For Easy Mac And Cheese, Break Out Your Rice Cooker

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On the list of alternative uses for your rice cooker, we bet you never thought about mac and cheese ... but maybe you should! Turns out that one of our favorite convenience appliances is a lot more versatile than initially suspected. You can cook boxed mac and cheese in your rice cooker if you lack stovetop space or simply desire a more hands-off approach, but this method really shines when you want to create scratch mac and cheese with as little work as possible.

All you have to do is add your pasta to the rice cooker with an equal proportion of milk and water — two cups of pasta to two cups of liquid, for example. Cook your pasta for a few minutes, stir, and, when it's cooked and has fully absorbed the fluid, add butter, cheese, and seasonings! Not only is this preparation dead easy, but it's also incredibly versatile as well. We've heard of cooking mac and cheese in a cast iron pot for added nutrition, but we don't think you can beat cooking in a rice cooker for one-pot ease of mixing, serving, and clean-up.

Best of all, you don't require any fancy tools for this hack. A basic rice cooker, like this six-cup Elite Gourmet model with one switch, is all you need — just set the pasta to cook, and lift the lid as needed to stir or test for doneness. When it's done cooking and switches over to "warm," your mac will stay toasty until you're ready to come back for seconds!

On a Reddit thread dedicated to cooking mac and cheese in the rice cooker, we crowd-sourced a few anecdotal recommendations. First of all, don't overfill your pot! If you have a six-cup model, like the one above, stick to two cups mac and two cups of liquid. Any more, and you risk the whole shebang bubbling over the lid and making a mess on your countertop. Elbow macaroni seems to work quite well, in terms of user reports, but we don't see any reason why you couldn't use other pasta shapes. If you have a rice cooker with different settings, use the "white rice" button, but still keep a close eye on the food's progress with occasional stirring.

As for how you dress up your mac and cheese, we have a lot of strong opinions on the matter! We've spoken about Dijon mustard being the secret ingredient to hack boxed mac and cheese, and we think it belongs in your rice cooker mac as well — the pungent flavor cuts through the richness and adds unexpected nuance. Alternatively, if you go with a milder cheese, we're never upset about adding a pinch of nutmeg to your sauce for fragrance and distinction. In terms of said cheese, you definitely want to focus on the melting factor. In fact, you might throw a little cream cheese into the pot to facilitate creaminess! Use fresh-shredded cheese and not the bagged stuff for the smoothest results. We like a sharp cheddar for our mac, but don't be afraid to mix things up by using two (or more!) varieties for the most interesting and rich taste.