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Looking to purchase a rice cooker for your kitchen but don’t know which one you should get? You’ve come to the right place! There are several rice cookers in the market, but not all of them will give you value for your money.
In this rice cooker buying guide, we’ve listed the top 11 best rice cookers in 2023 to help you make sure you have an informed choice on your investment.
Zojirushi NS-ZCC10/18The NS-ZCC rice cooker boasts cutting-edge Neuro-fuzzy logic technology, enabling the smart home appliance to think for itself. It is unquestionably a rice cooker for the future and deserving of being awarded the finest rice cooker in 2023. | Tiger JBV-A10UThis cooker is both easy to operate and has a complete set of capabilities that essentially reinvent the cooking experience. For beginners, the Tiger JBV-A10U is a multipurpose electric rice cooker. | Cuckoo CRP-P0609SDue to its versatility and ability to serve as both a pressure rice cooker and a steamer, this rice cooker is among the ranks of the best. Also, it has a heating plate that can be set to make excellent rice, porridge, and other foods. |
Functionality: Quality: Price: | Functionality: Quality: Price: | Functionality: Quality: Price: |
There’s no question why the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Logic Cooker is one of the products that has almost every reviewer raving. It’s made with the innovative Neuro Fuzzy logic and Micom rice cooker technology that learns and masters the cooking cycle for any kind of rice (or other food!) you wish.
Whether it be brown rice, white rice, sushi, or porridge, the Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 (5.5 cup capacity) and NS-ZCC18 (10 cup capacity) can make it for you. By utilizing its temperature sensor and heat settings according to the selected rice menu option, it can yield tasty and fluffy cooked rice every time.
While some may not be a fan of its price tag, we think each penny is worth all the functions and features that come with this appliance. There’s really no question as to why we have hailed it the best rice cooker for 2023. We’ve also featured this model in our Best Zojirushi Rice Cookers guide.
Other features of the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Logic ZCC10/18 are:
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ 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 |
Second, on our list as the best rice cooker is a Tiger unit. The Tiger JBV-A10U is a multifunctional electric rice cooker that’s perfect for beginners and those who easily get confused with buttons and digital controls. This cooker has a full range of functions and features not found in other rice cookers that rewrite the cooking experience while being easy to use at the same time.
Equipped with Tiger brand’s unique “Tacook” function, you can steam your viand simultaneously with the rice in one cooking cycle without having the flavors and textures affect each other. The non-stick inner pot ensures an easy clean-up afterwards. The JBV-A10U gives you the freedom to choose between 4 different settings. If you like your rice brown or plain, you can have it with this cooker. It also has slow cooking and synchro-cooking functions. Upon choosing an option, the unit will adjust its heat, cooking time, and temperature settings to prepare your great-tasting rice.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Best for beginners ✔️ All accessories are dishwasher-safe ✔️ Easy to clean ✔️ Solid and reliable | ✖️ Short lifespan ✖️ The inner pot is prone to nicks and scratches |
The battle between Cuckoo vs Zojirushi continues with this guide. While the latter is the most popular brand in the market, the Cuckoo CRP-P0609S is more than what you would expect. Reviews name the best rice cooker because it has multiple functions and can double as a pressure rice cooker and steamer. This Cuckoo rice cooker is also equipped with a heating plate that’s programmed to cook great rice (whether brown, white, or jasmine rice) porridge, and more.
Other notable features of the Cuckoo CRP-P0609S include:
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ 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 |
If you think the Aroma Housewares Digital Cooker ARC 743-1NGR can only make rice, you’re in for a treat. This unit can prepare an entire meal during a single cooking cycle. Equipped with an aluminum steaming basket/tray, you can steam veggies, meat, fish, and even dumplings with your rice underneath. You can even experiment with soups, chilli, jambalaya, and more.
