We Tested the Best Rice Cookers for Fluffy Grains Every Time

Although the process of cooking rice on the stovetop is fairly straightforward, it's also easy to under- or over-cook your rice. If you've wound up with a pot of crunchy or mushy grains, you know that cooking rice requires precise timing, temperature control, and supervision. Rice cookers allow you to make a pot of perfectly textured, fluffy rice without any guesswork or babysitting.

Most models can also be used to cook other grains, such as oats, quinoa, or polenta, and you can even use a rice cooker to make no-stir risotto. Beyond that, some offer the ability to steam veggies or dumplings, keep rice warm for hours, or even bake cakes. To help navigate the many different options on the market, we tested 19 popular models to see which ones perform best.

Best Overall: Cuckoo CRP-P1009SB Rice Cooker

In general, rice cookers make the process of cooking rice very easy. This one even has a computerized voice that talks you through everything, reminding you to lock the pressure-cooking lid and alerting you as your rice gets closer to finished. It's a fun and luxurious feature, and it's just one of several that make the Cuckoo worth its price tag.

This is an enormous machine, with a capacity of 10 cups of dry rice—that's 20 cups of cooked rice. But as a pressure cooker, the Cuckoo cuts down on cooking time for larger amounts. It made a full batch of white rice in about 25 minutes, and there's a special turbo mode that cuts that time by almost half. The nurungji mode creates a layer of crispy browned rice on the bottom of the bowl beneath a layer of perfectly cooked rice, and the multi-cook setting is meant to steam rice and an entree at the same time. We especially enjoyed trying out the GABA rice mode, which soaks brown rice in just-warm water for hours to start the germination process and release the amino acid, then cooks it to perfection.

Meant for big families who make rice multiple times per week, the Cuckoo is truly full-featured and can make lots of different dishes. It's heavy and takes up a lot of space, but it's also a workhorse that's designed to stay on the counter and can hold up to long-term daily use. It's on the pricey side, but we think it offers the best balance of cost and features.