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Best Rice Cookers (2022), Tested & Reviewed

For the full-size rice cookers, we cooked two uncooked cups of Nishiki Japanese medium-grain white rice in each model; in those that performed well, we then cooked two cups of short-grain brown rice, followed by two cups of long-grain basmati rice. For the mini rice cookers, we cooked one uncooked cup of the medium-grain white rice in each model.

What we looked for

Is the rice cooker easy to use?

The best rice cookers should make cooking rice nearly effortless and require very little human intervention. All the models we tested delivered on that intuitive simplicity with manuals that clearly outlined how to get started, including details on how to measure and wash rice, how much water to add to the cooking pot, which menu setting to use, and what buttons to push to start cooking. In machines that claim they can keep rice warm, we expected the Keep Warm setting to click on soon after the rice was done cooking.

How long does it take to cook rice?

Range in cooking times varied greatly among the machines. Though quick-cooking rice is always a temptation, we found that the best rice generally took the longest to make. The full-size Zojirushi models each took close to an hour for medium- and long-grain white rice and nearly an hour and a half for brown rice. By contrast, the Instant Pot and Breville Risotto Plus, which both performed so-so, took around 10 minutes.

What is the end result like?

We wanted to find a great rice cooker that excelled at all three types of rice we tested. We looked for evenly cooked, flavorful, fluffy rice. We also wanted flavorful grains that were cooked through without being gummy and retained bite without being too firm.

Does the rice cooker have any useful additional features?

Every rice cooker comes with a couple of key accessories: a measuring cup (don’t get confused, “1 cup” in rice cooker parlance is actually a ¾-cup measure) and a rice paddle. All but the Cuckoo and the Breville had a paddle holder on the rice cooker itself—a welcome feature. A few of the rice cookers that we tested included steamer baskets, which, in the case of the Hamilton Beach model, doubled as a sieve for cleaning rice. Technical features, such as the warmer or timer, make an already convenient machine even more user-friendly.

How easy is it to clean?

All of the rice cookers we tested, with the exception of the Instant Pot, have inner pots with a nonstick coating; this coating is essential for easy cleaning. You should be able to use your spatula or paddle to scoop out rice without leaving residue or stubborn rice bits stuck on the bottom. The lids of the Zojirushi, Instant Pot, and Breville machines are also washable, an added bonus, especially for those who think simply wiping down the lid doesn’t cut it. Keep in mind that almost no rice cooker is dishwasher-safe

How much room does it take up?

Each machine’s countertop footprint varied—most of the models we tested measured in at under a foot diameter, which meant they didn’t take up much more room than a food processor. Taking up less counter space is always better from a storage perspective, but the quality of the rice was more important to us in the long run.

Is the rice cooker a good value?

The machine prices varied wildly, starting at $25 and going all the way up to $260. Ultimately, the best rice cooker won regardless of price, though models like the Cuckoo and Zojirushi 3-Cup got points for performing well beyond what their price point would indicate. Conversely, a machine like the Breville was somewhat underwhelming given its $129 cost.

Other rice cookers we tested

None of the machines we tested were an all-out fail; with any of these, you will be able, at the very least, to cook some rice. That said, there were pros and cons with each machine that ultimately factored into our final rankings.

10 Best Rice Cookers 2022

10 Best Rice Cookers 2022 | The Strategist

Every product is independently selected by (obsessive) editors. Things you buy through our links may earn us a commission.

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Photo: Marcus McDonald

Photo: Marcus McDonald

Making rice is deceptively easy: Measure, rinse, add water, simmer, steam, and less than a half an hour later, you’re done. And yet so often — no matter if you’re an amateur in the kitchen or consider yourself pretty accomplished — the final result is a letdown. Sometimes the grains turn to mush; sometimes they’re hard in the middle; and all too often they’re stuck to the bottom of the pot (in my house, the ultimate “let it soak overnight” culprit — never a fun thing to wake up to).

Enter rice cookers, which, for many, save the day. They’re basically a targeted type of electric cooker, similar to a pressure cooker or slow cooker, only they excel at making plump, perfectly cooked rice. They can either be incredibly simple, with just two settings to “cook” and “keep warm,” or they can be quite advanced, with presets for all different types of rice (brown, long grain, sushi, and more) as well as preparations like congee, porridge, and even pressure-cooking (which is, yes, one way in which all those electric cooking tools can overlap).

I spoke with a bunch of experts about their favorite models, which ranged from cheap and straightforward contraptions to more high-tech machines. But the bottom line is, if you eat rice even a couple times a week, a rice cooker may be well worth a spot on your countertop.