Are you the type to get confused with too many buttons and settings? Well, this Aroma Housewares rice cooker makes the process easier with its simple, one-touch operation. All it takes is one press of a button, and your cooker can prepare tasty and fluffy rice in no time. This device is great for both the cooking pro/home chef and the ultimate beginner! In fact, we named this model our choice for the best overall Aroma rice cooker.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Lightweight ✔️ Dishwasher safe parts ✔️ Tempered glass lid for easy viewing ✔️ Affordable | ✖️ Unfit for large families due to its small capacity ✖️ Lack of cooking menus to cook several types of rice |
The NP-NVC10 rice cooker and warmer is one of Zojirushi’s best top-of-the-line rice cookers. Similar to the previous NS-ZCC model, this unit makes use of advanced Neuro Fuzzy logic technology with artificial intelligence to aid the cooking cycle and yield high-quality and perfectly cooked rice, exactly how you like it.
This stainless steel rice cooker and warmer is also equipped with several rice menu settings you can choose from. It has the ability to cook any type of rice you want, including 2 healthy meal options. Whether you’re craving white rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, sushi rice, sweet, GABA brown, or porridge, the NS-NVC10 has got you covered. This product is similar to previous models such as the NS-TSC10 but has more precise and improved technology than the NS-TSC10 owing to its more advanced features.
Other features of the NP-NVC10 include:
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Wide range of rice menu selections ✔️ Healthy cooking options ✔️ Non-stick coating in the inner cooking pan ✔️ Stainless steel material ✔️ Has Zojirushi induction technology ✔️ Best for experts and professionals | ✖️ A lot of buttons ✖️ Difficult to understand without reading the user manual ✖️ One of the most expensive rice cookers in the market |
The Oster 6-Cup Rice Cooker looks small and compact in size, but don’t judge a book by its cover just yet. More than making rice, this cooker also doubles as a steamer. It comes with a steaming basket or tray that can hold and cook vegetables, meat and fish. That means that you can cook your side dish simultaneously with your rice in the cooking pan and prepare an entire meal in one cooking cycle.
To ramp up the rice cooking process, the Oster 6-cup rice cooker (3-cup uncooked rice) has removed all the complications and multiple buttons to navigate the menu settings. It makes operating the cooker so much simpler by using a one-touch menu function that allows you to start and end cooking at the touch of a button.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Easy to use ✔️ Doubles as a food steamer ✔️ Can cook white or brown rice ✔️ Automatic keep warm | ✖️ Minimal capacity ✖️ Not suitable for big families ✖️ Lack of menu settings ✖️ Lack of innovative functions and features |
The Instant Pot Lux Mini is rated among America’s best brands for cooking appliances and is one of our top picks for the best small rice cookers. Another one of the products beloved by almost every reviewer, there’s no mistaking the Instant Pot model as an incredible device. It earned its title due to its multiple cooking functions and 10 smart programs that give you a vast range of cooking options.
What makes the Lux Mini a family favorite rice cooker, though, is that it is 6 appliances built into 1 piece of equipment, thereby reducing clutter in the kitchen, creating more counter space, and making it easier to clean up after meals. The Instant Pot also comes equipped with a keep-warm function that keeps your food warm for long periods of time.
The Instant Pot Lux Mini could be your next best mini rice cooker in that it comes with a promise of a safe user experience. With this device, you don’t have to worry about accidents and kitchen hazards. It has 10 safety mechanisms in place, like the steam release, anti-block shield, safety lid lock, lid position detection, automatic temperature control, overheat (burn) protection, automatic pressure cooking control, electrical fuse, thermal fuse, and leaky lid detection.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Compact and portable ✔️ Innovative functions despite small build ✔️ 6 appliances in 1 ✔️ 10 smart programs that offer more food versatility ✔️ Very affordable | ✖️ Users complain about the pressure cooking function having a week steam valve ✖️ Has a tendency to burn the rice at the bottom due to lack of an IH feature |
The Black + Decker RC3406 is one of the most reasonably-priced units in the market, making it a top choice for a multi-functional cooker in our Black + Decker Guide. It’s best for single-family households since it only has a small capacity of 3 cups of uncooked rice or 6 cups of delicious cooked rice.
