Not a day goes by the place I don’t cook dinner and eat rice. I grew up considering of it as central to each meal. I’m additionally a former skilled chef who, for over seven years, ran a restaurant and meals truck that served Hawaii’s native meals – a delicacies that’s rice-based. All advised I’ve made tens of hundreds of kilos of rice.
Which means I’ve bought dozens of rice cookers of assorted sizes, each for house kitchens and business ones. I even have moveable rice cookers for straightforward toting to outside cookouts.
My guiding rules on this assessment are, firstly, that a very powerful operate of a rice cooker is to make scrumptious rice. However, secondly, I’m essentially against home equipment which can be single-function – rice cookers ought to have the ability to steam vegetables and different meals, too, usually whereas the rice is cooking. Thirdly, I search for rice cookers which can be designed to final.
How I examined
I examined 17 rice cookers in what I known as the “Rice Cooker Olympics”. I organized them in “heats” of three to 4 rice cookers every (in order to not blow a fuse), making rounds of short-grain Kokuho rice with every cooker.
I’m used to assessing the standard of rice. As a meals author I choose sushi eating places based mostly partly on the standard of their rice, and I develop rice-based recipes. On this cooker assessment I appeared for:
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The gelatinization of rice after it was cooked – might you continue to style separate, distinct grains?
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Was rice cooked to the proper consistency that corresponded to the menu possibility?
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Did the pot of rice cook dinner evenly or had been there apparent burned bits?
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May cookers make brown rice or germinated brown (gaba) rice in the event that they claimed to have that performance?
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May I cook dinner different meals with the cookers – comparable to quinoa, beans, steamed greens, chawanmushi and congee?
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I didn’t search for pace – most take roughly 20 to half-hour for a pot of brief grain white rice.
Since my husband can be an expert chef, he introduced the seemingly infinite pots of rice I cooked to his restaurant to show into rice vinegar or manipulate into workers meals. On the finish of the Olympics, I returned the cookers I didn’t personal to their producers or donated them to the Philly Aids Thrift or the meals lab at Drexel College.
Learn on for my high picks, and for a rice cooker Q&A on the finish.
All costs present on the time of publication.
At a look
Finest general:
Zojirushi Induction Rice Cooker NP-HCC10
Why we adore it
The Rolls Royce of rice cookers. White rice comes out noticeably extra aromatic than virtually another rice cooker examined. On the common setting, cooked grains had been distinct and flippantly al dente, with a gelatinized texture that you simply’d search for in sushi rice or sticky rice. This impact is achieved by way of exact temperature controls.
Its easy inside permits for straightforward cleansing (simply wipe it). I like the 0.5 rice cup setting, which is useful for making rice for only one particular person – different rice cookers not often operate as nicely when cooking rice in such small portions. The cooker additionally is available in a bigger 1.8L mannequin.
It’s a disgrace that … Not like most fashions I like to recommend, this mannequin makes use of induction know-how – and it takes longer to cook dinner the rice. On an everyday setting, a pot of white rice required 54 minutes. Even so, there’s a “fast cook dinner” setting that speeds issues up.
Capability: 1L / 5.5 Cups raw
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Stainless-steel and plastic physique, platinum-infused non-stick interior pot
Capabilities: White rice (common, softer, tougher), umami, combined, sushi and candy rice, jasmine, porridge, congee, brown, gaba, steel-cut oatmeal, fast cooking, prolonged maintain heat
Equipment: None
Finest funds:
GreenLife 1.5 quart rice cooker
Why we adore it
I examined 4 primary, conventional mini rice cookers from manufacturers like Aroma, Sprint, and Black and Decker. GreenLife’s produced the very best, al dente, non-mushy white rice. It was the one one of many funds manufacturers that I examined that had a ceramic coating. This yielded a touch of brown on the backside of the rice, however for me that was preferable to a extra conventional nonstick coating and probably extra PFAS chemical compounds. That is the best cooker for a single particular person or couple in search of a useful and simply stowable system, and who don’t want one that may steam different meals or make numerous kinds of grains.
It’s a disgrace that … it solely has two capabilities. It’s heated through a coil within the cooker’s inside, which may make cleansing difficult if liquid or meals is spilled on it. The interior pot additionally doesn’t sit completely on the coil, so it does bounce and jiggle when not in use.
Capability: 6 cups of cooked rice or 3 cups of raw rice
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Aluminum physique. Ceramic- coated pot. The lid is glass and plastic
Capabilities: Prepare dinner and maintain heat
Equipment: None
Finest rice cooker with multicooker capabilities/Finest for impatient individuals:
Cuckoo Electrical Strain Rice Cooker and Hotter CRP-ST0609F
Why we adore it
White rice seems fantastically sticky with distinct grains. It’s also a beast. Although compact at 5.8kg (12.7lbs), it’s about twice the burden of the Zojirushi above, so it’s the form of equipment that may stay in your countertop. Fortunately, it’s glossy, engaging and feels hi-tech.