Best overall | Best less expensive | Best even less expensive | Best electric steamer |Best simple | Best small | Best Persian | Best with pressure cooking | Best less expensive with pressure cooking | Best high-end

Capacity: Many of these rice cookers come in multiple sizes. I’ve listed all of them so you can easily see what your options are. Of course, how big a capacity you go for will depend on how much rice you consume per meal as well as if you want to have leftovers. But in general, a three-cup rice cooker is good for one or two people, a five- or six-cup rice cooker is good for about four people, and anything bigger is best if you eat a lot of rice or host people frequently for dinner. Also important to remember: The bigger the capacity, the more space the cooker will take up.

Settings: As I mentioned before, some rice cookers come with just a couple settings, and others come with many. Here, I’ve listed each of the specific functions the given rice cooker can perform.

Zojirushi NS-TSC10 Rice Cooker

$189 now 7% off

$175

5.5 or 10 cups | White/sushi, mixed, porridge, sweet, brown, cake, steam, and quick cooking

In my reporting, Zojirushi came up more than any other brand. It has a fancier model with even more settings that multiple experts mentioned (you can read about that one further down the list), but this one — especially given that it’s less than half the price of the other — makes for an all-around great buy.

Food writer and recipe developer Kiera Wright-Ruiz had to leave hers behind when she recently moved to Hawaii; she told me it’s the thing she misses the most. “I’m sure people have said this before, but it really is the Lamborghini of rice cookers,” she says. The standout reason is what Zojirushi calls “fuzzy technology,” or a built-in microcomputer that can sense how your rice is cooking and adjust the time and temperature so that “even if you add too little or too much water, it will self-correct,” says Wright-Ruiz. “You get a consistent texture with a margin of error.” Another particularly appealing feature is the ability to preset when you want your rice to cook: For example, if you’re braising something that takes three hours, you can time it so that the rice is done simultaneously.

Finally, though perhaps not the most imperative to the rice itself, Zojirushi’s machines play music when you start them (an adaptation of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”) and when they’re done cooking — and it’s clearly delightful enough that everyone who recommended the brand (again, more on the rest of those folks, below) made mention of the jingles.

$175 at Amazon

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Panasonic SR-DF101 Rice Cooker

$91

$91

5 or 10 cups | Quick cook/steam, white, brown, porridge/soup, keep warm

The Panasonic is another simple model, the one that food photographer Neal Santos has also used for a decade — both personally and at his Philly-based Filipino pop-up, Lalo (which unfortunately closed due to the pandemic). “I’m not a high-tech kind of person, and this only has a few settings. That’s what I grew up with in a Filipino household,” he says. “It can be on all the time and stay warm. It has a little basket that can steam veggies over the rice. Sometimes I’ll use it for other dishes as well. The Philippines has a lot of rice desserts — like suman, which is sticky rice wrapped in banana leaf. I put the suman in there and let it stay warm. That’s how we used it at the restaurant. We were in a food hall, so everything was small, and this was an efficient way to do things.”

Reviewers of the Panasonic agree. “The ‘keep warm’ function is so convenient,” writes one, “and I never end up with burnt rice that’s impossible to clean off the pot. In fact, I usually only have to give the pot a quick rinse when I’m done and it’s good to go.” Another says it’s even better than the Zojirushi when it comes to that particular setting. “It keeps white or brown rice warm and ready to eat for 24 hours, without the rice drying out and becoming too hard and brittle,” they write. “The 10-cup Zojirushi we have will dry out the rice overnight. ”

$91 at Amazon

Buy

$91 at Amazon

Buy

Aroma ARC-914SBD Digital Rice Cooker

$30

$30

4 cups | White, brown, keep warm, steam, delay timer, flash rice (a time-saving option)

For a particularly low-key model that gets the job done, Justin Lee, the owner-chef of New York City’s Fat Choy, turns to his Aroma rice cooker. “For home use, I think a cheap and simple one is really all you need,” he says. “It’s just easier than using a pot — or at least you don’t have to watch it as much. It gets the job done totally fine,” he notes. “And sure, there’s something about the way the Zojirushi is constructed that makes it superior. But at the end of the day, we’re not making sushi rice. This is just us cooking rice at home so we can feed ourselves and our family.” For that, he maintains it’s perfect. He’s not the only one who thinks so: The Aroma has a four-and-a-half-star rating on Amazon with more than 50,000 reviews. “Even a caveman can make perfect rice” with this machine, writes one customer. Another was specifically looking for an alternative to the Zojirushi — and was still “willing to pay big bucks” — but couldn’t believe it when her sister told her about this under-$50 unit: “I thought she was kidding. So glad she wasn’t. Now my husband and I [are] already enjoying our perfectly cooked brown rice.”

