Best Rice cookers 2026: 11 Compared (9 Sources)

What are the best rice cookers in 2026?

Summary

The Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 Neuro Fuzzy is the nearest thing this category has to a consensus. Reviewed, America's Test Kitchen, Food Network, The Kitchn and CNN Underscored each put it first after cooking in it: America's Test Kitchen says it "consistently produced excellent rice in both small and large batches", and Reviewed that it "consistently made the best quality rice in our testing". [src2, src1, src4, src5, src3] Its fuzzy logic adjusts the cook as it goes: CNN Underscored added a cup too much water to one batch and a cup too little to another, and the rice was "still edible and actually not that bad". [src3] The price of that is time. Engadget's white rice took 48 minutes and its brown rice just shy of two hours, so Engadget calls it a splurge pick for patient cooks. [src6]

Below it, the outlets split. Engadget's single all-around top choice is the Cuckoo CR-0655F, and CNN Underscored makes the same cooker its budget pick, saying it made far better rice than the budget and mid-tier cookers it tested, though not at the Zojirushi's level. America's Test Kitchen is cooler: it recommends the Cuckoo with reservations, because its short-grain white and brown rice came out a little wet at Cuckoo's own water ratios. [src6, src3, src2] Among cookers under $50, The Kitchn and Engadget both pick the Hamilton Beach 37518, while Food Network's best value is the $37 Aroma ARC-914SBD, which America's Test Kitchen found gummy and mushy in a large batch. [src5, src6, src4, src2] At the top end, Reviewed and America's Test Kitchen rate the KitchenAid KGC3155 among the best cookers they tested, for rice that needs no measuring, and CNN Underscored and TODAY liked its rice too. [src1, src2, src3, src7]

Spending more does not reliably buy better rice. CNN Underscored tested three induction cookers and found the quality of the rice "didn't improve much", and TODAY found the Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH induction cooker made the same quality of rice as an Aroma Smart Carb cooker listed at $57.99; Reviewed, though, calls induction "the next step up from fuzzy logic". [src3, src7, src1] Pressure cookers divide the testers too: CNN Underscored found the Cuckoo CRP-P1009SB's rice mushy, America's Test Kitchen found the Cuckoo CRP-P0609S scorched the bottoms of most batches, and Engadget's best-performing cooker was a twin-pressure Cuckoo, the CRP-RT0609FW, though it crisped the bottom of its rice. [src3, src2, src6] This card ranks a cooker only when at least two outlets that tested it back it; the alternatives are each one outlet's pick or a cooker an outlet tested well without naming it a pick, and each section names the outlet.

11 Rice Cookers Compared

Capacities and cooker types are the outlets' and makers' figures. [src1, src2, src3, src4, src5, src6, src9] A price is the Amazon price from our US price check for the listing we link, updated daily; a dash means our check has no current Amazon offer to show, or has not yet checked a link new to this card.

Best for Each Use Case

Top pick: Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 Neuro Fuzzy — Check price

Reviewed, America's Test Kitchen, Food Network, The Kitchn and CNN Underscored all name the Neuro Fuzzy their best rice cooker. [src1, src2, src4, src5, src3] Reviewed chose it "after producing consistent and flavorful batches of brown rice, short-grain white rice, and jasmine rice"; America's Test Kitchen, which cooked 50 batches of rice across its lineup, says it "consistently produced excellent rice in both small and large batches"; and The Kitchn found it "by far, the easiest to use". [src1, src2, src5] It holds 5.5 cups of uncooked rice and has presets for white (regular or sushi, softer or harder), mixed, porridge, sweet, semi-brown, brown, rinse-free and quick cooking, and Reviewed says it was the only cooker it tested with side handles on the inner pan. [src1] Its weak points: Reviewed found the control panel less than intuitive, The Kitchn found it the slowest of its machines at brown rice, and in Engadget's test white rice took 48 minutes, brown rice just shy of two hours, and the quick mode saved only ten minutes on white rice. [src1, src5, src6] CNN Underscored's pick box calls it the 10-cup model, but its text names the Neuro Fuzzy and its Amazon link is this 5.5-cup NS-ZCC10. [src3]

Best value: Cuckoo CR-0655F Micom — Check price

Engadget's tester makes the CR-0655F her "single all-around top choice": it delivered "some of the best results for all three grain types" (Japanese-style white, brown and basmati), its presets work without fuss, and a custom mode sets exact soaking and heating times, all at "a very reasonable cost". [src6] CNN Underscored makes it the best budget rice cooker of the 23 it tested: its rice was "comparable in quality to other rice cookers we tested at twice its price", if a bit stickier and gummier than the Zojirushi's, it finished in 34 minutes, and an Auto Clean mode loosens debris in the pot with steam. [src3] It holds 6 cups of uncooked rice and uses fuzzy logic. [src6, src2] The caveats are practical. Its lid springs open hard enough to rock the cooker, so Engadget advises an oven mitt against the steam; CNN Underscored wished it had a carrying handle; and America's Test Kitchen, which recommends it with reservations, found its short-grain white and brown rice a little wet at Cuckoo's recommended water ratios and its water lines, imprinted into the metal, hard to read. [src6, src3, src2]

