid (chicken stock or mushroom liquid) do you add to the rice? Is it optional?
Hi Amy, yes, it’s optional.
Hi Judy! I would like to say thank you for the lovely recipe. I tried it last night and my hubby love it so much that he request me to cook again for his parents to try ❤
Hehehehe…that’s so great! Thank you for sharing.
Ever since I bought my rice cooker, I’ve been searching for a good recipe to try in it besides plain rice. I’m glad I came across your post, I tried your recipe few days back, turned out delicious.
So wonderful, Marion! Thank you so much.
I like the concept of this recipe, especially since we don’t have a clay pot, but 1) I wanted more flavor in the rice 2) there was too much rice. I didn’t use dried shiitakes so maybe that’s where mine lost some on flavor; I used fresh, brown button mushrooms instead and more of them. I’d reduce the rice to at least 1.5 c uncooked rice. I’d make again with some changes.
Hi Lindsey, sounds good, you should definitely adjust the recipe to your personal liking.
Made this with pork belly. Was delicious! Thanks for the recipe :)
Love it! Thank you so much for your comment, Kerry!
I made this for my family last week. Aside from it being a little salty for the kids (will omit the salt in the rice step next time), it was so delicious I am making a modified, mop up veg in the fridge version tonight.
(My husband, who thinks pork ribs are too much work, gobbled it up.)
Love it, Andrea! So, so happy!
Could you do this in a pressure cooker instead of a rice cooker?
I know some people use pressure cooker to cook rice, so I will say yes to your question.
Hey there. Did you make this in a pressure cooker? Would love to know how to make this in my instant pot!
Hi Jess, does your instant pot have a setting for making rice? That setting should work.
How long do you brown the meat for?
Hi JM, it’s hard to say. it depends the heat level and your type of cooking vessel. I made it in my wok using medium heat, and it took about 5 to 7 minutes.
I made over the weekend and it was a HUGE hit! My boys loved it and when I said boys I included my ” I don’t like rice!” husband. lol I sliced the rib rack into individual pieces but didn’t have the means to chop them into smaller bite sized pieces. Ok, I will admit I was afraid that would 1. Scared my kids and husband. 2. Leave a dent on my knife, lol I followed the recipe except increased the rib cooking time to 15 minutes and only put half of the ribs into the rice cooker. I made the rest of the ribs into Shanghai sweet and sour rib, which was also a family favorite. ^_^
How lovely, Lu! Awesome meals! Thank you for being our fan.^O^
Well, if you can cook rice in a pot, wouldn’t it be possible to cook all of this in a pot as well? If so, any idea on how to adjust the heat as the rice cooks and how much time it should take?
thanks.
Hi Tony, cooking rice in a pot is actually sometimes faster than using a rice cooker. You can use a pot for this recipe. You just have to precook the ribs (in the wok) for a bit more time, like 10 – 15 minutes.
For anyone without a rice cooker and using unrinsed long grain rice (Jasmine or Basmati):
Use frozen peas and take them out of the freezer when you start so that they will start heading toward room temperature. I am not familiar with fresh peas so, if you’re using them, you might want to lightly cook them first.
Over medium heat, saute the rice in a tablespoon or two of melted butter until somewhere around half of the rice becomes opaque. Add 3 3/4 cup BOILING water (or broth or mushroom water) and then quickly add your other ingredients except the ribs. (When you add the boiling water, it is going to spit and steam at you so be careful.) Quickly stir to evenly distribute the ingredients, add the ribs, and cover tightly. Turn the heat down to a slow simmer. It should be done in 20 minutes. If the rice is still wet, cover and continue cooking another 5 or 10 minutes.
When the rice is has absorbed all the water, add the peas and serve. Frozen peas really don’t need to be cooked and stirring them into the hot rice will heat them up.
Thank you for sharing your method, Nyna :)
Made this yesterday and it was soooo good. The ribs are incredibly tender. (I did add a touch of oyster sauce to the rib marinade.) I’m sure it will reheat well in microwave for my lunch when I go back to work tomorrow.
The 1 hour prep time listed must include the time for the ribs to marinate and the mushrooms to soak. Hands-on prep time wasn’t anywhere close to that amount of time, so it’s actually a very fast recipe insofar as time you actually need to attend to it.
As always, thank you for another “winner” recipe.
