This slow cooker chicken and vegetable dish is an easy, comforting meal that requires very little hands-on cooking. Plus, it’s super budget-friendly! I haven’t done the official math, but I’d say each serving is about $2-3.
Chicken legs are cooked with carrots, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and hondashi, creating an incredibly delicious and flavorful broth. All the vegetables soak it up as they become tender – so so good! Even my 11 month old loved this one.
Adding napa cabbage at the end keeps it from becoming overly soft while still allowing it to absorb all of those savory flavors. Once the chicken is cooked, removing the skin and bones and shredding the meat makes it easy to mix everything together, giving you tender chicken in every bite.
Serve it over freshly cooked rice or prepare the rice ahead of time and reheat it when you’re ready to eat. It’s a simple meal that works especially well for meal prep since the chicken and vegetables reheat easily and the flavors continue to develop. You can use either a rice cooker (with a slow cooking option) or a slow cooker for this dish.
Ingredients:
- Chicken legs: Skin-on, bone-in chicken keeps the dish flavorful and tender as it slow cooks. You can also use drumsticks or wings.
- Salt: Enhances the overall flavor of the dish.
- Black pepper: Adds a subtle peppery kick.
- Honashi: Adds savory umami and depth to the cooking liquid.
- Soy sauce: Brings saltiness and a rich, savory flavor.
- Garlic: Adds a bold, aromatic flavor.
- Ginger: Adds warmth and freshness that balances the richness of the chicken.
- Carrots: Add natural sweetness and texture.
- Napa cabbage: Becomes tender and soaks up the flavorful cooking liquid.
How to Make This Dish
- Add the chicken, carrots, garlic, ginger, dashi, soy sauce, salt, and pepper to the rice cooker.
- Slow cook for 2 hours.
- Add the napa cabbage, close the lid, and cook until tender.
- Remove the chicken, discard the skin and bones, and shred the meat.
- Return the chicken to the rice cooker and mix everything together. Enjoy over rice!
What Type of Rice to Use
Choosing the right type of rice can be confusing, especially with so many varieties available. In Japanese cooking, however, Japanese short-grain or medium-grain rice is almost always the go-to choice. An important caveat as well – with this dish, make sure your rice is cooked beforehand! You can also cook it afterwards too, but if your rice cooker takes longer than ~30 minutes to make rice, I suggest doing it beforehand. It’s easy to heat up rice, but the chicken and veggies are best fresh.
Short-grain rice, often labeled as sushi rice, is particularly prized for its soft and chewy texture, which pairs beautifully with traditional Japanese dishes. Medium-grain rice is a great alternative if short-grain isn’t available (I actually almost always use medium-grain myself because it’s generally cheaper where I live!). Both are ideal for recipes like this one, where the rice’s stickiness helps meld the flavors into every bite.
Recommended Rice Cookers
Do I need to have a fancy rice cooker? Well, sort of – your rice cooker just needs to have a “Slow Cook” option. If it doesn’t, feel free to use any other slow cooker! Here’s the rice cooker I recommend:
5.5 cups or 10 cups
Key Features to Look For in a Rice Cooker:
- Timer and Keep Warm Function: Useful for planning meals ahead of time and keeping them warm until you’re ready to eat.
- Steaming Basket or Tray: Allows you to steam vegetables or cook other ingredients while the rice cooks.
- Multiple Cooking Functions: Ensure it has settings for steaming, slow cooking, and possibly even baking.
- Non-Stick Inner Pot: Makes cleaning easier and prevents sticking.
Slow Cooker Chicken and Veggies in a Rice Cooker
Description
Fall-off-the-bone chicken, carrots, and napa cabbage are slow-cooked with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and dashi for an easy, flavorful one-pot meal.
If you’d like to serve this with rice, you can cook the rice ahead of time (since your rice cooker is preoccupied) and simply reheat it when you’re ready to eat.
To reheat, sprinkle a little water over the rice, cover it, and microwave until heated through, or reheat it in a rice cooker using the reheat or keep warm function.
You can use either a rice cooker (with a slow cooking option) or a slow cooker for this dish. Check out my recommended rice cooker here.
Ingredients
- 1 lb skin-on, bone-in chicken legs: you can also use drumsticks or wings.
- 1/4 tsp salt, plus more to taste at the end
- To taste black pepper
- 1/2 tbsp hondashi
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1-inch piece ginger, cut into thin 1-inch strips
- 2 carrots (about 175 g), chopped
- 12 oz napa cabbage
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper, rubbing it in.
- Add the carrots, chicken, garlic, and ginger to your rice cooker. In that order!
- Set the rice cooker to slow cook and cook for 2 hours.
- Add the napa cabbage (yes, when it’s done cooking!).
- Remove the chicken and discard the skin and bones. You can optionally keep the skin as well if you like the taste/texture. Shred the chicken with two forks.
- Return the shredded chicken to the rice cooker and mix everything together. Since the cabbage wasn’t cooked, it will cook as you mix everything together since the ingredients are all piping hot.
- Taste and add more salt if needed, then serve warm with rice.
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