Its turbo cooking mode is totally outstanding and makes a pot of almost excellent white rice in roughly quarter-hour (the timing varies in line with how giant a pot you make). This rice doesn’t essentially come out fairly as aromatic as our Zojirushi picks, but it surely nonetheless has the appropriate chunk.
Furthermore the sprouted brown rice I make with GABA operate comes out splendidly textured, whereas additionally sticky, fluffy, and nutty. (Scroll to the underside for a proof of what gaba rice is.)
Its interior pot has handles for straightforward elimination and cleansing. It additionally speaks to you in a candy, high-pitched voice, saying issues like “Cuckoo is beginning,” “Steam launch will start,” and “Tremendous-turbo is full. Stir the rice.”
It’s a disgrace that … this appears to be a trademark of Cuckoo cookers, but it surely leaps backwards while you press the button that opens the lid. This doesn’t make the cooker fall over, but it surely has knocked different objects off my kitchen counter.
Capability: 6 cups raw, 12 cups cooked
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Physique is stainless-steel and plastic, interior pot is stainless-steel with a non-stick coating
Capabilities: Excessive strain: white rice, turbo white rice, combined rice, gaba rice, excessive strain steam, excessive warmth. Non-pressure: white rice, frozen rice, open cooking, veggie rice, child meals, non-pressure steam, open cooking. It additionally has an auto-clean mode
Equipment: None
Finest dispenser:
KitchenAid Grain and Rice Cooker
Why we adore it
I’ve been utilizing this KitchenAid cooker for over a 12 months, and it’s excellent for after I don’t really feel like measuring the quantity of rice I’m cooking or the quantity of water I must cook dinner it. It’s additionally excellent for beans – I all the time neglect to soak my beans earlier than cooking, however this equipment, with an exterior water tank (like a Nespresso espresso pod machine) takes the guesswork out of it, measuring the right amount of water for virtually any bean or grain that you can imagine to cook dinner. It’s principally just a little pc.
It’s a disgrace that … whereas versatile, you don’t get the identical great floral taste in rice that the Zojirushi fashions unlock.
Capability: 8 cups
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Plastic and stainless-steel physique and dispenser, aluminum interior pot with ceramic non-stick coating
Capabilities: Brief-grain brown rice, long-grain brown rice, short-grain white rice, long-grain white rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, wild rice, sushi rice, steel-cut oats, rolled oats, couscous, quinoa, pearled barley, hulled barley, farro, black beans, pink beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, chickpeas, lentils
Equipment: Steamer basket
Finest high-end:
Zojirushi Strain Induction Rice Cooker NW-YNC10
Why we adore it
The rationale this Zojirushi mannequin is our decide for finest excessive finish isn’t merely due to its value, however as a result of it makes primary Kokuho short-grain white rice style like high-end Tamanishiki rice. The rice grains end up sticky but additionally fluffy – with none handbook fluffing with my rice paddle. I’m conscious of each particular person rice grain as I’m chewing. The machine itself is extraordinarily simple. It’s very clear about cooking time – as an example, it advised me my germinated brown rice had a 192-minute cooking time. There’s additionally a ten cup, 1.8 L model.
It’s a disgrace that … it’s not quick. One cup of white rice takes 59 minutes to cook dinner, however should you’re usually letting rice steam within the cooker after cooking it anyway, it’s not that for much longer. You can also’t open the lid through the cooking course of so as to add greens into your pot to steam whereas the rice is cooking. That is additionally essentially the most difficult to scrub. Rice scum will get between the gasket and the interior lid.
Capability: 1L/5.5 cups raw
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Plastic, stainless-steel physique. Inside pot is produced from aluminum with a PTFE (Teflon) non-stick coating
Capabilities: White rice (common, firmer, umami), fast, brown rice, gaba, jasmine (common, fast, congee), sushi, candy, congee, steel-cut oatmeal, maintain heat
Equipment: None
Finest stainless-steel:
Tatung 11-cup electrical rice cooker and steamer
Why we adore it
That is truly your momma’s rice cooker, and it’s an heirloom for a purpose. It’s constant, makes a superb pot of rice, and may steam something. It has the nice benefits of getting all its cooking parts fabricated from stainless-steel (eliminating considerations about PFAs or poisonous non-stick supplies), and of not having a heating coil within the cooker, making cleansing very simple. You’ll have to soak the rice pot after use, and keep away from abrasive scrubbers, because the rice would begin to follow the stainless-steel pot.
It capabilities in another way from all different rice cookers on this listing as it’s basically a double boiler – you need to fill the outer pot with water to steam the rice within the interior pot. Ensure that the rice is totally flat in order that it cooks evenly, and keep watch over the extent of the water within the outer pot in order that it doesn’t run out throughout cooking.
