Like many other Asian countries, rice is the staple food in Japan. As Japanese people are very particular about
making rice, they give equal importance to the design and features of rice cookers. Japanese rice cookers are high-quality and their variations and functions are admirable.
You can use a Japanese rice cooker for prepping not only rice but other dishes too. With various cooking options such as slow cooking, fast cooking, reheat, you can boil vegetables, make soup, bake cakes, and prepare porridge along with cooking many other items. Ranging from inexpensive to high-priced models, such a rice cooker will undoubtedly be a great addition to your kitchen.
Cooking perfect rice is not as simple as it sounds. Many people either overcook or undercook it and burning the rice is quite common. But a rice cooker has eliminated these mishaps. Just add rice and water into it and push a button to have fluffy, perfectly cooked rice for your meal.
There are a variety of Japanese rice cookers available in the market. Each type has different sets of features and functions to cater to various user needs.
1# Mechanical Rice Cooker
Toshiba invented the first one of this kind of rice cookers in 1955. These traditional cookers have a simple mechanism with just one switch that kicks off the cooker and turns it off. This type comes in two designs: removable pot and lid-mounted pot.
These cookers have only the basic features, no timer even. But they are easy to clean and inexpensive.
2# Electronic Rice Cooker
With several cooking modes, these cookers have an electronic control panel for various cooking options. They have a timer function and can prepare a variety of dishes such as hotpot, soup, cakes, along with rice.
They are bulkier and more expensive than conventional cookers. Also, cleaning is a bit tricky.
3# High-Frequency/Micom Rice Cooker
By using the ‘Fuzzy Logic’ technology for temperature adjustments and cooking times, these cookers can cook various rice types and other food items. A heating element at the bottom heats up the cooking pot to prepare great, delicious rice every time. The thick pot can keep food warm for several hours.
4# Induction Heating (IH) Rice Cooker
If you are serious about rice dishes and eat them almost every day, consider buying this cooker type. Heat circulates evenly across the cooking pot to make the prepared rice fluffy, soft, and delectable.
5# Pressurized Induction Heating Rice Cooker
The most expensive and the fanciest of all rice cooker types. It combines induction heating with pressure cooking to
increase the interior temperature and reduce the cooking time.
These cookers make the best rice that a rice cooker can make. Every grain in the bowl will be perfectly cooked and you will get restaurant-quality fluffy and chewy rice. The only downside is their high sticker price.
Characteristics of High-Quality Japanese Rice Cookers
What are the secrets to find out a top-grade Japanese rice cooker that will make your kitchen time easier and provide service for a long time? Well, look for these features and make adjustments according to your unique needs.
Design & Materials
The looks of a rice cooker are not important since it’s not a decoration piece. What you need to check is whether the unit has a user-friendly design and control panel, which could be in Japanese so you have to spend a little time understanding the buttons.
A traditional rice cooker will be easier to figure out since it has limited functions. But learning the multiple functions of an electronic rice cooker needs trial and error. There are various cooking modes and functions for prepping other dishes too and you need time to learn them to use properly.
The next design aspect is the size of the cooker. You should choose a cooker’s volume according to the number of people you want to make the meal for. Some people may think that bigger is better, but the bigger the cooker is, the more electricity it consumes. The cooking capacity of Japanese rice cookers is:
06 to 0.8 liters → for 1 to 2 people
1 to 1.5 liters → for 2 to 4 people
8 to 2 liters → for 4 to 6 people
2 to 2.5 liters → for 6 to 8 people
The capacity could be referred to as “cups” of rice, which does not indicate a standard US cup size. One cup in this regard refers to 180ml of liquor or one “gou”, which is the Japanese standard of serving one portion of uncooked rice.
After deciding on the design and size, move on to the materials, which have an effect on the cooking quality and ease of cleaning. The focus should be on the materials of these three parts: the pot shell, pot heart or cooking bowl, and heating tray or thermostat.
Pot Shell
The pot shell of a rice cooker should be durable and have a glossy surface. It should sit tightly inside the cooker; otherwise, the prepared dishes won’t taste good due to uneven heat distribution.
The coating on the shell should not be coming off after a few uses. All the screws should be high-quality too, free of rust and untimely decay.
