Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
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Credit:
Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
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Learn more about our product testing
This Zojirushi rice cooker isn’t the most user-friendly option, but its smart-tech features and other conveniences yield incredible results. Read More
With its induction-heating tech and easy controls, this high-end Zojirushi cooker delivers flawless, magnificent rice with every use. Read More
Panasonic’s rice cooker lacks bells and whistles, and can take almost an hour to cook, but it’s a high-performing product overall. Read More
This Zojirushi model offers a variety of practical features, such as a cake present, and produces perfectly cooked rice. It’s pretty small, however. Read More
The Cuckoo cooker performed well in our tests, delivering quality rice and fast steaming. But we’re not too fond of its control panel. Read More
Around the world, rice is the universally popular ingredient that can provide a simple base for various foods. And while it’s completely possible to make great rice on the stove, doing so means hovering over the pot to ensure that your grains cook fully without burning.
By using a rice cooker, like our new favorite Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker and Warmer (available at Amazon for $193.25) , you can avoid that hassle and focus on the rest of your meal. There's a reason these devices are a fixture in professional kitchens—they promise rice with convenience and consistency—you can simply set it and forget it, whether it's jasmine or brown rice.
But which cookers fulfill their promise of perfectly cooked rice? If you're going to give up precious kitchen counter space for yet another gadget, it needs to be worthy. We tested about a dozen of the top rice cookers on the market to find out which ones are convenient, consistent, and—ultimately—can make that ideal bowl of rice.
The Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Logic is the best option for most people.
This rice cooker uses induction heating technology to cook rice evenly.
This Panasonic rice cooker is simple and inexpensive.
Multiple useful features
Compact
Easy to clean
Small capacity
Quality rice
Quick steam
Unintuitive control pad
Bubbling protective steam vent
Useful steam basket
Good white rice quality
Large
Lack of presets for other types of grains
Useful features
Affordable
Bulky
Inconsistent rice quality
No timer
Easy setup
Steams dumplings
Compact
Average rice quality
Steams dumplings and vegetables
Over-cooks rice
Bulky
Multifunctional
Affordable for what it does
Too bulky
Difficult to clean
Average rice
Home cook and contributor Bethany Kwoka and Reviewed’s former kitchen and cooking staff writer Valerie Li have both tested the rice cookers in this guide.
We focused our tests on cooking various types of grains.
Before we began testing, we spent hours scouring other reviews, various cooking sites, and manufacturers websites to find the best rice cookers worth their counter space. After first testing six rice cookers in 2018, we tested nine more from both well-known and new-to-the-market brands in 2020 to find out which makes the best rice.
As brown and white rice cook quite differently, we wanted to see if each rice cooker could handle both a tougher, long-grain brown rice and short-grain white rice. We also included long-grain jasmine rice in the testing to see how each cooker performs with fluffy rice.
We also thought beyond rice, ultimately choosing to test the steamer baskets often included with these appliances using frozen dumplings and fresh vegetables.
We tested each rice type twice to gauge consistency across tests and judged each cooker on its results. We also steamed Costco dumplings in each cooker, using the steamer basket provided.
We compared the results from each rice cooker.
Alongside its cooking results, we considered how easy each rice cooker was to clean, whether it cooked rice consistently from one batch to the next, and whether it could handle cooking for both small and large groups. While we love having leftovers to make fried rice, we don’t want to be required to cook the same few dishes one after the other every time.
A final consideration was how much counter or cabinet space was required to house this new piece of kitchen gadgetry. Was it going to take over the entire apartment counter, or fit neatly next to the microwave? Can we tuck it away if we need the counter space to make holiday cookies or pies?
From all of this data, we determined our top contenders and noted various features and bugs others would benefit from knowing.
A rice cooker can be your best friend at dinner.
Rice cookers are absolutely phenomenal if you want to make a lot of rice without having to constantly monitor it over the stove. As an appliance that can take up some precious countertop space, it has a lot to live up to and there are a lot of things to consider.
