What about an Instant Pot?
Our favorite electric pressure cooker, the Instant Pot, is a combination slow cooker, yogurt maker, and rice cooker (among other things). Although it’s an excellent multi-purpose pressure cooker (which our upgrade pick, the Cuckoo, is not, due to its smaller pot), it isn’t as great a rice cooker as our top picks. If you want white rice, the Instant Pot can make a batch that’s just fine if you’re not too discerning. If you want brown rice, the Instant Pot is not for you—in our tests, the Instant Pot made dense rice that was far less fluffy than a batch from the Cuckoo.
We also tested Instant Brands’s inexpensive Instant Zest Rice and Grain Cooker (which is not a pressure cooker) in two different sizes. The 8-cup (cooked-rice) model was the smallest in our lineup, but we were attracted to its undeniably cute compact size, while the 20-cup (also cooked) version was similar in size to a standard Instant Pot. The overall construction of the Instant Zest made it look sleeker than the sturdy Hamilton Beach, but the inner lid on the smaller pot wouldn’t stay on reliably after a couple of uses. Like the Hamilton Beach, the Instant Zest performed well with jasmine rice, but with other styles it cooked inconsistently, producing wildly different textures in a single batch.
Teflon-free options
In response to requests for alternatives to models with nonstick coating, we tested the Aroma ARC-6206C, which uses a glazed ceramic pot. (The ARC-6206C is now discontinued, but the company has a newer ceramic-pot cooker, which we have yet to test.) The cooker we tested made firm, plump white rice in 30 minutes and quick-cooked rice nearly as well in 23 minutes, but it overcooked brown rice and made sticky long-grain rice. Rice also stuck to its ceramic pot a great deal more than it did to our nonstick cookers.
In previous testing, as much as we wanted to love the clay pot in the VitaClay 2-IN-1 Organic Rice ‘n’ Slow Cooker, we determined that this was not a cooker we would recommend for most people. Our rice stuck to the seasoned clay, and we found the nub of the scalding-hot interior lid difficult to grasp.
Zojirushi
We were intrigued by the Zojirushi Induction Heating Pressure Rice Cooker and Warmer NP-NVC10, which used induction heating and pressure cooking. It certainly produced delicious rice, but it didn’t perform better than any other Zojirushi we tested. Despite its induction and pressure cooking capabilities, the NP-NVC10 took 55 minutes to make a 2-cup batch of white rice, 10 minutes longer than both the Neuro Fuzzy and NS-TSC10. And two tasters couldn’t perceive a meaningful difference between the rice of the NP-NVC10 and the rice we made in other Zojirushi machines. The NP-NVC10 appears to have been replaced by the NP-NWC10, which we don’t plan to test, given the nearly $500 price tag.
The Zojirushi Induction Heating System Rice Cooker and Warmer NP-HCC10 has an added setting for jasmine rice and an easier-to-read display. Though the rice from the NP-HCC10 was very good, we concluded that the rice from our top pick, the Neuro Fuzzy, which cost less, was even better.
Cuckoo
We also tested the Cuckoo CR-1020FW, a Williams Sonoma exclusive. According to a company representative, Cuckoo has plans to team up with other retailers for exclusive appliances, and we wanted to see how this machine stacked up against Cuckoo’s flagship offerings. It didn’t make white rice as texturally rewarding as the higher-end models, but it still cooked Nishiki and jasmine rice well. Lacking pressure, this model was slower than other Cuckoo cookers, but it made better basmati and softer brown rice. Other quirks like hard-to-read measurements on the inner bowl and a large size kept this model from being a top contender.
Curious about what a $400 rice cooker could offer that a $200 one could not, we tested the Cuckoo CRP-HZ0683F, which offers a luxuriously overwhelming experience. The cooker features programmable induction heating, stainless steel lids, and too many cooking settings to list. It cooked faster than any other rice cooker we tested and made excellent rice across the board, but we didn’t find the rice any better than what we made with our upgrade pick.
The Cuckoo CR-0631F claimed lightning-fast cooking times on a par with our upgrade pick’s but for a more affordable price. It delivered on timing, producing white rice in 30 minutes and brown rice in under an hour. But the quality of the rice just wasn’t great. Sushi rice consistently turned out moist and gluey, and the long-grain rice devolved into mush. The CR-0631F did make the second-best brown rice of any cooker we tested, beating every Zojirushi model, but the grains looked overly puffed and burst when compared with brown rice from the CRP-P1009SW.
Also on the lower end is the Cuckoo CR-0351FR, a tiny, 3-cup wonder that cooked fast and sloppy rice. Though the cooker never took more than 40 minutes to make white rice, we found the burst and sticky grains it produced disappointingly poor quality for a $100 cooker. If we mismeasured the rice-to-water ratio even slightly, the grains congealed together in a gelled lattice of mush. It was, however, the cutest cooker we tested.
Tiger
For our 2020 update we tested the Tiger JBX-B10U, a minimally designed cooker priced around $50 less than our winning Zojirushi model. In comparison, this unit is much bigger and clunkier. In our tests, it excelled at jasmine and brown rice, while sushi rice came out a little soft and basmati didn’t work at all. It cooked rice quickly, with times consistently around 10 minutes shorter than the Zojirushi’s for white rice and almost 30 minutes less for brown rice. This is a fine option if you want a streamlined machine for basic white rice, have the counter space to spare, and are willing to trade precision for speed.
We were excited to test the Tiger JBV-A10U because it’s one of the cheapest cookers that still offer fuzzy-logic controls. It was also super speedy in our tests, finishing a batch of white rice in under 30 minutes. The quality of the rice itself was good, with firm and separated grains, but not as plump as rice that came from a Zojirushi. The lid is not removable and also lacks a functional drain hole, so puddles of condensation collect and spill into your rice when you open the lid.
The Tiger JAX-T10U was one of the strongest performers in our previous tests. It has a nice thick inner pot, a stainless steel exterior, and a detachable inner lid. It cooked on a par with the winning Zojirushi when making sushi rice, which is why it moved forward into the latter rounds of testing. But we were not impressed with its brown rice, long-grain results, or quick rice.
An induction heat cooker, the Tiger JKT-S10U, was in a similar boat. Sure, it made a good batch of sushi rice, but not enough for you to justify paying double the price of the other Tiger models we tested.
Cuisinart
We looked forward to testing the Cuisinart FRC-1000 Rice/Grain Multicooker, which has a dazzling number of functions including sauté and pasta, but in our first rounds of testing, the rice was so gluey and poorly cooked that we didn’t bother exploring other features. The steps required just to get it to cook plain white rice are complicated and unintuitive, and once you finally figure it out, the fully backlit display flashes like a glitch, making you wonder if the machine is even working correctly. This cooker was also one of the biggest machines in our lineup, requiring an especially high clearance for us to use it with the lid in an open position.
Panasonic
We tested one Panasonic model with fuzzy logic in 2018, and although it had 13 settings and cost about half as much as our top pick, it took an excruciatingly long time to cook white rice. It has since been discontinued, and we’ve passed on other Panasonic models, like the 5-cup SR-DF101 and the identical 10-cup SR-DF181, which didn’t come with features or reviews compelling enough for us to call them in.
Aroma
The Aroma ARC-914SBD, which we tested in 2013, is a super-affordable rice cooker with a low price, a tiny footprint, and a 4-cup maximum capacity. Unfortunately, in our tests, its rice wasn’t really up to scratch, with most of our tasters rating this machine as the bottom of the barrel for both white and brown rice. It also has a tendency to gather condensation on top of the lid.
This article was edited by Marilyn Ong and Marguerite Preston.
