Customer Reviews

Zojirushi NP-GBC05 3-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer with Induction Heating System

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've had this rice maker for about 7 months. I vacillated for over a year before making my purchase--not only was the price scaring me off, but this model had been on the market for a while and I wanted to see if anything new and even better came out. However, when I read the mediocre reviews of the newest Zojirushi models--and prices nearing $450!--I thought it was about time I bit the bullet and shelled out for this rice cooker.

This was possibly THE best purchase I've made in the past five years. I ended up getting it for about $30 less via the auction site that everyone's familiar with, but Amazon's price is pretty darn competitive. I opted for the 3-cup model because I'm by myself most of the year and wanted something that could handle smaller batches (as little as 1/2 cup in this case!) for when I'm just cooking for myself, but had the flexibility to handle larger quantities. This size is perfect for a 1-4 person household (3 cups of cooked rice is closer to 6 servings). Ease of use is amazing. I've made short-grain Japanese rice, short-grain brown rice, rice and azuki beans, and mixed-grain rice (a blend of brown and wild rices, in various combinations over the months I've had it). I use it pretty much every night for rice, and almost every morning for my favorite use of this machine: the most perfect steel-cut oatmeal you could possibly ask for. I did get a rice-cooker cookbook to help me fine-tune my ratios, but I find that the best oatmeal is if you use 1.5:1 water/oatmeal ratio, then stir in 1/2 c. whole milk once it's done cooking and let it "warm" for another 5 min. I have had rave reviews about my oatmeal and it's so. darn. easy.

Like another reviewer mentioned, if you add in flavors (in my case, cinnamon/vanilla for the oatmeal, I haven't played around much with savory fare save for plain rice) there's a bit of a ghost of that flavor the next time you make plain rice. I think it might be because of the silicone seal to the steamer lid. I don't mind it much, and I suppose if you're VERY sensitive to any sort of flavor (it only lasts the one batch) you could run a small (1/2 c.) batch first to "steam" out the flavors--this seems wasteful to me, but it's an idea to try if this is an issue for you.

The rice itself comes out absolutely perfect. You'll be amazed at how much flavor this little machine draws out of white rice and brown rice. I was never a huge fan of brown rice (too mealy/chewy) but when I make it in this bad boy, it's so, so good. You'll be a convert!

My favorite part of this machine is the cleanup. If an appliance is too fiddly to clean, I know it'll end up gathering dust--but this machine couldn't be easier. There's a detachable inner lid that catches the splash from the cooking rice that I wash right away, and I remove the steam cover in the back (this sounds arcane, but it's snapping two things off and takes about 3 seconds; the manual is great for explaining it). Then I let the actual nonstick bowl dry out. You heard me--I let it dry on there. Then, it's as easy as wiping out the rice "paper" film you've made with a paper towel. Seriously. Even with oatmeal that would normally cake on there: don't soak, don't scrub, just wait for it to dry. The couple times it's stuck, I just fill it with warm water in the sink for 15min and it washes right off. The nonstick on this bowl is absolutely fantastic. I'm very careful never to bring anything metallic in contact with it, but I hear through the grapevine that Zojirushi is excellent about shipping out replacement parts if you ever need them.

I recently purchased this product from an Amazon merchant and love it! Since I've started incorporating more whole grains into my diet, and being a rice-lover, this item appealed to me from all I'd read, and the GABA rice setting is what really sold me. I've successfully used it to cook Lundberg short grain brown rice on the GABA setting, hulled barley on the GABA setting, organic millet, and whole oats on the GABA setting. There aren't instructions that specifically direct you as to how to cook these particular grains using this product, and the barley I cooked needs to have the amount of water I used the first time tweaked for perfection, but I'm really excited about having the use of this rice cooker for other whole grains. I intend to try whole buckwheat next. One thing that is very nice about using this gadget is that there is no wasting of water lost to steam from over-boiling in order to thoroughly cook these grains. I highly recommend this product for people, like me, who dedicate a large portion of their dietary needs to whole grain consumption... just experiment with the amount of water until you get it just the way you like it, and remember that less water than you'd ordinarily use will probably work with this machine. You just add the grains and water, set it appropriately, and let it do its thing! It shuts itself off automatically at the end of its cooking cycle, and keeps the grains warm, moist and unburnt, until you're ready to eat them.

I've had this product since it came out and I bought it on Amazon. I love it! Using fresh whole grains bought in bulk, I use this item as the mainstay of my meal preparation. The price is high, but it is comparable to having a good convection oven, which I don't use. The Zojirushi, Soyabella soymilk maker, propane stove, Bravetti, and a deydrator is all I use for meal prep. We pulled the oven out of the wall and use it to store whole foods.

I make quinoa, millet, and GABA brown rice in it. The beauty is that I can put the ingredients into it in the morning, then have the grains ready for meal prepp later in the day. I also take the time for GABA brown rice to reset the timer in order to allow more time for activation. That is the only thing on my wish list: a timer setting to increase the GABA activation time. Other than that, it is a setup and walk away type of appliance. I don't have to supervise the cooking process.

