Are you baffled thinking, is it worth buying a rice cooker? Let me guess, either you are new to cooking rice or had a horrid time with a rice cooker before. If not, I don’t think you would search the importance of rice cooker. The introduction doesn’t need more words than this. Let’s dive in.
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Do Rice Cookers Make Better Rice?
Do you know why use a rice cooker? If you are a soul who eats rice on a regular basis and wants to enjoy a hassle-free cooking process, then there are a bucketful of benefits of a rice cooker. If not to a rice cooker, you will be going through a tough process of boiling water, stirring rice, looking for the ideal water level, and a ton of other time-consuming and nerve-wracking workloads.
On top of that, getting high-quality boiled rice isn’t always guaranteed if you are not a master of cooking rice. With a rice cooker, you are entitled to place a full stop to all the above-mentioned problems.
You can pay your much valuable time on something that is more valuable since cooking with a rice cooker demands literally no attention once you switch it on. Also, do rice cookers make better rice? Yeah, every day of the week.
Is It Worth Buying A Rice Cooker?
If you are wondering is a rice cooker worth it, my simple answer would be yes, they are. Let me elaborate on my answer to make it a fair call. I will be providing you with rice cooker benefits and negative effects of rice cooker later in the article in order for you to come to a conclusion are rice cookers worth it.
As I previously said, rice cookers have the ability to cut down the time you consume to cook the rice immensely. If you are on a tight schedule in the morning and your family requires rice on a consistent basis, there shouldn’t be any second guess thinking, “should I buy a rice cooker.”
In addition, a rice cooker keeps the rice warm for a considerable period of time, allowing you and your family members to relish it to the fullest. This is something that is lacking when you cook without a rice cooker, and there is nothing left to explain how irritating it is to eat rice that is not warm.
Moreover, in other rice cooking methods, it is utterly important to balance the water you take. There is massive guesswork involved, but that is out of the equation with a rice cooker as rice cookers allow you the luxury of limiting the guesswork as they have what it takes to adjust and heat up perfect rice.
Features of the Rice Cookers
Take a minute and have a look at these features of a rice cooker. This will definitely help you understand the importance of rice cooker.
Capacity
There are different size rice cookers available in the market to suit your requirement. Depending on the heads you have in your family to feed, you can buy one. Usually, the capacity of a rice cooker is measured in cups. The ratio of uncooked and cooked rice is 1: 1.5. This means, if you use one cup of uncooked rice, you will be able to get one and a half cups of cooked rice.
Most rice cooker brands have four to five sizes in their fleet, from small to jumbo sizes. I strongly advise you to choose a product that at least has the additional capacity of two cups than you need. It will keep you on the safe side if you want to serve one or two people additionally.
Non-Stick Inner Pot
Well, there are rice cookers that have non-stick inner pots. A non stick rice cooker would be a good option as it does what its name says. There are two sides to non-stick rice cookers. When it comes to advantages, such pots allow you to cook and fry other food, and they are so easy to clean.
However, if you happen to damage the non-stick coating accidentally, it would make using the rice cooker injurious. Most rice cooker manufacturers use a Teflon layer in order to make the pot “non-stick,” and aluminum underneath it.
This Teflon layer is pretty much vulnerable to kitchen utensils, and if damaged, it could leach harmful substances to the food you cook. So, just keep that element in mind if you want to own the healthiest rice cooker.
I recommend to read step by step guide on how to reheat sticky rice before jump in to the next section.
Lid
This is another crucial part of a rice cooker. It would be best if you consider a rice cooker that has a transparent lid so that you can monitor the cooking process. Yes, you don’t have many things to do when cooking with a rice cooker, but it will let you keep a close eye on the cooking process.
Steaming Basket
Not every brand provides a steaming basket with their products. However, a steaming basket is ideal if you intend to use the rice cooker for cooking many other food options such as potatoes, idlis, and veggies. Further, a steaming basket acts as a strainer as well. So, why not?
Handles
This is more or less a safety feature of a rice cooker. The handles should be insulated and should take out the burning hazard when handling. Grab the handles and see whether they help you manipulate the cooker as you want.
Automatic Shut-Off
This is not an especial feature as an automatic shut-off option is a must-have and a common feature of most rice cookers. When the cooker finishes the cooking process, it will automatically go to the “keep warm” option, and if you keep the machine plugged in, most cookers have the ability to keep the rice warm for up to 12 hours. I hope you can understand the benefit of this feature if you don’t like to cook rice twice a day.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Rice Cooker
You don’t always have to read answer the question of “why should I buy a rice cooker.” Just read these pros and cons of rice cookers and decide on yourself.