Best budget: Hamilton Beach 37518 Digital Programmable Rice Cooker — Check price

The Kitchn and Engadget both make this Hamilton Beach their budget pick. [src5, src6] The Kitchn calls it "totally no-frills" but says it did a good job and made well-cooked rice, "a great bang for your buck"; it holds 4 cups of uncooked rice, has four settings (white rice, whole grain, hot cereal and steam) and comes with a colander for rinsing rice that doubles as a steamer basket. [src5] In Engadget's test all three batches came out to the tester's satisfaction, the brown rice particularly good; white and basmati rice finished in about 37 minutes and brown in 51, which Engadget says puts it on the quicker side, and it "outperformed some machines that cost quadruple the price". [src6] Both testers found some rice browned at the bottom of the pot, and The Kitchn found its water markings harder to read than the Zojirushi's and its inner lid harder to remove. [src5, src6] Engadget suggests it for people who are not regular rice eaters and do not need fine control. [src6]

Best upgrade: KitchenAid KGC3155 Grain and Rice Cooker — Check price

Reviewed's best upgrade and Highly Recommended by America's Test Kitchen: you choose the grain, the built-in scale weighs what you add, and the machine dispenses the right amount of water from its tank, so there is nothing to measure. [src1, src2] Reviewed counts 21 presets across rice, oats, quinoa, couscous, barley, farro and beans and found that "each preset recipe delivered consistently excellent results"; America's Test Kitchen says it "turned out perfectly cooked brown and white rice every time". [src1, src2] CNN Underscored made flawless batches of white, brown and jasmine rice in it, and TODAY's testers found its brown rice tasted and looked the best of the cookers they tried. [src3, src7] The costs are size and price. America's Test Kitchen calls it quite expensive and about the size of a mini toaster oven, yet it makes 8 cups of cooked rice to the Zojirushi NS-ZCC10's 11, and Reviewed warns that it takes up a decent amount of counter space. [src2, src1]

Alternative (Reviewed's best induction): Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH — Check price

Reviewed's best induction cooker: induction turns the whole inner pan into the heat source, and Reviewed found its brown and jasmine rice fluffy and its short-grain white rice slightly umami-flavored. [src1] TODAY's tester scored it 4.5 out of 5, with full marks for white and brown rice but 3 for value, and found it made the same quality of rice as the Aroma Smart Carb cooker TODAY ranked first. [src7] It is slow: Reviewed cites 55 minutes for white rice and 60 for brown, and in TODAY's test white rice took 60 minutes and brown 90. [src1, src7] Reviewed's verdict is that it "doesn't balance features and price as well as" the Neuro Fuzzy. [src1]

Alternative (CNN Underscored's top performer): Tiger JKT-D10U — Check price

CNN Underscored did not make this 5.5-cup induction cooker a pick, but says it "made rice just as delicious as the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy" and was "a top performer across all our rice tests"; it rates the Zojirushi the better value because the Tiger costs more. [src3] No other outlet we read tested it.

Alternative (fast pressure cooking): Cuckoo CRP-ST0609FW Twin Pressure — Check price

CNN Underscored tested this 6-cup twin-pressure cooker and calls it "a fairly simple-to-use model that delivers strong results": it switches between high-pressure and non-pressure cooking across 16 modes and made white rice in about 20 minutes instead of 50. [src3] CNN also found its results comparable to those of Cuckoo's CR-0675F, which costs about half as much, and its menu complicated enough to need the manual at first. [src3] No other outlet we read tested it.

Alternative (Reviewed's best value): Toshiba TRCS02 — Check price

Reviewed's best value is this 3-cup fuzzy-logic cooker, which "aced all of our rice testing, with consistently fluffy, evenly cooked textures throughout the white rice and brown rice tests"; its egg and porridge settings worked well too. [src1] Reviewed calls it a very simple, straightforward cooker next to its competitors, and its white rice took about 50 minutes and its brown rice about an hour and 20 minutes. [src1] America's Test Kitchen's budget winner is a different, 6-cup Toshiba, the TRCS01, which this card does not list. [src2]

Alternative (Food Network's best value): Aroma ARC-914SBD — Check price

Food Network's best value, at $37: it "worked surprisingly well despite its low price", cooking white rice into fluffy, tender, individual grains. [src4] America's Test Kitchen, whose previous test it won, now recommends it with reservations: a small batch of long-grain rice was good, but a large batch turned out gummy and mushy, and it leaked starchy water from two spots when making brown rice. [src2] It holds 4 cups of uncooked rice (8 cooked) and has no fuzzy logic. [src4, src2]

Alternative (Food Network's pick for brown rice): Tiger JBV-A10U — Check price

Food Network says this Tiger "cooks the best brown rice by far compared to all of the other rice cookers we've tested", taking an hour on its brown rice setting. [src4] Other testers are less keen. America's Test Kitchen, which recommends it with reservations, got good brown rice only after reducing the water and "a mushy mass of short-grain white rice", and CNN Underscored found it "didn't cook rice as well as most of the other machines". [src2, src3] Reviewed liked its simplicity and its synchro-cooking function, which cooks a main dish at the same time as the rice. [src1] It has four buttons, one per setting, no timer and no fuzzy logic. [src2]

