The Best Rice Cooker, Reviewed by Our Experts (2025)

While we evaluated rice cookers based on several factors, no amount of fancy features or high-tech claims mattered if the resulting rice wasn’t up to par. Our testers and tasters scored models on the quality of all three kinds of rice, and they were looking for evenly cooked grains that were neither over- nor undercooked, not too wet and not too dry, and fluffy rather than gummy or mushy.

The whole point of having a rice cooker is to make your life easier, so we were looking for rice cookers that were straightforward and intuitive to use. We valued clear instructions on how to wash and measure rice, guidance on water ratios and selecting settings, and automatic Keep Warm functionality. A timer function was an added bonus that we appreciated in some of the more advanced models.

We also looked at the accessories each model came with. Every rice cooker comes with a few necessities, which usually include a rice paddle and a measuring cup. Every model we tested, save for the Cuckoos, came with a built-in paddle holder, and many came with an additional steamer basket insert. While we didn’t test out steamer or synchro cooking functionality in our initial tests, our long-term testers were encouraged to report back on how such functions performed.

Nearly every model we tested had a nonstick coating on its inner pot, and the few that didn’t were a bit of a nightmare to clean. We wanted to be able to cleanly scoop rice out of the cooker without leaving any residue behind, and looked for pots that were easily washed with soapy sponge and some warm water (if you are really trying to avoid PFAS coatings, note that most rice cooker pots have one are not dishwasher-safe). Some models have removable, cleanable lids, something we appreciated and noted where applicable.

We took note of the footprint of each model, but found that most full-size options were around the same size.

The rice cookers we tested ranged in price from $25–$750. While we think a great model like our winning Zojirushi is worth its $300 price tag, we awarded points to models like the Hamilton Beach that provide a great value, performing better than their cost might suggest.

To make a long story short, you probably should. Washing rice strips the grains of their starchy coating and keeps them from sticking together and becoming a gummy mess when cooked—something you want for most types of rice (exceptions to this rule include arborio rice used for risotto, where the excess starch is necessary to create that creamy texture). In testing these cookers, we followed each model’s instructions with regard to rinsing rice. In general, you’ll want to swish your measured rice around in some water, pour that water out, and repeat until the water runs clear.

You don’t need a rice cooker, but there’s no denying that having one makes getting weeknight dinners on the table or cooking rice for a crowd infinitely easier. That said, making great stovetop rice is a skill worth mastering—and the food editors in our test kitchen can help you with that.

You’ll notice that many of the rice cookers on this list have cup capacities in their names. That number refers to the amount of uncooked rice a given cooker can make at a time, measured in 180-ml rice cooker cups rather than standard US cups (which are 237 ml).

Rice approximately doubles in size after cooking, so a 5.5-cup rice cooker like the winning Zojirushi will make a maximum of about 11 cups of cooked rice (which is enough to feed around 5–6 people). If you’re cooking for just yourself, note that the minimum amount of rice most rice cookers can make is one rice cooker cup’s worth. This will likely be more rice that you need for a single serving meal, but we’d advise against trying to make less rice than the cooker is designed for. And besides, the leftovers will make for excellent fried rice the next day.

With a 3-cup capacity, this is the only rice cooker Zojirushi makes that we’d classify as a mini. It’s simple, with a single button used to start the cooking process, and didn’t leak starchy water out of the steam vent unlike some other similar models we tested. However, there were several things that kept this cooker out of the running: It produced inconsistent results, making great rice sometimes and over- or undercooked rice others. It also lacks a Keep Warm function, and we found it didn’t handle brown rice well.

This 3-cup version of one of Zojirushi’s micom models is quite cute, but it ultimately failed to impress us—especially compared to the other mini models we tested, which performed much better even despite being lower tech. The white rice made in this model was quite sticky and mushy, as was the brown rice. Because of that micom technology, it also took longer to cook than the other small models.

This rice cooker from Toshiba is not a newer version of the TRCS01 referenced above, but rather a smaller model with a 3-cup capacity we’d classify as mini. While it has some of the same features such as fuzzy logic technology and a delay start option, it has a different array of presets from the other Toshiba that includes things like “Cake,” “Egg,” and “Slow Cook.” It fared relatively well in the white rice portion of our taste test, but produced overcooked brown rice that kept it from earning a top spot.

This model from Tiger is similar to some of the Zojirushi and Toshiba models we tested in terms of preset options and general functionality. It has a 5.5-cup uncooked capacity, 10 different menu settings for various types of rice and cooking functions (like steam and synchro), and uses the same kind of Micom technology as we’ve seen in other high-end rice cookers. Despite its promising features, this model produced white rice that was a bit wet and soft for our testers’ liking. The brown rice had a nice bite to it, but its exterior was a tad mushy. Overall, we found that even the less expensive Tiger above, the JBV-A10U, outperformed this pricier model.

This is a straightforward, single button rice cooker that makes enough rice for the whole family (and a large one at that). Unfortunately, the rice it produced proved some of the softest of the bunch, and while that could potentially be remedied by playing around with the water to rice ratio, the lack of features and subpar taste test performance meant we just weren’t wowed by this appliance enough to recommend it to anyone.