Pot Heart
A non-stick coating is necessary for the easy scraping off of the cooked rice. Aluminum or cast iron heart with non-stick coating, glaze, or enamel would be the best choice. A non-stick overlay also makes sure that the quality of the cooked rice is better.
Heating Tray
The tray has a concave flat design for better heat distribution. The higher temperature the tray can retain, the higher the price of the cooker will be.
The exterior of most Japanese rice cookers is made of hard plastic so heat and electricity don’t transfer to the outside surfaces. There could be some metal units but that must have a handle to protect the user from hot surfaces. A transparent glass top is convenient for watching the cooking progress without removing the lid.
Japanese rice cooking units generally come with measuring cups, scoops, and spatulas. You should avoid using other utensils to protect the non-stick coating.
Cooking Performance
A standard rice cooker is equipped with the basic functions—cooking rice and keeping the food hot for hours. But you will find loads of Japanese cookers featuring smart technology.
Advanced cookers have various built-in cooking options for preparing various types of rice and other dishes. The most hyped among them is probably the ‘fuzzy logic’ technology that intuitively controls the cooking temperature to yield the best result every time.
Cookers with fuzzy logic technology can cook white, brown, jasmine, sticky, sweet, and other rice types. They can also prepare porridge, soups, desserts, slow-cooking items, and more—thanks to the built-in sensors that regulate various factors to make sure that the rice turns out perfectly.
The heating method also determines how the rice will turn out. There are thermal convection and induction heat (IH) systems that resort to different methods to get the cooking done.
Thermal convection is found in low-priced units where a coiled heating element under the heating tray provides the necessary heat. However, induction heating is the best method where an alternating magnetic field makes sure that every inch of the pan heats up evenly. Rice cookers with an IH system don’t normally overcook or burn the rice.
Many cookers come with a handful of preset options that come handy in preparing various dishes. All you have to do is to put the ingredients into the pot, close the lid, and press the desired option. There could be a hardness selection feature that you can use to decide how hard the cooked rice will be. A steam-less feature is also handy as it prevents the release of too much steam when the cooking is almost done.
FAQs about Japanese Rice Cookers
Q1: Can I wash the rice in the pot?
A: No. Doing so may peel off the nonstick coating of the pot. Also, if you dent the pot accidentally while washing rice in it, it may not heat up properly afterward. Wash rice in a separate bowl before transferring to the cooker’s pot.
Q2: What’s the proper way to use the rice pot?
A: Dry off the pot’s bottom and exterior surfaces before placing onto the heating tray. Doing so protects the heating element and prevents bad odor from forming inside the cooker. You should also place the pot with both hands to ensure that it does not tilt to one side, which prevents the heat from transmitting to all across the pot.
Q3: Do lots of features guarantee better cooking?
A: Not necessarily. A basic Japanese rice cooker can also prepare perfect fluffy rice. Features come handy when you want to use the cooker for making more dishes and varieties of rice. It could be difficult to figure out some tech-heavy units.
If you’re searching for a Japanese rice cooker to enjoy delicious rice in your meals, check out our curated list of 15 products. We have included cookers for every budget and cooking needs.
When induction heating works seamlessly with advanced technology, you get a Zojirushi NP-NVC18 rice cooker.
Priced at slightly over $400, this product takes the top spot of this list due to not only offering a bunch of features but also the ability to cook rice that tastes wonderful, somewhat on par with the rice served in restaurants.
Zojirushi is a famous Japanese brand that manufactures top-grade rice cookers.
Design and Materials
Featuring a stainless steel body, NP-NVC18 displays the quality that you would expect from a top-of-the-line Japanese rice cooker. It has an easy to read front LCD panel surrounded by several control buttons. It has a handle for easy carrying and a detachable lid for quick cleaning. Tuck the retractable power cord into the designated slot for hassle-free storage.
The NP-NVC18 has 1.8 liters of capacity and can cook 10 cups of rice. There are two cups that you should use for measuring the uncooked rice. The 6.1 oz clear cup is for normal rice while the 5.8 oz green cup is for rinse-free rice.
The cooking pot has a non-stick coating infused with platinum particles. This unique coating treatment makes the water alkalized when the pan is heated. Alkalized water is easily absorbed by the rice and it breaks down the rice grain’s surface protein, resulting in releasing rice’s inner sweetness and enhancing the flavor.
