Pumpkin Rice, Simplified: A Must-Try Rice Cooker Recipe
Effortless, flavourful, and perfect for a cosy meal at home.
If you love comforting, one-pot meals that come together with minimal effort, this pumpkin rice recipe is for you! Using a rice cooker makes it incredibly easy to prepare, and it’s packed with earthy pumpkin flavour, tender rice, and just the right amount of savoury goodness. Whether you're cooking for a quick weeknight dinner or meal prepping, this dish will quickly become a household favourite.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
Minimal Effort, Maximum Flavour: The rice cooker does all the heavy lifting, so you can set it and forget it.
Something different: No longer just plain rice, this pumpkin rice keeps things interesting at the dinner table for your family.
Nutrient-Packed: Pumpkins are rich in vitamins, fibre, and antioxidants, making this dish as healthy as it is delicious.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Serves: 2 - 4 pax
Ingredients
1 cup white rice, washed
150 - 200g pumpkin, cubed
1 tbsp dried shrimps, washed and soaked
Big handful dried shiitake mushrooms, washed and soaked
Liquid from soaking mushrooms and shrimps
1 tbsp Cooking oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp fried shallots
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
salt
sugar
white pepper
Notes
This recipe allows the natural flavours of dried shrimps, mushrooms and fried shallots to shine. Other recipes for pumpkin rice also add fish sauce, oyster sauce and light soy sauce. Feel free to add these condiments if you prefer it to be more flavourful
You can always adjust with salt, sugar or any condiment of your choice after the rice is cooked. But we enjoy our rice with mild and natural flavours because we usually enjoy it with other dishes!
Method
Start rice cooker on any function that will heat pot up
Once heated, add oil and then minced garlic
Sauté until garlic is fragrant then add dried shrimps and mushrooms. Mix well
Add rice, fried shallots and seasonings, mix well and level out rice & ingredients in the pot
Gently add liquid stock to the pot
Start rice cooker on usual rice cooking setting
Just 15 minutes before, add cubed pumpkins to the top and let it steam
Once the rice cooker is done, your pumpkin rice is ready to be served!
Notes
Add liquid gently so as to not mess up the levelled out rice, this will ensure that the rice cooks evenly
The amount of liquid to add will be the usual amount you would add when cooking rice in the rice cooker. If there is not enough liquid stock from soaking the shrimps and mushrooms, add water
You may add pumpkin right at the beginning of cooking the rice, especially if you enjoy extra soft & mushy pumpkin. Steaming it for 15 minutes will only cook it sufficiently, and its best for those who prefer to avoid mushiness!
How quick the pumpkin cooks is also dependent on the size of your pumpkin cubes
Why I Love This Recipe
This pumpkin rice is a dish I turn to when I want something warm and satisfying but don’t have the time to stand by the stove. The combination of sweet pumpkin and savoury seasonings always brings me back to JC days where most days were spent mugging really hard😂 This was my only comfort and happiness back then haha. Now, I’m so grateful those hard days are over and I get to enjoy this dish in the comforts of my home.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for an easy, nutritious, and utterly delicious meal, this rice cooker pumpkin rice ticks all the boxes. It’s proof that simple ingredients and a trusty rice cooker can create magic in the kitchen.
