Customer Reviews

Zojirushi NP-HBC18 10-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer with Induction Heating System, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(69)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

We thought we knew what rice was supposed to be like when we used our Costco Aroma Rice Cookers--we would just, as a matter of course, replace the old ones with the same brand... Until this time.
After reading up on consumer reviews and Japanese sites, we opted to try the Zojirushi Induction Heating Rice Cooker. The stainless steel is STUNNING--the pictures do NOT do it justice--it is gorgeous on my countertop--a piece of furniture, like the KitchenAid Mixer. It is easy to set up (clock time, etc) and easy to use. (The directions are very clear.) I tried some Jasmine Rice in it for our first try--and WOW! I was totally amazed! Each piece of rice is perfect in every way. I have never had such results before. Perfect temperature, perfect texture, perfect stickiness, perfect taste. The aroma in the kitchen fills the house and it's wonderful.
There is very little steam (unlike most rice cookers) and it is very easy to clean up. It keeps the rice at that perfect temperature for hours--even longer with the extended warm feature.
I know it's expensive--but in this case, I truly believe you get what you pay for. If you want to know what rice is supposed to be like--you must get one of these! Zojirushi makes a couple of different types of rice cookers--and I have heard that they are all terrific. This one cooks with induction heating, which uses magnets... the unit doesn't get hot...
If you can--get this one!

I purchased this rice cooker about a month or so ago. I cannot say enough good things about this rice cooker. It is absolutely fantastic! Everything I've made (rice and non-rice) has come out wonderfully!

I have a cook/warm rice cooker that I'm going to sell at a yard sale. I will never be able to go back to using that type of machine again. The difference between the Zojirushi and the cook/warm is more than night and day. The difference between the quality in the rice bowls alone is unbelievable. The Zojirushi has a bowl that is very thick and heavy, not unlike my stove top cookware. My old cook/warm rice bowl feels like one of my cheap mixing bowls.

Prior to purchasing the Zojirushi, we never really cared for brown rice. It was too crunchy/chewy. Now my family and I love brown rice. The GABA Brown Rice setting is amazing. I have never made, nor eaten, brown rice that was so light and fluffy before in my life. Because of that, we mostly eat brown rice now - which is much healthier for us anyway.

You will not be disappointed with this machine. It's looks beautiful sitting on the counter top. Clean up is a breeze - the stainless has some sort of coating and does not show fingerprints or smears!

Update: We have owned this rice cooker for about 2 years now and it continues to cook good rice every time. Some Tips:
1. Add 10% more water than is indicated, this will make fluffier rice
2. In order to make Persian-style rice, throw in one tablespoon butter and salt to taste with the water: when used with Basmati rice, this would produce fragrant rice with every grain standing apart.
3. For long-grain rice, use the "Soft" option.
4. Please use it to cook brown rice on GABA setting. Exquisite.
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We have had this rice cooker for a week now and have already tried all its settings. It's unbelievable how this cooker makes fluffy, moist rice where each grain stands out without getting sticky. This happens whether you put in Basmati rice, Sushi rice or brown rice. It's astounding how the rice remain fresh, warm and hardly dry out. That was a big change for us, having used no-good Oster rice cookers until we went to a Japanese supermarket and saw how cool and functional this unit looked. We are now eating more (healthier) brown rice and not throwing away any rice the following day. The Japanese sure know how to cook rice.

The menu is simple but offers plenty of choice. The inside bowl is heavy and made of Stainless Steel and has deep and clear marking to help you add the right amount of water without having to use cups. The melodies are a bit of a nuisance, but you wouldn't hear them over your dishwasher, so that's quite all right. The cooker does take twice as long as other, cheap rice cookers, but the ensuing taste is worth the wait.

Without a doubt, the machine is beautiful. If you really want to eat great rice every time and can afford the price, this is your best choice.

Yes, this rice cooker is crazy expensive, but worth it. I agree with all the other reviewers that the rice comes out perfect every time, even if you leave it warming for hours. We only eat brown rice, and were disappointed with previous rice cookers that left the rice crunchy, with that disgusting hard crust at the bottom of the pan. With this cooker, every grain is perfect. We also use the "porridge" setting to cook steel cut oats and hot cereal. We do reduce the amount of water the cooker recommends for porridge, to create a thicker end product. This is just a personal preference, however. This cooker is goof proof. The timer is simple to set, and I find the little melody that plays when the cooktime begins and ends to be adorable. Since buying this product, we've been using it several times a week and eating healthier as a result. It's expensive, but take a deep breath and make this investment. You won't be disappointed.

