What Is The Best Rice Cooker On The Market?

We found 3 rice cookers that we consider perfect for different roles but the overall best regardless of price is the Zojirushi NS-TSC10 Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer. It’s highly praised by all reviewers even if it isn’t always their number one pick and usually considered to make better rice than any other cooker you can buy. Perfect rice is difficult to cook. It’s so easy to over cook and end up with mush and a coating of scorched rice in the bottom of the pan. A dedicated rice cooker is one of those appliances that is capable of performing a miracle. It produces perfect rice every time. Continue reading to learn why we picked it as the best rice cooker on the market and what we consider are a couple of great bargain alternatives.

Our Number One Pick:

Zojirushi NS-TSC10 5-1/2-Cup Micom Rice Cooker and Warmer

Zojirushi is known for making the best rice cookers and the Zojirushi NS-TSC10 is considered the best they offer. This microcomputer controlled rice cooker will make almost any type of rice perfectly. Want flawless sticky rice for your next Asian inspired meal? This is the rice cooker to have. Like most other higher end rice cookers, it includes a steaming basket so it can also steam cook and interestingly it can also bake a cake which is sure to be the most moist cake you’ve ever eaten. One of the things that makes this rice cooker the best on the market is its ability to cook a wider variety of rice to perfection. This rice cooker can specifically cook short grain rice, long grain white rice, and brown rice all equally well. Reviewers consistently praise the Zojirushi as the absolute best frequently stating that the rice it cooks is better tasting than any other rice cooker they tested. Customers also highly praise and covet their Zojirushi rice cookers. We agree, the Zojirushi NS-TSC10 is the best rice cooker on the market.

Best Rice Cooker For Most People:

Hamilton Beach Rice Cooker

The Hamilton Beach Rice Cooker is our bargain pick and a stellar performer. It comes within striking distance of the best of the best Zojirushi rice cooker at a fraction of the cost. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles but it is a very capable rice cooker that is able to produce an excellent batch of rice. Reviewers consistently rate it well and customers give overall very positive feedback with its performance and cooking results. If you’re not going to be cooking a lot of rice often or not looking for the absolute best performance but willing to settle for 80 percent of the performance of the best of the best then this is a good choice for you. We imagine that most will fall into this category and we highly recommend it for most people.

Worth Considering:

Panasonic Microcomputer Controlled/Fuzzy Logic 10-Cup Rice Cooker

The Panasonic 10 Cup Rice Cooker is another well regarded rice cooker. If falls neatly into the sweet spot between the inexpensive but capable Hamilton Beach cooker and the best of the best cooker from Zojirushi. For around half the price of the Zojirushi you get quality and performance that is just a fraction off from that of the Zojirushi yet a step above the Hamilton Beach. It is frequently rated as the best rice cooker above the Zojirushi due to its price point and performance. The Zojirushi is a better cooker but most reviewers can’t justify the additional expense when compared to the performance of the Panasonic and it’s much lower cost.

Additional Information:

Things To Keep In Mind

What is fuzzy logic in a rice cooker?

It basically means the rice cooker is computer controlled and uses sensors to determine precisely when the rice is cooked perfectly. A normal rice cooker simply uses the weight of the water steaming out as a trigger to stop cooking. When the weight lightens to a certain point the normal rice cooker will switch off, regardless of how properly the rice has been cooked.

Is a rice cooker the same thing as a pressure cooker?

No. They both do cook with steam but a rice cooker is designed specifically to make rice perfectly and has settings to account for different kinds of rice and different ways of cooking rice. A pressure cooker can’t monitor the progress of rice cooking within it and it won’t have settings to specifically make sticky rice for instance.

What is an induction heating rice cooker?

Induction heating is a method of heating that is much more precise and efficient. Induction heating uses an inductor to cause the metal cooking vessel to heat up, essentially making it the heating element. This does a much better job of distributing heat and can be far more precisely controlled and is ideal for a rice cooker.

Other Resources:

Helpful Links

Wrapping Up:

The Best Rice Cooker

Normally, one trick pony appliances are not very convenient. They take up a lot of space in your kitchen and can only accomplish one task. In the case of a rice cooker however, this one trick pony is a very valuable asset. The Hamilton Beach Rice Cooker should find its way to almost every home. It is very inexpensive and does an amazing job of cooking rice extremely well. Much better than most of us could and you don’t need to baby sit it to ensure the job gets done properly. The Panasonic or the Zojirushi rice cookers should end up in the remaining homes for people who cook rice more frequently or design perfect sticky rice when it’s time to cook some. If you can afford the Panasonic we highly recommend picking it up instead of the Hamilton Beach. What’s the best rice cooker on the market? The Zojirushi is the absolute best. If you’re a rice connoisseur then we recommend spending a few extra dollars more and pick up the Zojirushi. You won’t regret it.

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