10 Best Rice Cookers 2024: Reviews & Guides on Top Cooker Brands

This is the new update version of the best selling rice cooker in the States: Instant pot Duo. It inherited all the wonderful capabilities of its predecessor such as being a pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer, sauté/sear, yogurt maker/ferment, soup, stew, bake, egg, etc. This new version model added  fully customizable cooking programs, a full process indicator, altitude adjustment, precision cooking, larger LCD display, pressure release reset and all sort of others new features.

The inner pot is made of stainless steel without any coating. Its outer body is made of stainless steel in thermal vacuum seal type to trap in heat. This is so easy to clean and most of the parts except for outer body are dishwasher safe.Rice cooking is very quick under high pressure, rice quality is desirable but not exceptional like those Japanese/Korean rice cooker since those have their own rice cooking algorithm.

For an infrequent rice eater, this might be acceptable since it just has so many other uses and has a super large base of applicable recipe. Now, this model doesn’t have smart connect capability. If that is what you’re desired, then look into its cousin: the Instant Pot Smart + app model, which have almost every features but the self sterilize and self-reset pressure valve. However, that smart model can be connected to any Bluetooth device and accepting custom recipe scripts, which is niche in allowing limitless temperatures sequential control of cooking process. Imagine that, download or write your own recipe scripts and share them with friends and family.Durability on any Instant Pot is sort of average. Still, for such a price with that much versatility (costs less than half of a similar function Cuckoo); this is definitely a worth-wise purchase.

This is a very popular rice cooker that was developed mainly just for cooking rice from the popular brand Zojirushi. This is not the regular one switch cook & warm electro-mechanic like the conventional cooker, but rather one equip with a micom chip to control the cooking temperature sequences. The result is better rice quality compare to any conventional rice cooker.

Not only that, this rice cooker has several built-in functions that work with sushi rice, brown rice, porridge, steamer, cake baking, etc.  They are all yield great result if you follow the engraved water guide line inside the nonstick pot.

On compare to other similar price range on market, this rice cooker indeed yields one of the best cooked rice qualities, be it white or brown. This pot is available in 5 cups/1 L and 10 cups/1.8 L sizes, perfectly fit for small to large family or event with crowd party. Clean up is a breeze as most washable parts are PBA-free nonstick plastic and removable inner lid.

A note on this pot is that even though Zojirushi’s products used to be of high quality and durability before, now that they’re moving most of their micom and conventional product lines to China to reduce cost, these lower end product seems to not on par with those 8-10 years ago. So, don’t expect this to last over 10 years if you happen to own a Zojirushi before.

Another note is on the cooking time. Even though this rice cooker does cook up some of the best quality rice than any machine in the same price range, it’s also one of the lowest too, even on quick cooking mode.

This is the perfect rice cooker, if not the best among electronic or microcomputer controlled (micom) rice cookers. Not just a typical step up from the conventional rice cooker, this Tiger cooker give the best cooked rice quality one can achieve. Just pour the rice in, add water and press start. Voila! This thing will start its own automatic cooking logic and precisely cook the best rice quality every time. Just open the lid once it is done, and the load of rice aroma will surf out and bring sensation to every part of your bones.

Not only white rice, this rice cooker also has preset options for cooking brown rice, multi-grain, mixed and sweet rice. All of them are giving superior rice quality making this one of the most stand-out rice cooker. There’re also options for porridge, slow cook and steam and they are all performing to the perfect as well. Other features include automatic keep warm function, delay timer, non-stick pot and lid, etc.

For accessories, it comes with a rice paddle, ladle, steamer and measuring cup. All of these are non-stick and made of exceptional quality plastic that would last for years of heavy usages. Especially the rice paddle, it would work perfectly with sticky or any sushi rice.

Best of all, this pot is made in Japan and has been known for its long lasting life. This rice cooker is in the medium price range for a micom rice cooker, however, it is a worth wise purchase for its exceptional working quality and durability.

