Learn our full assessment of the Zojirushi 3-Cup Rice Cooker
Zojirushi 3-Cup Rice Cooker
KitchenAid Rice and Grain Cooker
Kitchenaid’s new grain and rice cooker is not like another rice cooker we’ve ever examined. Its distinctive design makes use of an built-in scale and exterior water tank. Somewhat than counting on a cup or the strains on the inside wall of a bowl, you simply pour your grains proper into the cooker and the interior scale will regulate and add what it deems the correct quantity of water from the tank accordingly. It makes use of pre-programmed ratios for various grains, cereals, beans, and legumes, with 21 preset features in all, greater than nearly another rice cooker available on the market. It’s an attention-grabbing idea that seeks to additional streamline the already fairly streamlined cooking strategy of a rice cooker, however the outcomes of our preliminary take a look at had been blended.
The primary batch of white rice was unacceptably dry. The KitchenAid fared higher on the brown rice setting which, whereas nonetheless a contact dry, had a pleasant, chewy, correctly cooked texture. We gave white rice one other go, deciding on the ‘softer’ operate and had higher luck with outcomes that had been consistent with middle-of-the-pack, completely acceptable rice cookers.
I don’t wish to write off this machine fairly but—it has a variety of cooking features that go above and past a typical rice cooker and past the scope of this take a look at we wish to discover. And, as is the case with all home equipment, particularly ones with novel engineering, there’s a little bit of a studying curve to utilizing them. For now we are going to depart this one down right here, till we’re in a position to conduct a complete stand alone take a look at.
KitchenAid Grain and Rice Cooker
Toshiba TRCS01 Rice Cooker
In our first preliminary blind rice cooker take a look at, the Toshiba TRCS01 received us over with the standard of rice it produced along with its programmable options. Nonetheless, we encountered a difficulty in long run testing. Like many higher-end rice cookers, the Toshiba makes use of fuzzy logic AI, which permits the rice cooker to make superb changes to temperature to be able to optimize the standard of rice you get. The Toshiba will get main factors for giving us a full countdown from the beginning relatively than showing 10 minutes earlier than completion. It additionally features a delay timer so you possibly can pre-soak grains in a single day and have them cook dinner up routinely and produces an audible chime when it’s completed cooking
The controls are very intuitive, simple to make use of, and well-designed for American shoppers, with presets for white, brown, blended grain, porridge, steel-cut oats, and extra. The short rice operate is nice for grains like quinoa, polenta, and farro that one would possibly usually make in a saucepan. It additionally features a basket for steaming proteins and veggies—one other characteristic most Zojirushi fashions lack.
We determined to exchange the mannequin as our finances advice after long-term testing revealed a difficulty the place the timer would freeze however the machine would proceed to cook dinner till manually stopped. The timer on this rice cooker is technically relative, which means that it’s not a real timer however offers a tough approximation of when the cooking cycle will full, so generally “minutes” that appear to go on for a number of precise minutes will be anticipated. Nonetheless, we discovered this machine to have a difficulty—significantly with the multi grain and fast rice settings, the place it might keep on the identical time for 20 minutes or longer. often when this passed off, the ensuing rice or grain can be overcooked or burned. This might happen when cooking grains like quinoa, farro, or a multigrain mix. Nonetheless, it was not a constant drawback. Typically these settings, with the identical grains and similar water ratios, would operate with out situation in any respect. It might very nicely be a consequence of human error, however the handbook did little assist to troubleshoot the issue, and we think about that the notion of a rice cooker ostensibly “freezing” on this manner, could not make this the perfect rice cooker for somebody who is not too accustomed to how these machines work.
Toshiba Rice Cooker 6 Cups Raw (3L) with Fuzzy Logic and One-Contact Cooking, White
Toshiba TRCS02
Regardless of the identify, this isn’t a brand new and improved model of the Toshiba TRCS01, which for a time was our greatest rice cooker till long-term use revealed some glitchy issues that led us to knock it again down. This Toshiba is smaller and has a special roster of settings, together with an official “cake” setting (making muffins in rice cookers is a well-liked off-label use for them, however a chosen setting is a brand new factor.) It did a good job on the white rice setting, however the brown rice was overcooked.
Toshiba Small 3 Cup Rice Cooker
Tiger Microcomputer Managed Rice Cooker JAX-T10U
This mannequin is just like the Toshiba in performance, however testers discovered that rice on customary settings skewed slightly too smooth for his or her liking, and total ranked it decrease than the extra inexpensive Tiger JBV-A10U. That is one other mannequin that we are going to proceed to supply info by means of long-term testing.
