The very best rice cooker for 2026

Capability (cups): 6 cups (raw) / 12 cups (cooked) | Options: Twin stress cooking (excessive and gentle); 14 menu choices together with GABA rice, porridge, and scorched rice; nonstick interior pot; auto-clean operate; voice navigation in English, Korean, and Chinese language | Guarantee: 1 yr restricted | Weight: 12.6 kilos

This higher-end Cuckoo mannequin delivered the most effective batches for all three grains of rice. Not solely did it make rattling good rice, it delivered in document time because of its pressurized cooking possibility. The Japanese-style white rice took a mere 29 minutes. The brown rice had a wonderfully agency texture, a fantastically nutty taste and no hint of stickiness — all cooked in simply 43 minutes. I used the non-pressurized mode for the basmati spherical and that also solely took 37 minutes. And that was simply the presets; you can even customise to your tastes.

However I will be sincere, I’ve some reservations about recommending this mannequin. Each the white and brown rice had some crisping on the underside throughout my testing. It’s not clear if that is the “melanoizing” impact described within the guide, or only a issue of the excessive stress mode. For a half-hour cook dinner time, I can overlook that. For a $260 price ticket, I am much less forgiving.

I additionally bumped into some problems with practicality. Just like the purple Cuckoo Micom mannequin, the lid springs open exhausting sufficient to rock your entire unit, and this one was additionally probably the most troublesome to scrub. There are additional rubber gaskets within the lid that need to be totally cleaned and dried earlier than the following use. And the rubber deal with for detaching the primary lid floor was ineffective; I needed to pry the factor off by the sides. I would not thoughts that with a cheaper equipment, however for one thing this high-end, these little touches make a distinction.

Lastly, I do not recommend this mannequin for a mean cook dinner as a result of this equipment is downright intimidating. Cuckoo had probably the most troublesome to parse manuals, with some particulars presumably misplaced in translation, and its menu settings had been oddly convoluted. As an example, I managed to change the voice alerts to English (sure, there are very chipper and barely obnoxious voice alerts), however I needed to watch a YouTube video to determine turning them off utterly.

So whereas this was certainly my best-performing mannequin purely by way of meals, it calls for numerous its proprietor. Until you have got severe expectations of your rice, count on to make use of the machine on a near-daily foundation and are keen to deal with the educational curve, this equipment might be not value the fee. However if you’re that particular person, you may be thrilled together with your funding.