Buying guide for Best rice cookers
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Has there ever been a cooking task as simple, but as fraught with challenges, as cooking rice? Every week on cooking blogs, recipe sites, and Reddit threads there’s a new post or comment bewailing the impossibility of cooking rice correctly. How much water? How long to cook it? At what temperature? What about seasonings or fats? Why does everything burn? The travails go on and on. The answer? Get a rice cooker.
Rice cookers cook rice consistently. Measure out the rice, the water, and like the old ad said, set it and forget it. It’s probably safe to say hundreds of millions of people who eat rice as a staple use a rice cooker every single day without a problem, so save yourself the angst and agita of stovetop rice and just get a good rice cooker.
Granted, there are some rice dishes rice cookers are not so good at. They’re best for mounded or sticky East Asian rice, and less so for the kind of loose individual grains found in Indian, Spanish, or Mexican rice dishes. They’re designed to minimize overcooking, so crunchy tahdig or socarrat crusts are harder to make intentionally. But for day-in, day-out rice, dependable and consistent, a rice cooker is hard to beat.
There are several kinds of rice cooker on the market, from high-end, intelligent, hinged-lid designs to basic one-switch electric pots. Our top pick, ironically, is not just a rice cooker at all: the Instant Pot Rio, which is not only a medium-sized contemporary multicooker, but also a rice cooker that’s up to twice as fast.
Why should you buy a rice cooker?
If you're deliberating about whether you need a rice cooker or not, let’s find some clarity. Below, we examine some of the advantages a rice cooker can bring to your kitchen.
- Save time and effort while preparing meals. If you cook rice-based meals frequently, a rice cooker can save you a lot of time and effort over the years. The process of cooking rice to perfection could not be simpler: just add the right amount of water and rice to the reservoir, press the button, and wait until your rice is ready.
- Enjoy consistent success every time you make rice. Rice cookers tend to render much better and more consistent results than most people get when cooking rice in a pot on top of the stove. There is less chance of burning or undercooking the rice, especially if you get an appliance with neuro-fuzzy technology.
- Prepare other foods in your rice cooker. You can use some rice cookers to prepare other types of foods, such as steamed veggies, dumplings, and quinoa. In fact, many rice cookers come with a steam tray for the sole purpose of steaming foods inside the appliance.
- Free up space on your stovetop. Using a rice cooker will free up space on your stove to cook other dishes. What’s more, the cooker doesn’t have to sit on your countertop all the time, either — many are compact enough to neatly tuck inside a cupboard or pack on a pantry shelf.
- Set it and forget it. You can preprogram a rice cooker, set it up with rice and water, and simply leave it to do its work. No need for constant checking or stirring. And many rice cookers have delay timers, so you can set yours in the morning and come home to a pot of fluffy rice in the evening.
Expert Tip
Try cooking your rice with chicken or vegetable broth for an added kick of flavor.
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Top considerations when selecting a rice cooker
Cooker capacity
The capacity of a rice cooker is often described by the number of measuring cups it can hold. This can be confusing because some companies tell you how many cups of cooked rice you can prepare at once, whereas others tell you how many cups of uncooked rice you can prepare at once. Notably, some manufacturers also list the machine’s capacity in gallons. For some, this might make the machine’s potential a little easier to visualize.
Think about how much rice you might want to make at any given time. For instance, if you have a large family or want the ability to prepare big batches of rice and store the leftovers, you'll require a much larger cup capacity (perhaps a 14-cup rice cooker or even a large-capacity 20-cup rice cooker) than if you only want to cook one or two cups of rice at a time.
Intelligent cooking
High-end rice cookers aren't just glorified electric steamers; they have microchips inside that survey and assess the temperature and other conditions inside the cooking pot. Using this information, the appliance adjusts accordingly so your rice turns out perfectly every time. Most rice cookers use one of two technologies for this: neuro-fuzzy logic or induction heating. The latter may be considered slightly superior, as the chip can adjust for measuring errors while still rendering excellent results. However, rice cookers equipped with neuro-fuzzy logic are still far more effective than entry-level rice cookers.
Rice cookers with intelligent cooking capabilities are worth it if you have cash, but a basic rice cooker is good enough for most home cooks.
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Inner pot material
Rice cookers tend to have inner pots constructed of stainless steel or nonstick-coated aluminum material. If you are familiar with different types of pots and pans, you probably have developed a preference already, but both materials have positives and negatives. For the sake of durability, we tend to gravitate toward stainless steel over aluminum. Stainless steel may be harder to clean if rice gets burned onto the bottom, but this shouldn't happen if you use your rice cooker correctly. A nonstick inner pot offers easy cleaning, but the material is not as long-lasting as stainless steel, and some people question whether or not it contains harmful toxins.
