Rice is surprisingly tricky to cook, but if you are a rice lover and want to have them frequently but feel lazy to cook, here is a better option. One must-have kitchen appliance, i.e., a rice cooker that can cook rice, steam vegetables, and cook soups and recipes. Rice cookers allow you to make the perfect rice bowl with the ideal texture and fluffiness without extra watching or gas work. But there are a few things that you should consider before buying a cooker for yourself.
Below we have discussed the buying guide and the best rice cookers that you must opt for.
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Choosing cookers that would last a lifetime and meet all your requirements is difficult to find. Still, with these few guidelines or pointers, you can find the best rice cookers in the town. Moreover, for this, you should know your cooking practice too.
- First, it is essential to know how much rice you prepare daily, as rice cookers come in different variants with different sizes. The smallest capacity is 3 cup rice cookers, and the most considerable size is 10 cups.
- If you prepare 1-2 cups daily, then 3 cup cooker is perfect. However, for 2-5 cups daily, 5 cup cooker is excellent. Lastly, for preparing 5 cups of rice, 10 cup rice cookers will work best. The heat will not distribute evenly when preparing the smaller rice in a larger cooker. Also, the rice will not be as fluffy and good in taste compared to the even-sized oven.
- There are three types of rice cookers, i.e., micro-computerized, traditional, and jar-o-mat.
- Traditional and jar-o-mat rice cookers are one-touch button cookers that prepare plain white rice. After cooking, it automatically turns on the warm mode to keep your food warm.
- On the other hand, the newest micro computerized appliance is a high-tech appliance with fuzzy logic and many features.
- This fuzzy logic will take more time to cook, but it will be fluffier with better taste and worth waiting for.
Now, you may know what kind of cooker to look for or to purchase for your ease. But looking for necessary features is also a task, so here are a few pointers for that.
Features to Look for Before Buying Rice Cookers
- Capacity: The maximum capacity shows that you can prepare at once according to the cooker ratio; a small cooker can prepare up to 5 cups, whereas a large cooker can cook 10 cups. Still, it usually measures from 3 to 10 cups.
- Lid type: There are two types in this one: sealed and the other unsealed; the unsealed one is through which you can see your rice’s progress. However, the con is sometimes they spatter starchy water on the benchtop. The sealed one has inner and outer lids, whereas only a few rice cookers have features to remove the lid.
- Automatic shut-off: almost all the cookers have this automatic shut-off feature which automatically changes the unit to warm when rice is fully prepared and keeps them warm for a more extended period.
- Steaming tray: To steam your veggies, a steaming tray is available. It can steam your vegetables before or after cooking.
- Quick feature: quick feature allows you to speed up the cooking process while in a hurry, but the drawback is that you might not achieve perfect results.
- Multigrain: with the multigrain option, you can prepare grains with rice in a 2 in 1 cooker.
- Accessories: all the rice cookers come with a measuring cup for correct measuring, a spatula for serving, and a steamer basket or tray so that you can steam other items in it.
- Cleaning: choosing a non-stick pan model will make your work easier, so you won’t have to work hard to clean the pan.
Here is our recommendation to help you sort through the options for the top-rated rice cookers which will satisfy your needs.
Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker, 5.5-Cup, Premium White
$211.67
Zojirushi rice cooker is one of the best-selling rice cookers and is the top pick of customers due to its unique features. Those are compact size, availability of two different capacities, and computer chip technology (fuzzy logic), allowing the rice cooker to make fine adjustments to heating time and temperature according to the cooking requirements.
You also can make your rice softer or harder with your preference and with the help of a wide settings variety. Also, you can quickly cook white rice, brown rice, porridge, and sushi. Other features include a removable inner lid for deep cleaning, an LCD timer, a rice scooper, and two measuring cups.
Rice Cooker & Food Steamer By Aroma
Aroma Housewares 8 Cup Rice and Grain Cooker
Aroma Housewares 8-Cup (cooked)/ 2 Quart Digital Cool-Touch Rice Cooker & Food Steamer
Seeking a high-end rice cooker with advanced capabilities, it is easy to use, super affordable, perfect size for household, and a best-selling rice cooker that allows you to cook mixed rice. It is a bowl of very well-known Aroma rice. It measures 10 inches tall and 8.75 inches wide with the two most common rice variants, i.e., white and brown rice. You can cook up to 8 cups of rice in each batch.
