Don't Cook Rice By Itself, Steam Your Veggies With It

Time is of the essence when it comes to meal prep, so kill two birds with one stone by cooking your vegetables along with your rice. There are a couple of methods to choose from, but each one ensures that your dish will be hot and ready all at once.

The first technique involves placing your veggies directly in the pot or rice cooker with your rice. This way, the direct moisture softens the produce quickly while infusing its flavors into the rice. It's an especially useful trick if you don't want plain rice to begin with as you can smash up the vegetables once everything is cooked and blend the two elements together. Sweet potatoes (orange or purple) work great for this and their soft, cooked texture complements the fluffiness of the rice. 

Alternatively, throw in a bag of frozen mixed veggies and you'll have a full dinner on your hands in no time. To take this to a new level, cook your rice and veggies in chicken or vegetable broth instead of water. The texture will remain the same, but all flavors will be enhanced which makes this an easy way to upgrade any meal.

There are many varieties of rice and each one has its own cooking quirks. For example, some types of rice are best left alone when steaming. Still, this doesn't mean that you can't cook vegetables adjacently. One easy hack is to wait until your rice is mostly cooked (or at least until the water line no longer sits above the rice) and then place your vegetables on top of that to steam, all under the lid.

This technique works best for fresh veggies that steam quickly, like broccoli, peas, and leafy greens (think spinach or bok choy). Allowing for the rice to cook mostly independently ensures an easy separation when plating, so this method gives you all of the benefits of cooking elements separately with minimal cleanup at the end. Note that this technique is not ideal for harder produce like root vegetables, which need at least ten to fifteen minutes to steam, because this time difference will risk burning the rice.