Zojirushi NS-TSC10 Rice Cooker – 5.5 Cups

For my whole adult life, I’ve cooked rice in a pot on the stove. There’s something satisfying about honing that skill, but, even with age and wisdom, the grains don’t turn out right every time. A few months ago, however, I got my hands on this Zojirushi to test, and since then, my rice has been evenly tender and fluffy every time.

My biggest disclaimer: This appliance is big. But if you have the space, it really does live up to the hype. The settings, displayed on a small screen at the front, are intuitive to navigate. And if you’re unsure about your water-to-rice ratio, the brand has this helpful guide (the first time I cooked basmati in it, I did a quick check to make sure I was adding the proper amount of liquid). I’ve also used the included basket to steam greens and, as Carla Lalli Music taught me, perfect potatoes. When all is said and done, both the steamer and the bowl are a breeze to clean — you just pluck them out and any residue rinses right off.

But don’t just take it from me. In my reporting, Zojirushi came up more than any other brand. They have a fancier model with even more settings that multiple experts mentioned (you can read about that one further down on the list), but this one — especially given that it’s less than half the price of the other — makes for an all-around great buy. Food writer and recipe developer Kiera Wright-Ruiz had to leave hers behind when she recently moved out of the country, and told me it’s the thing she misses the most. “I’m sure people have said this before, but it really is the Lamborghini of rice cookers,” she says. The standout reason is what Zojirushi calls “Fuzzy technology,” or a built-in microcomputer that can sense how your rice is cooking and adjust the time and temperature to get a perfect result if need be. “There’s just no way to mess up rice in it,” Wright-Ruiz explains. “Even if you add too little or too much water, it will self-correct. You get a consistent texture with a margin of error.” Another particularly appealing feature is the ability to preset when you want your rice to cook. “You can sync it to be done at the same time as other foods,” says Wright-Ruiz. “Like if you’re braising something that takes three hours, you can time it so that the rice is done right when your braise is done. Or if you want rice in the morning, you can set it before you go to sleep and it will automatically start so you have rice ready to go when you wake up.” Finally, though perhaps not the most imperative to the rice itself, Zojirushi’s machines play music when you start them (an adaptation of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”) and when they’re done cooking — and it’s clearly delightful enough that everyone who recommended the brand (again, more on the rest of those folks below) made mention of the jingles.