Cooking frozen chicken with rice in a cooker requires minimal effort to achieve a healthy and wholesome meal. The type of cooker that you choose will determine how long the cooking process takes.
Despite this, you will have to defrost your frozen chicken prior to placing it in the cooker with the rice. Cooking the chicken and rice simultaneously in the cooker will potentially increase the flavor and texture of both the meat and rice.
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Defrosting the Chicken
Before you can cook your frozen chicken in a cooker, you must first properly and safely defrost it. Unless you're frying the chicken, you can't go from frozen to cooked in an oven or any type of cooker.
Defrost the chicken overnight in the refrigerator or run it under cold water and rotate sides every few minutes to keep the chicken at a safe temperature for cooking. Using your microwave to defrost your chicken is also safe.
Slow Cooker vs. Pressure Cooker
The two most popular types of cookers on the market are pressure cookers and slow cookers. With that said, you can also use a rice cooker to cook both chicken and rice at the same time.
A slow cooker cooks food over a long period of time, allowing the meat, vegetables and marinade to simmer and cook for hours at a time. A pressure cooker only takes minutes to prepare a full meal, using extreme heat to cook the chicken.
While pressure cookers are ideal for those who don't have time to cook all day, a slow cooker will bring out more flavor and soften the chicken and rice more thoroughly than a pressure cooker. In addition, because a slow cooker uses a relatively low temperature to cook your food, you don't run the same risk of overcooking it.
Cooking Chicken and Rice
After defrosting your chicken, place it in the cooker of your choice. If you're using a rice cooker, you won't need to cook the rice separately. With the rice cooker, place 2 cups of rice and 4 cups of water in the cooker. You can fry the rice with oil, garlic and shallots prior to cooking to add flavor and texture.
Chop the chicken up into small pieces and put them in the cooker with the rice. Turn your rice cooker on, allowing it to cook until all the water has evaporated. Cut your chicken to make sure that it's not pink in the center before serving. The USDA recommends that chicken have an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Warning
While cooking frozen chicken with rice is a relatively safe procedure, use caution when cooking raw meats.
During the defrosting process, don't use warm or hot water to defrost the chicken, and don't leave the chicken out at room temperature to defrost, which will leave the chicken at a dangerous temperature that may result in bacteria formation.
Finally, make sure that your chicken is fully cooked before serving. Use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken is at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit inside.