Timer
Many rice cookers feature a delay timer that allows you to add your ingredients and then postpone the start of the cooking cycle for up to 23 hours before you want the finished product. This is ideal if you have limited time for cooking because it allows dinner to come together much more efficiently, especially if you arrive home late from work. It also makes breakfast preparation a breeze, as the majority of rice cookers can also be used to prepare porridge.
Rice texture settings
Everyone has their own personal preferences when it comes to rice type and texture. Furthermore, some dishes or types of rice call for specific textures. For instance, rice that’s meant to go with Thai food should be soft and sticky, whereas an Indian curry might go better with a slightly firm Basmati. High-end rice cookers tend to offer a larger array of texture settings, allowing you to prepare rice to suit a variety of dishes.
Expert tip
If you use anything but water in your rice pot, wash it with soap and water after. This eliminates any chance of contamination from proteins and leftover oils that can pollute the next batch.
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How much do rice cookers cost?
Basic rice cooker
You can buy a perfectly reasonable basic rice cooker for not much more than the price of a family-sized takeout meal. An entry-level rice cooker with just a few features, such as a timer and white and brown rice settings, should cost between $25 and $60, depending on the brand and the cup capacity. For many consumers, a basic rice cooker is all that’s needed..
Mid-range rice cooker
A mid-range rice cooker should cost roughly $80 to $120. Expect to see appliances with more that come from well-known brands. You can also find multicookers with rice settings in this pricing category.
High-end rice cooker
A top-of-the-line rice cooker with induction heating or neuro-fuzzy logic, plus all the texture settings and other features you could hope for, should cost anywhere from $120 to $400. Many of the rice cookers in this price range offer a large capacity; some are suitable for commercial kitchens.
Expert tip
Adding a teaspoon of vinegar to your rice’s cooking liquid breaks down more of the starches, allowing the grains to absorb more liquid. This makes for fluffier rice.
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Tips
- Understand how to prepare brown rice versus white rice. Different types of rice require different cooking approaches, and brown rice is perhaps the second most popular type of rice in the Western diet. The required water measurements for cooking brown rice and white rice differ: White rice requires about 1 1/2 cups of water for every cup of uncooked rice, whereas brown rice requires 1 3/4 to 2 cups of water for every cup of uncooked rice.
- Take note of the cooking pot capacity. Check the instruction manual to learn how high you can fill the cooking pot of your rice cooker, or look to see if it has a maximum fill line. When rice cooks, it expands quite a lot. As such, filling your rice cooker with too much liquid and uncooked rice could result in a boiled-over mess.
- Don’t forget to investigate the porridge function. Many rice cookers have a porridge function. This was designed to cook traditional Asian rice porridge, which is eaten for breakfast in many countries but can be used for regular porridge, too. For example, you might try a recipe for congee, a breakfast porridge served in China that is also eaten by people in Japan, Europe, and other areas of the world.
- Take advantage of the timer, which can accommodate a busy lifestyle. A rice cooker with a timer is a superb option for busy working people or anyone who'd like to come home to a pot of freshly cooked rice. In this way, a rice cooker can be a lot like a slow cooker, providing the ultimate in convenience at the end of a busy work day.
FAQ
Q. What happens to the quality of my food if I don’t eat my cooked rice right away?
A. Life is unpredictable, and sometimes, you might plan your dinner timing perfectly but still end up with your rice cooked 30 minutes before your main entree is ready. Or, something else might come up that pushes back your dinner time. The question becomes, with such delays, how do you keep your rice warm and fresh? Don't worry; your meal needn't be ruined. Most rice cookers have a "keep warm" function that keeps your cooked rice warm without burning or overcooking it.
Q. Which is preferable: a rice cooker with a glass lid or a metal lid?
A. While the lid material probably shouldn’t be a primary deciding factor, we note that a glass lid can be useful for keeping an eye on how your rice is cooking. If you’re stuck between two models you like equally, one with a metal lid and one with a glass lid, we suggest that you strongly consider the one with the glass lid.
Q. Can I prepare sushi rice in a rice cooker?
A. Yes, you can prepare sushi rice in a rice cooker. You may want to obtain a recipe first; you can find a lot of mouthwatering recipes online. Sushi rice differs from “traditional” white rice: It is a short Japanese grain with a sticky consistency that makes it ideal for creating your favorite sushi rolls. Sushi rice can be easily prepared in a rice cooker. Note: It can also be prepared in an Instant Pot (pressure cooker) or on a stovetop.
Q. Can I cook anything other than rice in my rice cooker?
A. This depends on the make and model of the rice cooker you choose. Often, the more basic rice cookers are better at cooking non-rice foods than ones with neuro-fuzzy logic or induction cooking, as these are specially designed to "know" how to cook perfect rice. Non-rice foods that you might be able to make in your rice cooker include other grains, steamed vegetables, steamed dumplings, soups, stews, and risotto.
