Best Rice Cookers To Buy

Rice can be one of the most difficult things to perfectly cook if you don’t have a lot of experience cooking it.

The best rice cooker can help you take the guesswork out of cooking rice that isn’t under or overcooked, and it can do so in a timelier manner.

Regardless of the type of rice you need to cook, the best rice cooker will cook them all to perfection with little effort from you.

Our best rice cooker reviews can help guide you to the perfect fit for your kitchen, budget, and cooking needs.

The Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer is a programmable rice cooker that holds up to 10 cups of cooked rice and also uses fuzzy logic technology to cook food to your expectations.

Rather than being a stainless-steel rice cooker, this unit has an aluminum inner pot and white exterior, both of which are easy to clean and give the cooker a unique design.

The Quick Cooking setting can even help cook food faster when you’re in a time crunch, and the Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker and warmer will use its smart technology to cook and heat your food to perfection – no guesswork required.

We love this Zojirushi 5.5 cup rice cooker for its various settings that make it both a functional and versatile kitchen appliance.

One of the best features of this rice cooker is its ability to keep food warm for up to 12 hours. That makes this ideal to use if you need to start cooking before you leave for work.

The non-stick inner pan also means that you will have an easy clean-up process afterward. And the removable and washable steam vent is another feature meant to make your clean-up a breeze.

This is definitely one of the most user-friendly rice cookers on the market.

The Panasonic Rice Cooker likely has one of the simplest designs you’ll see for a rice cooker, yet its simplicity is what sets it apart as one of the best. This model isn’t your typical programmable rice cooker.

Instead, it’s a one-button machine that automatically adjusts to your food’s cooking needs using its smart technology. All you need to do is set the button to “Cook,” and let the cooker take care of the rest.

This model isn’t recommended for brown rice, but it can cook white rice, sushi rice, stir-fries, and other foods to perfection.

The automatic cook cycle will adjust to the needs of the food by sensing whether it needs a lower or higher temperature or a change in steam.

Once the cooking cycle completes, the cooker will automatically switch to the Keep Warm mode. This setting keeps your food warm for up to four hours without overcooking it.

This model will make up to 6 cups of cooked rice. Unlike other similar units, it doesn’t include a steam setting or a steaming tray for vegetables, fish, or meats.

But, this appliance is a good choice for those who only want a rice cooker without the extras. You won’t pay for accessories and settings that you may never use.

Additionally, this cooker is small enough to fit in a small kitchen with tight counter space or tucked away in a cabinet.

This rice cooker comes in a bright red color and has a nonstick inner pot and steaming basket. It also includes a domed glass lid which you are able to see through.

The options include a keep warm feature so that you can serve your food when you are completely ready for it. Each rice cooker also comes equipped with a measuring cup and a plastic rice paddle.

These additional tools help ensure that you end up with only the absolute best rice possible.

If you need a smaller cooker for personal use, the Aroma Housewares 6-Cup Pot Style Rice Cooker may be the perfect choice for you.
According to rice cooker reviews by customers, this Aroma rice cooker and food steamer is not only an excellent option for small budgets, but it’s also convenient for beginners to use.

The one-touch design makes it simple to cook rice, steam meats, and vegetables, or even slow cook a meal without worrying about various settings and buttons.

For a larger unit with a bit more control over settings, try the Aroma Housewares 8-Cup Digital Rice Cooker & Food Steamer.

The Black and Decker 6-Cup Rice Cooker and Steamer is the next size up, cooking up to 3 cups of dry rice at a time.

The streamlined design of this model also features Cook and Warm settings that you can change with the flip of a switch.

For ultimate safety, Black and Decker added Stay Cool side handles and a lid handle to prevent burns.

This unit also comes with a handy steamer basket that sits atop your rice so you can create a meal conveniently in one pot.

Cook up to 7 cups of uncooked rice in this model.

Once it’s finished, the cooker will set itself to automatic warming mode, so your food stays hot without overcooking until you’re ready to eat.

You can make soups, stews, steamed food, and more in this cooker.

The dishwasher-safe cooking bowl makes the unit a breeze to clean.

The Hamilton Beach Rice and Cereal Cooker is our choice for the best Hamilton Beach rice cooker because of all the ways you can use it in the kitchen. This appliance can take the place of several others, like your steamer, slow cooker, and oatmeal cooker.

Plus, it’s perfect for small budgets, as its price range falls much below other models with similar capacities and cooking functions.

This model has six programmed cook settings: white rice, quick rice, whole grain, steam cook, hot cereal, and heat/simmer.

Use the whole grain function for brown and mixed rice varieties, which can take up to twice the time to cook using conventional methods.

With this convenient setting, your multigrain varieties can cook almost as quickly as white rice.

The hot cereal setting is perfect for oatmeal, cream of wheat, and similar breakfast foods to seamlessly blend the grains with water for the perfect texture. The cooker will automatically switch to the Keep Warm setting once your foods finish cooking.

Hamilton Beach’s cooker can steam foods over your rice with the included rinse and steaming basket or easy one-pot meals. If you want to “set it and forget it,” you can do that with this appliance by using the delay timer.

Set it for up to 11 hours in advance so your meal can get started while you’re at work for the day, and will be ready by the time your family gets home.

This is especially handy for meal-prepping enthusiasts who want an easy way to maximize their time by creating meals efficiently.

While the HB portfolio hasn’t really jumped up and won awards, it has produced some reliable products, again and again, solidifying market share with reliability.

The Digital Simplicity is not going to lead the pack in the best small rice cookers, but it will rank in the group, especially with the ability to serve a large group up to 20 cups worth at a time.

The unit is also flexible enough to steam both rice and other vegetables versus just being a one-off cooker.

Some competition finally appears in third place with the Instant Pot DUO60 cooker. This unit is built to be both functional and durable, expecting a good number of years of use before replacement is necessary.

The cooker runs faster and uses less charge than a regular steamer, so over time it can conceivably pay for itself in savings as well.

Folks do need to work with the Instant Pot DUO60 a bit though. It’s a pressure cooker, which requires a different approach to cooking food than what a steamer requires.