One-Pot Rice Cooker Meal—Vegan Clay Pot Rice (炊飯機素煲仔飯)

Rice Cooker Magic! 🍚✨ This One-Pot Vegan Clay Pot Rice has all the savory joy of clay pot rice—without babysitting the stove.

Clay Pot Rice in Chinese

A classic in the Cantonese cuisine, Clay Pot Rice or Bo Zai Fan (or Bāo Zǎi Fàn, 煲仔飯, in Mandarin Chinese), was one of my absolute favorite Chinese foods.

Ingredients Notes And Substitutions

Here is a quick overview of what you'll need! Find the printable recipe with measurements below.

• Jasmine Rice: Long-grain rice, like jasmine rice, is traditionally used instead of medium or short-grain rice, like Japanese sushi rice (I didn't know and made a batch anyway—but something just seemed...off). I believe this is to achieve a fried-rice-like mouthfeel, where rice grains are properly separated and coated with the fat and extra flavor from the sweet Chinese sausage and the clay pot rice soy sauce.
  • Substitution: If you are trying to increase fiber intake, you can also use brown rice instead of white rice.
• Water for Rice Cooking: To create that crispy burnt layer on the bottom of the pot, we'll be using a 1-to-0.75 rice-to-water ratio, which resulted in a bit of an "al-dente" rice (I am not a huge fan of rice sticking to my teeth); if you want more "burnt" rice, you can experiment with less water. With the 1-to-0.9 rice-to-water ratio, the rice still turned out moist and well.
• Sweet Soy Sauce for Clay Pot Rice: I think this is the best part of this dish! You can use my homemade Sweet Soy Sauce for Clay Pot Rice or Lee Kum Kee's Sweet Soy Sauce as a store-bought substitute. I went into detail as to why I recommend Lee Kum Kee's Sweet Soy Sauce in the sweet soy sauce recipe post, under the Store-Bought Versions section.
• Sesame Oil: I am using sesame oil as a substitute for the fat from the sweet Chinese sausage.
• Vegan Sausage: Sweet Chinese sausage, or lap cheong, is part of the essence of traditional clay pot rice! The fat is what makes the rice take on an amazing aroma. Since vegan lap cheong is difficult to find, my compromise is using Field Roast's smoked apple sage sausage, which is high in protein and has a sweet taste similar to that of lap cheong. But of course, feel free to use lap cheong if you are not vegetarian, or use extra firm tofu as the protein of your choice if you are gluten-free.
• King Oyster Mushrooms: I am using king oyster mushrooms to add to the umami-ness. You can also use dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms—or skip them altogether.
• Gai Lan: Traditionally, gai lan or bok choy is the greens of choice. I am using baby gai lan as they are more tender. But of course, feel free to use your favorite greens!
• Green Onions: Use chopped green onions and/or cilantro as a garnish!

How To Make This Recipe: A Visual Guide

Here is a quick visual rundown! Find the full instructions with ingredients below.

Step 1: Wash the rice in the inner pot of the rice cooker until the water becomes less milky, about 2-3 rounds.

Step 2: Add water to the inner pot using a 1-to-0.75 rice-to-water ratio, then place the king oyster mushrooms and vegan sausage on top of the rice.

Step 3: About 10 minutes before the rice is done cooking, add gai lan.

Step 4: Drizzle sesame oil over the gai lan, and let the cooking process continue.

Step 5: When the rice is done cooking, take the non-rice items out. Cut the king oyster mushrooms and vegan sausage into bite-sized pieces for plating.

Step 6: Stir the cooked rice to incorporate the sesame oil.

Step 7: Add sweet soy sauce.

Step 8: Stir to incorporate the sweet soy sauce, and the rice is ready to be assembled and served!