Despite the simplicity of the RC3406, cooking white rice is not all that it can do. This cooker also doubles as a food steamer, equipped with a plastic steamer basket that can hold a small portion of meat, veggies, or fish, among others. With this inclusion, you can steam vegetables, fish, and your main dish while cooking your rice.
Its 2 main functions (cook and keep warm) can be navigated through the flick of a switch and the selected function is shown through indicator lights. After the quick and easy cooking cycle, your batch of rice is done and you have a complete and ready-to-eat meal on the table.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Budget-friendly ✔️ Doubles as a food steamer ✔️ One-touch navigation | ✖️ Lack of innovative functions and features ✖️ Lack of menu settings |
Tiger rice cooker vs Zojirushi rice cooker is also another battle worth mentioning. But Tiger takes its game to the next level with the Tiger JKT-S10U, which holds the best innovations that Tiger has manufactured. This model is equipped with Tiger’s unique Tacook Cooking Plate and induction heating technology, both coming together to help you prepare two tasty dishes simultaneously.
But beyond that, the JKT-S10U also has slow cooking, synchro-cooking, and bread-baking functions. Whether you like to cook white rice, brown rice, plain, or mixed, the JKT-S10U can do the trick, thanks to its 11 computerized menu settings. Plus, it comes complete with accessories from a spatula with a nonstick coating, a cooking plate, a measuring cup, and a cookbook.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Stainless steel design ✔️ Detachable parts for easy cleaning | ✖️ Lack of accessories and items ✖️ Heavy weight |
The Hamilton Beach Digital Simplicity Rice Cooker is highly raved, with everyone wanting to have it in their homes. And there’s no question as to why. One of the best budget rice cooker models in the market, this Hamilton Beach rice cooker model can cook anything, from quinoa to oatmeal. It has a large capacity and can yield up to 14 cups of cooked rice, enough to serve the whole family plus several other dinner guests during dinner parties.
What users’ reviews would say is the best part is its delay timer, making it best for busy people who like preparing their meals in advance or someone who eats rice regularly. With this feature, you make rice by simply popping the grains into this cooker and setting the cooking cycle to start for as late as 15 hours.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Large capacity ✔️ Can cook more than just rice ✔️ Has a unique heat/simmer feature ✔️ Up to 15 hours delay timer | ✖️ Inner pot is not IH, so there's a tendency for the rice at the bottom to burn |
Not least among other things as best rice cooker is a Dash model. While it doesn’t have the fancy settings most high-end rice cookers possess, the Dash Mini Rice Cooker‘s most shining feature is its small size. If you live alone and have limited space for appliances, then the compact size of this unit is the ideal fit for you. Like any rice cooker, you can cook almost anything using this unit, from soups, stews, rice bowls, and many more. It comes with an easy-to-clean inner pot for faster cleaning and handles for easy transport even when there’s warm rice inside.
It also has a simple lever button you can press to turn on the cook mode, and an automatic keep warm feature to keep your food at its optimal serving temperature unit you’re ready to eat.
Pros | Cons |
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✔️ Portable ✔️ Easy to use ✔️ Can fit in small spaces | ✖️ Not ideal for bigger households ✖️ Has only 2-cup capacity |
For some, cooking quality rice may seem like a tedious activity, particularly if you’re cooking brown rice or sushi rice. Most don’t have the luxury of time or energy to make their own home-cooked meals, so they opt to eat out or order food from restaurants. But this isn’t always the best choice. Some also spend too much time and energy cooking rice on the stove the traditional way. Is a rice cooker worth getting? It is best answered by the individual and their needs.
Luckily, the advent of rice cooking technologies has made preparing rice meals a lot easier (as long as you get the right one). Investing in a dedicated rice cooker may earn you a kitchen companion that will make the process simpler and significantly reduce cooking time, giving you the chance to prepare your food while still meeting the demands of your fast-paced lifestyle.
