Rice Cooker vs. Stock Pot: Which One Should You Choose

The rice cooker is one of the most useful kitchen accessories today. This device helps us to get perfect rice with a minimum of effort and culinary knowledge. To help you choose the right cooker for making rice, we have evaluated and prepared this article where we analyze and compare the best rice cooker features available on the market, and underline what factors you should take into account when choosing one for you to cook rice. Keep reading!

How to Choose the Right Rice Cooker?

There is the right rice cooker for every type of kitchen and family. Therefore, if you want to find yours, you only have to take into account the following parameters:

Capacity

There are small, medium, and large rice cookers. Starting from 0.6 L that can serve 3 rice dishes, going through 0.8 L indicated for 5 servings, 1.5 L for 8 cups of rice, and finally the range of rice cookers with a capacity of more than 2 L, which serve about 14 plates.

To choose a fully functional and useful rice cooker at home, you should not only take into account the number of family members who eat daily at home, but also the number of servings that each one eats or the amount that you normally prepare if you do batch cooking, for example.

Usability

Are you going to use the rice cooker at home or in a restaurant? Do you prefer to cook complete recipes instead of only rice or a specific type of rice?

Your purchase choice depends on these elements. If you are going to use the complement to cook as a family, you can choose a medium of 0.8 or 1.5 L.

On the other hand, if you want to make recipes in which rice is the main ingredient, it is advisable to purchase a cooker with removable trays or trays. But if you only need to boil traditional rice or to prepare sushi dishes, a device with a non-stick wall is more than enough to achieve it.

What Factors to Consider?

Taking into account that the basic functions of the product are found in all models, as it is a basic appliance in itself, a good rice cooker is characterized by offering a wide control panel to optimize cooking times, cooking temperature rest, and the quality of the final dish. For this reason, we advise you to choose an appliance with at least one or two additional functions, such as a warning light, tempered glass lid, ventilation system to avoid dry boiling or post-cooking heating.

Why Buy a Rice Cooker?

The rice cooker is the most popular kitchen accessory in Asia and its use is increasingly widespread in the West. Here we explain two of its main advantages.

Practicality

Although rice is the most common food in many countries around the world, its preparation is one of the most difficult to master.

•         How many times has the rice stuck to the bottom of the pot?
•         How many times have you not reached the ideal doneness?

The rice cooker is designed to overcome these problems and facilitate the preparation of all kinds of recipes with rice as an essential ingredient. Thermoregulating walls and heating/ventilation systems are able to automatically cope with the demands of complex boiling.

In addition, these devices often have built-in meters to prepare the correct servings and an airtight feature that gives dishes an excellent texture.

Which Rice Cooker to Choose?

In this small table, we leave you the 4 best-selling models so far in the rice preparation market.

What is the Price of a Quality Rice Cooker?

Contrary to popular belief, rice cookers are quite inexpensive accessories, since they are not programmable multifunction kitchen robots. So, it is possible to find high-quality rice cookers in a wide price range that goes from 30 to 60 euros.

The price-quality ratio is one of the best on the market, just look at the extra functionalities, the resistance of the product, and the ability of the machine to regulate the cooking times to those desired by the user. You can get all that in user reviews, opinions, and buying guides.

Where to Buy a Rice Cooker?

This type of appliance for cooking rice can be found in some stores with small appliances. On the other hand, we recommend more modern and confident options, like Amazon-like online stores. They have good prices and many models.

How does a Rice Cooker Work?

A rice cooker is an airtight electrical appliance that can regulate cooking times by maintaining adequate levels of heat throughout the entire preparation, even after it. This device consists of several essential parts for its operation: thermostat, cooking switch, indicators or timer, heating plate, removable aluminum inner container, glass lid, and steam outlet hole.

The Operating Mechanism Works as Follows:

•         The machine’s timers and sensors control the cooking of the rice. These stop the boiling process once the time set by the user expires.
•         The rice cooker has a removable aluminum pan, where the grains and the amount of cold water necessary to cook the portions must be deposited.
•         Once the bowl is pushed to the bottom of the rice cooker, it makes contact with the thermostat and heater, causing a countdown monitored by the machine’s sensors.
•         The tempered glass lid starts the evaporation process and keeps the fumes encapsulated within the container. This gives food extra flavor and helps maintain nutrients.
•         When the rice cooker detects a temperature greater than or equal to 100 ° C, the cooking system switches to post-cooking heating, which maintains the temperature at an optimal 65 ° C and preserves the effect of “freshly cooked” rice for longer.