So before buying, ask yourself: How frequently do I cook rice? And how many features do I want from my rice cooker? Do I cook both white and brown rice frequently? Do I enjoy making sticky sushi rice?
Would a warming function help me pull off those rice-based dinner parties I’m always planning? These questions are probably connected, and good to lay out before you make your purchase.
Some rice cookers, like the Oster we tested, have a single function controlled by a single lever. These are the most basic types. Others, like Panasonic, have multiple cooking functions and a Keep Warm setting along with an inner bowl that tells you exactly how much rice and water to use for different types of rice. Both types are useful, but it’s good to know which you want and how much you want to spend.
In general, if you want perfect rice every time—regardless of which type of rice you’re cooking—then you’re probably better off getting a cooker that offers different settings for brown and white rice. You might also want to splurge for an induction rice cooker, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Rice cookers have smart sensors that let you know when the rice is done.
Before we dive into fuzzy logic, let’s look at how these appliances work. It’s pretty simple. Rice cookers are constructed of five main parts: an insulated outer container, a non-stick removable inner cooking pot, a selection of thermal sensors, a heating element, and a lid.
Much like cooking rice on the stove, you just add uncooked rice and water to the inner pot, pop on the lid, and add heat. In this case though, the internal heating element boils the water while the thermal sensors ensure that heating stops once all of the water is absorbed.
These sensors are where the magic happens. On the stove, you have to judge your rice carefully—too much cooking time and the rice will absorb all of the water and start to burn. But pop the top to check too frequently and all of your steam will escape.
With a rice cooker, the sensors know when the internal pot is heating up too much and can stop the cooking for you. (If it’s getting past water’s boiling point, 212°F, that means your rice has absorbed all of the available water and it's becoming overdone.)
Many rice cookers also have warming functions. These work by simply turning the cooking temperature way down after the pot reaches 212°F, rather than totally off. This keeps the rice warm without adding enough heat to burn your food.
A few of the higher-end rice cookers, such as Panasonic and Zojirushi, rely on what they call “fuzzy logic” to cook the perfect rice. It seems to work, but what does it do exactly? And how is it different from a typical rice cooker?
Jessika Toothman from HowStuffWorks explains it in more detail, but in brief: Fuzzy-logic rice cookers use computer chips that let the cooker make micro adjustments in real time. These programs allow more flexibility for cooking time and temperature, based on how the cooking process is going.
So rather than always cooking to 212°F and then switching off, a fuzzy logic cooker may change the temperature or cooking time depending on how fast the rice is absorbing water or what type of rice it knows you’re cooking. In essence, it’s reacting to your rice.
That depends on your budget. Think about the features you want and how much you’re willing to pay for them. If you know you’ll cook different types of rice, and rice quality is your highest concern, then we suggest splurging on a product with more features.
Fuzzy logic and programming makes phenomenal rice and you can easily set the cooker to different types of rice that require different water and cooking times. Plus, the nicer cookers come with a Keep Warm setting and other features. It’s fantastic if you’re like us and enjoy going back for seconds.
Another great feature that many people splurge on is induction heating, which changed the rice cooking game. Instead of having the heating element on the bottom of the cooker, induction heating technology allows each grain of rice to equally absorb the same amount of heat and water, making the rice quality exceptional.
Bethany Kwoka
Contributor
Bethany is a freelance contributor for Reviewed. An avid home baker and aspiring home cook, she reviews and writes mostly about kitchen gadgets (with the occasional fitness review thrown in). Her specialty might be fancy desserts, but she's never met a batch-cooked dinner recipe she didn't like.
Outside of her work for Reviewed, Bethany is a content creator working on clean energy and climate change at a regional non-profit and runs a tabletop game at her local comic book shop.
Valerie Li Stack is a senior staff writer for Kitchen & Cooking. She is an experienced home cook with a passion for experimenting with the cuisines of countries she's visited. Driven by an interest in food science, Valerie approaches the culinary scene with a firm grasp of cooking processes and extensive knowledge of ingredients. She believes food speaks to all people regardless of language and cultural background.
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