The most common and basic cookers in the market are standard rice cookers. These are the conventional electric kinds in which you put rice and water in the inner pot, flick a single switch, and the preparation process begins. The heat used to cook the rice usually comes from the bottom of the rice cooker and spreads to the other parts of the inner pot.
Built-in thermal sensors then signal the rice cooker that all the water has been absorbed and evaporated. This tells it that the rice is cooked and it automatically flicks the switch from “cook” to “heat.” These rice cookers are usually built for cooking long-grain white rice or medium-grain white rice.
Standard or traditional rice cookers are very simple to use and are ideal for those who want to simplify and add convenience to their kitchen experience without all the bells and whistles of innovative and advanced technology 2023 brings. They’re also a lot safer than some newer kinds, such as microwave rice cookers. While they’re mostly built to cook long-grain white rice such as Basmati rice, they’re able to cook other varieties as long as you’re familiar with how your cooker works. They may not be the best and smartest rice cookers, but they’re tremendously cheap and easy to use.
A digital rice cooker, such as a Micom rice cooker, can be considered a new and improved version of the standard, conventional ones. They have more functions and features that are navigable using simple buttons in a digital control panel. Usually, the added rice functions include an on/off setting, food warming, cooking timer, delay timer, and white and brown rice menu selections.
Digital rice cookers give more control to the users to select and choose whichever feature they want to activate through the LCD control panel. They have a slight improvement in terms of rice quality, basically because you can select the options and actions taken by the rice cooker as it cooks rice.
With the advent of multi-functional appliances, this kitchen tool can now do more than just cook white or Jasmine rice. A multi-functional rice cooker performed best in versatility and a vast array of settings and features you can use at your leisure.
Many multi-functional rice cookers make use of advanced technology and high-tech innovations to help you make rice perfectly every time. With their menu settings, you can get it to operate according to whatever type of rice you’re after — whether it’s plain rice, white rice, sushi rice, porridge, brown rice, risotto, GABA brown rice, sticky rice, etc. Not only that, but they can also double as steamers that allow you to cook other food like vegetables, meat, fish, etc. while your rice cooks.
Many rice cookers today can slow cook as well, simmering the food at a lower temperature than conventional cooking methods. A slow cooker makes rice and other dishes more savory, as the flavors are distributed more evenly.
IH rice cookers by far have the highest price range in the market, especially this year. That’s owing to their advanced features and several available cooking functions. The thing about an induction heating system rice cooker is that they don’t cook the same way conventional rice cookers do. Instead of making use of single heating elements below the cooking pot, IH cookers utilize the entire pot as a source of heat.
With an Induction Heating system rice cooker, rice cooks at a balanced and equal temperature throughout, which results in the best quality rice every time.
There are also ceramic rice cookers that have durable, safe, and environmentally-friendly ceramic inner pots that can cook rice more optimally and yield perfectly-cooked and better-tasting rice.
Pressure cookers, as their name implies, add pressure to the rice during the pressure cooking process. When the pressure cooking selection is turned on, the cooker traps steam in the pot, which causes the density of each grain to change. This makes fluffy rice that is softer and easier to digest. Pressure cookers can also retain the softness and quality of the food for a longer period of time. There are a lot of rice cookers that have pressure cooking functions as well.
The first and foremost thing to consider when choosing cooker brands is the rice cooker size or capacity. This would depend on how much food you’re aiming to cook per cycle, and the capacity of your rice cooker should always prepare enough rice for the entire household. Of course, the bigger the serving sizes you want, the bigger your cooker should be. It would be counterintuitive, for example, to purchase a small rice cooker when you have 6 family members living in your home.
For single-family households, a 3-cup capacity rice cooker will be more than enough to cook rice for a day’s meal. On the other hand, bigger families are best to opt for a 5-cup to 10-cup rice cooker capacity. Take note that most rice cookers base their capacity on how many cups of uncooked rice can fit inside the stainless steel pot without the rice overflowing when it’s cooked.
Ultimately, it all depends on how much food you’re going to cook. Take into consideration how often you’re going to eat rice and how many servings you want to yield in one cycle.
