Rice Cooker Buffalo Chicken Wings
By Desiree
Quite frankly, buffalo wings are one of those finger foods I could eat just about every day. Fried, grilled, sweet, tangy… I’ll take them any way you give them to me, on game day or otherwise. But when it comes to perfecting my own wing recipe I haven’t had the best luck. Wings are one of those lazy foods I’d really rather just have brought to my table instead of cooked up in my kitchen. So, when I heard you could cook chicken wings in a rice cooker, I thought the method just had to be too good to be true. No frying, flipping or worrying about burning? It was worth a try. And let me tell you, these messy little morsels are delicious. The rice cooker does all the work for you (just check out how simple the directions are) and creates a slightly browned crust on the bottom of the wing I didn’t expect to achieve. Have a go at them yourself and feel free to experiment with other sauce flavors which I can’t wait to do myself.
RICE COOKER HOT WINGS
1 lb chicken wings
1/2 cup hot wing sauce (like Frank’s Red Hot)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
optional: extra sauce and blue cheese dressing for serving
Place chicken wings in the inner pot of your rice cooker.
Whisk together hot sauce and melted butter and pour over wings.
Set to White Rice. When the rice cooker beeps check for doneness.
Serve with extra sauce or blue cheese dressing, if desired.
Tip: I think these are perfect right out of your cooker but if you need a crispier skin broil wings for 3-4 minutes per side after cooking.
BBQ Beef Ribs
By Tia
Nothing beats fall-off-the-bone beef ribs slathered with just-spicy-enough BBQ sauce… the only problem is the time commitment.
BBQ ribs are fairly easy to prepare and very difficult to mess up but just the thought of cooking them all day is a bit daunting. Thanks to my pressure cooker the time issue has been wiped out and these delectable finger licking treats can be yours in about an hour.
As I researched pressure cooker rib recipes for the upcoming 3 day weekend I found many different ways to achieve tender results. Some suggest adding liquid to the inner pot and cooking the ribs on top of a trivet, others say to simply place the ribs in the cooker with BBQ sauce and some suggest browning prior to cooking. I tried all three methods and came up with the perfect formula worthy of sharing. I finished half my batch off on the grill, which lends a nice caramelized texture, although this step can be skipped without sacrificing any flavor.
BBQ BEEF RIBS
5 lbs or 2 slabs of beef ribs, cut in 2-4 rib slabs
1/4 cup BBQ spice rub of your choice
3 cups of BBQ sauce of your choice
Season the ribs by rubbing spice rub on all sides. If you have time, let them marinate in the fridge for a few hours.
Set your pressure cooker to Brown and brown ribs on meat side for a few minutes. Pour 2 cups of BBQ sauce on top of the ribs and set to High Pressure for 60 minutes.
Release pressure and check for doneness. If meat comes off the bone easily your ribs are done.
Serve with extra barbeque sauce and plenty of napkins on the side.
Grilled Pork Chops with Grapes
By Tia
Pork is one of those great proteins that pairs perfectly with fruit. Since my pressure cooked pork and apple experiment turned out so well, I was ready to take things up a notch when I bought some beautiful bone-in pork chops. I decided grapes would add just enough acidity and sweetness to the pork grilled on my Aroma Super Pot. Served with a side of grilled potatoes, I had another perfectly quick meal on the table in a flash.
GRILLED PORK CHOPS WITH GRAPES
2 bone-in pork chops
1 cup grapes, sliced in half
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1/4 cup Italian parsley, chopped
2 tblsp olive oil
salt and pepper
Heat your Super Pot to 350 degrees. Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper.
Add olive oil to the pot and grill pork chops for 5 minutes per side. When the chops are cooked through remove from the grill and let rest.
Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and sauté until grapes are slightly browned, 3-4 minutes.
Top pork chops with grape mixture and serve.
Tomato Sauce
By Tia
One of the staples I always like to have handy is tomato sauce. When tomatoes are in season or, even better, in season and on sale I go a little nuts and buy bags and bags of them to make my own sauce. It is such a simple thing to prepare and SO much better than the jarred stuff. Plus, it’s the perfect base for tons of different meals in a snap. I love to add ready-made meatballs, vegetables or even just a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and throw the concoction over some pasta for an on-the-table-in-15-minutes weekday dinner. I store my tomato sauce in freezer bags and thaw as I’m ready to use. And I’m telling you, once you taste your homemade sauce and see how gosh darn simple it is to make you won’t be buying a jar of it again.
