Mandu rice is a delicious, 1-pot recipe that’s perfect for busy weeknights. Just put all ingredients in your rice cooker, cook and enjoy. It’s customizable too so you can work with whatever you have in your kitchen.
(Love Korean cuisine? Try Korean garlic bread. Wonderfully sweet and salty!)
Mandu (or mandoo) are Korean-style dumplings.
We buy them frozen (our favorite brand is the beef bulgogi mandu potstickers from Bibigo) but you can certainly use whatever brand you like, or even make them from scratch if have a favorite mandu recipe.
Mandu can be steamed, fried or boiled but our favorite way of eating them is combining them with rice.
And even better, cooking mandu rice in a rice cooker.
It’s so easy even someone like me who doesn’t know how to cook can do it.
Let’s make dinner.
Why you’ll love this easy dumpling rice recipe
- Perfect for non-cooks. Can’t cook? Me neither. But lemme tell you…I can make delicious meals using our rice cooker and I’m so proud of that! Red and my parents are astounded too lol. (Watch this space for more rice cooker meals as I perfect more recipes.)
- Easy weeknight meal. This is also perfect for busy weeknights or those days when you just don’t have the energy to cook. Just put everything in your rice cooker and you’re done! Delicious 1-pot dish.
- Customize however you like. It’s very easy to customize, too. Ran out of mandu? Use siomai or whatever dumpling you have on hand. You can also add other vegetables sitting in your fridge.
How to make
Making dumpling rice is easy.
Ingredients
You’ll need kitchen staples like soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, green onions, salt and pepper. Things to keep in mind:
- Rice — we eat basmati rice at home so that’s what I use in this recipe. If you have Jasmine or long grain rice, those will work too. Don’t use sticky rice.
- Corn kernels — I like using canned corn kernels because it complements the dumplings so well but you can also use corn, peas and carrots, edamame, or skip the vegetables altogether.
- Mandu — we love beef mandu and it’s what we often use. Other kinds of Korean dumplings or potstickers will work too. We’ve also used Chinese dumplings for delicious siomai rice.
Tools
We have a Tiger rice cooker that has different settings. When making mandu rice, we select “plain” then press start.
If you have a simpler rice cooker, all you need to do is flip the switch to cook.
You can also make this recipe without a rice cooker.
Simply follow the recipe as written then just check for doneness yourself (allow for roughly the same amount of time that it usually takes your rice to cook).
Step-by-step photos
Rinse rice thoroughly and place in rice cooker. Add the corresponding amount of water (follow your rice cooker instructions).
Add soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic. Stir to mix.
Place corn on top of rice.
Place mandu on top of corn. Try to place them evenly around the pot. Sprinkle green onions and season with salt and pepper.
Press cook on your rice cooker.
Once ready, fluff the rice and enjoy!
1-pot cooking with your rice cooker
Easy, right? Here are some things to remember when making rice cooker dishes:
- Know your rice cooker. If you have a simple rice cooker, all you need to do is flip the switch and cook the rice. If you have a more feature-rich one, you’ll need to be familiar with all the settings available to you. For our rice cooker, it specifies that we use the “plain” setting.
- Rinse your rice properly. It’s also important to rinse your rice properly. And depending on the rice you’re using, you may also need to soak it in water before cooking.
- Use the cup that came with your machine. In all my rice cooker recipes, when I say a “cup” I mean the cup that came with your rice cooker and not your usual baking cups.
Recipe FAQs
According to How Stuff Works, a rice cooker knows rice is done cooking when it senses a change in temperature:
“Once the rice absorbs all the water in the pan, the temperature will start to rise. The rice cooker senses this change and will either switch off or switch to a warming cycle. At this point, the rice has finished cooking and entered the resting stage.”
It works the same way with rice cooker dishes. You just need to wait until the rice cooker tells you the dish is done!
We love a protein-heavy dish so I try and pack as much mandu as I can i.e. 18-20.
If you want your dish to have more vegetables than dumplings, simply adjust the proportions.
You can use whatever you like!
I’ve used various kinds in addition to Korean mandu, such as pork siomai, chicken wontons and shrimp har gao.
No, you can place frozen dumplings in rice cooker directly.
We love making mandu rice. It’s simple, so easy to make, and so good!
We hope you enjoy having a dumpling rice bowl too and add this recipe to your weekly meal prep.
Happy cooking!
Did you make this mandu rice recipe? I’d love to hear all about it! Leave a comment or a star rating below. You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook. I’d love to see your creations!
You can also find me on Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube.
Mandu Rice (Dumpling Rice in Rice Cooker)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked rice rinsed
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- 1 12-oz can corn kernels or nibblets
- 18-20 pieces mandu can use any kind of dumpling
- 2 stalks green onions chopped
- salt to taste
- pepper to taste
- water for the rice
Instructions
- Rinse rice thoroughly and place in rice cooker. Add the corresponding amount of water (follow rice cooker instructions).1 cup uncooked rice, water
- Add soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic. Stir to mix.¼ cup soy sauce, 1 tbsp sesame oil, 2 tsp minced garlic
- Place corn on top of rice.1 12-oz can corn kernels or nibblets
- Place mandu on top of corn. Try to place them evenly around the pot.18-20 pieces mandu
- Sprinkle green onions and season with salt and pepper.2 stalks green onions, salt, pepper
- Press cook on your rice cooker.
- Once cooked, fluff the rice and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- We use basmati rice but you can use jasmine or long grain rice too. Sticky rice not recommended.
- We use frozen beef mandu (no need to thaw).
- If your rice cooker has different settings, ensure you’re using the correct one. In ours, we use “plain”.
- Cook time depends on your rice cooker. This recipe usually takes 30 minutes to cook using ours.
- When I say “cup” I mean the cup that came with your rice cooker and not your usual baking cups.
- The estimated nutritional information is based on 6 servings.
- See post for more tips, FAQs and step-by-step photos.
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only.
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