The Best Ceramic Rice Cooker
Table of Contents
Your Ultimate Guide to Ceramic Rice Cookers
Making rice is deceptively simple, and yet, whether you’re a novice in the kitchen or a seasoned chef, you often get disappointing results. This is why rice cookers have become one of the most indispensable kitchen appliances there is. They’re essentially specialized electric cookers with lesser cooking time, and they excel at producing fluffy, properly cooked rice. They can even be used to steam food.
With their popularity, rice cookers have significantly advanced in terms of the features they offer. However, most rice cookers are made with aluminum and lined with a nonstick material called Teflon. The material is harmless when in its peak condition, however, a tiny scratch and the aluminum and other metals will start seeping into your perfectly cooked rice. Fortunately, there are plenty of non-Teflon rice cookers available for purchase.
A ceramic rice cooker is considered the safest non-Teflon rice cooker since the ceramic pot is naturally nonstick. To know which is the best ceramic rice cooker for your household, read more below.
Which is the top one?
Yum Asia Panda Mini Rice Cooker With Ninja Ceramic BowlA cooker with advanced fuzzy logic technology, the Yum Asia Panda makes rice cooking a breeze. It's also made with high-quality materials. | Yum Asia Sakura Rice Cooker with Ceramic Bowl and Advanced Fuzzy LogicThe Yum Asia Sakura has a 7-phase cooking technology and a huge capacity that makes it perfect for large households. | Aroma Housewares ARC-6206C Professional Digital Rice CookerThe ARC-6206C has several programmable digital controls, making it a versatile cooker. It features a cool-touch technology too. |
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Let’s go over each one
#1: Yum Asia Panda Mini Rice Cooker With Ninja Ceramic Bowl
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Prepare the perfect rice with the Yum Asia Panda Mini Ceramic Rice Cooker by just pressing a button. With cooking presets for white rice, long-grain rice, short-grain rice, sushi rice, brown rice, and rapid cook, you won’t have a hard time cooking for your household.
This ceramic rice cooker even includes customized handy add-on features like steam, oatmeal, slow cook, and cake baking. The 24-hour preset timer and keep warm functions assure you’ll have a warm meal when dinnertime arrives.
With powerful fuzzy logic and digitally controlled 7-phased 3D heating surround technology, the cooker automatically cooks your rice with great flavor and texture. Its brilliant LED display and Smart Button control panel also have a visually appealing design.
The cooker includes a 5-layer 2mm thick ninja ceramic coated inner bowl that is well-made and sturdy. It can hold 3.5 cups of rice, which is suitable for singles or couples living together. The cooker comes with a user handbook, a steaming basket, a rice measuring cup, a rice spatula, and a soup ladle.
Pros and Cons of the Yum Asia Panda Mini Rice Cooker
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Portable ✔️ Aesthetically pleasing to look at ✔️ 7 phased 3D heating surround technology ✔️ 24-hour preset timer ✔️ Smart Button control panel ✔️ Multifunctional | ✖️ May be too small for bigger households ✖️ Slightly more expensive than units of the same capacity |
#2: Yum Asia Sakura Rice Cooker with Ceramic Bowl and Advanced Fuzzy Logic
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The Yum Asia Sakura Rice Cooker is an all-around rice cooker that’s perfect for large families or households that eat rice regularly. This ceramic rice cooker not only properly cooks various varieties of rice at the press of a button, but it also offers multi-function add-ons.
Porridge, which includes rice or oat porridge, slow cook, steam, soup, cake baking, crust, and yogurt are among its presets. Its innovative fuzzy logic technology and 3D heating use phased cook cycles to adjust the temperature for efficient and optimal cooking. It’s perfect for cooking brown rice or mixed rice.
During cooking cycles, the timer counts down the remaining 10 minutes and tells you when your rice is done before switching to keep warm mode. There is a preset time function that you can set up 24-hours in advance for enhanced convenience during busy mornings.