This Cuckoo suffered some of the same design flaws as the CR-0655F (namely, a lid that aggressively jerks open and a lack of a countdown timer for the total cook time). We were excited about this model’s pressure-cooking capabilities and might have excused its design flaws if it had topped our taste tests, but it didn’t move past the initial white rice round. The rice it made was incredibly sticky. We also didn’t find the control panel intuitive to use.

This model is like a redesigned, modernized version of the CR-0655F, and it makes similarly great rice. However, it too suffers from design flaws in the form of unresponsive buttons and a counterintuitive interface. The manual wasn’t much help either, as its English translation was unclear and hard to follow. So while this cooker checks the “Makes Great Rice” box, the same cannot be said for the “Is a Joy to Use” box.

This is another modern-looking model from Cuckoo that has many of the same flaws as the CR-0675F—most importantly, the irritatingly unresponsive control panel. It also talks, and in a voice that can only be described as Barbie DreamHouse-core—which may be amusing to some, but aggravating to others. Like the other Cuckoos, it made decent rice, but even the most perfect rice wouldn’t cancel out the downsides we found with this model.

This model is another PTFE-free option that’s similar to the GreenPan above, but fared markedly worse in our testing. We found every batch of rice was burned on the bottom, and that the Keep Warm setting didn’t do a great job of keeping the rice fresh—it was prone to yellowing and drying out within minutes.

Cosori makes some of our favorite air fryers, so we were hopeful that their first entry into the rice cooker space would follow suit. But standard settings produced rice that was a bit undercooked, according to most of our testers. This machine does have a whopping 18 settings, including a range of different grains, so it could be a decent option for anyone who frequently cooks steel-cut oats, barley, farro, and the like.

This recently launched model from KitchenAid has a unique design that comprises an integrated scale and attached water tank. It uses that scale and whichever of the 21 preset functions you’ve chosen to determine how much water to add, eliminating the need to futz around with measuring cups and ratios. While it’s an interesting concept, we weren’t impressed enough by this model’s performance to recommend it. The first batch of white rice we made was painfully dry, though the second batch we made using the Softer setting was an improvement. The brown rice was serviceable, nicely textured if still a touch dry. We spent time in 2025 testing its other capabilities as well and found them hit or miss. You can check out our complete KitchenAid rice cooker review here.

This affordable 4-cup rice cooker from Aroma performed well in the white rice test, producing rice that struck a nice balance in terms of doneness, neither overly mushy nor too hard. If anything, it was a touch on the soft side. The brown rice test was a different story. It was quite literally a hot mess, leaking starchy water onto a divot on the cooker’s lid that would have spilled everywhere had we not mopped it up. The rice itself was wet and oh-so-mushy.

This model from Aroma is another simple, one-button cooker that’s similar in look and function to the Zojirushi 3-cup model, but with a stainless-steel inner pot that we found difficult to clean. It made white rice in near record time (20 minutes or so), but it tended to be a bit underdone. The same can be said for its performance in the brown rice test—the rice was good, but certainly not great. This model also exhibited some leakage through the steam vent even when just cooking one cup of rice, which we imagine would only get worse if you filled it to capacity.

This cooker is a bestseller on Amazon, so we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It’s compact in both capacity and footprint while still affording you a range of presets to choose from, like Long Grain, Short Grain, Porridge, and even Cake. It remained a promising contender through the first round of taste testing, in which it produced excellent white rice. However, like many of the rice cookers on this list, the brown rice test proved to be the Yum Asia Panda’s downfall; the brown rice this model made was overcooked and mushy. As with the Hamilton Beach above, if brown rice isn’t your thing, you might still consider this model.

The Dash Mini Rice Cooker is another one-button model like the Zojirushi 3-cup and Aroma 2.5-cup models. However, the lid of this model was too lightweight to stay sealed as steam was trying to escape, therefore allowing much of the heat to escape the pot during cooking.

This was another disappointing mini model that didn’t move past the white rice test in our most recent round of testing. The rice it produced looked very wet and undercooked at the time it finished cooking and switched to the Keep Warm function, and tasted too firm in the middle. This model also came dangerously close to leaking starchy water out of the lid’s steam vent even with just one cup of rice, so we shudder to think of the mess a full four cups would likely make.

This cooker has settings for specific grains like White Rice, Quinoa, and Oats, as well as a general Grains setting, plus other nice-to-have features like a Delay Start button and Steam option. And while we can’t comment on how this cooker performs with other grains, we can say that it did not fare well with rice. The white rice we made was wildly inconsistent even within the same batch, with some grains emerging too hard and others way too mushy.

The beloved Instant Pot Duo is a multi-cooker that claims to do it all—including make rice. It was one of the fastest models to do so, but the grains it produced were probably the worst of the bunch. This cooker didn’t move past the white rice round because the rice in question was gummy and decidedly un-fluffable. You’re better off using the Instant Pot’s Pressure Cook function to make a hearty stew and using a dedicated rice cooker to make a pot of rice to go with it.