Zojirushi is one of best selling Japanese rice cooker brand. Similar to Tiger, all of their rice cookers from the traditional electro-mechanic to micom and now IH rice cooker all produce superior rice taste and texture compared to other brands. Probably due to economic/profit controlling, some of the lower price range models of Zojirushi are now made in China, while the more luxury (and hence higher end) products are still produce in Japan. This model, available in 10 cups (Zojirushi NP-HCC18XH) and 5 cups (NP-HCC10XH), luckily is one of their Japan made models. It comes with high quality pot while having loads of versatile options for cooking rice and other culinary purposes on IH (induction heating) technology.

This is the next step up from a standard electric rice cooker, which uses induction heating to evenly distribute high or low heat to the inner cooking pot rather than at several focal points. Due to this temperature during cooking process is controlled precisely, thus produce great quality rice.

Now there are many other induction rice cookers on the market; however this Zojirushi rice cooker stands out due to its ability in cooking magnificent brown rice quality at such an affordable price among IH rice cookers. This rice cooker can take brown rice, germinated brown rice and also GABA (warm soak before cooking) single-handy.

This Zojirushi rice cooker has a darker gray stainless steel on black exterior with orange control panel, overall oblong shape, kind of resembling older/formal sushi chef style. This, with its clear coating, helps keep the rice cooker from attracting dirt, stain and very easy to maintain.

There is also a separate built-in algorithm for Jasmine rice to bring out its full aroma and tasty nature. Other functions of an electric rice cooker are still here like automatic keep warm (w/ extended keep warm at lower heat), multi-cook, timer, etc.

This Tiger JKT-S model is one of the best induction rice cookers you could found. As you may have known, Tiger rice cooker is always made with quality and user integrity in Japan. While Zojirushi IH rice cooker have an upper hand on brown rice cooking orientation, Tiger rice cooker tends to have more all-in-one appliance capabilities such as slow-cooker, bread maker, etc.

This model have the thickest inner pot made of 8 layers metal and ceramic coating at 2.5mm to achieve the solid non-sticking surface. The inner pot also has side handles for easy holding. If you’ve ever have to pick up a hot pot of rice or soup then you would appreciate this feature so much more.

Carrying the spectacular features of Tiger lines of micom rice cooker, this JKT-S model also include induction heating system for evenly all around cooking and fermented/baking functions. This one also includes a BPA free tacook plate to assist in the simultaneously cooking other food along side with rice, making a whole meal with just one button setting. Bread baking and fermenting are also a valuable feature while many are appreciated for the slow cooker and oatmeal functions. Washing is ease with all non-stick surface, stainless outer body, full lid removable, etc.

For such a high quality built, faster speed, extra functionality (slow cook, bread baking/fermenting, oat meal), this model is also cost a heap over that induction Zojirushi rice cooker.

If you want the best Japanese rice cooker, this is it, the Zojirushi induction and pressure rice cooker is for you. As the name sound, this device is focused mainly on cooking white and brown rice in a deep level. Everything from scorching to re-brown the rice, pump up umami flavor, single-handy brown rice start to finish, amazing work with germinated brown rice… There’s no other device that make better flavor and rice oriented than this one.

The cooker appearance is still that old traditional oblong of a high-end Zojirushi rice cooker. This device is also made in Japan, which sort of guarantee its durability to heavy use. Available in both large 10 cups and 5 cups sizes.

The price tag is ok considering how powerful this machine is at cooking rice. However, for most Westerners/American who are not eating rice on a daily basis, it might be a bit overprice  for solely rice cooker without any extra features like slow cook, soup, etc. So depend on the situation, this could either be the best rice cooker or the not-so-ideal one for your home.

If you have some money to spare and want the best rice cooker on the market, you could try look into these intelligent rice cookers – all quality Korean made Cuckoo 1009 series. You’ll see, in this age of smart technology everything is controlled and customizable from your phone, so do these rice cookers. These models (starting with the Cuckoo CRP-AHSS1009FN, CRP-CHSS1009FNN, CRP-GHSR1009F, and the latest CRP-JHVR1009F) are designed with modern space integrity in mind that would blow you away.

