I’m feeling really lazy. Rice a Roni makes about a jillion flavors of rice and most of them involve sautéing the rice in some butter and then cooking it as you’d usually cook rice.
Would it be disaster if I just dumped it in the rice cooker and let it go?
I’m thinking fajitas and Mexican rice for dinner, but like I said, I’m feeling really lazy.
Sorry, I don’t feel like being that sarcastic right now. I’ll let somebody else handle it.
But you do feel like being cryptic and dickish?
It seems like it might not be quite right, because of the sautéing that you have to do first. It might not come out that weird if you did it in a rice cooker though. If you go forward with the experiment, report back.
I think I get what you’re saying, however unhelpful. But seriously, Rice a Roni makes a Mexican Rice mix, and I’m terribly sorry if I used the words “lazy” and “Mexican” in the same sentence, but… no I’m not.
I never bothered saute-ing the Rice-a-Roni before cooking (I also usually didn’t bother with the butter) and always thought it turned out fine. It’d be worth an experiment. Isn’t it only like a buck a box anyway?
I love my rice cooker and would sooner get rid of my microwave than it but RaR I always make in a frying pan. The pilaf makes it for me I guess. Plus I can always toss a few veggies or bit o’ protein on top and make a meal out of it I’m feeling particularly sluggish.
I assumed he was just implying that Rice-a-Roni is pretty “lazy” cooking to begin with and asking to make it even lazier is a bit, well, wow. I mean, who doesn’t have time to make Rice-a-Roni? At least that’s how I read it.
Okay, here’s what I did:
Tossed in the rice mix with some butter and turned it on. The rice cooker got hot and I stirred it around. It never sauteed exactly, but it got pretty hot then shut itself off. Then I added the water and turned it on again. It cooked. it’s done. Not perfect, but pretty darn edible.
I still don’t know how these rice cookers know when to turn themselves off but mine did and I thought, “too much water left, you loser.” But I left it sit for 5-10 minutes to let the excess water absorb and it came out pretty good, actually.
Not that anyone cares, but I’m in the middle of a move and I’m living on boxes and don’t know where 3/4 of my shit is and I’m tired and hungry and cranky.
I cook those little Lipton flavored rice packets in my rice cooker all the time. I even sometimes crack an egg in the red beans and rice. I’ve never had any problems with doing it.
It won’t help you tonight, but that’s why I recommend Lipton Rice & Sauce rather than Rice-a-Roni. Cooks either on the stove or in the microwave, you just boil it in water, no sauteeing required.
And on preview I see that wolf in second hand clothing has had success with Lipton in the rice cooker.
In the future, when you’re not in the middle of a move, I make a sort of homemade rice a roni. It’s not PILAF technically, because I don’t know what the technical ramifications of pilaf are. But I sautee up some garlic and tiny minced onions in butter, throw in wild rice, and broken bits of pasta from the bottom of my pasta container. Then I let it steam in chicken broth instead of water, add salt and pepper and butter near the end. Sometimes I throw in walnuts or almonds or pine nuts if they’re around, but otherwise, that’s it. It’s a good side dish with a lot less sodium. 
Good luck with the move.
Ah, I get it. Sorta like putting pop-tarts in the toaster and then tapping your foot thinking, “damn, shoulda used the microwave!”
But really, unless you’re using minute rice, rice takes about 20 minutes to cook, whether it’s a mix in a box or the regular stuff.
I haven’t used a rice cooker since college. Are they any faster than stovetop methods?
20 minutes to cook rice, basically, unless you’re going to sauté it or make risotto or something. You can play with your rice, but yeah it’s about 20 minutes basic cooking, cooker or not.
Dumping it into a rice cooker just saves you the hassle of attending to it, while you do other things.
Rice cookers are actually pretty simple. They measure the temp and when the temp starts to rise above the boiling point of water (and the water has boiled off or benn absorbed), they shut off.
Gotcha. Yeah, that’s how long it takes me to cook rice. Bring to boil, cover, put heat to lowest setting. Set timer for 20 minutes.