Tiger JAX-T10U Microcomputer Managed Rice Cooker
Tiger 10-Cup (Raw) Rice Cooker JNP-1800-FL
It is a huge, family-style primary rice cooker that cooks issues a technique and just one manner. With the model’s beneficial measurements, testers discovered this rice cooker skewed the softest and mushiest out of all of the machines examined. Actually, it’s one thing that may be remedied by tinkering with water ranges, however this rice cooker is simply too easy for what we had been on the lookout for and delivered underwhelming outcomes. The flowers on the skin had been cute, although!
Tiger JNP-1800-FL 10-Cup Rice Cooker
Tiger 5.5-Cup (Raw) IH Rice Cooker JKT-D10U
This Tiger mannequin was remarkably shut in efficiency to the profitable Zojirushi, with testers scoring the Zojirushi rice solely barely increased. We really feel comfy recommending this cooker as nicely and can proceed to supply extra in-depth info with long-term testing.
Tiger JKT-D10U 5.5-Cup IH Rice Cooker
Cosori 5-Cup Rice Cooker
That is Cosori’s first rice cooker, and the model did a superb job. Customary settings on this machine run dry, so individuals who like their rice al dente will respect this machine. Many of the testers discovered the rice to be undercooked. This cooker has 18 settings, although, which additionally embrace changes on doneness. Nonetheless, we reserve our suggestions for this cooker since loads of different fashions merely do a greater job.
Cosori 5-Quart Rice Cooker
Cuckoo 6-Cup Micom Rice Cooker CR-0675F
That is seemingly a redesign of Cuckoo’s CR-0655F mannequin, with a glossy new fashionable management panel and design. Sure, the rice is nice, however we discovered that the brand new buttons responded poorly to the touch, lots of the settings had been poorly defined and inadequately translated to English within the handbook, and total, we discovered the machine to not be very intuitive or simple to make use of. Cuckoo rice cookers cook dinner nice rice, and now have uniquely interesting settings—like one which particularly provides you a crispy backside—however this redesign was only a little bit of a large number in our opinion.
CUCKOO CR-0675F 6-Cup Micom Rice Cooker
Cuckoo 6-Cup Rice Cooker and Hotter CR-0655F
The Cuckoo 6-Cup Rice Cooker and Hotter has a implausible worth for the standard it delivers. It produced rice that was shut in high quality to the Zojirushi Induction Rice Cooker—at a a lot sooner tempo. It beat the Zojirushi by quarter-hour. Additionally, it has a barely bigger capability than the Zojirushi, holding 6 cups of raw rice in comparison with the Zojirushi’s 5.5. For $90 (on the time of writing), it’s a fantastic deal, and also you’ll get nice rice out of it many times. Nonetheless, a pair issues stored it out of the highest finances choose spot. The lid jerks open so violently that it will possibly knock itself or different issues off the counter, and it additionally doesn’t show the countdown from begin to end.
CUCKOO 6-Cup Micom Rice Cooker
Cuckoo 6-Cup HP Twin Stress Rice Cooker CRP-ST0609F
This Cuckoo suffered the identical design points because the CR-0675F, however with the addition of a sputtering stress cooker valve. Nonetheless, by far essentially the most distinctive characteristic of this rice cooker is that it talks…quite a bit….with a perky voice just like Y2K-era Barbie toys. We had been actually charmed, however the glitchy and unresponsive management panel and meh efficiency held this one again.
CUCKOO CRP-ST0609F 6-Cup Twin Stress Rice Cooker
Aroma Digital Rice Cooker ARC-914SBD
The Aroma Housewares Digital Rice Cooker made stable rice, although not as fluffy or completely textured as our profitable fashions. Additionally, it launched fumes that smelled like burning rubber.
Aroma Housewares Digital Cool-Contact Rice Cooker
Aroma Mi 3-Cup Rice Cooker
The Aroma Mi 3-Cup Rice Cooker had a novel form; tall relatively than squat, it encompasses a side-locking lid and prime handles for carrying, plus particular person buttons for cooking white and brown rice. It was simple to scrub, made very fluffy rice, and emitted a loud beep to tell us when it was completed cooking (then instantly moved to the Hold Heat setting). It could be a good budget-friendly choose for these on the lookout for a smaller rice cooker.