Alternative (Popzara's Editors' Choice): Zojirushi NL-EAC10 — Check price

Zojirushi's Micom NL-EAC10 has one hands-on review among the outlets we read: Popzara rated it Editors' Choice, and its reviewer called it "hands down the best I've used yet", with jasmine rice that came out visibly fluffier than in the Toshiba cooker the reviewer had used before. [src8] One cup of rice on quick cook took around 15 to 20 minutes. [src8] It holds up to 5.5 cups, uses fuzzy logic, and its menu covers white, long-grain white, sushi, congee, brown, GABA brown, jasmine, quick white, steel-cut oatmeal, quinoa and cake, with a self-cleaning function. [src9] Earlier versions of this card made it the best value on its price; one review is not enough to rank it, so it is an alternative until a second outlet tests it.

What the Other Testers Picked

These are picks of one outlet each that this card describes but does not list or link:

• America's Test Kitchen's budget winner: the Toshiba 6-Cup Rice Cooker with Fuzzy Logic (TRCS01), which "made delicious, evenly cooked rice in all our tests". [src2]
• TODAY's best overall: the Aroma 20-Cup Smart Carb Rice Cooker (ARC-1120SBL), scored 4.75 out of 5. [src7]
• Engadget's best premium: the Cuckoo Twin Pressure CRP-RT0609FW, its best-performing cooker purely on the rice, though it crisped the bottom of its white and brown rice. [src6]
• The Kitchn's fastest: the Instant Zest Rice and Grain Cooker, which cooked white, sushi and brown rice 20 to 30 minutes faster than the Zojirushi. [src5]
• Food Network's best for beginners: the Zojirushi 3-Cup NHS-06; CNN Underscored found its rice mushy. [src4, src3]

Key Market Trends (2026)

• One cooker still leads the tests: five of the seven roundups we read put the Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 first (Reviewed, America's Test Kitchen, Food Network, The Kitchn and CNN Underscored); Engadget makes it a splurge pick, and TODAY does not name it among the cookers it tested. [src1, src2, src4, src5, src3, src6, src7]
• Testers doubt that induction buys better rice: CNN Underscored found its three induction cookers did not improve the rice much over the Neuro Fuzzy, and TODAY found the Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH made the same quality of rice as its top-ranked Aroma; Reviewed calls the NP-HCC10XH the next step up from fuzzy logic but says it does not balance features and price as well as the Neuro Fuzzy. [src3, src7, src1]
• Pressure cooking splits the testers: CNN Underscored found the Cuckoo CRP-P1009SB's rice mushy but the CRP-ST0609F's results strong; America's Test Kitchen found the Cuckoo CRP-P0609S scorched the bottoms of most batches; Engadget's best-performing cooker was the Cuckoo CRP-RT0609FW, which still crisped the bottom of its rice. [src3, src2, src6]
• Automatic measuring wins over the testers who tried it: Reviewed, America's Test Kitchen, CNN Underscored and TODAY all got very good rice from the KitchenAid KGC3155's scale-and-tank system; Reviewed's and America's Test Kitchen's complaints are its size and price. [src1, src2, src3, src7]
• The budget picks disagree: The Kitchn and Engadget pick the Hamilton Beach 37518, Food Network the Aroma ARC-914SBD, CNN Underscored the Cuckoo CR-0655F, and America's Test Kitchen the 6-cup Toshiba TRCS01. [src5, src6, src4, src3, src2]

Important Caveats

• Capacity labels mix uncooked and cooked rice. Zojirushi rates its cookers in its own 180 mL rice cup of raw short-grain white rice, and the "8-cup" in the Hamilton Beach 37518's name is cooked rice, 4 cups uncooked. Check which a listing means before you compare. [src9, src6, src5]
• Cook times differ between tests. The Zojirushi NP-HCC10XH took 60 minutes for white rice and 90 for brown at TODAY, against the 55 and 60 minutes Reviewed cites. [src7, src1]
• This refresh removed four cookers. CNN Underscored found the Cuckoo CRP-P1009SB's rice mushy and said it "isn't worth the money if you want a rice cooker"; no other outlet we read tested it. [src3] Reviewed tested the Cuckoo CR-0631F and found it nailed its rice tests but had a control panel "too complicated for new users"; it is not one of Reviewed's picks, and earlier versions of this card gave it a quote that CNN Underscored wrote about the CR-0655F. [src1, src3] The Aroma ARC-1020SB and Tatung TAC-06IN had replaced unavailable models, and no outlet we read tested either.
• The Zojirushi NL-EAC10 has one hands-on review, Popzara's. Treat its Editors' Choice as one tester's view. [src8]
• Outlet prices quoted on this card are the outlets' own at the time they published. The table at the top of the page shows the price from our latest check.