When you are in a hurry, your food options seem to be limited. Deciding between having a non-nutritious snack or a well-balanced meal could be very challenging, mainly if you do not have enough time for spending in your kitchen.

You could not have a healthy diet just by eating snacks all day. Fortunately, there is always an easy solution to this dilemma. Nowadays, cooking in a short time does not imply eating tasteless dishes. On the contrary, various alternatives permit cooking quickly nutritious and delicious meals and that does not mean you’ll need plenty of time preparing them.

Modern kitchen appliances combined with innovative instant ingredients make this possible. You might think there is a trick behind this wonderful idea, but there is not. Long-lasting hours of cooking delightful and healthful dishes are over. You only need to learn more of the culinary gadgets used for cooking quickly.

Handy kitchen appliances

You may already have cooking gadgets for helping to reduce your time in the kitchen, but you probably do not know how to take advantage of them.  Or, maybe you are thinking of buying new kitchen equipment but you have still not realized which one can be more useful.

Whatever your situation is, you need to know how they work and which one can make the most of your time. Your options are endless, but if your focus is to cook fast, delicious, and nutritious foods, you need to prepare one-pot meals. These are dishes where all ingredients are cooked in a single pot at the same time.

Let’s just take a look at some of the kitchen appliances you may want to know before perhaps buying one. Most common kitchen tools that reduce cooking time are pressure cookers, instant pots, rice cookers, crockpots, and microwave ovens.

  • Pressure cookers are the oldest gadget used for cooking fast delicious dishes. It is a sealed pot that cooks food by steam generated by boiled water inside of it. This process shortens cooking time noticeably.
  • Instant pots are considered a multicooker combining different cooking techniques such as steaming, pressure cooking, and slow cooking. It also helps to make delicious meals in a short time.
  • Rice cookers are automatic devices for cooking rice and other grains by boiling. It consists of a bowl, thermostat control, and an electric heating element.
  • Crockpots are slow cookers that use simmering at low temperatures for cooking food. Its main function is to cook for long periods, but it also can be used to prepare fast meals.
  • Microwave ovens are electric ovens used not only for reheating meals but also for cooking them. They work using high-frequency electromagnetic waves for making foods reach high temperatures evenly in all their volume. This process reduces cooking time and preserves all nutrients.

You have several options, and each one is ideal for shortening the time you spend in the kitchen. However, having the most innovative and versatile kitchen gadget is not enough. The key to finding the quickest way to cook relies also on choosing the right ingredients and the proper recipes.

Quick and delicious rice dishes

One-pot meals are the answer for having a single step, delicious, and healthy food. To this end, you need to combine ingredients that work and taste well together. For example, a good match could be rice and beans, rice and eggs, rice and chicken. In short, any dish including rice is a perfect choice.

Rice is the preferred staple food worldwide. Its mild flavor made it possible to combine with almost any food. Besides, it can be cooked using several cooking techniques, including those for a quicker result.

Cooking rice in pressure cookers, rice cookers, instant pots, or crockpots can take approximately 15 minutes. In a microwave, however, it could reach barely 10 minutes.

This is a referential time for making simple rice. The time will change depending on the other ingredients you use. But, if you use instant ingredients, you can cook in a short time.

If you have a hard time deciding what to cook, try these ideas: rice and fried egg in microwave, rice and chicken instant pot, or rice and beans.

Let’s start by cooking simple, quick but tasty rice dishes in a microwave.

Melted Baked Cheese Rice

Servings: 2 Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 chopped Wiener sausages.
  • 1/2 cup of corn kernels.
  • ½ cup of diced carrots.
  • ¼ cup of chopped cabbage.
  • ½ cup of water.
  • 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable broth cube.
  • 1 cup of instant white rice.
  • ½ cup of cheese.

Preparation:

  1. In a heatproof dish, add the sausages, corn kernels, carrots, cabbage, water, and broth cube. Stir very well.
  2. Cook in the microwave at 500 W for 3 minutes.
  3. Incorporate rice and cheese. Cook for 5 more minutes until the cheese is melted.
  4. Serve immediately.

Rice and chicken instant pot

Servings: 4 Prep time: 5 minutes Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
  • 1 can of French onion soup.
  • 1 cup of sliced mushrooms.
  • 1/2 cup of water.
  • 2 cups of instant rice.
  • 6 chicken thighs.
  • 2 tablespoons of butter.

Preparation:

  1. In a baking dish, place cream of mushrooms, French onion soup, and water. Stir very well until you get a creamy blend.
  2. Add rice and mushrooms. Be sure all ingredients are well-combined.
  3. Put the chicken thighs on the top.
  4. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap.
  5. Cook for 20 minutes at maximum temperature.
  6. Remove plastic wrap, let it stand. Add melted butter to the top of the dish.
  7. Cook for 10 more minutes.

Modern kitchen tools could be of great help

In the kitchen, as in many aspects in life, planning is crucial to making the most of your time when you are about to prepare something. However, if you find yourself in an unexpected situation where you have to come up with a delicious meal in half an hour, any rice pot can save the day. Just don’t be afraid of modern kitchen appliances, they were invented to make life a little bit easier.

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