If you’re interested in an even simpler version of Lee’s Aroma, Strategist senior editor Chelsea Peng (who grew up with Zojirushis) endorses such a model. She uses hers to make brown rice (and during tomato season, this “extremely dated but delicious” hack). “The 12-minute final countdown is a handy feature, because it tells me when to squeeze in a Shona Vertue video or to start cooking the other components of my meal,” she says. “And it’s very sturdy — I’ve bashed it around and picked it up by the top handle when it’s open (don’t ask me why) with no detrimental effect.”

$30 at Walmart

Buy

$30 at Amazon

Buy

Tatung Rice Cooker

$180

$180

6 cups | Steam, keep warm

Food writer Cathy Erway explains that her rice cooker, ubiquitous in Taiwan, works like an electric steamer: Instead of mixing rice and water directly together, the Tatung heats water in a larger compartment around the bowl that holds the rice. This generates steam and helps the individual grains cook super-evenly. But it also means that “you can steam other foods, like eggs or broccoli, without boiling them,” Erway says, whether that’s on a tray set on top of the rice or without any rice at all. She also appreciates the simple functionality. “I don’t need a ton of buttons to do this thing or that thing,” she says. “After the first time or two making rice, you know exactly how long it takes.”

[Editor’s note: Yun Hai just became the sole distributor of Tatung in the United States. They’re currently sold out, but you can sign up to be notified when they come back in stock at the end of the year.]

$180 at Yun Hai

Buy

Imusa Electric Nonstick Rice Cooker

$19

$23 now 17% off

$19

6 cups | Cook, keep warm

Recipe developer and writer Justine Doiron loves her rice cooker because of its simplicity and reliability. She first bought it about eight years ago at Target because it was the cheapest one she could find. Despite the notably low price, the machine has proven to be incredibly durable and has “never done me wrong,” she says. The Imusa comes with a measuring cup and instructions on how much water to add, depending on what variety of rice you’re making. Other than that, it operates with a single cook button and a setting to keep food warm if you want. “When a cooking appliance is only meant for one use, you don’t need the fanciest model,” Doiron says.

$19 at Amazon

Buy

$19 at Amazon

Buy

Muji Rice Cooker

$149

$149

3 cups | White, mixed, brown, rinse-free, quick, sprouted, curry, porridge, timer, keep warm

This compact rice cooker comes endorsed by cookbook author and recipe developer Lukas Volger. While it does retail on the higher end, especially for such a little machine, “I think the fact that ten years after I got it, it is still working great is a testament to it being a good value,” he says. “The features are limited, which means it’s simple to use.” As for the look? It’s super small (less than a foot in height, depth, and width), with rounded corners, a hidden compartment for the cord, and a very minimal color palette. “It’s both cute and kind of futuristic-looking and modern and sleek, all at the same time. For anyone who loves Muji, it’s very true to the company’s form. For the longest time, I thought, Why would I need a rice cooker in my tiny kitchen? But then I got this thing, and you can have perfect rice ready all the time,” says Volger.

$149 at Muji

Buy

Pars Automatic Persian Rice Cooker

From $83

3, 4, 5, 7, 10, or 15 cups | Customizable timer, keep warm

The Pars Persian rice cooker is built to do something different from all the others on this list: make tahdig, the ubiquitous, crispy layer of rice at the bottom (and top, when you turn it over) of many preparations of Persian rice dishes. “I’m an avid home cook, but rice was always tough for me, and that’s part of why for a while I avoided cooking a lot of Persian food,” says writer Arya Roshanian, who chronicled his foray into using the Pars for Vox last year. Funny enough, his mom and grandmother both used one, and it was during the pandemic that he finally decided it was time to get one himself. In fact, he has two now — the smaller four-cup he started out with and a larger seven-cup he uses to make tahdig for a crowd. “It’s user-friendly,” he says, “something that my 85-year-old grandma who only speaks Farsi and isn’t that good at technology can figure out. The first time I used it, I was thinking I would need to try a few times in order to get it right, but it came out pretty perfectly — and then each subsequent time too.” Roshanian also likes that the insert is lightweight and “nonstick so it’s super-easy to flip out and clean.”

