It turns out that oatmeal can be easily prepared in most rice cookers.
(Provided you have some time on your hands.)
Why cook oatmeal in a rice cooker?
This cooking method is a great solution for multitaskers and folks on a tight morning schedule.
How do you make oatmeal in a rice cooker?
Oats act similarly to rice in that they continually absorb water until they burst and break apart.
I usedBobs Red Mill steel cut oats(Golden Spurtle fans amirite?)
and followed the cooking ratio listed on the back of the package.
Just how I like it.
However, I hit a couple snags along the way.
As I mentioned earlier, I have a small rice cooker.
Naturally, I set it to on and walked away.
Turns out my rice cooker was spewing out starchy oat juice.
(Some now offer specific oatmeal options, which is nice.)
Rolled oats cook down to a softer texture so keep this in mind if you switch types.
I used a simple 1:2 ratio of oats to water and added to the rice cooker container.
Some rice cookers will include an oatmeal preset, which is pretty handy.
Of course, mine does not.
Instead, there are mixed grain, porridge, or quick cook tweaks.
The first two take over an hour, but I think that’s overkill for some rolled oats.
I clicked “quick cook” and kept an eye out for spewing oat juice.
Luckily, the ventilation system onmy Toshibaseems more advanced than my other cooker.
There was no mess and when the timer went off my oatmeal was finished.
I didn’t eat it right away, but the machine automatically clicked to “warm.”
This method of cooking oatmeal isnt as fast as making it in a pot on the stovetop.