TOMATO SAUCE
1 lb ripe tomatoes, cut into chunks
1 onion, cut into chunks
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tblsp fresh oregano
4 tblsp fresh basil
salt and pepper
2 tblsp olive oil
Heat the olive oil in your Aroma Rice Cooker using Sauté-Then-Simmer. Sauté garlic and onion until soft.
Add remaining ingredients and stir. Close the lid and let simmer for 1-2 hrs.
Pureé the sauce and store for a quick fix meal in a pinch.
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
By Desiree
When it comes to pasta, I’m usually a marinara kind of girl. But there are those times that nothing will satisfy a pasta craving except a creamy, savory, garlicky pile of Alfredo covered noodles and yesterday was one of those days. Instead of firing up the grill, waiting for my pasta pot to boil and dirtying a saucepan, I opted to make everything inside my Aroma Rice Cooker. The result was a decadent bowl of tender noodles and juicy chicken covered in a creamy homemade sauce on the table in just about 30 minutes… and only 1 pan to clean up.
CHICKEN FETTUCCINE ALFREDO
1 lb chicken breasts
1 package fettuccine
1/2 cup butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced
8 ounces cream cheese
3 cups milk
6 ounces Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Fill your inner pot halfway full with water. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper, place in the Steam Tray and steam for 10 minutes.
When the chicken is cooked, remove the tray, add fettuccine to the water and reset to Steam for the cooking time indicated on the package directions. Use the Steam Tray to drain the pasta and set aside.
Tip: If your pasta cooks for 10-12 minutes it can easily be boiled as chicken steams.
Reset to Steam for 15 minutes. Add the butter and garlic to the inner pot. When the butter is melted and garlic becomes fragrant, add the cream cheese and stir until melted.
Slowly add in the milk, 1 cup at a time. Cook the mixture for 5 minutes and add the Parmesan cheese, stirring until melted and well-combined.
Add the chicken and pasta back into the inner pot and toss. Switch to Keep-Warm until ready to serve.
Salmon in Puff Pastry
By Tia
I have a passion for puff pastry. The magnificent flaky and buttery crust adds a special touch to even very basic ingredients to make any meal a celebration. Whenever I need a little perk up for my daily dinner rotation I buy ready-cut pastry squares and fill them with an array of things from fruit to fish. For this recipe, I wrapped up some simply seasoned salmon filets and let my Super Pot take care of the rest. The Super Pot gave the pastry a really beautiful crust with nice grill marks and let the fish inside steam to perfection.
SALMON IN PUFF PASTRY
4 salmon filets
4 pieces of puff pastry, large enough to cover fish
salt and pepper
1 egg whisked with 1 tsp water
parchment paper
Remove puff pastry from package and cut to size.
Sprinkle the filets with salt and pepper and place on one side of the pastry sheet.
Fold pastry over and crimp to close. Brush with egg and water mixture.
Preheat the Super Pot to 350 degrees and line the bottom of the pot with two layers of parchment paper.
Arrange salmon packets on the parchment paper and cover with the lid.
Cook for 30 minutes, flipping packets halfway through. Enjoy!
Sausage Hoagies
By Tia
As much as I love spending time preparing meals for my friends and family, there are days when I need something super fast that everyone will eat with gusto and yesterday was one of those days. Between school car pools, guitar lessons, a sleepy toddler and an opening night play my oldest is in, I was more than tempted to hit the drive-thru. After not a single person could agree on which one, I decided to raid my fridge in hopes of something to make. And boy was I glad I did, I pulled out my Super Pot and put together these hot, melt-in-your-mouth sausage hoagies in about 15 minutes and got rave reviews from the entire crew at my house.
SAUSAGE HOAGIES
4 sausages of your choice, cut in diagonal slices
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 onion, sliced
2 tbls olive oil
salt and pepper
4 rolls or buns
Heat the Aroma Super Pot to 350 degrees and add oil.
Brown sausage slices for 8-10 minutes.
Add vegetables and continue to brown until softened some, about another 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper and set mixture aside.
Brush rolls with olive oil or butter and quickly grill for a minute or so on each side.
Fill with the sausage and pepper mix and enjoy!