The control panel buttons have English labels, so you won’t face any problem operating the cooker. Also, an instruction manual in several languages including English comes with this unit.
Cooking Performance
A combination of induction heating and fuzzy logic technology allows this unit to produce some excellent tasting rice dishes that you could expect from a top-grade Japanese rice cooker.
The induction heating system spreads the heat quickly throughout the cooking pot, ensuring a balanced heat distribution and cooking the dishes more evenly. On the other hand, the fuzzy logic automatically makes adjustments to cooking time and temperature to make sure the rice is cooked properly, according to the command inputs.
You can cook a variety of rice in this cooker. It can prepare brown, GABA brown, rinse-free, mixed, and sushi rice. The standard white rice can be prepared in three ways—regular, harder, and softer. You can also cook porridge.
There is a unique Umami setting for preparing white rice with a better flavor and texture. It extends the soaking and steaming period to release the rice’s natural sugar into the water. When the cooking begins, rice absorbs the sugar again and creates a savory taste.
The cooker has a clock and a delay timer that you can use to set the cooking time. After the cooking is finished, it keeps the rice warm for 12 hours but you can extend it to 24 hours by using the ‘extended keep warm’ function.
All rice cookers release excessive steam, especially at the last stage of cooking. But you can use the ‘steam reduce’ option for reducing almost 50% of steam, which comes handy for making dishes that require less steam.
Priced at just shy of $400, the pressure rice cooker from Dimchae could be your go-to rice making kitchen appliance.
A combo of induction heating and pressure cooking method makes sure you get tasty food every time. The price may seem a bit higher but it’s a large rice cooker that can feed a big family.
Design and Materials
With a fashionable design and silky purple exterior with golden accents, this device looks good on a modern kitchen countertop. Its unique color also keeps it stand apart from other appliances.
It has an LCD screen that displays numbers in English but the control panel is in Korean. Although, there is voice feedback available in English along with Chinese and Korean. The control panel has multiple options for preparing various rice types.
With 1.8 liters of capacity, the cooker can prepare 10 cups of uncooked rice. The stainless steel cover and metal cooking pot are durable. You can remove the cover for easy cleaning.
Dimchae offers a one-year warranty for this product. The warranty covers normal wear and tear but not any accidental damage. The shipping cost to the service center will be on your tab.
Cooking Performance
The rice cooker cooks rice efficiently, thanks to the induction heating technology. Plus, the inner pot design maximizes that heat wave and minimizes heat loss.
Even distribution of heat cooks all rice grains uniformly in a high-moisture environment. As a result, you can enjoy soft, fluffy rice every time.
The device is mainly for rice cooking but you can mix a few more ingredients to spice up the plain rice. You can even mix up vegetables and everything will be cooked thoroughly.
The SR-HZ106 from Panasonic is a great choice if you are a fan of Japanese-style rice preparations. It gives the best
rice cooking results with the help of an induction heating system and various other features.
Despite having more features, it does not make the top spot because of the staggering price, which is nearly $450. In fact, it’s the most expensive entry in this list but you won’t be disappointed if you want to go beyond plain rice dishes.
Design and Materials
Featuring a durable build, the SR-HZ106 has a contemporary design to fit into your kitchen decoration. It also has a handle for easy carrying.
There is an easy-to-read LCD screen at the center of a control panel featuring a handful of buttons for various cooking modes, time, and other functions. The ‘rice select’ button offers 13 pre-set programs for cooking a variety of rice. You can also bake cake and bread, prepare quinoa and porridge, and make multi-grain foods. There are also ‘slow’ and ‘quick’ cooking options and you can use the unit as a steamer too.
The SR-HZ106 compact cooking appliance that can prepare 5 cups of uncooked rice, perfect for a small family.
The non-stick inner pot has a 7-layer design and a hard-diamond coating for maximizing the heat circulation. Additional accessories include a measuring cup, a steaming basket, a non-scratching rice spoon, and a ladle.
Cooking Performance
Due to the induction heating technology, the cooking time is faster than regular rice cookers. Also, it draws heat from five different sources to make sure all parts of the inner pot gets the same amount of heat.