It has a tough, 5-layer inner bowl with a 2mm thick ceramic covering that is BPA and PTFE/PFOA free. The cooker also comes with a steam basket, ideal for cooking multiple meals like red beans and rice, for example.
Pros and Cons of the Yum Asia Sakura Rice Cooker
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✔️ Very versatile ✔️ Great for medium to large households ✔️ 7-phase rice cooking technology ✔️ Countdown timer ✔️ Detachable stainless steel inner lid | ✖️ May smell like plastic during first few uses ✖️ Expensive |
#3: Aroma Housewares ARC-6206C Professional Digital Rice Cooker
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Aroma rice cookers are some of the best in the market, and this cooker in particular is the ideal multi cooker. This ceramic rice cooker can handle it all, whether you’re making soup, steaming vegetables, or making plain rice.
The Aroma Rice Cooker ARC-6206C also has unique features that enhance your cooking experience. Using the 12 distinct functions, you may make the perfect mixed rice or brown rice and other delicious delicacies such as tarts, cakes, bread, and even yogurt. For the most efficient single-pot meals, you can steam vegetables and meats while the uncooked rice is boiling underneath.
This appliance also has simple, programmable digital controls, an automatic keep-warm setting, high and low slow cooking settings, a cake function, and much more. The Aroma Housewares ARC-6206C has a cool touch technology that allows you to cook without being concerned about leaving a hot appliance on the counter.
The cool touch outside surface allows you to handle the cooker at any time during the cooking process without fear of burning yourself. The ARC-6206C can definitely contend with the best multipurpose rice cookers in the market.
The unit includes an inner bowl, a rice measuring cup, a soup ladle, a plastic rice scoop, and a bamboo rice paddle. It also has a steaming tray, ideal for making steamed vegetables.
Pros and Cons of the Aroma Housewares ARC-6206C
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✔️ Yields 8 servings of cooked rice ✔️ Makes single-pot meals easier ✔️ Rice cooker stays cool even when cooking ✔️ Perfect for smaller households and single dwellers | ✖️ Water can boil over ✖️ Difficult to clean compared to a standard rice cooker |
#4: Tianji Electric Rice Cooker FD30D
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Tianji combines ancient ceramic technology and high-temperature firing with this rice cooker. Its ceramic inner pot does not contain any coating and has high-temperature resistance, which is ideal for cooking the perfect white and brown rice.
This rice cooker has multiple cooking functions pre-programmed for your convenience and can hold up to 12 cups of cooked rice. Its 24-hour smart preset timer is a real-time saver for individuals who lead hectic lives. If you need to have breakfast ready for the following day but only have time to cook in the evenings, you can simply add your uncooked rice or other foods to the ceramic inner pot, set the timer to your liking, and wake up to a delicious, warm breakfast.
You can even keep your rice warm for hours afterward. This rice cooker comes with a serving spatula, measuring cup, soup spoon, and spatula holder.
Pros and Cons of the Tianji Electric Rice Cooker FD30D
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✔️ Ceramic Inner Pot ✔️ 24-hour Delay Timer ✔️ Cooking Presets | ✖️ Not ideal for large households ✖️ Keep Warm/Reheat Function only lasts 8 hours |
#5: Greenlife Healthy Rice Cooker
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The Greenlife Healthy Rice Cooker consistently produces perfect grains thanks to its no-guess settings that make cooking simple. This cooker offers presets for every grain, from white rice and brown rice to quinoa and steel-cut oats.
With this cooker, you can prepare a tasty meal without much effort. The inner bowl has a healthy ceramic nonstick coating, which has been engineered to be nonstick and to stay nonstick, making cleanup a breeze.
The Smart Grain function uses fuzzy logic technology to automatically modify the temperature as your rice cooks, overall improving the quality of your rice. The customizable timer allows you to tailor your cooking cycle according to your preferences, while the simple control panel simplifies the entire cooking process.