Thank you, Judy! So glad that you liked it. \^O^/
Did you cook the ribs in the rice cooker for a bit. In one of the pictures it looks like the ribs are in the rice cooker also. Do you put the ribs in before you start cooking the rice?
Hi Maria, yes, the ribs are put in before you start to cook the rice: prepare to cook the rice in your rice cooker like you would normally do. Then cook the shiitake mushroom and brown the ribs, add both on top of the uncooked rice, then close the lid and press START. Once the rice is cooked, the ribs will also be cooked through. Hope this helps!
Hi. What are your thoughts on adding a bit of sesame oil to the recipe, and at what stage would it be added?
Hi Cris, if you like sesame oil and it sounds like you do, you can add some when adding the ribs to the rice!
When you say ribs, is it baby back ribs? when i go to the butcher, do i just say ribs?
Hi Becky, you can use baby back ribs or spare ribs. Remember to ask your butcher to cut them into smaller pieces.
I was wondering what rice cooker you have. I noticed it has a measurement for white/brown/sweet rice in the pot and I would love to have that handy as someone who keeps all 3 in rotation. Thank you!
Hi Christine, my rice cooker’s brand is Tiger, model JAG-B. It’s at least 5 – 7 years old. I just searched on amazon, they have a similar model: http://www.amazon.com/Tiger-Jbaa18u-Cooker-Microcomputer-Controlled/dp/B00PUEQ87U/ref=sr_1_103?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1439322223&sr=1-103&keywords=tiger. Good luck!
My oh my! This was good. Tried it with chicken thighs.
However, I think my (very basic) rice cooker died during preparation: It turned off after 10 minutes of cooking. I had to keep pushing the button until the rice was cooked, probably about 6 times that evening. Haven’t used it since, so don’t know if it was a fluke or a death knell.
For those who don’t have a rice cooker, try this: bring rice to boil in a pan; pour into oven-proof dish; (layer and season as above); bake at 350 for 17 minutes.
I’ve had success with everything I tried from the site. Thanks, folks! Keep ’em coming!
Hi Edna, thank you so much for leaving us a comment and your cooking tips. Also want to make note to our readers: baking at 350 for 17 minutes might not be enough time for ribs, they will be cooked for sure, but might not be tender.
I tried the recipe yesterday and it was very delicious. I just bought a big bag of carrots, so I used fresh ones instead of dried ones. This left me with a little more fluid in the Wok after 10 minutes of simmering the meat then in your recipe, but this didn’t hurt the dish at all, I put the fluid together with everything else in the rice cooker and it flavoured the rice (instead of the carrots, which I think is the idea behind taking dried carrots in the first place).
I think next time I will add some Lap Cheong sausages, because I can imagine that the sweetness of the sausage would be a good match to the rest of the ingredients.
Many thanks for the recipe, I microwaved the leftovers from yesterday at work today and ate it with some Sambal Oelek and it was very good.
Hi Christian, I love the idea of adding lap Cheong. You should try our , you will love it.
Made this as dinner tonight! It was super easy and delicious. Will make it again for sure.
Love your blog. I am learning so much from your blog than I did from my mom. :) Keep up the good work.
Yeahhh! Kate, you make us proud! Thank you so much for sharing.
hi, do you use a special rice cooker? because i use a simple one ( cuckoo CR-0331) and it doesnt show me a time and i’m not sure if i can cook this dish in my simple cooker?
Sure you can, sounds like adding the peas is an issue with your rice cooker, you can just boil them, drain and mix the peas in with the cooked rice and ribs before serving.
This looks awesome! One question though: How do you recommend cutting up the ribs? Do you use a cleaver instead of a knife? The last time I tried to make Chinese-style ribs, I found them almost impossible to cut with a normal knife.
Hi Kat, A cleaver definitely works if you’re comfortable using one. A good Chef’s knife will cut through the soft bone but don;t try it on the hard part of the rib. Ribs are also more easily cut when they are just frozen and by that, I mean they are not rock hard but not soft and squishy either. Then there’s the butcher who would be happy to do it for you :)
Made this recipe last weekend. Found the ribs needed a touch more flavor, so next time I think I would double the dark soy sauce and marinate for at least 48 hours. I added a couple of slices of bacon chopped fine and fried till crisp after browning the ribs then added some diced bbq pork to cook with the carrots. Cooked the rice in beef stock and diced the mushrooms. I used dried shiitake and diced them, as larger pieces end up rather rubbery. The rice was very tasty, like an easy fried rice without the hassle of having to use cold cooked rice. Just added some fresh sliced green onions on top when serving. To be able to serve ribs along with a good fried rice just made a delightful, easy dinner. Thank you, once again for another great recipe.