Furthermore, it automatically switches on the warming mode after thoroughly cooking your rice. Due to this feature, your rice stays warm for a more extended period.
Luckily, the newer version of this cooker has several features: an upgraded pot, easy dishwasher clean-up, non-stick cooking, and much more. These user-friendly features make the work more accessible due to non-stick cooking, making cleaning easy. The condensation collector captures all the cooking steam. It comes with a few accessories: a rice spatula, measuring cup, and steamer tray. Aroma rice cooker instructions create ease to cook rice. The cooker manual lets you not worry about its use. Just go through the cooker.
Rice Cooker By Black Decker
Black + Decker Rice Cooker and Food Steamer
BLACK+DECKER 16-Cup Cooked/8-Cup Uncooked Rice Cooker and Food Steamer, White
The Black and Decker rice cooker is well known for its simplicity among all the other rice cookers, and it is effortless to use. Moreover, it’s perfect for you if you have large gatherings at your place. It is impossible to cook all the dishes at once, then this black and Decker cooker saves your life by cooking rice in a large quantity and saves your life. It is specifically designed for those whose main motive is to cook rice for a crowd. It also has a feature of warm mode, which automatically switches on once the rice is thoroughly cooked: Black + Decker rice cooker.
A 5-year warranty covers this product. It’s possible to return it within five years of purchase, with no questions asked. The rice cooker is the best for large groups of people. When the rice is done, a “warm” mode switches on. It is effortless to use. Put the lid on when you add water and 4-5 cups of uncooked rice.
Digital Programmable Rice Cooker By Hamilton
Hamilton Beach Digital Programmable Cooker
Hamilton Beach Digital Programmable Rice Cooker & Food Steamer, 8 Cups Cooked (4 Uncooked), With Steam & Rinse Basket, Stainless Steel (37518)
Hamilton beach digital rice cooker makes the perfect rice every time it is used, neither less of its size being small. But according to a few reviewers, the small size also works as a great advantage as it requires the most little clean-up, is quick, and easy to use. The other steamer basket lets you make a whole meal with rice and steamed veggies, including jasmine rice, brown rice, quinoa, meat, fish, dumplings, and much more, made just in a rice cooker because it will turn out pretty well.
Moreover, you can even make whole grain or hot cereals other than rice and steamed veggies. In addition to this, the Hamilton Beach rice cooker has the capacity of 2 to 8 cups, which means you can cook 2 to 8 cups of rice in it with your ease.
Micom Rice Cooker By Tiger
Tiger Micom Rice Cooker
TIGER JBV-A10U 5.5-Cup (Uncooked) Micom Rice Cooker with Food Steamer Basket, White
$75.17
This multifunction tiger mom rice cooker offers some beneficial features with various cooking modes. For example, a multifunctional can perform two actions simultaneously; you can quickly cook rice varieties and grains. There is also an option of synchrony – cooking designed to cook various items simultaneously. So now you can cook your rice and quinoa both simultaneously.
You can make plain rice and brown rice and do slow cooking with the other menu settings. The rice cooker from Tiger is called the Micom. It’s a tremendous little rice cooker.
Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid
Instant Pot 6QT Programmable Pressure Cooker
Ninja OL601 Foodi 14-in-1 8-qt. XL Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid, Silver/Black
$289.00
An instant pot pressure cooker is a must-have kitchen appliance. If you do Ifyoudon’tcook rice daily and seek something that can be used to cook rice and later be utilized for something else, this should be your go-to purchase. It is used to make grains or other dishes and cook rice that turns out to be pretty good.
This versatile, easy-to-use stainless steel pressure cooker for rice is an all-rounder appliance with 7 in 1 feature. Through these features, you can use this rice cooker as a steamer, sauté pan, slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, and yogurt maker.
