Cooking with a Rice Cooker or Instant Pot in a Dorm
Welcome to the fourth installment of my dorm room cooking series! This week there are two cooking machines we will be talking about, the rice cooker and the instant pot. I do not own a rice cooker or an instant pot, but for you, my readers, I have searched around for some easy meals that you can make with one of them if you live in a dorm or small apartment.
From my understanding, these are very similar and basically are just faster versions of a crock pot, but they are pricier and have more cooking features. The instant pot has the most variety of cooking features, but it also the most expensive of the three.
Some of the foods that can be made using either one of these include:
- Chili
- Pot Roast
- Soups
- Pasta
- Stews
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
- Barbecue Meatballs
- Steak
- Baked Potatoes
- Taco Dip
- Tacos And Rice
- Rice Pudding
- Eggs
- Pot Stickers
- Chicken
- Pulled Pork
- Fish
- Cake
- Brownies
- Cheesecake
Of course, you can make all kinds of things in an instant pot or rice cooker, and you can search for more meal ideas, these are just some that I found. You can look online for specific recipes or reach out to a family member if you are wanting a certain recipe.
Most of these dishes have meat in them, but almost all of them can be replaced with a meat substitute to make it vegetarian or vegan.
As always, the disclaimer is you should reach out to your RA or RD Before to make sure you were allowed to use a rice cooker or instant pot in your dorm room. Another thing I will reiterate is that you should have a meat thermometer if cooking meat, have cooking mitts, and proper utensils to help protect yourself when cooking. When the ricer cooker or instant pot are in use, be in the room with it, do not leave it unattended. When the rice cooker or instant pot are not in use, it should be turned off, unplugged, and stored away.
If you found these ideas helpful, you can check out my previous articles about coffee pot cooking, crockpot cooking, and air fryer cooking.
