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For many, rice is a staple dish, which makes it so much more important to cook it the right way. Getting the perfect, fluffy rice is always trial and error, and microwave rice cookers promise a hassle-free way to achieve perfection each time. So after testing 11 of the most popular microwave rice cookers on the market, we managed to identify the best ones available.
We were thrilled with the results we got from the Prep Solutions Rice Cooker, with the added support of accessories that made rice an absolute breeze. At the same time, the Amazon revered Sistema Rice Cooker did the job in a mere 3 minutes, offering innovative smart technologies we never thought could exist in a non-electrical gadget!
But the most impressive microwave rice cooker we tested was a model we never expected, which surprised us with excellent results and foolproof usage. Which rice cooker could achieve such an outstanding result? Read below to find out!
The Best Microwave Rice Cookers of 2023
Table of Contents
While we were testing the best microwave rice cookers on the market, we specifically looked for quality cookers that can make rice cooking a swift experience, producing fluffy results for those who struggle with cooking.
For many people, rice cookers are a fundamental tool in the kitchen and choosing the right model can completely change your cooking experience for the better. At the same time, picking the wrong rice cooker for your needs can turn your kitchen experience into a nightmare, and unfortunately, many people don’t know what to look for when choosing their new rice cooker.
In order to identify the best appliances, we took note of how long it took to cook and how much effort was required. Thanks to our experts, we can now present you our detailed reviews of the 5 best microwave rice cookers of 2023.
Joseph Joseph Microwave Rice Cooker
- Versatile design
- Big cooking capacity
- Easy to clean
- Dishwasher-safe
- Fast cooking time
- High-quality results
- Easily stained
- No handle
The microwaveable rice cooker from Joseph Joseph has a pretty aesthetic and comes with a measuring cup, rice paddle, lid, and colander for easy draining. Joseph Joseph brand has cleverly designed this cooker so that all these bits and bots fit snugly inside the cooking pot for ease of storage and less likelihood of losing them.
It has a generous capacity of about 10 cups of rice, more than enough for a family, and a secure, lockable lid to ensure safety from splatterings in the microwave.
In addition, the versatility of this cooker allows you to cook several types of rice (white, brown, basmati, or Chinese), and you are provided with instructions that tell you exactly how much water is needed.
Best of all, it takes only 5 minutes to get the perfect, fluffiest rice ever, and it even doubles up as pasta, meat, and stew cooker. Thanks to its locking lid and steaming vents, it retains the succulent juices and nutritional factors often lost in conventional boiling and cooking. You can create a whole dinner from this one gadget!
This microwave rice steamer tends to stain easily, especially if you decide to experiment with vibrant colored soups. But all in all, it has to be our favorite from the lot, the numerous advantages it offers definitely outweigh the slight issue with the staining.
Sistema Microwave Rice Cooker
- Smart features
- Big cooking capacity
- Easy to clean
- Dishwasher-safe
- Budget-friendly
- Poor instructions
- Basic
This microwaveable rice cooker by Sistema comes with intelligent features that make it one of the most popular microwave rice cookers.
The Sistema rice cooker contains a pressure chamber plate and a vented lid – together they build up pressure in the pot and gently release the steam.
This smart mechanism ensures that nutritious juices from grains aren’t lost, and the essential vitamins and minerals are retained during cooking time. In addition, with this steam release vented lid, there are fewer chances of food splattering everywhere.
Sistema BPA-Free microwave rice cooker also has cool touch features to reduce the likeliness of burning your fingers: the easy-lift tabs that Sistema has trademarked as “KLIP IT” and the handy non-stick rice spoon.
This microwave rice cooker doesn’t just cook rice but lets you cook other grains just as quickly. Examples would be brown rice, polenta, Chinese rice varieties, and couscous. It caters to about 8-10 cups of rice, perfect for a family and enough for leftovers.
It can be seen as pretty basic, and the guidelines supplied aren’t the most elaborate. But on the plus side, it’s budget-friendly, does the job simply, dishwasher friendly, and BPA plastic-free. Along with the Joseph Joseph rice cooker, this one has got to be one of the best microwave rice cookers available.
Prep Solutions Microwave Rice Cooker
- Cooks pasta and veggies
- 16-piece set of accessories
- Perfect for big families/groups
- Lockable Lid
- Limited Versatility
This Prep Solutions rice cooker from the brand Progressive comes with a whopping 16-piece set, including a set of measuring spoons, draining baskets, measuring cups, a steamer basket, and a rice paddle.