This unit can handle cooking more than just rice. Apart from cooking large batches of rice, you can use it for steaming veggies, preparing fish, making stews and soups, cooking oatmeal, and plenty of other items.
For rice preparations, it has options for cooking various rice types including sticky, brown, white, rinse-free, jasmine, and more. There is a time option for setting up the cooking period. The ‘keep warm’ option kicks off automatically when the cooking is done and stays active for 12 hours. A ‘reheat’ option is great for heating up leftovers.
Tiger JKT-S18U is an excellent choice if you want a multipurpose rice cooker for saving your time and effort. It can
cook two dishes at a time and has enough capacity to serve rice for a small house party. At slightly more than $350, it can provide a perfect rice fix on a busy day.
Design and Materials
This is a great looking rice cooker by Tiger. The smooth, stainless steel exterior with black accents looks durable while the sleek profile is suitable for fitting into modern small kitchens. There is a handle for easy transferring the unit from one place to another.
The front control panel has a large LCD and several program buttons. There are 11 different cooking modes along with a timer and keep warm functions. With 1.8 liters or 10 cups of capacity, one batch of cooked rice will be enough to feed a large family.
If the 7-layer Panasonic SR-HZ106 inner pot impresses you, Tiger JKT-S18U brings a bigger surprise with an 8-layer inner pot. It has five metal layers and three layers of coating. Combined with induction heating, the pot releases heat from all across its body. You can detach the pot and outer lid for easy cleanup.
A steam vent cap is a nice touch and you can use it for maintaining the steam buildup during the cooking process, making it easier to prepare the dishes that need less steam.
Cooking Performance
An innovative Tacook or synchro-cooking feature has made this Tiger rice cooker quite different from other entries. You can cook rice and another dish at once and the flavors of the dishes won’t ruin each other.
Put the rice in the inner pot and another item on the Tacook plate. The steam produced from the rice preparation cooks the Tacook dish, saving your valuable time. To make the process easier, Tiger provides a Tacook cookbook. Follow the recipes and prepare a healthy meal for your family in no time.
Along with cooking various types of rice, JKT-S18U is good for baking cakes, slow cooking stews, and making porridge, oatmeal, and soups. Two preset cooking timers that can be set up to 24 hours and automatic 24-hour keep warm feature are great for busy people. Just set put the ingredients into the pot in the morning or the previous night and have warm meals ready to serve when you get home.
Zojirushi NP-HCC18XH will delight your taste buds by preparing some delectable rice items. With the help of
induction heating technology, this unit yields tasty and restaurant-quality cooked rice with minimum effort. It includes some top-grade features without going overboard to keep the price under $300.
Design and Materials
With a clear-coated stainless steel exterior, the NP-HCC18XH has a modern and sleek design to fit nicely in your kitchen. It has a large LCD screen with several push-button controls. There are several cooking modes and options for setting a timer and keeping the food warm.
The cooker has both beep signal and melody options to alert when the cooking is done. You can set one based on your personal choice.
The spherical inner cooking pot is made of thick metal and has 1.8 liters of capacity. You can prepare a maximum of 10 cups of rice in a single batch, which is enough for a large family. There is a measuring cup so you don’t cook more or less rice than necessary. The unit also comes with a spatula and spatula holder.
For cleaning purposes, you can remove both the inner pot and the stainless steel inner lid. Zojirushi provides a one-year warranty on parts and labor for this product.
Cooking Performance
What do you want for dinner? Jasmine rice? Sushi rice? Mixed rice? This rice cooker can prepare everything. Tanks to the multi-cooking functions, you can cook the regular white rice or make it harder or softer.
It also features some healthy cooking options for preparing brown, GABA brown, and germinated brown rice. These rice items are believed to provide various health benefits.
The cooker is good for mainly rice items. You can also prepare porridge and steel-cut oatmeal but no slow-cooking or baking options.
The timer setting is a good option for start the cooking at the time convenient for you. You can just put the ingredients and set the timer to prepare the dish sometimes later. When the cooking is done, the automatic 12-hour ‘keep warm’ function kicks in and you can extend it for 24 hours.