The inner pot itself is also dishwasher-safe. Since it can hold up to 4 cups of cooked rice, this ceramic rice cooker is the ideal mini cooker for busy individuals that live alone. The unit comes with a measuring cup and rice scooper.
Pros and Cons of the Greenlife Healthy Rice Cooker
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✔️ Easy to carry ✔️ Fuzzy logic technology ✔️ Customizable timer | ✖️ Not ideal for large households |
#6: Cuchen CJR-PM0610RHW Rice Cooker
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South Korean rice cooker brand Cuchen is well-known for its modern and innovative appliances that make rice cooking a breeze. Most Cuchen rice cookers are circular or oval-shaped, but one of the brand’s newest rice cookers has taken on an entirely new shape, standing out among the rest.
The Cuchen CJR-PM0610RHW is the brand’s first-ever square-shaped rice cooker with numerous features to elevate your kitchen experience. It’s equipped with a Smart IR Sensor Technology that can fine-tune temperature and firepower for the best rice taste. To further enhance this technology, the CJR-PM0610RHW has a cast iron inner cooking pot with Charcoal Ceramic Coating, promoting a 13.9% increase in infrared emissivity, maintaining an even amount of heat throughout the rice cooking process.
This rice cooker is also capable of cooking different types of grains and has several cooking presets, allowing you to make stews, soups, porridge, baked dishes, and even tea.
Pros and Cons of the Cuchen CJR-PM0610RHW Rice Cooker
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Ideal for singles or small households ✔️ Smart IR Sensor Technology for ideal temperature ✔️ Square-shaped design with metallic black body ✔️ Has a cast iron inner cooking pot with Charcoal Ceramic Coating ✔️ 9 rice cooking presets ✔️ Speedy-cook options | ✖️ Expensive |
Is Ceramic Rice Cooker Safe?
Everyone who enjoys cooking appreciates nonstick cookware since they make cooking and cleaning easier. Teflon, a novel substance on the cookware market, rose to prominence in the 1950s. To date, most industries use it to manufacture cookware. Without a doubt, it helps make cooking easier. The issue is that when the nonstick coating in the inner pot is scratched, the metal starts seeping into your rice.
This can be avoided by using a non-Teflon rice cooker, such as cookers with a stainless steel inner pot or a ceramic pot. Ceramic is ideal because it doesn’t require a Teflon lining to be nonstick. Ceramic cookware is also 100% natural and safe. There is no need to be concerned about the inner bowl lining wearing off and seeping harmful chemicals into your food. A clay cooker or clay pot is also considered to be the best rice cooker that doesn’t need a non-stick coating, however, they need to be used on a stove and aren’t beginner-friendly.
Is Ceramic Good for Cooking Rice?
There are plenty of benefits to using a ceramic rice cooker. It keeps meals hot for a long period, eliminating the need to use the warmer feature, which in turn saves electricity. The non-stick inner pot is also easy to clean and food residues won’t stick, even burnt rice. Ceramic rice cookers come with settings and accessories such as a tempered glass lid, dishwasher-safe steam tray, serving spatula or rice spoon, rice cup, and multiple cooking functions.
The disadvantage of a ceramic rice cooker is that the cooking bowl can break, so you’ll have to be careful not to drop the ceramic pot.
Which is Better: Ceramic or Stainless Steel Rice Cooker?
Both stainless steel and ceramic rice cookers are ideal non-Teflon rice cookers, however, they have very different properties. Few rice cookers use both, with the inner lid being stainless and the pot being ceramic. Ceramic rice cookers conduct heat really efficiently, evenly distributing heat throughout the cooking bowl as you cook rice. With a ceramic inner pot, you won’t have to worry about burning or cooking your white rice, brown rice, or wild rice unevenly. However, these pots are prone to breaking and can be costly.