It’s a disgrace that … it takes just a little getting used to maintaining a tally of the water degree within the outer pot.
Capability: 11 cups (there may be additionally a 6-cup mannequin)
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Stainless-steel
Capabilities: Prepare dinner, maintain heat
Equipment: Inside pot cowl, steam plate (will be bundled with steamer tongs, bowl clip, higher stainless-steel pot)
The perfect of the remaining
If you’d like a multicooker – however on a funds:
Hamilton Seaside Multicooker 37523MN
Why we adore it
I like the easy controls. This one additionally had by far the best-designed lid of the entire 17 rice cookers I examined – it’s simple to scrub. The pot’s facet handles are usually not fabricated from metallic, which means you may elevate it out with out utilizing hand safety. (I’ve burnt myself on many different rice cooker pots.)
It didn’t make the ultimate lower as a result of … the grains of the white rice had been sticky and overblown, the rice as a complete was gummy, and the underside of the pot shortly developed a rice-paper movie. I additionally don’t like how the equipment is so giant, and the minimal quantity of rice you may cook dinner is 2 cups, a minimum of in line with the interior pot’s line measure. Every of the three Hamilton Seaside rice cookers I examined got here with plastic steamer baskets, however I’m postpone by the thought of cooking with plastic at such excessive temperatures.
Capability: 4.5 quarts/20 cups cooked rice
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Stainless-steel, plastic steamer basket, non-stick stainless-steel
Capabilities: White rice, brown rice, gradual cook dinner low, gradual cook dinner excessive, steam, sizzling cereal, soup, maintain heat
Equipment: Plastic steamer basket that sits contained in the interior pot
If you wish to cook dinner various kinds of rice:
Cuckoo CR-0675F
Why we adore it
This Cuckoo cooks lovely sticky rice evenly: the rice maintains its form and is completely and flippantly al dente. It additionally has a scorched rice operate in case you need that crispy backside, making this the closest to a Persian rice cooker on this listing. It’s not as sturdy as our Cuckoo decide above however at this value level, it’s a extremely whole lot. It has an autoclean operate for high-temperature sanitization – however for normal cleansing you do should disassemble it.
It didn’t make the ultimate lower as a result of … the open button flings the lid open just a little violently, making all the cooker leap on my counter high. It’s jarring.
Capability: 6 cups raw
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Stainless-steel core with a non-stick coating. The lid is plastic
Capabilities: Prepare dinner, maintain heat, white, white fast, multigrain, gaba, scorched, thick porridge, skinny porridge, child meals, auto-clean. It has an autoclean operate the place it steams itself – however for normal cleansing you do should dissemble
Equipment: None
If you’d like carb discount:
GreenPan 8-cup rice and grain cooker
Why we adore it
This small, comparatively light-weight rice cooker makes pretty, evenly cooked white rice with out sticky or arduous spots. It’s simple to make use of – there’s a contact display on its lid and also you toggle from one setting to a different. For this value level, it’s surprisingly superior, regardless of utilizing a standard coil heating component. Its foremost promoting level is that it claims to cut back the carbohydrates in rice by as much as 37% in comparison with different rice cookers. What does this appear to be? On the finish of the cooking cycle, a starchy condensation is collected within the carb-reducing insert.
It didn’t make the ultimate lower as a result of … I’m testing this in a house kitchen and I’m solely in a position to inform you how the rice tastes, not how a lot carbs it comprises.
Capability: 4 cups raw, 8 cups cooked
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Plastic physique, stainless-steel parts and coil, interior pot is diamond-infused ceramic non-stick (claims to be PFAs and PFOA-free)
Capabilities: White rice, brown rice, multigrain, wild rice, low-carb white rice, low carb brown rice, barley, quinoa, beans, metal lower oats
Equipment: Carb decreasing stainless-steel insert
If you’d like a rice cooker that’s indestructible:
Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy 5 cup NS-ZCC10
Why we adore it
I’ve put this explicit rice cooker and its bigger model by way of absolute hell the final decade and it has persistently made me scrumptious rice with distinct grains. Regardless of it being a house equipment, I’ve used it in skilled capacities on my meals truck and in my quick informal restaurant. It’s slower than a business rice cooker (it takes about forty minutes to cook dinner a pot), however the rice all the time seems fluffier. This 5.5 cup mannequin is moveable and fairly gentle. I like the deal with, and I’ve carried this rice cooker like a handbag when transporting it to catering occasions. It’s simple to make use of for steaming greens (I open the lid midway by way of the rice cooking course of and toss in my greens), and for making congee (I open the lid to stir it often). I imagine this rice cooker is indestructible.
It didn’t make the ultimate lower as a result of … as soon as I tasted the rice from Zojirushi’s pricier fashions, it’s just a little arduous to return to this primary one. Zojirushi’s rice all the time seems extra aromatic, even after I’m cooking the very same bag of short-grain rice.
