Using the slow cooker to reheat rice for “serve over rice” meals?

I’ve searched the sub for ways to tackle rice and the answers were not applicable to what I’m wanting. I’m not buying a rice cooker because I have a tiny apartment kitchen and I do not want to deal with storing another appliance.

I have a lot of food allergies, so I can’t eat a lot typical slow cooker recipes. There’s also a texture issue where I don’t like eating bowls of slop (sorry!) But, of course, I love coming home from work and not having to prepare anything for dinner.

We eat a lot of meat + veg + sauce over rice type meals and I’ll usually cook a HUGE pot of rice on the stove, then freeze the rice in portions to heat up for future meals.

I usually microwave the rice to reheat it but I’m hoping to cut out that step so everything is already prepared by the time I get home.

I’m hoping I can throw my meat/sauce/veg on the bottom and separate the cooked (frozen or thawed) rice to reheat on top, probably wrapped in foil with a little bit of water to help rehydrate. I slow cookers everything low for 9 hours, so it’s in the pot before I leave for work and cooked by the time I get home.

I will end up sacrificing a portion of rice to try it out but I hate wasting food so I was hoping someone has experience with this approach and can give me pointers or confirm that it’ll work alright!

Has anyone used their slow cookers for reheating rice in this way? And how did it turn out?

Rice cookies are amazing. I'm not sure what else to offer.

I’ve not tried it but I’m pretty sure the rice will just turn in to mush.

Yeah, and a lot of the nicer ones have a timer and keep warm function. I'm also not sure what's wrong with OP's original method? Surely microwaving rice for 90 seconds isn't slowing them down too much, and has to be faster than building and disassembling this tinfoil thing?

I'm not sure you'd want to eat something that has been slow cooking with tin foil for 9 hours.

Why can’t you take an extra two minutes to reheat rice in the microwave? Spread it out so it heats through more quickly.

Heat the rice while you set the table, pour your drink, or whatever.

I don't think I want to eat rice that's been slow cooking for 9 hours, foil or not.

I've had rice out of the Zojirushi that's been set to keep warm for 8-9 hours (if you've ordered Chinese near the end of the night you probably have too!) but if you're cooking it in a slow cookers it's likely to either be dried out or mushy

Saved in a rice cooker set to warm and cooked in a slow cooker are two very different things.

There’s nothing wrong with it. I just want to do less things when I get home. Unwrapping a foil packet of cooked rice is less than reheating the cooked rice

I got a rice cooker on Amazon that's small that also has a basket on top that goes above the rice to steam veggies and meat. Must have even with limited space.

You're not going to get better than the microwave.

It's the best method for frozen rice bar none.

My grandma from China would heat up frozen left over rice in a sauce pan with some water. Stir it when it was heated and scope out when fully heated through. Some rice would stick to the pan and she would make rice soup. She would heat the sauce pan with stuck rice on the stovetop until the stuck rice was browned and pour then 1 to 2 cups of water into the hot pan. Bring water to a boil and until the rice was loosened, then have the rice soup with dinner. Of course, you can add seasoning and salt to the rice soup but we had it plain.

Microwaving rice takes like two minutes.