Aroma Housewares Mi 3-Cup Rice Cooker
Aroma 2.5-Cup Rice Cooker ARC-753SG
The Aroma 2.5-Cup Rice Cooker is a dead-simple, one-button machine. It cooked completely satisfactory rice in 25 minutes and takes up just about the identical counter house because the Zojirushi 3-Cup. But it surely suffered from some leakage.
Aroma Housewares Choose Stainless Rice Cooker
Hamilton Seashore Rice Cooker
The Hamilton Seashore Rice Cooker was a stable contender. It produced spectacular outcomes with medium-grain white rice and long-grain basmati and possessed quite a lot of options extra superior than what you’d usually get on a low-cost machine, equivalent to warming and preprogramming choices. Nonetheless, it fell brief with the brown rice, which was undercooked after 60 minutes. Should you’re not a lot of a brown rice eater, this might be choice for you.
DEAL: Hamilton Seashore Digital Programmable Rice Cooker
GreenPan Bistro 8 Cup Conventional Rice Cooker
GreenPan’s Bistro rice cooker, like its Elite rice cooker, is notable as a result of it’s one of many few choices on the market with a ceramic nonstick inside relatively than a PTFE-based inside. Efficiency-wise although, it pales compared to the Elite mannequin. We discovered that this rice cooker runs far too sizzling, because it scorched the underside of every batch of rice we cooked in it, and the hold heat setting triggered the rice to yellow in a matter of minutes.
GreenPan Bistro Rice Cooker
Yum Asia Panda
This is likely one of the best-selling rice cookers on amazon. However as we all know from testing the location’s common knives and juicers, that doesn’t essentially imply it’s going to be among the best rice cookers. The Panda undoubtedly will get factors for its compact measurement. It’s a mini rice cooker, however has the preset performance, like totally different choices for lengthy or brief grain rice, usually restricted to bigger rice cookers. That undoubtedly makes this mannequin interesting for small areas. The white rice was rather well executed on this one, which set excessive expectations for the brown rice. Sadly the brown rice ended up mushy and overcooked. Nonetheless, this might be rice cooker to maintain in a dorm room for any upcoming school first years.
Yum Asia Panda Mini Rice Cooker
Sprint Mini Rice Cooker
The Sprint Mini Rice Cooker could be very cute and straightforward to make use of, with a one-button lever system just like the Zojirushi 3-Cup. However the lid was too mild to remain on correctly; whereas the rice cooked, the ensuing steam stored popping the lid askew. That allowed an excessive amount of warmth to flee and we needed to monitor it all through the method. Additionally, it took the longest of any of the mini fashions we examined to cook dinner considered one of rice—a whopping 34 minutes.
Cuisinart 4-Cup Rice Cooker
The Cuisinart 4-Cup Rice Cooker had the most important capability of any mini rice cooker we examined, however it fell brief on execution. The rice it made—in report time for a mini, simply 19 minutes—was slightly too agency, and throughout the cooking course of, it leaked barely starchy water all around the sides and down the counter.
Cuisinart 4-Cup Rice Cooker
Nutribullet EveryGrain Cooker
The Nutribullet Rice Cooker produced inconsistent and unsatisfactory outcomes. Some batches had been too dry, whereas others had been too mushy.
nutribullet EveryGrain Cooker
Instantaneous Pot Duo
If the Instantaneous Pot Duo is already your air fryer and gradual cooker, why shouldn’t it’s your rice cooker? In spite of everything, one of many many versatile features it affords is a rice cooking setting. Nicely, the multi-cooker produced essentially the most disappointing outcomes of the rice cookers we examined and didn’t advance past the medium-grain rice spherical. It was very quick, however the consequence was gummy, tough to fluff—even with the rice paddle—and caught to the stainless steel pot (the one pot insert that held on to rice). As a stress cooker, it’s nice, however we’d not rely cooking rice efficiently among the many Instantaneous Pots’ many options.
Are low-cost rice cookers good?
Whereas we definitely perceive the impulse to at all times need the “finest” choice on the market when equipment buying, we really feel comfy saying that for many individuals on the market, a finances rice cooker can be greater than superb. In case you are somebody who eats rice a number of instances every week, contemplate it a basic part of your weight loss program, or have exacting requirements in regard to texture and high quality, it’s value investing in an electrical rice cooker with fuzzy logic and an array of exact settings. An affordable machine is not going to produce the sorts of persistently glorious outcomes you get from a kind of.