Featuring an induction heating system, this Tiger JKT-B18U-C rice cooker will allow you to make a pot of perfectly
cooked rice every time. All you have to do is select the right options and wait for the cooker to do the rest. At less than $300, this unit is perfect for preparing rice items without overcooking or undercooking.
Design and Materials
The stainless steel cooker is sturdy and durable. The three-layered inner pot has 1.8 liters of capacity so you can prepare 10 cups of rice at one batch. However, measure the rice only with the measuring cup that comes along.
The 1.5mm think cooking pot consists of a stainless steel external layer, aluminum middle layer, and an aluminum alloy interior layer. The heat inside rises to a maximum of 265°F during cooking and 240°F for steaming. Such a temperature makes sure that the rice grains release their flavors and their texture turns fluffy.
The inner pot is coated with an infrared (IR) material for the non-sticking purpose. Rice does not stick to the surface and you don’t need to scrape off burned rice from the bottom.
Both the cooker and the cooking pot has a handle for easy handling. You can detach the inner lid and wash it. The steam vent cap is also removable, but clean it with a wet wipe cloth instead.
One design flaw is not making the power cord retractable. This cord tangles into everything and creates problems when storing.
Cooking Performance
Advanced induction heating technology allows the cooking pot to disperse heat from everywhere. The pot heats up within a short time, which reduces the cooking time, and even heat distribution helps with cooking each rice grain evenly cooked.
This Tiger rice cooker prepares rice without compromising with taste and texture. You just have to push a few buttons to set up your cooking preference and timer and it will prepare the item exactly the way you have wanted.
You can use the ‘plain’ mode for prepping regular white rice, ‘ultra’ to bring out the maximum sweetness of the grains, and ‘quick’ for cutting down the cooking time. Choose the ‘brown’ setting for cooking healthy brown rice.
There are two preset timer functions to adjust the cooking time. The ‘keep warm’ feature keeps the cooked rice warm for up to 24 hours.
If the Panasonic SR-HZ106 is too expensive for you, purchase this budget-friendly SR-CN108 cooker from the same
brand. At less than $150, you will get a reliable appliance that will take off a major chunk of your cooking load. It combines versatile functions and ease-of-use—two things most desirable in a rice cooker.
Design and Materials
The SR-CN108 is a compact unit but it can produce 10 cups of cooked rice (capacity is 1 liter). The front panel features an easy-to-read LED screen and several control buttons. Its white body looks good but is prone to show stains and scratches.
Storing is slightly inconvenient for the non-retractable power cord, which also tangles with several things on the kitchen countertop. However, transportation from the countertop to the dining table is easy, thanks to the external handle and around 9 pounds of weight.
The 6-layered aluminum cooking pot has a resilient non-stick coating that can withstand years of abuse. The non-stick coating makes it easy to clean, which is also applicable for the detachable inner lid and steam vent.
The cooker comes with a steaming basket, scoops for rice and cereal, and a measuring cup. One minor inconvenience is there is no holder for the scoops.
Cooking Performance
With 16 preset cooking modes, you can prepare a wide range of rice items and other dishes. Bring variation to your usual meals by cooking jasmine rice, sushi rice, brown rice, and other rice types.
You can also slow cook, bake, and prepare other non-rice dishes with this cooker. There is a steamer basket for steaming fish an veggies at the same time cooking rice. It means you can make two preparations at once, which could be a lifesaver in busy days.
A timer option comes handy for setting up the cooking time. When the cooking is finished, an automatic keep warm feature keeps the food warm for 12 hours.
If you are a rice geek, the $200 (approximately) spent on this Cuckoo CMC-QSN501S will give you the most value for
money. This cooker takes extra care of the texture, fluffiness, and flavors of the cooked rice.
Design and Materials
Unlike many other brands, Cuckoo does not neglect the looks of its cooking appliance. This particular model is available in a mixture of black and slate colors and instead of the usual rectangular shape, it looks more like a cylinder. The color scheme and the black display that shows functions in red lights give the cooker a highly stylish, modern look.
The cooker’s capacity is 5 quarts so it can cook 20 cups of rice, which is a huge amount. You can easily entertain a small gathering when you have this device in your kitchen.
