The Greatest Zojirushi Rice Cookers of 2025, Examined & Reviewed


Straight to the Level

Zojirushi’s rice cookers are highly effective, thoughtfully made kitchen home equipment. Nonetheless, our favorites are model classics: The upper-end Zojirushi NW-QAC10 Induction Cooker expertly cooked each sort of rice we examined, whereas the smaller-scale 3-Cup Rice Cooker may provide the very best worth within the class.

For those who’ve seemed into shopping for a rice cooker, odds are you’ve stumbled throughout the web’s sage recommendation on the topic: “Simply purchase a Zojirushi.” Heard, however which one? Based greater than 100 years in the past, the Japanese equipment maker sells 20 completely different fashions starting from $55 to $800, and, imagine it or not, there are variations between them past measurement and variety of buttons. 

For those who’re in a rush, right here’s the one-sentence model of this story: The tiny-but-mighty 3-Cup Rice Cooker presents glorious worth, however the pricier and roomier Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH is superior for those who eat a number of kinds of rice.

I examined six of the model’s hottest choices to get a greater sense of the similarities, variations, and worth every provided. Right here’s what I discovered. 

The Checks 

We made all types of rice to check the Zojirushi rice cookers presets and features.

Critical Eats / Alexander Huang


  • Max Amount Quick Grain Rice Check: I cooked the utmost quantity of white rice that every mannequin allowed. Most rice makers are both three-, 5.5-, or 10-cup machines, however I examined three- and 5.5-cup choices, as these are extra frequent in residential settings. I famous the cooked rice’s wetness and consistency, and I evaluated the machine’s ease of cleansing.
  • Minimal Amount Quick Grain Rice Check: I additionally cooked the minimal quantity of white rice that every pot allowed. Typically this quantity isn’t acknowledged within the handbook, so I used the etched marking contained in the cooking pot. Each rice cooker I examined can prepare dinner a minimal of 1 cup of raw rice (although many Zojirushi fanatics say you possibly can prepare dinner lower than this with just a little experimenting). Once more, I evaluated the feel and consistency of the rice, and the machine’s ease of cleansing.
  • Brown Rice Check: A great rice maker can whip up extra than simply sushi and jasmine rice. On this take a look at, I aimed to determine vital variations between the rice cookers when challenged with a easy cup of brown basmati rice. I once more rated the fashions on prepare dinner time, evenness of cooking, rice texture, particular options, and ease of cleansing.
  • Hold Heat Check: Making a pot of rice for the day is commonplace, however retaining a pot of rice at a nice temperature with out degrading the standard of the cooked rice is a difficult activity. For this take a look at, I left cooked rice within the rice cookers and set them to “Hold Heat” for the utmost allowable length. I then in contrast the standard of the rice after it sat in every of the fashions I examined.

Our Favourite Zojirushi Rice Cookers 

Credit score: Zojirushi

After testing, this was our clear Goldilocks rice cooker. It’s sufficiently big to prepare dinner for a household however deft with single-person servings as effectively. It makes delicate and basic short-grain white rice in addition to it does steel-cut oatmeal, long-grain brown rice, and even quinoa. It’s probably the most inexpensive Zojirushi to function an induction heating system and an upgraded heavy cooking pot. To prime all of it off, its Hold Heat setting is customizable (which means you possibly can inform it to maintain the rice heat, to not soften the rice on the underside of the pot). And, better of all, it doesn’t include a $400-plus price ticket. 

Greatest For: This mannequin will please anybody who enjoys all kinds of rice and grains, together with just a little flexibility when it comes to customized programming. The standard of the cooked rice scored extremely throughout the board. When evaluating a product line for an organization, our purpose is to seek out the product that delivers probably the most options on the lowest value, and that is the product from Zojirushi. 

Challenges or Shortcomings: This mannequin is $100 to $500 cheaper than the remainder of the model’s induction-heated rice cookers, most probably as a result of it comprises extra plastic elements than pricier variations The cooking pot is product of metal and aluminum, however the exterior is product of black plastic. This didn’t have an effect on cooking, nevertheless it does really feel cheaper, and I’m guessing it’s additionally why this machine was noticeably noisier than all however the most cost-effective rice cooker I examined. Consider it because the Subaru BRZ of rice cookers—a performance-first machine with out among the consolation options of its costlier competitors.

Its nooks and crannies are extra liable to buildup than another fashions from the model, however nothing a minute or two of centered cleansing can’t deal with. 

Key Specs

  • Raw rice capability: 5.5 cups
  • Cooked rice capability: 11 cups
  • Dimensions: 12.25 x 9.25 x 7.88 inches
  • Twine size: 3 toes, 7 inches 
  • Settings: White, Fast, Sushi/Candy, Combined, Jasmine, Fast Jasmine, Congee, Brown, GABA Brown, Metal-Lower Oatmeal, Quinoa, Steam 
  • Equipment: Rice measuring cup, spatula, steam basket
  • Cooking pot materials: Aluminum with PTFE (Teflon) inside coating and stainless-steel exterior coating

Zojirushi NHS-06 3-Cup (Uncooked) Rice Cooker

Credit score: Amazon

If the $375 induction-heated, preprogrammed supercomputer rice cooker made you second-guess Zojirushi, the OG 3-Cup Rice Cooker shall be your champion. It’s tiny, dead-simple, and free from the excesses of high-tech kitchen home equipment. Plug it in, toss in some rice and water, flick the swap down, and wait half an hour (or much less) for good rice.

