Best Electric Rice Cooker | Buying Guide : Things to consider while buying a Electric Rice Cooker

If you are thinking to buy an electric rice cooker for the first time, you must be aware that there are some factors that you should consider.

These factors will help you in deciding the performance and durability of the cooker. Some of these factors are as follows:

Size and capacity

Rice cookers come in different sizes and capacities. Unlike most kitchen appliances, these cookers don’t take more space than a large vessel. The capacity of a rice cooker is measured by a total number of rice cups it can cook. Electric rice cookers are available with capacities ranging from 1 to 6 litres, and some even more. While buying an electric cooker, the first thing to consider is the size of your family. If you are a small family of 5 to 6 people, consider buying a cooker of 3 to 5 liters of capacity. Also, consider how many cups of rice you typically need.

Easy to operate

Most electric cookers come with a one-touch operation. This means you only have to add rice, a sufficient amount of water and let the cooker do the rest. There are more advanced electric cookers with digital controls and functions. There are functions such as self-timer/delay start, automatic keep warm, slow cooking, steaming and more. It is ideal to have a self-timer or delay start function in an electric rice cooker. It sets the cooker to start functioning at a specified time and even tells you the time left until the rice is ready to serve. These features let you automate things and you can be rest assured your rice will be ready when it’s time to eat.

Types of lids

Some rice cookers come with a see-through lid, while others have a close fit stainless steel lid.  A see-through lid is great to have, since you can check on the rice when it is cooking.

Designs that are easy to clean

For easy cleaning, make sure the cooking bowl and lid are dishwasher safe. You can easily remove and clean the cooking bowl and a lid with a sponge scrub and water. Selecting a cooker with a stainless steel, aluminium or a non-stick coated cooking bowl is always beneficial in the long run.

Automatic Shut-off function

This feature is found in almost all rice cookers. The use of “Automatic Shut-Off” function is that the cooker automatically toggles the switch to “Keep Warm” function once the rice is ready. This means, you don’t necessarily have to keep monitoring the rice while it is cooking. 

Cook and Warm Functions

The model should have a cook and warm function that automatically cooks the rice efficiently and evenly while retaining its nutritional values.

The auto warm function then will automatically get activated so that your rice remains warm up to a longer duration. This helps in keeping your rice fluffy and soft.

Cool Touch Handle

The cool-touch handle is resistant to heat and hence will offer a firm and safe grip so that you can carry it around conveniently and serve. This also prevents you from burning your hands while cooking rice or serving.

Thus, this is an important safety feature that the rice cooker should have.

Material

The lid of the cooker should be made of stainless steel as it traps the heat inside, allowing the rice to be cooked evenly and to perfection. Moreover, it is resistant to corrosion, making it easy to maintain.

The cooking plate should be made using aluminum and should come with holes for starch to seep out. This prevents the rice from turning soggy and enables you to make idlis and momos in it.

Water Level Indicator

The water level indicator is also important as it denotes the ratio of water to rice required while cooking rice. This gives you the correct quantity of water that you need to add so that the rice gets cooked perfectly.

Delay Start Features

When you talk about an electric rice cooker, the best models come with digital controls. The delay start function is a must-have feature for an electric rice cooker. This smart feature indicates the appliance to start cooking rice or any other dish at the specified time. The advanced function even lets you know the time left until your rice is ready.

Cooking Mechanism

Basically, there is two different mechanisms used by an electric rice cooker – thermal cooking and heat induction. Between these two cooking styles, heat induction machine is better than the thermal convention as this can make perfectly cooked rice each and every time.

Detachable Power Cord

Talking about the convenient feature, an electric rice cooker needs to have a detachable power cord. The detachable cord ensures that you easily store it without dragging the long power cord behind.

Inner Pot Material

Most of the electric rice cookers look the same from outside. However, what makes a difference is the material that is used to make the inner pot. Most manufacturers either use stainless steel or non-stick aluminum. Some manufacturers even use aluminum coated stainless steel material to make the inner pot.

Energy and Power Consumption

The energy efficiency of any electric rice cooker is determined by the amount of time that it takes to cook the food using the heat energy that is generated by it.

When you compare it with gas cookers, electric rice cookers use only 60-70% of the heat energy and cook the rice quickly.

The power consumption of the electric cooker is measured by the number of watts that it consumes to turn on the cooker and generate energy that is required for the cooking purpose. Some brands of rice cookers consume very less power and offer better productivity.

Cool Touch Handle

The electric rice cookers should have cool-touch handles as they are resistant to heat. These handles offer a safe and firm grip so that you can carry the cooker even when it is heavy and has hot rice.

It also prevents your hand from burning while serving the rice. This makes it a very important factor.

Accessories

The additional accessories make the operation easy and convenient to a great extent. Some of the important accessories that you must check for are:

• A measuring cup to add raw rice and water in correct quantities. There is no standard size that you must look for as different brands offer cups in different colors and sizes.
• A spatula or a ladle that is helpful while mixing or serving the rice. Most brands offer a plastic ladle as it is easy to scoop out the rice without scraping the non-stick coating.
• A steamer basket or tray can be helpful while steaming rice or veggies.

You can purchase an additional idli maker stand with the rice cooker separately.