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Your Ultimate Guide to Asian Rice Cookers
Rice is a staple in Asian countries, so it isn’t a surprise that appliances were made for the sole purpose of cooking rice. Due to the rising popularity of these grains, rice cookers have made their way to the global market and have continued to evolve as technology advances. An Asian rice cooker can assist you with preparing everything from basic meals like plain white rice to more sophisticated specialties like paella. Basically, it makes the cooking process that much easier.
So the question now is, is an Asian cooker the best for making perfectly cooked rice? Since cooking rice is deeply embedded in Asian culture and history, it’s safe to assume that any rice cooker made in Asia is among the best on the market and would cook rice better than its non-Asian counterparts.
If you want to add an Asian rice cooker to your kitchen, below are the best Asian rice cookers for 2023.
Which is the top one?
Editor's Choice  Best Overall |  Best Value |  Best for Fast Cooking |
ZojirushiA well-known and reputable brand, Zojirushi cookers are high-tech, making cooking convenient. They're also made with premium materials. | CuckooA reliable brand, Cuckoo makes cookers that have incredible design and aesthetics. Cuckoo cookers are also highly efficient. | CuchenBusy and have no time to cook? The best rice cooker brand for fast cooking is Cuchen. Their cooker are highly durable too. |
Functionality: Quality: Price: | Functionality: Quality: Price: | Functionality: Quality: Price: |
Let’s go over each one
#1: Zojirushi
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Zojirushi rice cookers are Japanese-made and known for their quality. From conventional rice cookers to cookers with fuzzy logic technology and synchronized cooking function, the brand provides them all. This brand is your go-to if you want to cook restaurant-quality rice and if you prefer a micom rice cooker over a simple one. Some of their models come with a steam basket.
Out of all these, the Zojirushi NS ZCC10 /18 neuro fuzzy rice cooker is one of its best models. Advanced Neuro-Fuzzy logic technology is used in this 5-1/2-cup automated rice cooker and warmer. It has various menu selections, which include automated keep-warm, extended keep-warm settings, and reheat cycles.
The unit has a spherical, nonstick inner pan that provides even heating as you cook rice, an LCD clock and timer to make it easy to see how long it takes for your uncooked rice to cook, and a retractable cable. Menus for white rice cooking, mixed rice, GABA rice, porridge, sweet, semi-brown, brown, and rinse-free are among its options.
As far as an Asian rice cooker goes, the NS ZCC10 rice cooker is one of the best in the market. The cooker comes with a measuring cup, a rice scooper, and a spatula holder.
Pros and Cons of the Zojirushi NS ZCC10 Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ Low maintenance ✔️ Advanced technology ✔️ Variety of menu settings ✔️ Has Zojirushi induction technology ✔️ Easy carry and transport ✔️ Extra large, easy-to-read LCD display ✔️ Micom Rice Cooker | ✖️ Might be difficult to navigate ✖️ Basic body design ✖️ A little pricey |
#2: Cuckoo
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The Cuckoo rice cooker is a favorite among rice enthusiasts in South Korea and around Asia. Their units feature GABA function, as well as additional culinary options including turbo cook, timer, and keep-warm. With over 40 years of industry expertise and an international reputation for exceptional quality, Cuckoo has refined the art of cooking rice and making goods with integrity.
The Cuckoo CRP-P0609S is one of their best units. Its LED display screen includes 12 menu selections for making a range of various meals, including pressure cook, GABA rice, brown rice, white rice, porridge, nu rung ji, and more.
The unit has intuitive touch controls, a preset timer, an auto-clean option, a durable inner cooking pan, and Fuzzy Logic technology, which detects and adjusts the cooker’s temperature and pressure automatically, cooking perfect rice every time.
It also has a reheat mode, which is ideal for leftovers. The unit comes with a user manual, rice measuring cup, rice scooper, steaming plate, and a cleaning pin.
Pros and Cons of the Cuckoo CRP-P0609S
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ Non-stick inner pot ✔️ Detachable inner lid for ease in cleaning ✔️ Can double as a pressure cooker ✔️ High quality build | ✖️ Heavy weight despite its medium capacity |
#3: Cuchen
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In Korea, Cuchen rice cookers have taken over the kitchen appliances market and are becoming popular all over the world. By bringing creativity and innovation to the consumers at an affordable price, Cuchen turns its rice cooker consumers into loyal customers. Without a doubt, this brand stands out among Korean cookware brands in its 40 years of providing creme-of-the-crop electric cookers.