Capability: 5.5 cups raw rice, 10 cups cooked (there’s additionally a ten cup raw/20 cup cooked mannequin)
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Plastic physique, non-stick coated interior pot
Capabilities: White rice, common/sushi rice, softer, tougher, quick-cooking, combined, porridge, candy, semi-brown, brown rice
Equipment: None
If you’d like a rice cooker that doubles as a strain cooker:
Our Place Dream Cooker
Why we adore it
That is giant and heavy at over 18lbs, will take up a good quantity of house in your countertop and is roughly the scale of a half-keg of beer. That stated, the Dream Cooker is extremely engaging, coming in a spread of powder-coated hues that may most likely match your kitchen. Should you’re deciding between a rice cooker, a gradual cooker or a strain cooker, this combines all these capabilities into one equipment. Utilizing the strain operate, it makes brown rice in a surprisingly quick 20 minutes.
It didn’t make the ultimate lower as a result of … you need to bear in mind the ratios for water to grain when cooking rice or quinoa, or any grain that requires exact measurements. It’s billed as easy to make use of, however is typically easy to the purpose of being mysterious (I needed to seek the advice of Google quite a bit to make it cook dinner something). It doesn’t discuss to you, it simply beeps.
Capability: 6 quarts
Materials (physique and liner/pot): Aluminum, interior pot has a toxin-free non-stick coating
Capabilities: Strain cook dinner, gradual cook dinner, sear and saute, maintain heat
Equipment: None
Rice cooker Q&A
What are the three foremost sorts of rice cooker?
In a standard rice cooker, rice and water warmth up, the water turns into steam and the rice absorbs the water, getting cooked. When all of the steam has been absorbed, the cooker will change off or to maintain heat mode. Warmth is concentrated on the backside, which may make for much less evenly cooked rice.
Fuzzy logic rice cookers comprise a pc chip and sensors that alter cooking time and temperature. Probably the most superior rice cookers use induction heating. They’ve extra superior temperature-sensing know-how and higher warmth distribution, leading to extra evenly cooked rice, and customarily have extra setting.
What about Persian rice cookers?
There are not any Persian rice cookers on this listing. I made up my mind that they deserve their very own class, as the kind of rice they’re used for calls for a crisp backside – a attribute that the majority rice cookers, apart from one on this listing, goals to keep away from.
You retain mentioning gaba rice. What’s it?
Gaba rice is also called sprouted or germinated brown rice. It’s unpolished, which will increase its taste and texture. The lengthy cook dinner time is thought to boost the content of gaba (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and supply further dietary and well being advantages.
Do I would like to make use of the measuring cup that comes with the equipment?
Rice cookers, which usually originate in Asia, all the time include a rice measuring cup, which isn’t the identical capability as an American customary cup (8 fl oz). You will need to use the rice cup to measure rice.
What capability do I would like?
For a single particular person, you will get away with a one-cup rice cooker. For 2 individuals, assume 2-4 cups. For a household of 4, you’ll most likely desire a 5.5 cup/1L capability cooker.
Ought to I be involved concerning the supplies the home equipment are fabricated from?
Supplies in these cookers will be inscrutable, if they’re even listed. Sure interior pots have nonstick coatings, as famous of their specs above. And a few nonstick coatings have develop into controversial as a result of they are often made with PFAS or “eternally” chemical compounds. Numerous newer manufacturers use ceramic coatings and say they’re PFAS-free, although info about these coatings remains to be coming in. If you’re involved about PFAS, you may select the stainless-steel Tatung cooker listed above. It’s also possible to discover stainless-steel liner pots for most of the fashions I like to recommend, comparable to this one for the Zojirushi model I call “indestructible”. I’ve not examined these liners.
How do I clear them?
I might clear all pots and washable parts by hand. Even when a cooker’s parts are listed as dishwasher protected, I wish to keep away from the degradation of plastic (which may result in the shedding of microplastics into meals and water) and the sporting down of any non-stick coating, no matter what it’s fabricated from.
What gadgets didn’t make the listing?
The chasm of high quality between the very best finish Zojirushi mannequin I examined and a Black and Decker two-function rice cooker, is huge. (Sorry Black and Decker, perhaps follow vacuum cleaners.) Different gadgets that didn’t make the lower embody the Sprint mini rice cooker and the Aroma pot-style rice cooker. Sooner or later I hope to check fashions by Toshiba and Tiger.
Kiki Aranita is a meals author on the Philadelphia Inquirer and former senior editor of kitchen and eating at New York journal’s the Strategist. She can be the proprietor of Poi Canine Sauces, and the previous chef/proprietor of Poi Canine restaurant and meals truck in Philadelphia. She writes and cooks with a watch in direction of sustainability