Microwave Rice Cooker By Joseph
Joseph M-cuisine Microwave Cooker
Joseph Joseph 45002 M-Cuisine Microwave Rice Cooker
$20.00
Suppose you are skeptical about what to purchase and what not to. In that case, we recommend you buy this microwave rice cooker to satisfy all your needs. This super easy-to-use rice cooker produces a decent amount of pot rice that seems perfectly cooked and fluffy.
The steps to cook rice are filling the pot with the required amount of water as directed in the instruction book for the rice cooker and, adding dry rice, then waiting for it to be thoroughly cooked. It also has an additional modern design feature with an in-built strainer basket and lid in which the spoon locks. A microwave rice cooker is highly recommended as it saves a lot of time, and you don’t need extra pots and pans.
Rice Cooker and Warmer
Cuckoo CR- 0655F
Cuckoo CR-0655F 6 Cup Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer, 11 Menu Options, Nonstick Inner Pot, Red/White
$72.43
Almost all the rice cookers work best for white rice, but this Korean-designed rice cooker is specially designed to cook brown rice. Besides, this brown rice, rice cooker allows you to cook your healthy meal and motivates you to cook healthy.
This 6 cup option from cuckoo gives you the perfect amount, texture, customized glutinous, and softness of rice according to your desire with the “My mode” function.
The timer can be set for 30 minutes to 12 hours, and when the cooking is finished, the rice cooker will automatically switch itself off. The lid has an air vent so that it won’t get too hot inside and a silicone gasket to ensure a tight seal prevents the escape of steam. In addition, this cuckoo rice cooker has an easy-to-read digital display, measuring cup, stainless steel spout, and a removable, dishwasher-safe insert.
Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooke By Toshiba
One-touch Fuzzy Logic
Toshiba Cooker 6 Cups Uncooked (3L) with Fuzzy Logic and One-Touch Cooking, Brown Rice, White Rice and Porridge
$129.99
This solid rice cooker is an intelligent fuzzy logic rice cooker that operates with just a tap on the buttons and also comes with a detachable power cord. This smart rice cooker has a microcomputer that adjusts the cooker’s power depending on how much rice is cooked.
The intelligent model has simple controls with icons on the buttons to choose between white rice, brown rice, porridge, and soup. Everything made in this rice cooker turns out to be very good in taste, texture, and look. It comes with the feature of quick cooking and steaming mode. And it also has an auto-shutoff feature that keeps your rice warm for up to 12 hours. Moreover, there is a non-sticking coating on the interior bowl, making it easy to clean and preventing the rice from making the crust.
Accessories that come along with this device are a rice paddle, steaming basket, and measuring cup.
Induction Rice Cooker
Zojirushi Induction Heating System
Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH Induction Heating System Rice Cooker and Warmer, 1 L, Stainless Dark Gray
$330.00
Zojirushi induction heating rice cooker is one of the latest innovations in the rice cooker category, i.e., an induction rice cooker that allows for tastier, faster, and more flexible ways to cook rice. The induction rice cooker heats the sides, bottom, and lid of the pan. It makes slight adjustments in the cooking temperature to cook perfect rice.
It can cook up to 5 cups of rice at a time, including a variety of rice, i.e., white rice, either soft or hard, jasmine rice, sushi rice, brown rice, sweet rice, basmati rice, and even porridge. It is a little different from the old traditional rice cookers in heating. It heats the entire container and helps cook the grains more perfectly and quickly.
Features of the cooker are that it is non-stick, easy to clean, and lets you choose a beep, melody, or silent mode to notify you when the rice is cooked. This appliance from Zojirushi is super durable and worth the price.
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How Does a Rice Cooker Work?
- You start with measuring rice water in the rice cooker; the rice to water ratio is necessary for the rice cooker. The most widely accepted rice to water ratio for white rice is 1:1, and for brown rice, it’s 1:2, that is 1 cup of rice and two water cups.
- Now flick the switch, and it will start heating the rice to boiling point.
- When all rice is cooked, and all liquid is absorbed, it will automatically switch to keep warm.
- Here, it will keep the rice warm for 4 to 5 hours straight.
