Best rice cookers: Tigers and Elephants, oh my!
If you ever ask an immigrant Chinese mom, like mine, which rice cooker to buy, she’ll say to buy either the Tiger or Elephant brand. For her, Elephant refers to the rice cookers branded as the Japanese Zojirushi with an elephant symbol while Tiger is the actual Japanese brand with a tiger symbol on the rice cooker. Both brands produce top-notch rice cookers that will give you the perfect bowl of rice - granted you just have to get the water to the right marked level, but it’s pretty much a no-brainer. The modern parent may cook a variety of rice (brown rice, white rice, mixed rice, etc.) these days and there are a few more options to consider though.
Here are our recommendations for best rice cookers. Note, all links go to our Amazon affiliate link, but ours recs are true.
Is a rice cooker worth more than $180? Think of a rice cooker as an investment that will last 10-20 years making you the perfect bowl of rice each time. It is very worth it if you eat rice often to conveniently make rice and have it kept warm. This 5.5 cup rice cooker from Zojirushi is going strong for years and makes enough rice to feed a large family. I usually measure 1 cup of uncooked rice for 2 bowls of cooked rice.
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This Tiger brand rice cooker is really great for a smaller family at 3 cups capacity. It’s also small enough that you can easily tuck it away into your cabinets if you want to save on counter space. We’ve had this rice cooker for over 10 years now and it’s easy to clean and makes great rice.
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CUCKOO is another highly recommended brand, though generally more pricey. If you don’t generally consume white rice, the CUCKOO is great for fast cooking of brown or mixed rice.
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The Aroma is a good compromise if you want a lower-end rice cooker that still makes great rice but doesn’t cost over a hundred bucks. The nice thing about this one is that it also comes with a steamer basket so that you can conveniently steam other foods while your rice is cooking.
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