From $83 at Amazon

Buy

From $83 at Amazon

Buy

Cuckoo CRP-P1009SB Pressure Rice Cooker

$280

$298 now 6% off

$280

10 cups | White, glutinous, mixed, brown, high heat, GABA rice (germinated brown rice), porridge, nu rung ji (scorched rice), multi-cook, auto-clean, pressure-cook, reheat, keep warm, preset timer

“I bought a Cuckoo because that’s what my mom and aunts use,” says Joanne Lee Molinaro, better known as the Korean Vegan. “When you go to a Korean grocery store, you see a bunch of Cuckoos all over the place.” Molinaro uses hers — a slightly older but similar model to the one listed — primarily for brown rice as well as mixed rice, the setting for which she uses every time she adds soybeans, farro, pearled barley, and even chestnuts and sweet potatoes. For food writer Justine Lee, who has the more recent model, “the multi-cook setting is where it stuns. ” Multi-cook essentially turns the appliance into a pressure cooker and allows you to adjust the time and heat level. “Both are as easy as dialing the knob to set,” says Lee. “It’s how I steam a bunch of Korean sweet potatoes right before road trips and quell my bean hankerings come summertime. I’ve even followed recipes fitted for a traditional Instant Pot such as cinnamon buns and yakbap, which can get sticky. But cleanup with this rice cooker is a breeze across the board.”

If you’re interested in the brand but don’t care so much about the multi-cook feature, Strategist editor Maxine Builder has an even older version of this under-$100 Cuckoo that still works perfectly after she’s used it for the past several years. (Her exact model is even older than the one linked and not available online anymore).

$280 at Amazon

Buy

$280 at Macy's

Buy

Instant Pot 6qt Duo Pressure Cooker

$50

$100 now 50% off

$50

3, 6 or 8 quarts | Rice, soup/broth, meat/stew, bean/chili, poultry, multigrain, porridge, steam, sauté, yogurt, slow cook, pressure cook, keep warm

It’s no secret that the Instant Pot can do a lot — but Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio primarily uses hers for rice, making it for her family of four at least once a week. She takes a stainless steel mixing bowl, fills it with equal parts water and rice, and sets it inside the Instant Pot on top of the wire rack the unit comes with. Then she puts a half-inch or so of water at the bottom of the larger container (not covering the top of the rack). She cooks on high pressure for 4 minutes, then does the slow release for about 10 minutes (with a manual release if there’s any pressure remaining at the end). With a little fluff, it’s ready to go. “It’s nice to have the (nearly) set-it-and-forget-it convenience of a ‘rice cooker’ that is also multipurpose for pressure cooking, slow cooking, and so on,” Trulio says. “Obviously we could still do rice on the stove, but on top of the convenience, the Instant Pot can be shoved to the edge of the counter and not take up a burner.”

$50 at Amazon

Buy

$100 at Macy's

Buy

Zojirushi NP-NWC10XB Rice Cooker

From $501

$525 now 5% off

From $501

5.5 or 10 cups | White (regular, softer, or harder), umami, mixed, sushi/sweet, jasmine, porridge, congee, brown, GABA brown (germinated brown rice), steel-cut oatmeal, quick cooking, automatic keep warm, extended keep warm, reheat

This is the previously mentioned higher-end Zojirushi model that so many experts enthusiastically recommended. It is, notably, the most expensive on the list, but it’s also clearly a favorite, a worth-it investment if you eat enough rice. Of course, it has that same standout technology as the more affordable model. The main difference is the myriad of settings — and in particular, one that everyone whom I talked to honed in on. “This model I bought specifically because it has a congee mode,” says food writer and editor Alyse Whitney. “The one I had previously for many years only had Japanese porridge, which is thinner. So yes, I bought this for a button, but it literally makes perfect congee.” Recipe developer and cookbook author Betty Liu also makes a lot of congee in hers, calling it “convenient, fast, and incredibly reliable.” And finally, TikTok recipe creator Vivian Aronson uses that feature too, particularly for breakfast. “I can set it at night and have congee ready in the morning,” she says.

From $501 at Amazon

Buy

$525 at Best Buy

Buy

The smallest Zojirushi cooker (3 cups) for tiny kitchens

The rice cooker a Strategist writer uses 3 nights a week

Buy at Amazon

A microwavable rice cooker with 1,969 five-star reviews

Buy at Amazon

• Vivian Aronson, TikTok recipe creator
• Maxine Builder, Strategist editor
• Justine Doiron, recipe developer and writer
• Justin Lee, owner of Fat Choy
• Joanne Lee Molinaro, writer, recipe developer, and cookbook author
• Betty Liu, recipe developer and cookbook author
• Chelsea Peng, Strategist senior editor
• Arya Roshanian, writer
• Neal Santos, food photographer
• Lisa Cheng Smith, owner of Yun Hai
• Jen Trolio, Strategist senior editor
• Lukas Volger, recipe developer and cookbook author
• Alyse Whitney, food writer and editor
• Kiera Wright-Ruiz, food writer and recipe developer

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