The Cuchen CJH-PM0600iP is a 3D induction heating pressure rice cooker. It can cook rice for a group of 6 and it only uses up to 220V of electricity. It comes in sleek black and carbon silver colors, perfect for a modern kitchen.
The inner cooking pot is edge-shaped with 3D induction heating and a charcoal-coated interior. It also includes special voice navigation in three languages: Korean, English, and Chinese.
Before cooking, you can adjust your rice taste between sticky, medium, and general. It includes a 3-layer power rubbing packing which seals the pressure inside, a smart jog dial for quick menu selection, a stainless steel clean cover that’s detachable and washable, steam warming and reheating features, automatic keep-warm function, one-touch auto cleaning, a 20-safety device, a power-saving mode, and a noise-free steam vent for a peaceful rice cooking session. The cooker comes with additional accessories such as a measuring cup and a rice paddle.
Pros and Cons of the Cuchen CJH-PM0600iP
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ Induction heating technology ✔️ Allows you to control the rice taste and texture ✔️ Voice navigation | ✖️ May not be best for beginners ✖️ Small, difficult buttons |
#4: Tianji
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Tianji wants the best for their customers– and that’s why they come up with the best and healthiest designs for their cookers. Instead of chemical-coated surfaces, Tianji’s ceramic cookers stand out in its market for sheer innovation and improved rice-cooking process. Designed to keep the original taste of your rice, the Tianji rice cooker serves to be an excellent choice for rice cooker enthusiasts.
This Tianji Ceramic Pot Digital Rice Cooker FD30D is the perfect choice for you, particularly if you’re health-conscious. Among numerous cookers, Tianji FD30D provides a healthier and safer option for cooking white and brown rice. Its 3-liter capacity can cook rice for your whole family, it can cook 6 cups of uncooked rice and 12 cups of cooked rice. Named one of the best ceramic rice cookers on the market, this model boasts ceramic liners which are healthy, environmentally friendly, and easy to clean.
By using ceramic whiteware, rice retains its original flavor and becomes more nutritious, resulting in perfect rice every time. It even comes with a keep-warm function and a 24-hour smart preset timer so that you can easily cook brown rice, soup, porridge, and white rice without getting worried about time running out. Last but not least, its innovative suspended bowl heating system can heat the rice evenly, resulting in crystal clear, plump, and delicious rice.
Pros and Cons of the Tianji Ceramic Pot Digital Rice Cooker FD30D
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ Ceramic Inner Pot ✔️ 24-hour Delay Timer ✔️ Cooking Presets | ✖️ Not ideal for large households ✖️ Keep Warm/Reheat Function only lasts 8 hours |
#5: Toshiba
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Aside from conventional rice cookers with durable builds, Toshiba also provides innovative rice cookers that can cook not only plain rice but also rice recipes, making them one of the best Japanese rice cooker brands around. One of their more innovative models is their low-carb digital rice cooker, which lowers the starch content of your rice. This is unlike most cookers, where the unit cooks rice as it is.
Such models include the Toshiba Low Carb Digital Programmable Multi-functional Rice Cooker. This Japanese rice cooker simplifies healthy eating by removing excess starch from your rice. According to the world’s top CVC verification, the unit can eliminate up to 37% of bad digesting starch and boost beneficial resistant starch by up to 34%.
The rice cooker’s Advanced Fuzzy Logic allows it to make subtle adjustments to the temperature and heating time to flawlessly cook rice of all sorts. The unit also has induction heating, which distributes heat evenly throughout the inner cooking pot, resulting in delicious rice without the excess starch.
The cooker also includes 8 pre-programmed settings for white rice, brown rice, Japanese rice, mixed grain, quinoa, soup, stew, steam, and oatmeal. The unit comes with a detachable steam vent, rice paddle, and a rice measuring cup.
Pros and Cons of the Toshiba Low Carb Digital Programmable Multi-functional Rice Cooker
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ Advanced Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker ✔️ Eliminates up to 37% of bad digesting starch ✔️ Uses Induction Heating to cook rice | ✖️ Unit may produce plastic smell for the first few uses |
#6: Panasonic
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Panasonic is a reputable brand in Asia, and the company is known to make appliances that are durable and high-quality. From simple stainless steel rice cookers to commercial models used in restaurants, the brand offers them all. It even has rice cookers with fuzzy logic technology and other advanced features.
