One of the first recipes that I wanted to try to make in my rice cooker is Spanish Chickpeas and Rice, and I finally got a chance to do so this week. This simple mix of rice, chickpeas, artichoke hearts, and TONS of smoky spices is one of my favorite vegan meals, and perfectly suited for making in a rice cooker. The original stove top version was already pretty simple, but when you add in the ease of a rice cooker, it’s pretty much fool-proof. You just dump all the ingredients in, press go, and about 30 minutes later you have a totally killer meal. This Rice Cooker Spanish Chickpeas and Rice is seriously as easy as it gets!
Check out my other Rice Cooker Recipes: Rice Cooker Teriyaki Shrimp and Rice, Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese, Rice Cooker Chili.
Do I Have to Use a Rice Cooker?
Nope! You can make this same dish on the stove top in a deep skillet with a lid, or a Dutch oven. You can find the original stove top instructions here: Spanish Chickpeas and Rice.
Rice Cooker Adaptations…
I did have to make a couple of changes from the original for this Rice Cooker Spanish Chickpeas and Rice. First, I had to reduce the quantities of ingredients a bit because I was afraid that it wouldn’t all fit in my 8 cup capacity rice cooker. I reduced the amount of artichoke hearts and chickpeas, and swapped out the diced onion for onion powder. Swapping the fresh onion and garlic for powdered versions also served to make this version of the recipe even easier more beginner-friendly. The only chopping you need to do is slicing the lemon, and chopping the parsley garnish at the end! I also reduced the broth slightly, to account for the fact that less evaporation occurs in a rice cooker compared to a skillet on the stove top.
What Rice Cooker am I Using?
I chose to work with one of the most popular and most basic rice cookers on the market to make sure the rice cooker recipes I develop have the broadest compatibility. That being said, every model rice cooker is slightly different, and may yield slightly different results, so you may have to tweak the recipe to work with your equipment. I’m using the Aroma Housewares 8 cup cooked/4 cup uncooked Digital Rice Cooker (affiliate link).
Can I Make This in an Instant Pot?
The “rice” function on the Instant Pot cooks food in the same manner as a rice cooker, so this recipe should work just fine in an Instant Pot, providing you are using the rice function and not a pressure cooking function. That being said, I have not had a chance to actually test this recipe using an Instant Pot.
Rice Cooker Spanish Chickpeas and Rice
Servings 4 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1 cup long grain white rice ($0.39)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika ($0.10)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp onion powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- freshly cracked black pepper ($0.02)
- 1 15oz. can chickpeas, drained ($0.55)
- 1 15oz. can petite diced tomatoes, with juices ($0.49)
- 1 6oz. jar quartered artichoke hearts, drained ($1.79)
- 1 cup vegetable broth ($0.13)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley, chopped ($0.22)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.43)
Instructions
- Combine the olive oil, rice, smoked paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and some freshly cracked pepper (about 10 cranks of a pepper mill) in the bowl of the rice cooker. Stir until the rice is coated in oil and spices.
- Next add the chickpeas (drained), diced tomatoes (with juices), artichoke hearts (drained), and vegetable broth. Give everything a brief stir, then closes the rice cooker and turn it on to the white rice setting (or the basic “cook” setting).
- Let the rice cooker cook the mixture until finished, then once the cook cycle has completed let it rest on the “keep warm” setting for at least 5 minutes. After resting, open the cooker and gently fluff and stir the mixture to make sure everything is evenly mixed.
- To serve, spoon the chickpea and rice mixture into a bowl, sprinkle chopped parsley over top, and serve with a couple wedges of lemon. Squeeze the lemon over top just before eating.
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Equipment
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Rice Cooker Spanish Chickpeas and Rice – Step by Step Photos
The spices you’ll need for this dish are 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, and some freshly cracked pepper.
Add 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 cup of long grain white rice, and all of the spices listed above to the bowl of the rice cooker. Stir until the rice is coated in oil and spices.
