We love rice, it’s a very affordable product and a great source of your daily carbohydrates and that’s why everyone needs one of these best rice cookers.
You can cook rice easily enough in a pan on your stove, unfortunately, you can also burn it or under cook it and end up with an unappealing accompaniment to your meal.
Rice cookers, on the other hand, ensure your rice is perfectly cooked and truly appetizing when it arrives on the plate.
Zojirushi Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker
EDITOR’S CHOICE
The fuzzy logic sensor guarantees that no matter the variations in rice, you get it perfectly cooked.
Instant Pot Duo Electric Pressure Cooker
TOP RATED CHOICE
We love the Instant Pot range and if you want a rice cooker with more functionality, this rocks.
COMFEE’ Programmable All-in-1 Multi Cooker
BEST VALUE CHOICE
Another very versatile rice cooker with a really solid stainless steel finish, a great buy.
Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 5-1/2-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker
Our top pick, the Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 is a rice cooker made by one of the best loved rice cooker brands in the world.
It can handle all different types of rice from pudding rice to sushi rice to brown rice to good old fashioned white rice and it knows how to deal with rice that wasn’t pre-rinsed too.
Overall, this rice cooker was simply the best at delivering the perfect end product.
Quick Fact: The success of the Zojirushi model is probably down to the “fuzzy logic” technology which constantly scans your rice and adjusts temperature and cooking time to ensure perfection.
1. The fuzzy logic processing is very good – rice is never over or undercooked
2. The cord can be pulled into the unit when storing
3. The handles on the inside pot always remain cool
1. It’s not the cheapest rice cooker on the market
2. It doesn’t cook quite as fast as some of the other rice cookers in our tests
3. Uses a battery, which must be replaced at a service center
Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker
We’re big fans of the Instant Pot and, in fact, we recently did a round up of all of them but this Instant Pot Duo, we think, makes for the best rice cooker.
And when it’s not cooking rice it can saute, reheat, slow cook and be used as a pressure cooker which makes it exceptional value for money.
Quick Fact: This Instant Pot uses a new generation of information technology to monitor both temperature and cooking pressure and regulate it as required.
1. This Instant Pot is very affordable and offers a lot of functionality
2. It’s a very easy product to clean after use
3. The safety standards are based on North American Electrical Standards
1. The alarm is feeble and you can barely hear it
2. Takes a long time to come up the right pressure and start cooking
3. The recipe booklet provided includes some recipes that we couldn’t get to work
COMFEE’ 5.2Qt (20 cups Cooked) Asian Style Programmable All-in-1 Multi Cooker
If you want a lot of versatility from your rice cooker then you should consider this COMFEE’ Programmable All-in-1 Cooker.
It has an incredible 17 different cooking programs and when you’re not steaming or cooking rice in it – you can even bake a cake inside of it.
Our only complaint is that you have to work out how to use it by yourself, they don’t provide an instruction manual.
Quick Fact: This product is very easy to clean as all removable parts are completely dishwasher safe – you don’t have to scrub off rice by hand.
1. You get a very broad range of cooking presets to use
2. The steam vent is excellent and very well made
3. It comes with a bunch of useful accessories at no extra cost
1. There’s no instruction manual included and it really needs one
2. No indicators of progress – it works but it’s hard to tell that it is
3. The rice cooked in this unit tends to dry out after 8-10 hours
Black+Decker Uncooked Rice Cooker
Not everyone needs a huge rice cooker with tons of bells and whistles – couples and singles might prefer something a little simpler, like the Black + Decker Uncooked Rice Cooker.
This doesn’t offer Instant Pot style functionality, of course, but it can be used as an excellent steamer as well as a rice cooker which adds some versatility to your purchase.
Quick Fact: It’s very easy to use. Rinse your rice, add the rice and water to the pot and hit the start button. Wait 20 minutes and your rice is evenly cooked throughout. Simple.
1. It’s an attractive design with a small footprint on your work surface
2. Cooks rice quickly and effectively – which is what it’s all about, really
3. Can be used to as a steamer as well as a rice cooker
1. Less functionality than instant pot-style rice cookers
2. You can’t switch it off, you have to unplug it
3. Some users report that their units leak starchy rice water during cooking
Tiger JNP-S10U-HU 5.5-Cup (Uncooked) Rice Cooker and Warmer
Tiger is an authentically Japanese company, so as you’d expect the awkwardly named, Tiger JNP-S10U-HU, is an excellent rice cooker.
There are a wide range of cup sizes for this product that you can choose from, we opted for the medium-sized 5.5 cup but you can opt for as few as 2 cups or as many as 10!
That means you can always find a Tiger rice cooker that’s right for your family’s needs.
Quick Fact: This uses the latest “keep warm” technology and it can keep rice both warm and soft and fluffy for up to 12 hours at a time which is a really nice touch in a busy household.
1. Tiger products have a reputation for long-lasting build quality and can last 20 years or more
2. They include a bunch of, actually useful, accessories in the box as part of the price
3. It also has a retractable cord which makes storing it very easy
1. You can’t program this with a start time which would be a really useful addition
2. You can’t use this rice cooker as a steamer, a big drawback
3. It’s quite expensive for a very specialist device but it is built to last
Final Thoughts On The Very Best Rice Cookers
We love to set up our grill and then get some tasty meat on the go and pair it with rice fresh from one of our best rice cookers.
We think once you get used to having a rice cooker around, it’s very hard to let it go.
One final tip: boiled rice is delicious with just a lightly poached egg on top, cut into the yolk and let it permeate through the rice, delicious.