It has an impressive capacity that can handle about 10 cups of rice, feed an average-sized family, and leave leftovers! It also allows vegetables and pasta to be steamed quickly and can work with other grains such as quinoa and couscous, provided that the right water measure is used.
It’s made from BPA-free plastic and is dishwasher-safe making it a very convenient choice. While it doesn’t come with the versatility that other models have, it has an abundance of accessories, a sturdy feel, and a lightweight design.
If you are limited to two stovetops and have a small kitchen, this handy microwave rice cooker will do much of the work for you.
Home-X Microwave Rice Cooker
- Sleek, compact design
- Easy to use and clean
- Big cooking capacity
- Poor handle quality
- Flimsy plastic that can get very hot
This plastic microwave rice cooker by Home X has an intelligent pressure chamber that steams rice gently, providing you with fluffy and tender results each time. It has a foolproof design where you simply add rice and water to the pot and cover it with the dual lid, and your rice is done in 15 minutes.
This fancy dual lid system works by creating a pressure chamber that gently lets steam slowly escape through the vents in the lid so that the nutritional value of the rice is retained and there are fewer chances of splattering in your microwave.
The locking clips ensure the lid stays securely on the pot and the cooker has a generous capacity, providing 10 cups, adequate for an average-sized family, and possibly even enough for leftovers the day after. Home X also gives you a handy rice paddle for serving up.
It comes with a reasonable price point, which may reflect this microwave rice maker handle quality and flimsy feel. It’s very safe, however, made of BPA-free plastic, and is dishwasher friendly.
Rapid Microwave Rice Cooker
- Compact and small, easy to store
- Inexpensive
- Easy to clean
- Dishwasher-safe
- Cooks veggies
- May not work with all rice varieties
This lightweight and affordable rapid rice cooker by Rapid brand, is perfect for 1 or 2 people, ensuring little waste. Its small and compact design means you can easily store it in a kitchen with limited space.
This small microwave rice cooker also offers some versatility, as it works with cooking oatmeal and vegetables. It might be shy with the quality it offers and may be seen as flimsy, but its low price and the timeframe it cooks rice in – just 3 minutes – outweighs this drawback.
It might also not work with every rice variety, such as brown or jasmine, but the instructions provided online by Rapid Rice Cooker are meant to help you cook the most popular rice types.
It’s a BPA-free rice cooker and is dishwasher-friendly, not to mention it’s affordable, making it an ideal choice for students, office goers, and busy on-the-go people.
How To Choose A Microwave Rice Cooker
We are all fully aware of the advantages of owning a good rice cooker, and of how easier your cooking life can become when you own one. It can play a vital role in simplifying daily dinner and lunch prep and is an effortless way of cooking rice – you’re never going to overcook or undercook it with one of these.
Microwave rice cookers vary in their advantages, disadvantages, and the features they provide. These are the essential factors you should consider before snapping one up.
Capacity
One of the main factors that could be a deal-breaker would be the holding capacity. If you’re living alone, you’re better off with a model designed for small portions, especially if you want to reduce food waste and how much rice you use.
On average, a cup of uncooked rice will yield about 2 cups of cooked rice, but of course, it depends on the type of rice you use.
If you’re part of a large family of about 5, or if you prefer cooking in large batches to cover several meals or leftovers, then consider a 2.8 liters or 12-cup capacity rice maker, which would give you approximately 8 cups of cooked rice.
On the other hand, if you’re part of a smaller family, consider a smaller model with a capacity of about 1.9 liters or 6 cups, which would give you approximately 4 to 5 cups of cooked rice.
Wattage and Microwave Power
Not all microwaves are equal in their power wattage, size, and performance. Have a look at the instructions manual of your rice cooker regarding the microwave power required for the rice to be cooked in a certain amount of time. It will roughly give you an idea of how long it will take your microwave to cook your rice.
For example, a 750-watt microwave will naturally have longer cooking times than a 1000-watt microwave. Therefore, your cooking time will need to be adjusted according to the power wattage of your microwave; this will prevent burnt, overcooked, or undercooked rice.