How long does it take to cook rice?
The cooking time depends on how much rice you are cooking and what type of rice it is: white plain rice, brown rice, sushi rice, or others. Please take a minute to ensure that the rice is ready.
- Considering the manufacturer’s instructions is also essential, especially regarding the rice water ratio.
- A few tests show that every cooker has different timings and takes other times to cook rice.
- Like basmati, rice can cook rapidly for 12 minutes or take up to 30 minutes.
- Another example is jasmine rice which takes 30 minutes on average, but you can also cook in 11 minutes in newer models.
This shows that cooking time varies from one another in many aspects.
What to Do if Found a Crispy Bottom?
You may have seen or heard about many complaints of overcooking from the bottom in the cooker or cooking pot.
However, it is more liable to cause uneven rice to water ratio because too much rice gets very little water to absorb, making them dry out quickly. Then they are susceptible to burn at the bottom.
So this shows another significant reason to look at the instruction book for rice cookers and find the correct ratio.
Rice Cooker Getting Hot
Rice cookers are the most dangerous kitchen appliance because they get so hot on the outside, and you need to take extra care while handling this. Avoiding steam vents and wearing oven gloves can save you from this accident.
Another thing to watch out for is that rice cookers tend to overheat. Most of the time, it happens very gradually. However, if your rice cooker is overheating, it will give an alarm and shut itself down automatically. Immediately remove the pot and stir the rice with a fork when this happens.
Best Pots And Pans For Gas StoveShould I Get a Pressure Cooker, a Slow Cooker, or a Rice Cooker?
An excellent all-purpose pressure cooker will work with most dry grains (rice, sorghum, barley, etc.). It will also make soup, chili, and other things that generally require a long-simmering time in a short time. It has an automatic pressure release valve to reduce the pressure slowly and gently, so your food doesn’t get damaged. If you’re unsure which model to get, get the largest one you can handle.
Why are Zojirushi rice cookers so good?
Because a test kitchen designed them, over 8,000 experiments go into each new product that comes out of our research kitchen.
Zojirushi rice cookers have an aluminum heating element and a lifting handle. Both are responsive to precise touch, and the cooking process is fully automatic. There are several settings (soft-cooked, medium, hard) and a manual override button in overcooking.
How do I know which rice cooker is best for me?
First, read the reviews on various models until you are comfortable with your decision. Then, choose the model that has the controls you need and has the fewest extras you will ever use. For example, if you only want to make white or brown rice, go with the basic model. However, if you like to have other options (such as “cancel” or “keep warm”), get the multi-cooker.
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Most rice cookers have removable parts. First, follow the instructions with your cooker to remove any residue or sand inside. Then, run a damp cloth or paper towel over the outer casing and make sure there are no spots or scratches. Next, you should store your cooker with the lid on but not attached.
This way, you can leave the cooker on the counter or in the sink without any chance of damaging the pot. Finally, when you’re ready to use your rice cookers, remove the top and add water.
Can you cook quinoa in a rice cooker?
Yes, you can. Quinoa is a tiny seed that is packed with protein and other nutrients. However, it takes about four times longer to cook than regular rice. If you are using a pressure cooker, you will need to add two additional cups of water. Be sure to use the gauge on the pressure cooker to make sure the pressure is at the correct level. For all other types of rice cookers, add 1/2 cup of water per cup of uncooked quinoa.
In conclusion, every rice cooker has its features and works differently; get to know more about its uses through the manual guide. It contains all the information you need to know, from what dishes to cook in the rice cookers clean and how to use it. You can also use the recommendations mentioned above to buy rice cookers worth the money.
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- 1Premium White Rice Cooker By Zojirushi
- 2Rice Cooker & Food Steamer By Aroma
- 3Rice Cooker By Black Decker
- 4Digital Programmable Rice Cooker By Hamilton
- 5Micom Rice Cooker By Tiger
- 6 Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer with SmartLid
- 7Microwave Rice Cooker By Joseph
- 8Rice Cooker and Warmer
- 9 Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooke By Toshiba
- 10Induction Rice Cooker
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