I've had this cooker for a few weeks now and just love it! I've just cooked basmati long-grain rice in it and it turns out perfect every time. You can cook as little as 1 cup of rice in it perfectly. A note about the 1 cup of rice: Zojirushi supplies a plastic measuring cup to use for measuring the dry rice. It holds about 6 oz (roughly 3/4 of a cup). Just keep this in mind when deciding how much rice you want to cook - you gt about 3 times the dry amount when cooked. Today I made the gaba brown rice for the first time - it's wonderfully chewy. Wanting to start incorporating more whole grains into my diet, I had been wondering about cooking other grains in it. I found 'The Ultimate Rice Cooker' cookbook by Beth Hensperger & Julie Kaufman here on Amazon, bought it and just received it yesterday. I highly recommend both of these - the cooker is expensive, but as others have stated it's worth it if you're wanting to eat more brown rice, or any other rice for that matter. The 'Ultimate Rice Cookbook' has lots of great recipes to use in this cooker - I can't wait to try all the variations. See my review under the cookbook for more info on it.

Great machine for cooking rice of all kinds. Very easy to clean, too, even when cooking brown rice with azuki beans. Has a steam capturing devise which prevents too much steam from escaping into your kitchen.

I guess I could say this rice cooker and "The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger/Julie Kaufmann has turned our weekly home dining experience into a healthy fun adventure!
My husband agrees that even though it was expensive, it is worth every penny and more. It's FUN. It also ends up being a very economical way to go, and the money you can save by making the types of foods that you can make in this rice cooker will probably pay for it in no time, especially if you end up NOT eating out because it's so fast to throw something (healthy) together in a short amount of time with very little mess to clean up! We eat up all the leftovers! Every bit.
I love it so much I gave one to my daughter for her birthday along with the same book. She uses hers every day as well.
We also feed brown rice to our doggies so it comes in handy for that. I have never been able to make very good brown rice stove method style, and this cooker makes wonderful rice. It takes some experimenting and getting to know the cooker.
My daughter and I are finding that we love Basmati rice cooked on the quick cycle: No rinse, saute' in ghee before adding chicken stock (Pacific boxed) and a little salt. (taste the liquid) Ready in about 20 minutes.
We also love "Riceselect Organic Texmati Brown Rice" from Costco. It is OUTSTANDING and I never rinse.
(Cooks Illustrated doesn't rinse Basmati either, and they use the "Pilaf" method,...cooking in a little oil first... as well). I cook the brown the same way (saute' in ghee first before adding liquid) only on brown rice cycle.
I don't like any rice left on "Warm" because it gets too mushy for my taste, so I always wait 10 minutes after "finished song" plays and then toss and dump the rice out on a plate or lined cookie sheet (if there's a lot) so it will stop cooking. When it stops steaming I put it back in the rice cooker and shut the lid to keep the food warm without turning it on. We don't like mushy rice. I don't agree with "keeping rice on warm" concept.
Two wonderful recipes from the above mentioned book: Vegetable Paella on pg. 122, and Prawn Rissoto with Seasonal vegetables on pg. 133. Best oatmeal you will ever put in your mouth!
One thing I AM going to start doing is using a pan to saute my veggies instead of using the method the book suggests. The "high" heat goes on and off and it becomes frustrating to get a true saute', in my opinion. But for a quick saute' like just garlic and a little onion, it's fine. This is an induction cooker and maybe the methods in the cookbook for saute' work better for non-induction cookers, I don't know. The recipes are wonderful but I'm going to dirty a pan to do my saute' from now on instead of the cooker.
We love it, and my bet is you will to!

Remember when you were a kid and you got that special Christmas present that you wanted so badly? You were so excited that you wanted to take the present to bed with you? That's how I feel about this rice cooker! I live in Hawaii and grew up eating rice, almost daily. Never have I enjoyed rice more than with this machine. My wife and I have converted to brown rice and this rice cooker makes all the difference in the world. It makes cooking brown rice to perfection a breeze. This unit is a work of art and technology. When it starts up it plays you a song. It is absolutely beautiful. I would recommend this rice cooker to all!

Leave it to the Japanese to over-engineer a rice cooker. And I mean that in a very good way!

I was raised on rice and continue to eat it every day. For someone who cooks rice this frequently, the cost of the Zojirushi line is well worth it. I could not believe the difference it made in the taste, quality, and consistency of rice. Another key feature is that it is not a "one-size fits all" cooker as are most others. So you can program and adjust it to cook rice of a variety of types (brown, white, basmanti, etc.) and for different types of output (drier for western-type recipes, sticky for Asian or sushi). You can use the pre-sets or experiment to find the output style you like best. Most cheaper rice cookers are not flexible or adjustable at all -- simply an "on-off" button.

