Its biggest shortcoming is that it lacks any audible alarm to let you know when the cooking cycle is finished. Certainly not the end of the world, but it would be helpful, especially since this model doesn’t provide a countdown either.
Who needs this rice cooker?
The Tiger JBV-A10U is a good rice cooker for people on a budget, people who have never owned a rice cooker or get overwhelmed by an appliance with many cooking functions, and people who are short on storage space and want their kitchen appliances to multitask. The simple functions on this machine make it very approachable and easy to use, and the steam and slow-cooker settings helps the Tiger justify the counter space it takes up.
Capacity: 5.5 cups uncooked rice / 1.0 liter | Dimensions: (W x D x H) 10.6″ x 13.9″ x 8.4″ | Weight: 5.7 lb. | Warranty: One year limited warranty | Features: 12-hour keep warm setting, additional cooking/steaming basket, nonstick cooking pot, rice paddle and measuring cup | Menu settings: Plain rice, brown rice, synchro cooking, slow-cook/steam
A restaurant-quality (and restaurant-size) rice cooker: Zojirushi NYC-36
Calvin Eng is the chef and owner of Bonnie’s, a Cantonese restaurant in Brooklyn. For his kitchen, “simplicity” is the most important feature a rice cooker can have. They use the Zojirushi NYC-36, a 20-cup commercial rice cooker with one-button functionality. “It cooks and it warms and nothing else.” Eng says, “We cook rice differently based on what the end-use is for, even if it’s the same rice. It’s nice to be able to set timers and adjust ratios on our own.”
At home, Eng prefers cooking rice in a pot. “I like the crunchy bottom that you get,” he says. “I slather butter on that and sprinkle some salt and treat it like popcorn, or pour hot water over it and have a little toasted rice tea at the end.”
Who needs this rice cooker?
Unless you have a family the size of a football team, a rice cooker large enough to cook 20 cups of rice is probably not a practical choice for most people. However, if you’d prefer a simple cooking process without any presets, and like the idea of adjusting ratios on your own, the Zojirushi NHS-6/10 is pretty much the miniature version of what Eng uses at Bonnie’s. Associate food editor Kendra Vaculin is a fan of this particular model as well, for its ease of use and low price point. It won’t make precise adjustments during the cooking process, but it’s more than capable of cooking bowls of fluffy rice, provided you pay attention to your water-to-rice ratios. For as simple as it may be, it still has some carefully considered features that make it nice. The larger models come with a stainless-steel steamer basket, which you can use for steaming veggies or meat, and it will keep the rice warm after it finishes the cooking cycle until you turn the machine off.
Capacity: 20 cups (uncooked rice) | Dimensions: 17 ⅜” x 15 ¼” x 13 ½” | Weight: 24.58 lb. | Warranty: One-year limited warranty | Features: Basic on-off function, automatic keep warm
The smartest, most luxe rice cooker out there: Zojirushi NW-JEC10
The Zojirushi NW-JEC10 Rice Cooker is the company’s most expensive home rice cooker, and to be clear: Lots of the brand’s other rice cookers have many of the same features. The NP-NWC10 model, comes with the Micom technology, induction heating and pressure-cooking that help make Zojirushis outstanding rice cookers across the board. The feature that sets NW-JEC10 apart is the machine’s “My Rice” setting. The feature uses artificial intelligence to learn your preferred rice texture, making adjustments accordingly based on your feedback.