A rice cooker with a stainless steel inner pot is the most common alternative for a non-Teflon rice cooker. Stainless steel does not react with the food inside the cooking bowl, making it perfect for rice cooking. Stainless steel will also not fracture or break if it is accidentally dropped on the floor. The disadvantage of using a stainless steel cooking pot is that rice tends to stick to the bottom and it cooks rice unevenly far more than any other material.
If you prefer an inexpensive cooker that requires little care, rice cookers with a stainless steel pot are the best choice for you. On the other hand, if you prefer a rice cooker with a dishwasher-safe nonstick inner cooking pot without Teflon, a ceramic rice cooker is the better choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you cook rice in a ceramic pot?
Definitely. You can even say that it’s ideal to cook rice in a ceramic pot. Cooking rice in a ceramic or clay pot has various advantages. Rice cooks soft, fluffy, and with separate grains without the need for any oil or chemicals. Cooking rice in traditional pots, on the other hand, more often than not results in burnt or mushy rice.
When rice is cooked in pure clay pots, it not only becomes fluffier and more flavorful but nutrients that are present in the grains are also preserved. The basic carbohydrates and the more sensitive complex carbs remain intact thanks to food-friendly far-infrared heat from pure clay.
Can I use a ceramic bowl in a rice cooker?
A ceramic inner pot is ideal to use in rice cooking, which is why ceramic rice cookers are gaining popularity. Ceramic is a relatively recent substance in the field of nonstick cooking, and it is largely regarded as the safest and most environmentally friendly alternative.
Ceramic coatings don’t have PTFE, PFOA, or BPA. The thicker the coating, the more durable the inner bowl, however, as technology has improved, manufacturers have been able to build hard-wearing ceramic coatings, allowing rice cookers to have a ceramic inner bowl without the entire inner pot being made completely of ceramic.
What is the coating in rice cooker?
The inside pot of most rice cookers is constructed with metal and coated with nonstick Teflon. This nonstick coating keeps the rice from sticking to the pot. However, there have been some worries regarding Teflon’s implications on human health. While Teflon itself isn’t dangerous, once scraped or heated to temperatures above 500° F, it will release hazardous chemicals into your food, which may cause health issues. This, however, does not happen every time you use a Teflon-coated cooking pot.
Is there a ceramic slow cooker?
A slow cooker is ideal for cooking for a large group and is particularly useful for stews, soups, and other recipes that require low heat and lengthy cooking times. Slow cookers are also ideal for braises and other tough meat cuts. While slow cookers with stainless steel inserts or a nonstick bowl are now popular choices, ceramic slow cookers do exist. Because it does not react with acidic foods like tomatoes, ceramic is great for slow cookers.
Final Note
If you wish to avoid PTFE and aluminum, the safest rice cooker to use is a unit with a ceramic inner cooking pot. The drawback of a clay ceramic pot is that it might break if dropped. It may also break if subjected to extreme temperature fluctuations, such as putting cold water into a heated ceramic pot right after cooking. Therefore, extra care is needed to ensure your ceramic rice cooker lasts long.
Do you prefer pressurized rice cookers or other rice cookers in general? Take a look at our rice cooker reviews and guides for more insights. We have models from Panasonic that offer fuzzy logic technology; Aroma Housewares that boast quick and easy cooking; and advanced, high-end rice cookers from Zojirushi and Tiger.
Editor’s Choice
Yum Asia Panda Mini Rice Cooker With Ninja Ceramic Bowl
Yum Asia is a fairly young company compared to some rice cooker brands out there, but it has earned a good reputation for high-quality products since its inception in 2006.
This ceramic rice cooker, in particular, has computer-controlled 7-phase rice cooking technology as well as customized multifunctional choices such as steam, porridge, casserole, soup, cake baking, crust, and yogurt.
It also has a 24-hour timer and a stay warm feature to keep your cooked rice warm and fluffy. It is durable and safe to use, with easy-to-read silk print water level markings on the side of its ceramic pot and easy-lift handles for hassle-free transportation.