Recipes
11 Easy Rice Cooker Thanksgiving Recipes
‘Tis the season for celebrating family and friends and while we all enjoy to celebrate with our loved ones, many of us also feel overwhelmed in the kitchen.
Between having to entertain guests, refilling glasses of colorful cocktails, and keeping an eye on simmering pots, it can easily feel like everyone else is having more fun than you. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Many Thanksgiving dishes can easily be made in a rice cooker and left unattended and we have some of the most popular ones to share with you today.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
This simple mashed sweet potatoes recipe is perfect as a Thanksgiving side dish. It’s the perfect balance of savory and sweet – with a creamy texture that is sure to make this your go-to sweet potato recipe.
Bacon Cheese Brussels Sprouts
The holidays call for roasted brussels sprouts. Heck, they make the perfect side dish for pretty much any meal between Thanksgiving and the new year. Well, we’re here to one-up that iconic side dish with the savory goodness of bacon and cheese. Salty, smoky bacon and umami loaded Parmesan are pretty much the game, set, match of toppings.
Rice Cooker Stuffing
This rice cooker stuffing recipe is so easy to whip up – but it doesn’t taste like you put in minimal effort. It’s savory and perfectly spiced. We’d say it’s our favorite side dish alongside turkey, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and gravy!
Scalloped Potatoes
These scalloped potatoes only require 3 spuds – and a handful of simple pantry ingredients. Leeks lend their garden-fresh mild sharpness, and contrast the creamy, cheesy notes. And you’ll love the freshly chopped thyme leaves that impart an unreal depth of flavor to these slow cooker potatoes au gratin.
Lentil Salad
This lentil salad may not be your typical Thanksgiving dish, but the cleansing citrus taste add a pop of freshness that helps balance the creamy and rich flavors of a holiday meal. We’re using green lentils in this salad because of their robust, almost peppery flavor profile. They compliment the natural verdant freshness of the baby spinach, scallions and celery used in the recipe.
Cheesy Spaghetti Squash
Spaghetti squash is such a versatile veggie. Whether you’re making a rustic and hearty side dish for a holiday feast – or making spaghetti squash as a pasta alternative – it’s such a clutch ingredient to have on hand.
This cheesy spaghetti squash is the best of all worlds. From a textural standpoint, there’s the light, pliant crunch from perfectly cooked spaghetti squash – and creaminess from grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese (btw… you can totally use a combination of those two delicious cheeses).
Butternut Squash Risotto
Unlike most risottos, there’s no need to keep a constant eye on the pan on your stovetop with this rice cooker risotto recipe. This risotto takes care of itself – and when the timer sounds off, you’re good to go. Stir in butter and salt + pepper once cooking is complete – and top with grated parmesan cheese.
It’s so savory, creamy, slightly sweet and indulgent that we’re SURE you’re going to love it. And since you used your rice cooker, whoever draws cleanup duty after dinner will feel like they got a free pass!
Rice Cooker Zucchini Bread
The banana, grated zucchini, extra virgin olive oil and eggs impart incredible moisture to this zucchini bread. And the structure of the crumb is actually more like a cake than a bread. So no harm if you decide to serve this zucchini bread as part of your Thanksgiving dessert feast.
In fact, we think topping the finished zucchini bread with a little custard, whipped cream – or even yogurt – is the perfect way to take it to the next level. But no matter how you decide to serve it, we know you’ll love how easy it is to make in your rice cooker!
Rice Cooker Upside Down Peach Cake
Whether it’s this slow cooker peach crisp or this luscious cinnamon apples recipe fruit desserts just hit the spot with that perfect mixture of naughty and nice. Well, this rice cooker peach upside down cake is right in the sweet-spot for a peach dessert, with its blend of crumbly cake perfection and syrupy peaches.
We’re using canned sliced peaches for this upside down cake. They have the perfect balance of tart sweetness and a texture that’s on the softer side of things.
Fireside Hot Chocolate
This rich hot cocoa recipe contains a mixture of luxurious ingredients that form a flavor you just can’t get from a packet. We started with unsweetened cocoa powder and unsweetened almond milk for the base (don’t worry, it’ll definitely be sweet!). Light coconut milk delivers an almost tropical essence and brown sugar brings a bit of understated sugary pop to the mix.
We used whipped cream and cinnamon for a silky, spiced topping. But the real star of the show from a flavor AND texture perspective is a hefty portion of hazelnut spread. You see, Nutella has a nutty sweetness and a creamy quality that punches this hot cocoa recipe up and provides a satisfying richness. It’s our secret hot chocolate ingredient.