Greatest For: Solo cooks or {couples} who can’t be bothered with a display filled with choices and need their rice ASAP will recognize this mannequin. The three-Cup is ideal for house cooks who’re brief on countertop area and time. It’s the smallest, most inexpensive, and quickest Zojirushi rice cooker available on the market. We cherished the short-grain white rice it turned out, particularly as a result of it struck a steadiness between moist and agency that no different Zojirushi mannequin we examined may compete with. 

Challenges or Shortcomings: It’s not good. Brown rice, particularly non-short-grain brown rice, was simply OK within the 3-Cup, which may solely deal with two cups of brown rice. (It expands way more than white rice.) I’m guessing that is brown rice’s longer cooking time at work, which exposes the weak point of the easy bottom-up heating system. Past that, I’d suggest consuming the rice pretty quickly after it’s completed cooking—the Hold Heat operate runs a bit sizzling, and there’s no option to alter it. 

Key Specs

  • Raw rice capability: 3 cups
  • Cooked rice capability: 6 cups
  • Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.18 x 7.5 inches
  • Twine size: 3 toes, 7 inches 
  • Settings: Single swap cooking; computerized hold heat operate 
  • Equipment: Rice measuring cup, spatula, steam basket
  • Cooking pot materials: Aluminum with PTFE (Teflon) coating

Zojirushi Induction Heating System Rice Cooker & Warmer

Credit score: Amazon

This rice cooker sits on the low finish of the excessive finish. It pulls collectively computer-driven cooking with a mild induction heating system and each preprogrammed prepare dinner mode you can need. 

Greatest For: Dwelling cooks with a ardour for rice will love this machine, however for those who solely make rice twice every week, it’s most likely overkill in your wants. The 5.5-cup model of this cooker turned out glorious short-grain rice when stuffed with minimal and most volumes of rice, then did it once more with brown basmati, and once more with jasmine rice. I even dumped wild rice, which the machine isn’t preprogrammed to prepare dinner, and it got here out floral, tender, and scrumptious. (Use the brown rice setting for greatest outcomes.) Past the settings and induction heating system, the cooking pot itself performs a job right here. It’s about 50% heavier than most mid-level Zojirushi rice makers, offering higher warmth retention and extra even warmth distribution—two issues that you simply usually need out of a vessel cooking a meals as finicky as rice.  

Challenges or Shortcomings: It’s $375! That’s rather a lot, and there’s no possible way round that. To a lesser diploma, I’d be aware the small studying curve concerned in making the sort of rice you need. This machine contains a number of settings and options, and Zojirushi’s instruction manuals aren’t at all times probably the most useful. (I discovered the solutions to most of my questions on Reddit and cooking boards from 20 years in the past.) 

Key Specs

  • Raw rice capability: 5.5 cups
  • Cooked rice capability: 10 to 11 cups
  • Dimensions: 14 x 10 x 8 inches
  • Twine size: 3 toes, 3 inches
  • Settings: White (common, softer, tougher), fast, combined, sushi, porridge, candy, brown, gaba brown 
  • Equipment: Rice measuring cup, spatula, spatula holder, steam basket
  • Cooking pot materials: Aluminum with PTFE (Teflon) inside coating and stainless-steel exterior coating

Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer

Credit score: Amazon

Although attaching the phrase “fan favourite” to a rice cooker feels compelled, it’s a well-earned descriptor for the Neuro Fuzzy. The title is a reference to the mathematical time period “fuzzy logic,” which controls the rice cooking course of in actual time.

Greatest For: Although the Neuro Fuzzy comes with loads of preprogrammed cooking modes, it’s greatest for folk who love Japanese-style rice: short- and medium-grain rice cooked to delicate, barely sticky, chewy perfection. 

Challenges or Shortcomings: The flip aspect? For those who like firmer, dryer rice, the Neuro Fuzzy isn’t for you. You’ll be able to in the reduction of on water to eke out a rice texture you like, which sort of labored in testing, nevertheless it’s not value it. The rice cooker excels at making fluffy rice for consuming with chopsticks. If that’s not the way you eat rice, there are different Zojirushi fashions to select from. 

Key Specs

  • Raw rice capability: 5.5 cups
  • Cooked rice capability: 11 cups
  • Dimensions: 13 inches x 10.13 inches x 8.13 inches
  • Twine size: 3 toes, 3 inches
  • Settings: Hold heat, prolonged hold heat, white rice, reg/sushi, softer, tougher, fast cooking, combined, porridge, candy, semibrown, brown 
  • Equipment: Rice measuring cup, pre-washed rice measuring cup, spatula, spatula holder
  • Cooking pot materials: Aluminum with PTFE (Teflon) coating

Amazon Zojirushi NS-RPC10HM Rice Cooker

Credit score: Amazon

The sibling to the lovable three-cup cooker, this 5.5-cup bottom-up rice cooker is one other no-nonsense cooking software, that includes precisely one button. 