Pros of Rice Cookers
Here are the advantages of a rice cooker.
Rice Cookers Are Versatile
I hope you can remember me saying that there are rice cookers that offer more functionalities other than just cooking rice. You can use your rice cooker for cooking idlis, eggs, veggies, and many more. This can help you save money that you need to consume on buying many home appliances. All you need to do is putting the thinking cap on!
Automation
This is the most beneficial thing about a rice cooker. Cooking rice isn’t easy, and it involves a considerable amount of manual work. With a rice cooker, you just plug in and forget the entire process.
Your rice cooker will take care of the work and automatically shut down when the rice is done to the highest quality. This automation procedure leaves little to no room for the rice to go under or overcooked. When the time is on your side, you can do wonders!
Energy Saving
By now, you should be able to understand that rice cookers automatically shut off once the rice is cooked. This means your device is not wasting energy. The total cooking time is also not long compared to orthodox rice cooking methods.
In order to keep rice warm after cooking, the internal sensors of rice cookers utilize a minimal amount of energy. The combination of all these aspects makes rice cookers highly energy-efficient than most other kitchen appliances.
Easy To Use
You know you don’t have to be pro or possess a high level of tech knowledge to use a rice cooker. In most products, there are only two buttons; cook and warm. This simple working mechanism is ideal for busy lifestyles, and even your grandparents can work with rice cookers without much of a fuss.
Easy To Clean
Rice is something that sticks with the cooking pot very easily, and cleaning can be a demanding and time-consuming job. However, this is rarely a concern with modern-day rice cookers. Especially if you have a non-stick product, it takes less than a minute to properly clean your device. This is another time-saving feature of a rice cooker.
Cons of Rice Cookers
Although there are fewer cons compared to pros, here is the flip side of the coin.
Size
Rice cookers can be a bit bulky. If your kitchen space is limited, this can be a real barrier. Unless you are cooking every day, sacrificing valuable space for a bulky rice cooker is not something that I can approve of.
Price
There are rice cookers on both sides of the ends. If you want to own a high-quality product with a considerable warranty period, it can cost you over 200bucks. I don’t like to mention this is a con, but definitely, it is something that you need to keep in mind.
Functional Issues
Although most contemporary rice cookers have the ability to shut off once cooking is done, entry-level rice cookers require your input to turn off. If you own such a device, it could be catastrophic if you forget to turn it off in the nick of time.
Rice Sticking To the Bottom
Again, this is not something that happens with all rice cookers. Still, the possibility is there. So, to tackle this issue, I recommend you stir the rice every now and then. Even though it is not mandatory, stirring during the process will definitely help prevent the rice from sticking to the bottom of the inner pot.
Rice Cooker Health Benefits
Are rice cookers healthy? It’s time to answer this burning question.
- Rice itself is healthy: It really doesn’t matter the type of method cook as long as you cook to the optimum quality. When it comes to cooking rice to the highest quality, there is hardly a battle between rice cookers and other methods.
- Good for bowel movement: The mechanism of rice cookers allow water to absorb all the important nutrients of rice. If your doctor ordered you to get insoluble fiber to fight against poor bowel movement, buying a rice cooker will help your course.
- The opportunity of cooking other healthy food: well, you want to cook a healthy oatmeal breakfast or a soup? If you read the features I explained, you can end up with a versatile rice cooker that cooks you healthy stuff.
Health Problems with Electric Rice Cooker
It’s my duty to let my readers know the downside of rice cookers as well, particularly in terms of the health side of things. The main issue of rice cookers occurs when you use a non-stick device and accidentally have scratches on it.
As I mentioned, the top layer of your non-stick rice cooker is often made of Teflon coating. Non-stick Teflon-coated inner pots are great in various aspects; make no mistake about it. However, it will be a near-impossible thing not to scratch the surface when you use and clean it.
If the said layer gets damaged, the inner material of the pot will leach its substances to the food you cook. Aluminum is the most used material, and letting aluminum transfer to your food can different sorts of threats to your body. In order to prevent this from happening with you, try to aim at a rice cooker that is made of stainless steel without the Teflon layer.
Conclusion
So, I hope I made myself clear on what does a rice cooker do and is it worth buying a rice cooker. The cons of rice cookers are not considerable, and you can disregard them if you read the article from the start and buy the right product. If you need my help before buying a new rice cooker, I’m more than happy to help you, and the easiest method to reach me is using the below comment section. Have a great day!
