The Easy Appliance That Got My Kids Excited About Cooking (No Stovetop Required!)

Kids want to help. But anyone who’s ever tried to make dinner with a well-meaning toddler knows that it can be extremely challenging. When my two kids were little, I struggled to find ways to encourage that very age-appropriate instinct without going absolutely bonkers. Completing a simple kitchen task with a toddler takes longer, is messier, and often goes wrong in totally unexpected ways. As a former professional cook, that was hard for me. But — and I can’t stress this enough — it is so worth it.

Now that my kids are 8 and 14, they are both capable, confident cooks. My 8-year-old made her own eggs this morning. My 14-year-old loves baking focaccia and making potstickers. It took time (and plenty of frustration!) to get here, but now that we’ve arrived it feels awesome. One of the ways I supported their desire for culinary independence when they were younger was by letting them use a simple countertop appliance: the rice cooker.

The great thing about starting with a rice cooker is that it’s pretty contained. You can set up a rice cooker station away from the oven and stove with all of the tools and ingredients your kid needs, and then supervise while working on other things. Using a rice cooker also feels relatively safer to me compared to cooking on the stove. You just add the ingredients, close the lid, and push the buttons, and the rice cooker takes it from there. (Although I would recommend teaching kids about steam, which can burn just as badly as a hot pan, for when they are ready to pop the lid on their creations.)

Both of my kids genuinely enjoy being independent (all the time, but especially at meal times). Don’t get me wrong — they’re still willing to let me do plenty of things for them, but they also appreciate the feeling of doing things for themselves. My kids like using the rice cooker for different reasons. My older kiddo, who is more online and, thus, aware of viral food trends, sees the rice cooker as a way to experiment without having a lot of tools to clean up afterward. In addition to making rice-based dishes, he likes using the rice cooker as a steamer for frozen dumplings and bao buns, which he can make any time he’s hungry or whenever he doesn’t want what I’ve made for dinner.

My 8-year-old is always asking to help make dinner, and delegating rice and other grains to her is one way that I can give her a real task without taking away from the work that I have to do. She feels such a sense of pride when she’s made a batch of perfectly fluffy, fragrant basmati rice that she’s more willing to eat all the other components on the plate too — that’s a huge win, as she’s a pretty selective eater.

Start by showing your kids how the rice cooker works. You might want to make a few batches of different kinds of rice as well as grains like quinoa to show them the various options and settings, letting them help with different parts of the process. Little kids can help measure and rinse the rice, add pre-measured seasonings, and push the buttons to start the cooking process. (Show me a toddler who doesn’t love to push a button!) As kids get older, they can take on more responsibility for planning, gathering materials, and using the rice cooker on their own.

Watching kid-friendly cooking videos with my kids never fails to get them hyped up about cooking for themselves. Easy Peasy Jordan is one of our favorites, and he uses the rice cooker to make all kinds of delicious-looking dishes. Some of our favorite rice cooker recipes are Chinese sticky rice, slow cooker ginger chicken congee, and Chinese steamed buns.

Like any new task I want to try with my kids, I start by making a plan together. If there’s a written recipe, we read the recipe thoroughly. If we’re re-creating a video recipe, we might watch the video a few times and take notes. From there, the kids can gather their materials and follow the steps on their own or with a little help, depending on how challenging the recipe is.