Next, add one 15oz. can of chickpeas (drained), one 15oz. can of petite diced tomatoes (with the juices), and one 6 oz. jar of artichoke hearts (drained).
Finally, add 1 cup vegetable broth to the rice cooker and stir briefly to make sure everything is combined.
Close the rice cooker and set it to the white rice setting, or if your rice cooker just has one basic “cook” function, choose that. Once it has finished the cook cycle, let it rest on the “keep warm” setting for at least 5 minutes. This helps the rice absorb any excess steam and makes everything cooked a little more evenly.
After resting for at least 5 minutes, open the cooker and it will look a little like the photo above.
Gently fluff and stir the mixture to make sure everything is evenly combined.
To serve the Rice Cooker Spanish Chickpeas and rice simply spoon the rice mixture into a bowl, top with chopped parsley, and serve with a couple wedges of lemon. Squeeze the lemon over the rice just before eating. Enjoy!
We had to add some salt to taste, but overall a very easy and fast recipe! Our rice also came out just a tiny bit mushy, not sure if it was the cooking time or ingredients. We used the white rice function on a zojirushi rice maker.
Glad to hear it tasted good Cat! Yes sometimes my rice cooker can vary on the rice texture, it depends on what rice I use.
Could this be made in a crockpot instead? Or on the stove, I don’t have a rice cooker.
Yep, the stove top version of the recipe is linked right up top at the beginning of the post: Spanish Chickpeas and Rice. :)
This is the rare BB recipe I found a little bland – future travelers may want to review the ages on their spices and increase the amounts if they’re getting old. Still good and absurdly easy, though!
Coming back to your website years later because my financial status has gotten back into the budget zone lol
Soooo happy to have found this recipe. Absolutely DELICIOUS!!!
Would I need to change anything in terms if I used brown rice instead?
Yes, brown rice takes much longer to cook and requires more liquid. But unfortunately I haven’t tested this with brown rice so I’m unable to offer specifics on how to adjust it.
Anybody try it with brown rice yet? I want to make this but don’t want to screw it up!
I tried it with brown rice and the water is best at 1.25 – 1.5 cups, per 1 cup brown rice. Hope this helps!
Agreed, I tried it with about 1.25 cups of water/broth per 1 cup brown rice (1.5 rice cooker cups since they are normally 2/3 of a cup) and it came out just fine.
Easy and delicious! The leftovers even tasted good cold the next day.
Yet another Budget Bytes recipe that I’m going to add to my regular repertoire. I made it last night in my Instant Pot, but when I’m less desperately hungry I want to try it in my rice cooker and compare. I used Jasmine rice because I have a huge sack of it. The lemon really brings out the flavors of the spices.
This was so delicious, my family loved it and so easy for me too! Do you think you could prep it all in the morning then just turn the rice cooker on in the evening! Or would the rice absorb the liquid throughout the day?
Hi – this recipe was great! I also made with the instant pot. I just wanted to share how I eat it for lunch the next day. Because I have a bit of a bread problem, I put in in flatbread with some hummus. Yum!
Just made this in the Instant Pot. Ratios were perfect without adjustment. I used jasmine rice, the “more” end of the “rice” function because I live at altitude, and soft released 10 min. Just as tasty as the stovetop version, but even easier!
This is my new favorite meal! Thank you for this recipe!
Had to adjust the seasoning a bit to my taste, but considering how easy this was to make this definitely gets 5/5! Making this week for meal prep.
I’ve never left a comment on a recipe before in my life, but this was so delicious, and so easy, I just had to say thanks!
Huge fan of this recipe – one spoon gets dirty to mix everything and measure – that’s it! The flavour combination of the herbs and spices is perfect with the cooking method resulting in a very rich taste. Thank you so much for sharing.
I love this recipe. I’m so glad to use my rice cooker for more things than just the normal making rice!