Every inch of this cooker is made of high-quality materials. For example, the inner pot is made of top-class food-grade stainless steel that ensures maximum heat retention and distribution. Additional accessories include a measuring cup, rice scoop, and instruction manual.
You cannot detach the inner lid but Cuckoo’s innovative self-cleaning system keeps the interior and steam vent sanitized and clean. All you have to do is to push a button and strong jet steam will do the rest.
Cuckoo has also focused on making this rice cooker highly safe. The device is equipped with 13 safety features including thermal fuse, lock checking, pressure control, and more.
Cooking Performance
Despite being labeled as a rice cooker, this appliance can be your one-stop cooking solution. You can use it for cooking rice, steaming veggies and fish, slow cooking, pressure cooking, sauteing, frying, and more. It can also work as a soup maker, yogurt maker, and food warmer.
With a 3D heating technology and 9 heat adjustment options, you can experience quicker and tastier food preparations without losing any of the nutrients. It’s possible to reduce almost 70% of the cooking time by using the special auto dual-pressure function. To make the cooking at a convenient time, use the timer option that can be set anywhere between 1 minute to 12 hours.
If you are a novice cook, you must appreciate the 30-recipe cookbook. Just put the ingredients by following a recipe, push the button, and leave. Food will be ready when you are ready to eat it.
However, these recipes include the time at pressure, not the total time required for preparing them. Guessing the total cooking time is kind of difficult.
At slightly more than $150, Zojirushi brings a no-frills rice cooker in this NS-ZCC10 model. Available at a basic white
color, this workhorse can cook for a small family in a single batch. If you are a rice lover and want to experiment with various rice types, this cooker is a perfect choice.
Design and Materials
With a small footprint and nice white exterior, the rice cooker will fit well into any modern kitchen. However, the white body will catch stains and it will be a struggle to keep it squeaky clean.
The LED display on the front shows a timer and various commands. There are several control buttons for various cooking options. The non-stick spherical pot holds 1 liter or 5.5 cups of uncooked rice. You should use the measuring cups supplied for regular and non-rinse rice. The cooker also comes with a ladle and its holder.
Cleaning is a breeze since the inner lid is detachable and the inner pot is coated with non-stick materials. Stay-cool side handles make removal of the cooking pot an easy task. The cooker itself has an exterior handle for easy transportation. A retractable power cord is a nice touch for convenient storage.
Cooking Performance
The rice cooker fine-tunes the cooking processes with the help of fuzzy logic and Micom technologies. For this reason, it can cook various types of rice with near perfection. Just put rice and water, select the right option such as white rice, sweet rice, brown rice, or mixed rice. You can make the white rice harder or softer as you like.
The cooking takes time. For example, one cup of brown rice takes whopping 60 minutes and even more if you add the suggested 15-minute rest period after cooking. To cut down the time, there is a ‘quick’ cooking option. Unfortunately, the timer does not show time until there are ten minutes left.
You can keep the cooked food at serving temperature for hours with the ‘keep warm’ and ‘extended keep warm’ features.
If you love eating rice but consider the prepping and cooking a total waste of time, go for this Toshiba TRCS01 rice
cooker. No more stirring the rice every few minutes or being alert for turning off the stove when the cooking is done. Simply, put it and forget it. This cooker will finish cooking and keep the warm for hours.
Design and Materials
This is a compact rice cooker with a small footprint. It can prepare 6 cups of rice that will expand to 12 cups of rice after cooking, which is enough for family serving. The white plastic body looks good but catches dirt and stains like crazy. An easy-view display with several buttons forms the front control panel.
Cleaning is a breeze since you can remove the inner lid, cooking pot, and steam vent. The pot and lid are washable but wipe the vent clean with a wet piece of cloth.
It’s a shame that the power cord is non-retractable, making storing and handling the appliance somewhat inconvenient. However, the small footprint, around 9 pounds of weight, and the external handle make it easier to transport the cooker from the kitchen countertop to the table.
Extra accessories include soup and rice ladles. New users will like the instruction manual as it includes useful tips for cooking each rice type.
Cooking Performance
This multifunctional cooker prepares high-quality Japanese style rice with a 3D cooking technology and 6-step smart cooking processes. There are several cooking modes for prepping rice at your preferred consistency. Do you want to eat fluffy rice, brown rice, or sticky rice? It can make everything upon pushing the right button.
