Rice Cooker Arroz Con Pollo

Ingredients:
1/3 cup cubed, cooked chicken (breast or thighs work well)
1/4 cup canned diced tomatoes with green chiles
1 “rice cooker” cup of long grain rice
8 small Spanish olives with pimientos, halved
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
1 packet Goya Sazón Con Culantro Y Achiote
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
water or chicken stock

Directions:
Add the rice and contents of the flavoring packet and the paprika to the rice cooker. Fill with broth (or water) to the manufactures’ fill line. Add the remaining ingredients.

Close the lid and set to “mixed rice”. Stir before serving.

Note: This recipe is easily doubled. As is, it serves 1-2.

My thoughts:

Just to start off, I made this in my very much beloved Zojirushi NS-VGC05 Micom 3-Cup Electric Rice Cooker and Warmer so I can really can only vouch for the success of this recipe in this particular rice cooker. That said, I cannot imagine that it wouldn’t work in another rice cooker.

This recipe is a variation of a recipe that my husband came up with after hitting on the idea of adding chicken to some rice he was making for the next day’s lunch. It started out with just onion, celery, rice and chicken then it evolved to include olives and now I added tomatoes. Matt frequently makes it when we have leftover chicken. He just puts it in the rice cooker after dinner, lets it cool then packages it up for lunch the next day. It reheats well. Of course it is also very good straight out of the rice cooker. The rice is perfectly cooked and seasoned as is the rest of the ingredients. Who says a rice cooker is a single use appliance?

14 Comments

  1. Yum. I could go for some right now!

  2. My family makes arroz con pollo all the time but never in a rice cooker. This looks delish!

  3. it looks fantastic, what a great idea! I think I will have it tonight, thanks for the inspiration!

  4. Good one!
    & I thought adding porridge the night before instead of rice was quite the success.
    I must try this for easy dinner night!

  5. Wow, I never would have considered making a whole meal in my rice cooker. Brilliant idea! Thank you!

  6. oh goodness this looks and sounds amazing 😀

  7. What a great idea. I never thought to get a rice cooker because I’m not big on rice alone but to make a meal like this would be such a great idea!

  8. Hello! Love your blog. I had to add… I am half-Panamanian, and this was a staple growing up in our house. 🙂

    Some things we liked to do (of course, since you are making this in a rice cooker, these might not make sense)

    – get some chorizo and brown it in a pan

    – take out the chorizo, and dump in the rice. Brown the rice in the chorizo oil (yum) – this gives it a unique, nutty taste.

    – Take the rice out and put it in a pot of boiling water to cook (rice cooker?)

    – Other things we add to arroz con pollo: capers, garlic, carrots, the chorizo (back in the pot), green pimento stuffed olives (as you did), raisins sometimes make it in there – there is a lot of sweet / salty Panamanian food out there…

    Anyhow… Love the idea to do it in a rice cooker!

  9. Hi Mel! Thanks for commenting. That sounds a lot like how we make arroz con pollo as well!

  10. YUM! I’ve never used the rice cooker to make rice ‘dishes’. I’ll have to give this a try.

  11. Great idea to use a rice cooker with this

    In rice and bean mood myself at the moment but going for more veggie and adding spinach or sorre1

  12. This was a staple in out house while I was a child =) My mom used to put some capers and it was great!

  13. OMG I have the same rice cooker and I adore it!

  14. Amanda from Mrs.W's Kitchen

    This is brilliant!