Their bodies are made from 304- stainless steel with special coatings to have that star war jukebox look & feel, so sleek indeed. They can be controlled from any android device (sorry, no iPhones yet) and fully customized in term of temperature and time.

They are all come with presets for cooking all sorts of rice types and cooking. All cooking rice modes yield exceptional results with the fastest speed among any inductor/pressure rice cookers on the market. They also have controls for fermenting and baking bread too.

The latest version also comes with “My mode” setting through variable DSP chip so that you can fully customize cooking algorithm to your liking. All of them are back-up with 21 safety mechanism to avoid issues with pressure cooking. Into canning, these have two High (2atm) and Low (1.2) pressure settings too.

The above models are 10 cup uncooked capacity that would fit for a family small to large, for powerful mini rice cookers, try their 5 cup rice cooker CRP-DHSR0609F or 3 cup rice cooker CRP-EHSS0309F to get same features in small servings.

On compare with high-end Japanese rice cooker brands, while Zojirushi rice cookers mainly focus on cooking the best quality Japanese white grains (short/medium/sushi) and brown rice; Tiger cookers have an astounding balance of making tasty rice the Easterners’ way and add frequent useful functions of Westerner/American home kitchen (such as multi-cook, slow cook, baking, ferment, soup, steam, etc.). Cuckoo machine is, on another hand, have built-in algorithm for every imaginable rice types and cooking styles while immersing lots of users control/customization through variable modes and fully adjustable settings. Another plus is that in any given task, Cuckoo rice cooker always cook up faster than Tiger’s and Zojirushi’s, especially when cooking in large batch.

That’s why these Cuckoo models are very welcome among the Asian cooking community and professional chefs. Their high price tag and their lack of promotion to the Western base customers are what usually make them less appeal in this part, however, once you got them, you will see the reason why these super high-end products are totally worth it.

This is simply a cheap rice cooker, very budget that retail around $30. It carries the simplest function, cook and then keep the rice warm when finished. Its capacity is small, 3 cup rice maxed (yield about 6 cups cooked rice), which is perfectly fit for single user or small family. Cooking time is quick, roughly 20 minutes for small quantity.

The inner pot is fully stainless steel without any coating, which many would love it (Teflon free) or hate it (somewhat sticking if not pre-rinse rice). Mechanism is simple, measure the rice, add water, plug-in, and press the cook button. It will turn to warm when finish, but do remember that due to its design, heat will be dissipated quickly once unplug.

As far as rice quality concern, it’s average, nothing to excite about. It is just on par with other mechanic/conventional rice cooker, which means it’s all depend on how skillful you are at water leveling and timing. The rice quality might not be better; but at least, it’ll save you time and hassle of cooking rice on stove top.

A notably plus is due to its small cute size, this could work as a soup/food warmer, fondue or chocolate hot pot on your serving table with space for spoon/ladle rest too.

Now if you just want some above basic functions of cooking at the lowest price possible, this pot will probably work for you. It is a rice cooker but also equipped with heat/simmering for soup/stew/slow cook, steamer, hot cereal and also a timer. All of that for just about $35, you can’t get anymore budget-able than that. It’s available in 7 cups (14 cups cooked) and 10 cups (20 cups cooked) sizes, so it work well for a large party too. Rice quality, again, remains to be desired but for such low price, this works well for any non-rice based diet family.

This is a rice cooker, but not necessarily one. That is this Breville mainly target at risotto, an Italian rice dish. So, it can cook rice well but with some extra liquid and ingredients that require stirring and such. This machine can cook any type of rice with that you have to test and figure out the correct proportion of rice and water.

The included cookbook is quite useless in that aspect as all rice recipe lead to crust on the bottom, which is never happen in a quality rice cooker. On the other hand, this one can make good risotto, sauté, steaming vegetable, slow cook and soup. It switches to keep-warm automatically when done cooking. Since its design is single layer body with detached lid, it doesn’t contain heat or manage moisture very well, hence reducing overall rice quality. On the plus side it is on the affordable price range and can be useful for many American home cooks, since they’re not frequent rice eaters like the Easterners (Japanese/Korean) do.