You can also prepare porridge, steel-cut oatmeal, and multi-grain dishes. The non-stick pot and the steam valve regulate the heat and steam, according to the commands you put. There is a quick function too for lowering the cooking time to 30 minutes, which is an excellent option when you are in a hurry.
There is a smart 12-hour timer function, allowing you to put the ingredients and set the timer to cook it anytime in the next 12 hours. The ‘keep warm’ feature holds the serving temperature for 24 hours.
Zojirushi always manufactures quality products and this NS-TSC10 is another of their mid-range cooker that
maintains a balance between features and price. At slightly more than $150 price, this unit can meet the needs of a small family.
Design and Materials
With a deep brownish color and stainless steel body, this rice cooker will look good in any kitchen countertop. The clear-coated exterior keeps stains and scratches away while the Teflon-coated inner cooking pot eliminates the possibility of burning rice. The non-stick layer is also great for easy scraping off food and cleaning. The pot contains 5.5 cups of uncooked rice, which is enough for a family of four.
The front panel has an LED screen and several control buttons. However, the display does not have any backlight, so you cannot read it in dark.
The cooker does not come with any extra accessory except for a steam basket that you can use for steaming food items or cooking a maximum of one cup of rice. The retractable power cord is a nice touch, making storage and transport highly convenient.
Cooking Performance
The smart fuzzy logic technology produces perfectly cooked rice and other dishes every time. Based on the commands you put, this advanced feature regulates the temperature and pressure during the cooking process to make sure you can enjoy restaurant-quality food.
The cooking takes almost an hour, four times longer than a regular rice cooker. It includes the pre-cooking soaking and steaming time, which helps with releasing the rice grain flavors. Use the ‘quick’ option if you want to lower the time.
There are two timer settings for preparing the food when it’s convenient for you. The ‘keep warm’ function kicks off automatically when the cooking is finished. There is a reheat setting for reheating the leftovers.
This is a budget-friendly entry from Cuckoo, available at slightly more than $100. The CR-0631F offers Micom
cooking technology and a handful of useful features to prepare tasty and flavorful rice dishes. This is an ideal value-for-money cooking appliance.
Design and Materials
Cuckoo CR-0631F looks like a solid unit but it’s not as handsome as the Cuckoo CMC-QSN501S reviewed earlier in this list. Made of high-quality white plastic, the front panel is a shimmering pink shade. Of course, this light color combo will show even the tiniest of stains.
The front control panel has a large LCD screen and several control buttons. It has six cooking modes and the inner pot has a capacity of six cups. So, you will get 10 to 12 cups of rice when it’s cooked.
The non-stick coated cooking pot is a breeze to clean up. Rice never sticks to it, so there is no need to soak it in the water a while before cleaning. Extra accessories include a measuring cup and a spatula but there is no spatula holder. Another minor design inconvenience is the non-retractable power cord.
Cooking Performance
This smart rice cooker uses a fuzzy logic technique for preparing perfect rice every time. It makes glutenous, GABA brown, brown, mixed, and white rice. Other modes include slow cooking, steaming, and making porridge.
A truly innovative feature is the ‘My Mode’ function. You can set how soft and glutenous you want the rice to be and then use this function to get that consistency every time.
The cooking time is lengthy but thanks to the ‘Turbo’ option that reduces the time when you are in a hurry. The ‘keep warm’ function is a lifesaver as it can keep the food at serving temperature for almost 2 days. The food sometimes doesn’t go bad if it extends to three days. However, this option makes a small amount of rice dry.
There is a ‘reheat’ option too if you want to eat leftovers instead of throwing them into the trash.
This is a basic rice cooker from Tiger for those who want to enjoy authentic Japanese-style rice but have a limited
budget. At less than $100, this compact, durable cooker offers multiple cooking modes.
Design and Materials
The JBV-A10U has few more features than a basic regular rice cooker. It has a white plastic body with a handle for easy carrying. While fitting a modern decor setting, white plastic is a hassle to keep clean.
The control panel does not have any digital display but there are six buttons including four cooking programs. With a small footprint, the unit weighs only 5.7 pounds, so transporting by carrying the exterior handle is a breeze.
