Do You Need a $350 Rice Cooker? — The Kitchen Gadget Test Show

Esther Choi stops by the test kitchen to help Cliff pick the best rice cooker. Can Cliff's 10-year-old aroma rice cooker outperform the $350 Zojirushi rice cooker?

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[dwydcml]

I've had my Zojirushi for 7 or 8 years now, it sings to me. Literally, worth every penny.

[jesuscanplayguitar]

There’s just somethin charming about a little white rice cooker with one button

[ticonice]

I love how she takes care of the rice cooker, when the dude touched her rice cooker 🤣🤣🤣 She cleaned the dude's finger prints of off the expensive rice cooker 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[juliegolick]

I've got a $25, 3-cup rice cooker, and I've gotta say, the crunchy bits at the bottom are actually my favorite part lol

[Gurokawa]

I got my Tiger 80% on clearance because no one shopping at Walmart is going to drop two hundred plus on a rice cooker. But knew I found gold when I spotted it on the clearance table. I felt like the luckiest man alive.

[MBisFrenchy]

Once she said the rice is good for several days I'm sold.

[jlaustill]

I bought this exact rice cooker based on this video. I was pretty nervous spending that much. But holy cow, WORTH IT!!!

[repalmore]

I grew up eating rice cooked on a stove. Had to time it very carefully. As an adult used the dorm room style cooker. Got married to a Chinese woman and she bought a fancy inductive pressure cooker and the difference in taste was so big it's hard to describe. Rice does have a taste. It's really good when you have a good cooker.

[verycarla]

we got one from Tiger a few years back and i love that damn thing. my husband got it cheap from work because it was a floor model and they were getting rid of the old ones to make room for the new ones and at first i thought, "but i can make really good rice on the stovetop! why do i need THIS?" but now i can't live without it. we make rice at least 3x a week (for onigiri, curry, stir fry, mabodoufu, you name it) and it's a bloody godsend. no more boilovers, no more scorched rice, no more having to stand there and tend to it. just put in the rice and water, close the top, hit the button and 45 minutes later, perfect rice. Calrose, jasmine, basmati, whatever. it makes it perfectly every. single. time. it's worth its weight in gold.

[rumpbuns]

My $125 Zojirushi 2-cup has been a workhorse for ten years now, so I definitely think it's a worthwhile investment.

[SuperSuperpuppylove]

when the rice cooker started playing the jingle i thought my mom was making rice for a second

[Misajoejoe]

I originally thought "It can't make that much of a difference", then I got a Zojirushi as a OMG.... The rice texture and taste was sooo much better!

[Daenym]

Living in Japan, I've got the one on the left, but it cost about half as much as the one in the video. My friend always complained about my old rice cooker's rice, and now I can understand why. If you're going to eat a lot of rice, definitely worth the money for the good one.

And I can confirm that the rice is still good for days. For maybe 2 days I'll happily eat it plain. After that, I stick to making fried rice. As far as 10 days, though... I feel like you need to rethink how much rice you're making if you have enough for 10 days.

[woolfel]

the high end Zojirushi and Tiger are totally worth it over the plain cheap cooker. You can make sweet rice, rice porridge, brown rice, mixed rice and steam. A better comparison would be InstantPot vs high end rice cooker.

[garudaspeaks]

3:45 that Asian accent came out natural. 😂 reminds me of when my wife’s beans are done and her Spanish accent is on point.

[frederickn]

The expensive ones are more forgiving, though perfection can definitely be achieved with a cheap one.
But, just takes a little practice, and are way faster anyways

[kaikai]

The way she jumped on the rice to say “ and it’s scorched” had me laughing 😂

[ekko]

This isn't about price necessarily, it's about consistency. Getting consistent rice throughout the pot is worth money because you won't have to throw away parts that are mushy or scorched. There's nothing worse than mushy rice.

[LaOwlett]

My old rice cooker died last month. I decided on the zojirushi because I liked the timer and extra settings (brown rice). I am amazed by the difference! My old rice cooker had one 60 minute setting and a warming function, it could never make proper sushi rice, and the warm function dried or browned the rice on the bottom. Once skeptical of these fancy smart cookers - they absolutely make better rice. They also use less energy than my old rice crock, I couldn't hear a power draw from my air conditioner when turning it on.

[trex]

When it clicks, you need to stir the rice. Then let it sit for a few.