If you’re looking for a compact rice cooker that can create fluffy rice for your restaurant, the Panasonic SR-42HZP Commercial rice cooker can immensely help your business. This is a large-capacity commercial rice cooker with NSF-certified direct heating technology. It can cook up to 23 cups of uncooked rice(46 cups of cooked rice) in around 30 minutes.
It also offers a two-hour keep warm function with an automated shut-off. Because of its built-in thermal safety fuse, the item is absolutely safe to use. The unit comes with a measuring cup, stainless steel lid, and an inner pan made from aluminum alloy.
Pros and Cons of the Panasonic Commercial Rice Cooker
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ NSF approved ✔️ Built-in thermal safety fuse ✔️ Easy to use ✔️ Can cook up to 23 cups of uncooked rice | ✖️ Inner pot is not nonstick ✖️ Slightly expensive |
#7: Tiger
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Tiger rice cookers are best known for their simplicity and quality over the years in Japan. Due to its popularity, the brand slowly became a household staple in the same country.
This Japanese product uses vacuum insulation technology which makes cooking rice more convenient. This innovation helps retain the heat without the continuous use of electricity to keep the rice warm. It gives the customers the comfort they need, especially in Asian countries that love newly cooked rice.
The Tiger JNP-S10U-HU Rice Cooker and Warmer is one of the brand’s best cooking appliances up to date. It has a stainless, steel gray, and non-stick inner pan which has the capacity of 5.5 to 10 cups for uncooked rice. The JNP-S10U-HU rice cooker is also very intuitive because it perfectly cooks rice in a short amount of time while staying true to its brand’s legacy.
The Tiger JNP-S10U-HU Rice Cooker and Warmer also automatically switches to “Keep Warm” after cooking the rice and keeps fluffy rice fresh and warm for up to 12 hrs. In addition, it has a removable and washable steam vent and a retractable power cord for safer use. The cooker comes with a rice spatula, measuring cup, removable steam vent cap, and a removable dew collector.
Pros and Cons of the Tiger JNP-S10U-HU Rice Cooker and Warmer
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| ✔️ Ideal for beginners ✔️ Up to 12 hours keep warm functionality ✔️ Nonstick inner pot | ✖️ Steam vent may be hard to clean ✖️ Not ideal for cooking brown rice |
Are Asian Rice Cookers Better?
A rice cooker is almost a must-have in an Asian household since it not only cooks white rice, it can also steam vegetables and cook other dishes. The nice thing about these cookers is that they are easy to use and they make it simple to add nutritious cooked rice into your everyday meals, allowing you to build a well-balanced diet for your entire household.
So what makes an Asian rice cooker better? People in Asian countries, such as Japan, South Korea, China, and Thailand, where short and long-grain rice is a basic commodity and is used in practically every meal, take rice cookers seriously. The best Asian rice cooker offers settings for cooking various varieties of uncooked rice and uses cutting-edge technology to assure high-quality results each cooking cycle.
What Type of Rice Cooker Do I Need?
There are several factors to consider before you purchase the best Asian rice cooker for your household. Choosing the ideal size is possibly the most important since a cooker’s capacity determines how much cooked rice it can hold and it would be a waste of money to buy a unit that is too small or too big for your family.
Asian rice cookers are often available in three-cup, six-cup, and ten-cup sizes, but commercial rice cookers can accommodate more. Small rice cookers can’t handle big volumes of rice because they will overflow, while most large cookers can’t cook effectively with modest amounts of rice. If you consume rice throughout the day or enjoy leftovers, a medium to large cooker is best. Smaller households or individuals living alone might benefit from a small cooker. It’s also best to note that most cookers have capacities listed in the cups of cooked rice the unit can make. Therefore, a 3-cup rice cooker can make 3 cups of cooked rice, a 6-cup rice cooker can make 6 cups of cooked rice, and so on.
Aside from capacity, you also need to determine which features you think will benefit your kitchen work most. A nonstick inner cooking pan will make clean-up easier, while an automatic warm function can keep your rice warmed until you’re ready to eat it. Some have settings that turn your unit into a pressure rice cooker, while others have multiple pre-programmed settings that can cook rice for sushi and steam vegetables at the same time. You can even get one with a congee rice cooking setting.
