Rice Cookers

If you have decided to add more rice to your diet and are looking for more information about how to cook rice, you’ll need a great cooker. Rice cookers are made for several different types of rice cooks, from the simple, straight forward $20 version to one that uses induction heating and can keep your rice recipe warm for up to 12 hours. With so many choices out there, how do you know which cooker to choose?

The best way to cook rice is definitely in a rice maker. Nothing beats the convenience. Sure you can cook rice the old fashioned way, in a pot on top of the stove or using your microwave. You could even cook rice on an open fire under the stars, but for a busy modern lifestyle, the one-touch convenience of a cooker is simply unsurpassed. You can use a rice cooker at home, in a college dorm, or even when camping.

The first thing to consider when looking at rice cookers, like Oster and Hitachi, just to name a few brands, is to consider how many people you will consistently be cooking for. If you are in a household of one or two, the $20 version with one switch that cooks and warms once you’ve added the rice and water is unmatched. You really would have a hard time messing up rice with this simple type of rice maker.

If, however, you plan on cooking for larger groups of people, and are also a little more adventurous in your gastronomic affair, then a larger, more expensive cooker can cook up to 12 to 15 servings of rice and is recommended. Many rice cooker reviews will highlight which features are useful on a particular model, and which are superfluous bells and whistles, just to entice you into spending for more than what you really need.

With the fancier model rice cookers, you can cook all types of rice, including hearty porridges, savory stews, succulent soups, spicy curries, and steamed rice, sushi rice, and brown rice. You can cook rice in hours or minutes. Depending on the model, you can add vegetables and meats to cook just like a crockpot. At the bare minimum you want an on/off switch and a non-stick surface on the pan in which you will cook the rice in the cooker, and from there, you can add features of all sorts like timed cooking and recipe specific temperatures if you want to expand your choices for cooking in your rice cooker.

Many rice cookers come with some great recipe books, added utensils like ladles and rice paddles, and even spice packets that you can use and replenish. If you want to keep it simple and cook rice for a basic Chinese stir fry dish, or make congee or sous vide, then you will need to choose appropriately. If you do a little research for the more deluxe versions of a cooker, then you will be sure to find one that suits your every need.