Materials
All the microwave rice cookers we have reviewed are, of course, heat-resistant, and if they’re made of plastic, they’re special heat-resistant composition plastics. Microwaves, of course, can’t take metal containers, so none of the microwave rice cookers should be metal.
Many of the ones we reviewed are also made from BPA-free plastics, which means that potential chemical leakages from the plastic won’t occur. If you’re not pro-plastic at all and can’t compromise, then opt for a glass or ceramic-based microwave rice cooker. Unfortunately, these will be a little pricier, less compact, and heavier.
Materials also influence the durability of your kitchen appliances. Since most microwaveable rice cookers are made of plastic, they might all seem the same, but in actual fact, there are different grades and qualities to plastic that you should be mindful of when purchasing your rice cooker.
Always check the type of plastic your rice cooker has been made with and how durable it’s supposed to be, because having a flimsy plastic microwaveable rice cooker will make things inconvenient for you, from taking the pot out of the microwave to potential leaks and spillages.
Lockable Lid
Many of the older microwave rice cookers had a notorious reputation for creating atrocious spillages in the microwave, which took away the whole concept of saving time with these little cookers.
When shopping around, keep your eyes peeled for microwave rice steamers that are equipped with lockable lids. Those will minimize the chances of creating a mess.
Some that we have reviewed feature a dual-layer lid. This clever little feature securely traps heat in the pot to cook the rice in the healthiest way, capturing the nutrients and minimizing the chance of spills.
If this sounds like something you definitely want, look out for a pot with two layers that come apart, this will make cleaning a whole lot easier.
Versatility
Though the main aim of a microwaveable rice cooker is to cook rice perfectly, it doesn’t hurt if your cooker is versatile enough to cook other grains or foods. As you have seen, many of the microwave rice cookers we’ve reviewed come with the added benefit of cooking vegetables, pasta, soups, and stews.
The beauty of these microwave rice steamers is that they use a healthy mechanism of cooking grains, vegetables, and soups. The pressure and steaming plates combine to enhance flavors and allow them to mingle.
At the same time, this system retains the essential nutrients and vitamins present in grains and vegetables, which often get destroyed with a conventional stove or hob cooking.
Having a versatile microwave rice cooker adds value to your gadget; you’re getting more for your money, not to mention it’s super handy if you share kitchens or are short of space.
User Friendliness
Rice cookers will vary in the features they come with and the accessories supplied along with them. We believe the best models are the ones that give you a supply of accessories to support you in your rice cooking.
A measuring cup, rice paddle, and strainers are handy and help you with rinsing and washing your rice effectively. Also, the measuring cup can help you get the measurements correct to the instructions you’re given.
Some microwave rice cookers come with safety features such as steam vented lids to release steam naturally and effectively, which cooks the rice in the most nutritious way and prevents a rice facial when you pull your container out of the microwave and unlock the lid! Some also come with cool touch features to avoid burnt fingers.
Another important characteristic that would make your rice cooker, even more, user-friendly is the dishwasher factor. Having a dishwasher-safe microwavable rice cooker may be a deal-breaker for many who lead busy lifestyles. Dishwashing tends to save a lot of time and water, so this is definitely something to look for when buying a new rice cooker.
Most of the rice cookers we’ve reviewed have the benefit of being affordable, which means they’re so cheap and effective to cook perfect rice. One of the most versatile and, not to mention, best budget choices available is the rice cooker by Sistema. You can’t go wrong with this one, it’s easy to use and clean and has a generous cooking capacity.
At the same time, if you’re after a rice cooker that offers some versatility and can be used for a multitude of hacks, not just rice making, the M-Cuisine by Joseph Joseph would be the best microwave rice cooker for you.
When it comes to first using your rice cooker, take all the instructions with a pinch of salt because factors such as your microwave wattage can play a part in how long your rice will need to be cooked. Also, make sure you are standing and observing the progress for the first couple of times to avoid burning and overflowing.
Once you’ve mastered that, which doesn’t take long, your rice maker will be something you won’t be able to do without!
He likes to call himself a ‘tech freak’ and if you ask him anything about whatever tech-trend is on these days, he will likely go on for hours.
Apart from his passion for technology, Lucas has worked in an appliance store for many years and is also an over-enthusiastic foodie.
He considers his job at ConsciousEating a ‘dream come true’ because it allows him to explore the two things he loves the most in the world: technology and food.
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