Brown Rice Slow Cooker Overnight

Give Me The Recipe!

Crock pot soaked brown rice is so easy to make! Soaking the rice makes it more digestible and healthy and the slow cooker means an almost set-it-and-forget-it ease of preparation. Trim Healthy Mamas this is a great way to make brown rice for your E meals!

Don't Have A Rice Cooker? Use Your Crock Pot!

Yes, you can cook rice in your crock pot, and you can make it more nourishing too. I've soaked my grains for few years now (most of the time, sometimes I forget to get it soaking the night before) because they are more nutritious that way.

Brown rice has much better taste and texture after soaking, as well. You know brown rice is better for you but if you have trouble getting your family to eat it, try this Crock Pot Soaked Brown Rice!

Crock Pot Soaked Brown Rice

Why Soak Grains?

Grains contain anti-nutrients called phytic acids (among others). These anti-nutrients inhibit your body's ability to absorb the nutrition in the rice.

Soaking the grains in an acidic medium before cooking neutralizes these anti-nutrients, making the rice more digestible (read a great article about this here). Soaking brown rice also helps make it more fluffy and less chewy, more similar to white rice.

You might be able to fool your family using crock pot soaked brown rice in a casserole and eventually they might even not notice eating it plain. It looks a bit different than white rice though so the very ~~picky~~ discerning ones might be suspicious.

The first time I tried cooking rice in my crock pot, I was skeptical of how it would turn out. I ended up letting it cook a little too long, so the rice closer to the bottom of the crock was kind of mushy.

My husband prefers rice mushier so it wasn't a problem. My kids don't care as long as it's rice! The next time I made it, I was careful about the time and it turned out perfectly. Another terrific Sabbath use of my crock pot!

How To Cook Brown Rice In A Crock Pot.

For a six quart oval crock pot, I combine 2 cups of brown rice in a glass bowl with 4 cups of warm, filtered water and 4 tablespoons of something acidic, such as apple cider vinegar, whey, yogurt or lemon juice.

You can make more or less, depending on how much you need and the size of your crock pot. Just keep that ratios the same.

Soaking Ratio

Let the rice soak for at least 8 hours, ideally.

I've let it soak for up to 48 hours with fine results. I've also let it soak less than eight hours, because I didn't get it started soon enough.

Some soaking is better than none, so while letting it soak longer is best, if I can't pull it off I don't stress over it. I aim to have it soak overnight, or at least get it started soaking first thing in the morning, around 5:30-6:00 a.m. Since I'm not much of a morning person, that doesn't happen all that often.

You can cook the rice in the soaking liquid, however, it may have a sour-ish flavor that is unpleasant to some. You may want to rinse the rice well after soaking.

Next, I take some butter and rub it around inside the crock pot before adding the soaked rice. You can use a butter wrapper or non-stick spray too.

Grease inside of Crock

Save your butter wrappers! They are super handy for greasing baking dishes and keeping your cast iron skillets in good condition.

Then add salt and 4 cups of water, or better yet, nourishing bone stock. Trim Healthy Mamas, you'll want to be sure to use fat free broth if you want E-friendly rice.

If you find that the rice is too sticky for your preferences after it's cooked, the next time you make it you can increase the water to 21/2 cups per cup of rice.

Add water

Cook On High For 3 Hours.

If you're easily distracted you'll want to set your timer.

I check it occasionally (DO NOT take off the lid!) after a couple hours to make sure it doesn't get too done My crock pots tend to cook "fast". Please, resist the urge to take the lid off and stir . Just like with cooking rice on the stove, you do not want to lift the lid and let that steamy goodness out.

After about two hours, you will look at it and think "this will never be done in time." It will most likely still look like it did when you put the lid on a couple of hours ago. Resist the urge to dump it in a sauce pan and finish it on the stove.

Grab a book and go put your feet up while it finishes. Seriously. When the timer goes off, you'll be amazed!

After the timer goes off, fluff it with a fork and it's ready to eat or go into a casserole or whatever.

Finished Rice

Rice

Make Crock Pot Soaked Brown Rice To Prep Ahead.

Make a big batch of soaked brown rice and freeze in 1 cup portions for easy E meals later on. Planning ahead to soak and cook the rice is a great idea for making E meals such as:

Cowboy Grub (in the first THM Cookbook)
Dairy Free "Cheesy" Chicken, Broccoli, and Rice Bake
Southwestern Chicken and Brown Rice Salad
If you don't like quinoa, try substituting this rice in my Red Bean, Quinoa, and Kale Soup
Quick and easy side dishes for E meals

See my Best THM Products Page for links to the books and other THM Products.

Crock Pots Are For More Than Slow Cooking Meats!

In my search for how to cook rice in a crock pot, I remember reading someone's comment to a person who asked about cooking rice that way. They said crock pots should only be used for things that need long, slow cooking.

I had to chuckle a bit at that, and also feel a bit sorry for them. They're really missing out on a lot. You see, you can do so much more than make soups, stews and roasted meats in a crock pot! You just need to think outside the crock a bit. Having a Pinterest account wouldn't hurt, either…

Updated Recipe!

A comment from a reader made me realize it was a bit confusing. If you don't care about rinsing the rice to remove the sour-ish taste, you can soak and cook directly in the crock pot. Just turn the crock pot on after soaking to cook it in the soaking liquid. You'll want to soak in water though, not broth .

If you DO want to rinse the rice, then you'll need to replace the liquid with either more water or a nourishing broth of your choice, such as bone broth or vegetable broth. Use double the amount of water per cup of rice. For the recipe below, you will use four cups of broth for the two cups of rice.

How to Make Soaked Crock Pot Brown Rice.

Ingredients

2 c brown rice
4 c warm, non-chlorinated water for SOAKING
4 cu nourishing bone stock or broth for COOKING
2 Ts acidic medium such as whey, yogurt, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1-2 tsp sea salt
1-2 Tbs traditional fat such as butter or coconut oil

Instructions

Combine rice with 4 c liquid of choice and acidic medium of choice in a non-reactive bowl
Lightly cover and keep in a warm place for 7-8 hours, or up to 48 hours
**If you do not like a sour flavor much, I suggest rinsing the rice well before continuing**
Lightly grease the inside of a 6 quart slow cooker
Add soaked rice and cooking liquid of choice (you can soak in the crock pot and just cook it directly after soaking if you don't want to rinse the rice first)
Add salt and traditional fat of choice, as desired (Leave out fat if preparing for a Trim Healthy Mama meal)
Cover and set slow cooker on high
Rice should be cooked in three hours, however, check sooner (without lifting the lid!) in case your slow cooker cooks "fast" (hot)
Fluff with fork and serve or use in another dish

Notes

If this turns out too sticky for your preferences, the next time, increase the cooking liquid to 21/2 cups per cup of rice.

THM NOTES

If making this to use in a casserole or other recipe, it's best to leave out the fat and make it fat free.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 0 Cholesterol: 0mg Sodium: 0mg Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 0g Protein: 0g