The features and functions to look for in a rice cooker would depend on your needs and preferences. For instance, if you’re the type of person who loves to cook and consider yourself a home chef, using a multi-functional cooker with features like a Zojirushi IH system and multiple menu settings would be the best choice. But if you’re looking for a simple, fool-proof, and easy-to-navigate appliance to cook great rice, using a basic rice cooker with simple features would do the trick.
This year has paved the way for new innovations and developments in what a rice cooker can do, making it much more convenient than cooking rice on the stove. But some general functions in all the rice cookers we tested that would be ideal to have in your own rice cooker are:
A great rice cooker should not only help in making rice and cooking easier, but it should also be easy to clean, so as to avoid the hassle of washing and rinsing the rice cooker after use.
Ideally, the cooker should have a removable inner lid and a nonstick pot. You might also opt to use a stainless steel pot with a nonstick coating to avoid the difficulty of scrubbing food residue on the pan.
Many rice cookers come with accessories like a rice measuring cup, spatula or rice paddle, rice scoop holder, etc, that help make cooking rice and serving it easier. Although accessories are not absolutely essential, investing in a unit that comes with these useful kitchen gadgets will save you the extra cost of purchasing them separately.
Different brands of cookers all have different areas where their products shine most. If you prefer to cook your side dish and rice at the same time, for example, Tiger might be the best brand for you due to their cooker’s Tacook feature. If you prefer a more conventional cooker, an Oster might be your best bet, but if you’re looking for a more high-tech model, a Zojirushi induction rice cooker is worth a look. An Aroma Housewares rice cooker can fit small households, though there are smaller models of Zojirushi. There are also Panasonic fuzzy logic rice cookers if you’re after a smarter cooking experience. Cuchen, Gourmia, and Muji rice cooker brands are also contenders, among others.
A conventional rice cooker with a 3-cup capacity is considered to be a portable rice cooker, though a unit with up to 6-cup capacity can still be easily transported. If you’re looking for a high-end model, as a unit with a Zojirushi induction heating system, for example, you’re more likely to get stuck with a bulkier model.
If you’re always on the go and would still like to eat perfectly fluffy rice, a small-size rice cooker can be your best companion, though most will not have the same multifunctional features as large rice cooker units. A smaller rice cooker is ideal if your goal is only to cook long-grain rice or other grain varieties like sweet rice.
Buying a good rice cooker will give you a kitchen companion that can help you prepare delicious rice and tasty, home-cooked meals faster and easier. There are tons of available rice cooker units in the market, but they all differ based on capacity, functionality, features, technologies, etc. The key to finding the best cooker that’s perfect for you is to figure out your needs and preferences. Once you’ve got that lined up, then you’re bound to find the best unit that suits you and your household.
This review lists the best cookers in 2023 when it comes to the standards of cooking perfect rice, easy-to-use features, advanced technology, and performance quality. We hope you find the one that stands out for you from all other rice cookers, even the ones not covered here including Panasonic, Cuchen, Cuisinart, Muji rice cooker models, etc. Take a look at some of the rice cookers we tested and other rice cooker reviews we compiled to learn more about cookers that are worth your investment.
Japanese brand Zojirushi has exceeded our expectations to become the best overall rice cooker of 2023 by creating the NS-ZCC10 and NS-ZCC18 units. Definitely a rice cooker for the future and worthy to be named the best rice cooker, the NS-ZCC features high-tech and advanced Neuro-fuzzy logic technology, allowing the smart home device to “think for itself.”
It learns and masters the different temperatures, time, and heat requirements needed to cook quality rice every time. Rice cooked in this rice maker, regardless of its medium-grain white rice or sushi rice comes out perfect.
With a wide array of features and a fine selection of menu settings for all types of rice, including sushi rice, Jasmine rice, and Basmati rice, the NS-ZCC10 (5.5-cup capacity) and NS-ZCC18 (10-cup capacity) Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy rice cooker models guarantee a seamless and stress-free process of preparing rice through the use of innovative and advanced technology.
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