In terms of capacity, it holds 5.5 cups of uncooked rice, which means you will get around 10 cups of cooked rice at a single batch. The minimum portion to cook has to be at least one cup of rice.
Cleaning the cooker could be a bit tricky since you cannot remove the inner lid. Only the cooking pot is removable and you can wash it easily due to the non-stick coating. Another downside is the non-retractable power cord that causes hassle during storing the cooker.
The accessories include a measuring cup, non-stick spatula, tacook or synchro-cooking plate, and a cookbook for tacook recipes.
Cooking Performance
You can prepare plain white and brown rice in this device. White rice takes 22 to 37 minutes while it extends to 60 to 70 minutes for preparing brown rice. Also, the grains expand significantly after soaking water, so you can cook a maximum of 3.5 cups of brown rice.
It can also steam and slow cook various items but the star feature is the synchro-cooking. This allows you to cook rice in the inner pot and cooking another dish in the tacook cooking plate placed above the pot. It saves you time and reduces the load of your household chores.
There is no delay timer option but an automatic ‘keep warm’ mode will keep the cooked food at serving temperature for 12 hours.
If you want a super pocket-friendly Japanese rice cooker COMFEE MB-FS5077 looks like a great option. At slightly
more than $60, it provides various cooking options to make your busy life a little bit easier. Its cooking capacity is also generous, enough to entertain a small gathering.
Design and Materials
This cooking unit looks good with a combination of black and stainless steel exterior. The control panel has a small LCD screen and a bunch of settings for perfect cooking. It can prepare 20 cups of cooked rice so it will be great for a small party or family gathering.
The cooking pot has a food-grade non-stick coating on the inside. It has a honeycomb design and a 62-degree boiling angle to help to expand the heat distribution area.
The cooker is completely safe as it does not use any pressure-cooking technique. Cleaning is a breeze because of the non-stick cooking pot and removable steam valve. The brushed stainless steel exterior shell is also easy to clean.
Extra accessories include a measuring cup. A recipe book would be helpful but the company does not offer any. COMFEE provides a one-year warranty for this product.
Cooking Performance
This budget cooker has a whopping 17 smart cooking programs that you can tweak a bit to prepare numerous meal types. There are options for cooking rice, making yogurt, steaming veggies, and more. However, you can also prepare meat stew, noodle soup, bake cake, and more. It sounds like providing the functions of five more cooking appliances.
To make sure you enjoy a delicious meal every time, this device cooks food by using a 6-step cooking process. The cooking pot preserves heat and the steam valve retains steam to bring the rice to a perfect simmer.
A 24-hour delay timer option and 12-hour warming time are great for planning a flexible meal.
Tatung TFC-5817 is the third rice cooker in this list that is priced at less than $100. It’s a multifunctional device that
can cook a handful of dishes other than rice items. Due to the pocket-friendly price point, you can gift it to a Japanese-style rice fan who cannot cook.
Design and Materials
This is definitely a stylish cooker with a champagne-colored stainless steel body featuring golden accents. It looks beautiful no matter wherever you keep it. Also, transferring from one place to another is a breeze, thanks to the large carrying handle and 9.8 pounds of weight.
The control panel has an LED screen and several command buttons. The display does not have a backlight, so you cannot see the readings in dark.
It can prepare 16 cups of cooked rice, which is enough to feed at least 6 persons. The cooking pot is thick and does not make the rice stick to its surfaces. Tatung does not supply any measuring cup, ladle, or spoon with this product, which is a bit disappointing.
Cooking Performance
The TFC-5817 cooker cooks food with a combination of fuzzy logic and Micom technology. Unlike induction heating, the heat does not spread across the cooking pot but the fuzzy logic regulates the temperature to prepare perfectly cooked dishes.
You can prepare loads of dishes with the 11 cooking programs. Apart from the rice items, it can steam veggies and fish, prepare soups, slow cook meat stew, make oatmeal, and many other things.
There are three quick-cooking programs: white rice, rice, and congee cooking. While normal cooking takes 40 to 50 minutes, these quick options reduce the time to 20 to 30 minutes.
A delay timer option offers a flexible cooking time a ‘keep warm’ feature keeps the food at serving temperature for 12 hours.
