If all you want is some basic white rice, and you’re ok with it taking a little bit of time to cook, then there are plenty of rice cookers out there for you. After all, rice can be made pretty simply, with pretty much just some water, and unless you are picky about texture you’ll be fine with most methods (even just a pot and a stovetop). But we hope that you’re more demanding, as we certainly are, looking for variety in our rice styles and extra control over the end results- and a faster batch always helps too.
The Cuckoo CRP-G1015F isn’t just your normal, everyday rice cooker. Nope, this adorable model is actually part pressure cooker, using built-up steam to speed up the process and reduce cooking time. The internal aluminum pot holds up to 10-cups, and is coated in Teflon for easy cleaning (and to avoid having your rice get burned and stick). Made in Korea, you can tell from the slightly hard-to-decipher instruction manual and labels, but also the cute voice announcement when your rice is ready.
Cuckoo might not be a brand you’re familiar with, but they’ve actually been around for almost 40 years, and have sold a fair number of rick cookers in that period- over 25 million, in fact. We’ve seen rice cookers of all types, and this one offers something that most cannot- a much more flexible range, allowing you to use a wide variety of rice types without worrying about timing or water quantities. You might not make all of these, but the list is still interesting (and impressive): wild, glutinous, sushi, brown, and GABA, plus rice porridge and chicken soup. Especially for brown rice, we found it outperformed even more expensive models handily, making a batch faster than any other unit we’ve tested or tried.
Available in a few color schemes like red and pink, the CRP-G1015F is definitely built for living in apartments- it’s incredibly compact. And since it uses pressure, we appreciated the extra safety features, like the top handle-lock (and also the valves, sensors, and more). Available online and in stores, expect to spend around $219 for the Cuckoo. It can take some time to figure out everything- the right quantities, the right buttons- but once you do, it’s consistent and super-speedy.