Greatest For: That is successfully a bigger model of the 3-Cup Rice Cooker I selected as the very best price range possibility, so in order for you a number of well-cooked short- and medium-grain white rice and don’t wish to spend a couple of hundred {dollars}, that is most likely your greatest wager.

Challenges or Shortcomings: Cooking at max capability (5.5 cups dry rice), the rice we acquired out of this machine was pretty inconsistent: some very mushy, some agency, some almost melted. This can be because of the limitations of the standard bottom-up heating programs, because the rice on the backside was moist and fluffy, whereas the rice on prime was dry and dense.

One other quibble: The lid refuses to remain open when you’re prepping rice and water for it. 

Amazon Zojirushi NS-TSC10 Rice Cooker and Warmer

Credit score: Amazon

Key Specs

  • Raw rice capability: 5.5 cups
  • Cooked rice capability: 11 cups
  • Dimensions: 10.25 inches x 10.25 inches x 10.25 inches
  • Twine size: 3 toes, 7 inches 
  • Settings: Single swap cooking; computerized hold heat operate 
  • Equipment: Rice measuring cup, spatula, and spatula holder
  • Cooking pot materials: Aluminum with PTFE (Teflon) coating

That is Zojirushi’s middle-of-the-road rice maker. I scored it common to good on every efficiency take a look at, which is kind of according to in style sentiment across the product.

Greatest For: Somebody who likes pre-programmed options and a satisfying stainless-steel exterior.

Challenges or Shortcomings: There aren’t many evident points with this product, however in testing and in side-by-side comparisons, it was bested by among the model’s different rice cookers, together with my best choice. 

For those who’re in search of an all-around nice 5.5-cup rice cooker with a number of applications and features, my prime decide, the NW-QAC10 Induction Cooker, is extra versatile and scored higher in testing than this mannequin. Upgrading from this one to the winner will value about $25. 

Key Specs

  • Raw rice capability: 5.5 cups
  • Cooked rice capability: 11 cups 
  • Dimensions: 14 inches x 10.13 inches x 8.5 inches
  • Twine size: 3 toes, 7 inches 
  • Settings: White sushi, fast, porridge, combined, cake, brown, steam, candy 
  • Equipment: Rice measuring cup, spatula, steam basket
  • Cooking pot materials: Aluminum with PTFE (Teflon) coating

FAQs

How lengthy does it take a Zojirushi rice cooker to make rice?

This depends upon the type of Zorjirushi rice cooker and the quantity and number of rice you’re cooking. Take our two prime picks for example: A cup or two of short-grain Calrose cooks in roughly half-hour within the electrical 3-Cup Rice Cooker, however the identical kind and quantity of rice takes about an hour within the induction-heated, fuzzy logic-powered Neuro Fuzzy. With rice cookers, pace is earned at the price of consistency and high quality. The speedy 3-Cup cooker merely activates and brings the warmth up till the rice absorbs the boiling water. The upper-end mannequin’s prepare dinner time contains soaking, a ramp-up interval, simmering, and a short relaxation interval earlier than the rice is prepared.

Please learn this, then learn it once more: Zojirushi rice cookers don’t make rice sooner than every other rice cooker or cooking rice on a stovetop. 

Do I have to soak the rice earlier than placing it in a Zojirushi rice cooker? 

This depends upon the mannequin you may have. The model’s one-button cookers shouldn’t have a presoak operate, however all the programmable choices do. How are you aware which sort you may have? If the machine solely has an “On” button, you must soak the rice beforehand; if the machine encompasses a dozen buttons or a display, there’s no have to soak. That mentioned, generally, you must nonetheless wash your rice earlier than cooking. 

Do you have to purchase a Zojirushi rice cooker?

Zojirushi rice cookers are dependable, constant, and prove high-quality rice. I’d suggest them to most house cooks. That mentioned, in case you have a robust choice for drier, extra al dente rice, I’d search out a rice cooker from a Western model, just like the Critical Eats favourite Hamilton Seashore Programmable Rice Cooker.

Why We’re the Specialists

  • Will Worth has been testing, breaking, and reviewing cooking gear for greater than a decade. He’s written critiques and guides for juicers, blenders, knives, each sort of grill, and extra. Earlier than he was a product reviewer, he made forged iron cookware by hand in a storage in South Carolina. 
  • For this information, we examined six in style Zojirushi rice cookers. After months of cooking, our two favorites had been the budget-friendly 3-Cup Rice Cooker and the extra programmable and extra highly effective Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH
  • Although our baseline checks for every rice cooker remained constant, we additionally examined among the gadgets’ specialised prepare dinner modes for quinoa, congee, steel-cut oats, and so on. 

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