How Do I Choose a Rice Cooker?
Choose the best rice cooker according to the preferences of your household, your kitchen needs, and your budget. Do you eat rice daily or only on occasion? Do you cook brown rice and mixed rice daily? Do you prefer a model that can also function as a pressure cooker and slow cooker? Most cookers are versatile and can be used to make a variety of dishes, but these added features and pre-programmed settings can add to the rice cooker’s overall versatility and quality.
A Micom rice cooker or a fuzzy logic rice cooker, for example, can cook rice way better than a conventional one. They are even better at cooking brown rice and sushi rice and have lower cooking time, so they are a better choice if these grains are part of your daily diet. If you only cook Jasmine rice and would like to keep the rice warm for hours, then a simple cooker should be enough.
Additional accessories like measuring cups, a spatula holder, a retractable cord, or a detachable lid aren’t as important, but they are ideal additions depending on your current living conditions. A glass lid, for example, lets you see how far into the cooking process you are without having to open your cooker. You can also read these tips to know which is the best rice cooker to buy.
Types of Rice Cookers
When purchasing an Asian rice cooker, you should be aware of the many types of cookers. Due to the advancing technology, there are plenty of cookers available that have different specifications, functions, and settings. All rice cooker models come with additional accessories such as an inner cooking pot, measuring cups, a spatula holder, and a steamer for steaming vegetables and meat.
Conventional Rice Cooker
Conventional cookers are the most basic and least expensive. They only have two settings which are the cook function and the keep-warm function. Most of these devices have only one switch or button that automatically switches from cook to warm when the rice is perfectly cooked. Despite their basic function, these cookers are exceptionally durable and have a long lifespan. The majority of these rice cooker types have a cooking pan made from stainless steel, though some are made from ceramic, and usually come in larger sizes that can hold up to 45 cups of uncooked rice.
These cookers, however, a slightly less versatile than the other rice cooker types. Some models can’t cook brown rice and sushi rice properly and are mostly made to cook white, long-grain rice.
Multi-Cooker
A multi-cooker is essentially a slow cooker, pressure cooker, and rice cooker all in one. Multi-cookers, as the name suggests, can cook more than simply rice. It can make side dishes such as soups and stews, as well as make perfectly cooked fluffy white rice, brown rice, risotto, and more. These cookers also have a keep-warm function that you can use to keep your food warm for hours, which is perfect if you’re hosting a party.
Smart Rice Cooker
The cookers in this category are also known as neuro-fuzzy logic or Micom rice cookers because they are built with artificial intelligence technology that does practically everything for you. These cookers can detect the amount of liquid and the type of rice and adapt appropriately during the cooking process. Whether it’s white rice or brown rice, the cooker will cook rice perfectly. All you have to do is press a button and you’re all set.
These cookers also offer pre-programmed functions and settings for various rice types, such as brown rice, sticky rice, porridge, white rice, and others. Some can even function as a pressure rice cooker. An example of a Micom cooker is the Zojirushi NS-WAC10-WD Micom Rice Cooker, which is one of Zojirushi’s user-friendly cookers. The Zojirushi NS-WAC10-WD offers multi-menu cooking functions and Neuro-Fuzzy Logic technology that ensures you’ll have perfect rice every time. Smart cookers also have considerably less cooking time than other rice cooker types and almost always have a nonstick cooking pot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most Asian households stick to basic units to cook their grains since plain rice is a staple in their every meal. These conventional cookers almost always come with a steamer the household can use to steam veggies and meat while the rice cooks. Though simple, a conventional rice cooker is great for cooking brown rice, mixed rice, and most long-grain rice. Though the results would be marginally better if you use high-end cookers with presets for these types of grains, basic rice cookers can still do the job.
Zojirushi, Panasonic, Toshiba, and Tiger are some of the best rice cooker brands made in Japan.
Like every Asian household, Japanese people eat rice on a daily basis. The grain is a staple and is considered a necessity in every meal. It is, therefore, not unusual that the country produces some of the best rice cookers.
Japanese cookers are much better than other cookers for a variety of reasons. What makes Asian rice cookers great is the craftsmanship and quality that goes into them. The enameled cooking bowls have a nonstick surface that improves the cooking process and durability.