NOT all rice cookers are made same. Not even within japanese brands!. This model is made in japan. and the rice comes out PERFECT. TASTY. YUMMY.
just figure out the rice water ratios, according to the rice you select:short/med grain, polished/unpolished, newcrop/oldcrop has different ratios nuiances.

This machine is beautiful and when ur done cooking there is NEVER any residue or nasty clean up. I always had that issue with my sanyo and LG rice cookers~ :(
I thought that was the norm, and i had to live with it. I DONT!

I am very particular about my rice, so i even got into a habit of stove top cooking it. but its work intensive :D and if u mess up, u mess up the whole batch ;p.
This IH system of cooking rice is incredible. INCREDIBLE! Every grain of rice on the sides or even at the bottom is evenly cooked with whatever is in the middle.

Even though there is 100 $ difference between the non IH model... its worth it if u eat rice everyday,
and im japanese so i DO!. I taste the difference in every bowl of rice, and i've had MANY!

I've been eating rice since i was born. I've just always bought the standard $30 dollar rice cooker and never really thought much about it. They'd last a year or two then i'd have to buy another one, or the cheap pots would loose their non-stick coating...
I figured i'd finaly buy a quality rice cooker. I'm so happy with my purchase. The difference in taste and texture of the rice is truly amazing. Better than restaurant quality rice, better than any rice i have ever made. I know it seems weird because it's really just rice, but in my culture, rice is a major food staple. I can't eat a meal without rice...
And I think that is why i chose this model, because it has the Easy GBR prep. My wife and I want to be as healthy as we can, so we are changing out the white rice for brown rice. Brown rice is so easy with this cooker and this is probably the easiest way to make GBR. Instead of soaking the GBR overnight, you can make it in 3 hours.
You haven't had great brown rice until you've tried it with this cooker. It practically has the same texture as white rice. My only regret with this purchase is that we didn't buy the 5 cup model. We bought this model as a way to shrink the portion of rice we eat and to cut down on wasting uneaten rice...I'm sure when we have kids, we'll get the larger model.

great product. i realize that the price tag is not for everyone, but if price is of no object, and or you love cooking this is the best kitchen tool ever. now sure rice is one of the easiest things to make, but its also one of the easiest things to screw up. all it takes is 5 minutes too long on the burner and viola... poopy tasting rice. besides its ability to cook many different types of rice perfectly (correcting for your errors of rice/water ratio) it gives you time to focus your time on the rest of the cooking and opens up a burner. i have owned the $30-$50 rice cookers and although they work, they make a much bigger mess and the rice is far from perfect. the only negative thing i can say about this cooker is that unless you use the "be ready at this time" method, then it only gives you a 5-10 minute range of when its gonna be done. i realize that the computer has to calculate how much water is left and how long it will take to boil off; it cant give that measurement to you 45 minutes out, but at the price paid i almost expected it. if your in the market and your pocket book is deep enough, in the words of jim cramer "BUY! BUY! BUY!"

Gave away my original/typical type cooker away to a son in college. It was a five cup and I decided I wanted a 3 cup. Received one as birthday present, a Kitchen Chef or something from Walgreens. It broke in a week. Frustrated and mad I found this model in a very fast on-line search. I saw the price, did a double take,looked at few reviews and some other models and pulled the trigger. I knew it was a very high price for something like a rice cooker, but what the heck, I didn't feel like reviewing everything for days. I wanted one now. Besides, I was intrigued by the high price (What makes this so special?) The next day, I thought what did I do. A few days latter,Wow, it is indeed a fantastic appliance. I had always taken for granted one has to soak and scrap the burnt rice off the bottom and brown rice never comes out good. This thing makes perfect rice. I didn't even know about the GABA brown rice feature until I read the instructions. Perfect and good tasting. I compared the GABA setting to the regular brown rice setting. The GABA tastes better and is supposedly better for you. Maybe that is the feature the others don't have. I haven't second guessed my extremely hasty and extravagant choice for a second. This is the first/only product review I have ever bothered to write. I am impressed.

I downsized to this model and got the stainless steel one to match my newer apartment that has stainless steel appliances. The smaller size is perfect for one person. This brand is reliable and I'm glad to have found it.

It's a bit pricey but I've had a larger model for 4 years with no problems and hope to go a long time problem free with this smaller newer model.

Tip: Be sure NEVER to block the vent on top as this can cause damage to the unit. A buddy of mine accidentally laid a plastic Tupperware lid on top and blocked the vent and it now doesn't function completely.

We bought this model at Mitsuwa 1/2 year ago and paid, what we thought was,a lot money (checked here on Amazon now make sure we didn't get ripped off afterward - paid about the same price to our relief). We've been using it regularly and its awesome! Virtually no mess - easy clean up (our cheap rice cooker before made a huge mess sputtering starchy residue). And, VERY easy to use. Perfect rice every time. We wanted a cooker that would keep the rice warm with a good texture while we wait for the rest of the meal to be finished.

Very nice product. Does just exactly what it says, nothing more nothing less. Is it expensive compared to other similar items? Yes, I guess it is. But for the luxury of being able to fill the bowl, press a button and come back later to perfect rice it's well worth it. The best thing is that the cooker is dead simple to use. Literally a couple of button presses and you have delicious, well cooked, warm rice. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't hesitate to purchase this item again.