Thank you so much for commenting, Bonnie. It sounds like you want more light soy sauce because light soy sauce is saltier than dark soy sauce. Also, just be mindful that marinating for 48 hours might turn the meat to salted meat.
Thank you for the information on the light soy sauce, did not know it was saltier. I will try that first and see if the flavor is more to my liking. Thanks for the warning on the longer marinade, I wouldn’t like to ruin the meat.
Thanks for this gorgeous recipe! My (very intelligent) rice cooker will be happy to prepare this dish!
Best regards from Far East,
FEL!X
Yeah! Give it a go, Felix
I made this with boneless country style pork ribs and a brown/white rice mixture. So simple, so delicious! My husband insists I add it to our go-to meals list
Yeahhhh! Comments like yours make me really happy! Thank you.
Made this for dinner last night – used chicken thigh and brown rice because that’s what we had on hand. My boyfriend and I loved the flavor! The chicken picked up the flavor really well, and the oil from browning the chicken went into the rice, which made it even tastier. Thanks!
Love it, Jenn, thank you for commenting.
Tried this recipe for lunch today – omitted the carrots and peas, nice with cabbage for more asian flavour. The ribs turned out tender and flavourful and the rice infused with dried mushroom water had a tasty depth. Thanks for sharing this recipe! Relatively fuss-free and quick to put together. My husband and I finished one pot by ourselves :)
Thank you, Daphne, you have skillfully captured the essence of this dish in your comment. I am very happy that you and your husband enjoyed it.
I’m in the “no rice cooker” club too.
Hi Kelly, you can try with a crockpot, or try our https://thewoksoflife.com/2014/03/lightning-lunchtime-chicken-rice/, it’s another great one-pot rice meal recipe.
After stubbornly living without a rice cooker because I learned to cook rice in great pots on the stove, I moved to Hong Kong with high octane burners and an inability to properly make brown rice. I caved and am thrilled with my Zojirushi, probably a smarter machine than my phone. Just prepped the ingredients for this recipe here, excited to make it for lunch tomorrow.
Awesome, Christina! Let us know how it turns out!
Hiya – are these actually ribs with bones in? As they look just like diced beef?? I’ve never seen ribs cut into these small pieces so I’m just wondering
Looks great though – will try with chicken fillets until I hear back from you!
Thanks again!
Lorelle
Hi Lorelle, yes, I used ribs with bones in. You can ask the butcher or the meat Dept. at your supermarket to cut it for you. We have another great chicken rice recipe that you might want to try (if you want to use chicken): https://thewoksoflife.com/2014/03/lightning-lunchtime-chicken-rice/.
This looks really good. I’m gonna definitely try this one. Love ya’ll’s site!!!
Thank you very much, Jennifer.
You had me at rice cooker! I love ribs, but I am not so great at cooking them myself. This looks like a real winner!
lol…thank you so much, Julia.
This. Looks. ABSOLUTELY DIVINE!! I must try this recipe tomorrow for lunch.
Hi BC, how did it turn out? Did you like it?
I also do not have a rice cooker…what are your thoughts of making this in a crockpot?
Hi Mila, I don’t own a crockpot, If you’d normally cook rice in your crockpot, then it should work.
This looks gorgeous! But- on the assumption that I am the ONLY PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD without a rice cooker (!!!), is there an alternative method? Thanks for all the great ricepies :)
Hi Ed, this recipe is especially developed for the rice cooker because the (somewhat) long cooking time needed to cook the rice and the ribs. Without a rice cooker, please try our https://thewoksoflife.com/2014/03/lightning-lunchtime-chicken-rice/.
Great stuff many thanks for your help will let you know how my peasant-hut kitchen copes!!! ;)
This looks amazing. I’m wondering when The Woks of Life cookbook will be coming out because it would be a lot easier to have all of your awesome recipes in one book rather than lots of printed out pages floating around and getting lost in my kitchen!
Hi Laura, thank you so much for your love and support. Many of our readers have requested the same, just so you know, we are working on it. ^_^