Rice Cooker Congee (Jook) — Creamy, Hands-Off, Perfect Every Time
Make silky, restaurant-quality congee entirely in your rice cooker. This traditional Asian comfort food requires almost no effort — set it and forget it.
Ingredients
- • 1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
- • 7-8 cups water (for thick porridge) or 10 cups (for thin, soupy congee)
- • 1 teaspoon salt
- • 1 tablespoon neutral oil (vegetable or sesame)
- • Optional aromatics: 2 slices fresh ginger, 1 dried scallop, or a chicken drumstick
- • Toppings: sliced scallions, fried shallots, soy sauce, white pepper, century egg, you tiao (fried dough sticks)
Grainy's Rice Hack
Use the 'Porridge' setting if your cooker has one — it cooks at a lower, slower simmer that prevents boil-over. If yours doesn't have a porridge mode, use White Rice and add extra water.
Congee might be the most underappreciated comfort food outside of Asia. It’s slow-cooked rice porridge — creamy, warm, deeply savory when you want it to be, and gentle enough to eat when nothing else sounds appealing. In China it’s called jook (粥). In Japan, okayu. In Korea, juk. Every rice-eating culture has its own version.
The problem with making congee on the stovetop is that it needs constant attention. You stir, you adjust the heat, you watch it threaten to boil over. A rice cooker eliminates all of that. Set it, walk away, come back to a perfect pot of porridge.
Why a Rice Cooker Changes Congee
Fuzzy logic cookers are especially good at congee because they regulate temperature dynamically. The porridge setting uses a lower, gentler heat cycle that lets the rice break down slowly without scorching or foaming over. That low-and-slow approach is exactly what congee needs — it’s the difference between silk and paste.
Instructions
Step 1: Rice Prep
Rinse 1 cup of jasmine rice quickly — just one rinse. Unlike regular steamed rice, you actually want some of that surface starch because it contributes to the creamy texture.
Some cooks freeze the rinsed rice overnight or marinate it in oil for 30 minutes. Both tricks crack the grain structure and speed up the breakdown process. Not required, but they do make noticeably creamier congee.
Step 2: Combine
Put the rice, water (7 cups for thick, 10 for thin), salt, and oil into the inner pot. If you’re adding ginger slices, a dried scallop, or a raw chicken drumstick for flavor, drop those in now. The chicken will poach as the congee cooks — pull it out at the end, shred the meat, and add it back as a topping.
Step 3: Cook
Select the Porridge setting. If your cooker doesn’t have one, use White Rice — the congee will still work, but watch the water level (don’t fill past the halfway mark).
This takes about 60 minutes. The cooker will cycle between heating and resting phases.
Step 4: Season and Serve
When it’s done, give it a good stir. The congee should be smooth and slightly thick, with no visible whole grains. Remove the ginger slices.
Ladle into bowls and go wild with toppings.
Classic Topping Combinations
| Style | Toppings | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cantonese Classic | Century egg + salted pork + white pepper + scallions | The gold standard |
| Chicken | Shredded poached chicken + ginger + sesame oil + soy sauce | Comforting, clean flavor |
| Vegetarian | Mushrooms + fried tofu + pickled mustard greens | Earthy and satisfying |
| Japanese (Okayu) | Umeboshi (pickled plum) + nori strips + soft-boiled egg | Simple, restorative |
| Breakfast Bowl | Soft-boiled egg + crispy shallots + chili oil + soy | Five-minute luxury breakfast |
When to Make Congee
Congee is not just a recipe. It’s what you reach for when you’re cold, under the weather, feeding a toddler, or just exhausted and need something warm that doesn’t require any decision-making. A pot of this and some toppings from the fridge is a full meal that costs almost nothing and takes zero active effort.
Keep leftover congee in the fridge for up to 3 days. It will solidify into something resembling a rice cake — that’s normal. Add water and reheat, and it comes right back to life.