They include simple features that can make them one of your favorite kitchenware equipment, such as increased cooking time, a keep-warm function that can keep rice warm up to six hours after it’s finished cooking, eliminating the need to use aluminum foil or pot holders when removing the rice from the cooker. An example of this would be the Tiger JNP-S10U-HU Rice Cooker, which has a Keep Warm function that can keep your fluffy rice at its peak temperature for hours.
In most cases, there’s little distinction between a rice cooker and a Japanese rice cooker. For example, let’s compare a Hamilton Beach rice cooker with a Cuckoo cooker. Both have varying uncooked rice capacities, come with a measuring cup and rice scooper, and can keep rice warm for hours. A Hamilton Beach rice cooker doubles as a rice and cereal cooker, but it can also cook sushi rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, sticky rice, and many more in the same capacity as a Cuckoo cooker.
They, however, have slight differences in design. A Hamilton Beach rice cooker, for example, has more modern-looking, stainless steel designs while Cuckoo has slightly several buttons displayed in front of the rice cooker.
There are numerous rice cooker brands and they can vary in being the best according to the user’s needs. Usually though, brands such as Zojirushi, Aroma, Hamilton Beach, Cuckoo, and Cuchen are touted as the best ones.
India has a lot of local brands that make it to the top of their Asian rice cooker reviews list, but Panasonic is possibly the only Asian rice cooker outside their country that they love to use.
Like any other Asian country, Korea has a lot of rice cooker brands saturating its market. Some of these include Cuckoo and Cuchen, though a lot of Korean households also have cookers made in other countries.
Without a doubt, most countries, such as Korea and Japan, are creative hotspots. That is clear from how they manage their most important cooking appliance. Most high-end rice cookers from such countries have novel features such as Neuro-fuzzy, automated timers, non-toxic substances, and so on. This is especially true for Japanese and Korean rice cookers.
Yes, Cuckoo is a rice cooker brand that originated in Korea.
The three most popular rice cooker brands in China are Xiaomi, Joyoung, and Midea.
A Chinese rice cooker works like any rice cooker. The results they’ll give depend on the rice cooker model, the type of rice used (brown rice or white rice), and the rice cooking function you selected.
Most of the Tiger cookers are made in Japan, except for the JAZ-A series that’s made in China.
While it’s known that Zojirushi is made in China, there is also a variant of it that’s made in Japan.
The majority of cookers can cook Japanese short-grain and long-grain white rice. Simple cookers can possibly even cook Japanese brown rice, also known as genmai, though some might not cook it as perfectly.
Stainless steel is usually the best material when it comes to a cooker’s inner pot. This is because stainless steel conducts heat faster and is less likely to rust even after prolonged use. Many cookers have an aluminum inner pot that has been coated with nonstick Teflon. This nonstick coating prevents rice from sticking to the pot. However, if the Teflon coating is damaged, aluminum will leak into the food. If you’re worried about your health, a ceramic inner pot would be ideal, since they don’t have any chemical coating. A ceramic inner pot is also ideal if you use your cooker’s keep-warm function often, as ceramic excellently retains heat.
Final Note
If you like a bowl of perfectly cooked rice, investing in the best Asian rice cooker is definitely worth the money. Cooked rice made in a rice cooker is significantly superior to grains cooked on a stovetop, whether it’s brown rice or white rice, and you’ll get the same outcome every time. The majority of these Asian rice cookers also have stainless steel inner pot that is nonstick and easy to clean, making kitchen clean-up easier after every meal. For more rice-related news, as well as rice cooker reviews and guides, you can check out our site.
Editor’s Choice
Zojirushi
Zojirushi has a long history, going back as far as 1918. The best Asian rice cooker brand, they launched their new electric rice cooker and warmer in 1970 and has continued to provide high-quality rice cookers that can cook any type of uncooked rice perfectly, from Jasmine or Basmati rice to sticky rice and sushi rice. The brand also features high-end models with multi-menu selections and other settings that make cooking rice efficient.
One of their best models is the Zojirushi NS ZCC10/18 Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker and warmer, which can make perfectly fluffy rice without much fuss due to the unit’s fuzzy logic technology.
It features several functions such as a spherical inner cooking pot for equal distribution of heat, pre-programmed settings, and more. Overall, the NS ZCC10 is a good rice cooker to have in any household.
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