Yes, there are far less expensive versions out there, but this is a very well-designed and constructed machine. The durability and sturdiness are apparent and it looks great. I've had less expensive versions, including the Cuisinart stainless steel rice cookers. Those look great, but the quality of the rice could not compare. (note: the Cuisinarts also require you to use a different ratio of water to rice than standard and thus come with a unique measuring cup -- good luck if you lose or break it or lose the manual listing the ratios. The Zojirushi cooks using standard ratios and has the water measures printed on the inside of the cooking bowl -- a great, handy feature.) As for the VERY budget-oriented rice cookers you can get in Asian supermarkets: those don't last and have poor quality, inconsistent rice output, and you can't adjust the cooking characteristics.

It does have a rather large footprint, however. Note that this is a very large capacity cooker. I got it because I like to cook a big batch of rice in advance and use it throughout the week or distribute into my pre-prepared frozen meals. If you don't cook large batches or are only cooking for one, this size might be overkill and I'd recommend one of the smaller Zojirushis.

While I bought this primarily for rice (obviously!), other reviewers have pointed out the great flexibility of this machine to prepare a wide-range of dishes, from soups to oatmeal, even cake! So it's more than just a rice cooker and I'm only beginning to tap into the machine's full potential.

Again, quality product, great flexibility. I'm very satisfied with this purchase.

Did not purchase on amazon. The price here is about $270.00 (May 2010), that was way too much so I shopped around and scored a new one for $200 shipped on eBay. Honestly even $200 was a lot but based on the reviews, I decided I had to have it. Now I wouldn't say don't buy from Amazon, they are great and if u have issues you can return. I don't think eBay buyers get the 1 year warranty...so there is some risk to save some money.

First of all the rice cooker itself is really nice looking. Very slick stainless exterior which matches our appliances. I actually wanted the 5.5 cup model, because it's just me and my wife who will primarily use it and obviously we would never cook 10 cups of rice for any reason, but the price I scored was for the 10 cup model so I went for it. Now I am glad that I got the 10 cup model. It really is only 1-2 inch's more on each side and tall then the 5.5 cup, so it's not like that big of a difference. But the reason the 10 cup is worth having is you get more space in the inner bowl. So if you are heating pasta, dumplings, porridge etc, there is less chance of water and gunk possibly spewing out. Also if you are doing other recipes besides rice the extra space is nice to have.

First thing I did that night(got home late and didn't really want to cook rice just to cook it). I used the quick cook, put some water in and about 6 eggs. I stopped the cook cycle 15 minutes in and had me 6 nice hard boiled eggs! That night I put some quick oatmeal and set the timer for the morning on porridge mode and the oat meal was fabulous and great have it right when you wake instead of boiling water and waiting. Now I can't wait to try steel cut oats!

Ok, now lets get to the most important thing...how does it cook rice? The first rice we did was a brown rice. Now let me tell you. I didn't mind brown rice before. We had a push button rice cooker, (National Brand, made in Japan) so it was a decent cooker on it's own. But every time the brown rice had the same chewy hard texture....edible but nothing to get excited about. So back to the Zoji...I had to try the Gaba Rice function....put it in the morning, set the timer for later that night....4 cups of rice. To eat with I grilled on the Weber a New York Strip and chicken drums, potatoes, mushrooms....Anyhow the Gaba rice was OUTSTANDING! It barely tasted like brown rice. It was soft and it was hard not to inhale it! It went well with my steak and veggies and my wife commented how good the rice was too. The 4 cups of rice lasted me 2 more dinners and 2 more lunches and I eat a lot more then 1 serving each time....even reheated in the microwave, this rice beats out what the old rice cooker made fresh.

Lastly, just wanted to say we were at H Mart(Korean Market) last night and of course I spent 10x more time then usual in the rice and grain section. There are so many varieties to choose from. We ended getting some Jasmine Brown Rice, Mixed Grains, Sweet Brown Rice, Calrose Rice and I splurged on a bag of Icheon Korean Short Grain Rice (on sale for 19.99 - 11 lbs, yes that is ON SALE!, most I paid for rice by the pound) - I had no clue why it was so much, but I had to get it, when I got home I did a quick google and apparently it is a very premium rice from Korea(something about they use to serve it to Royal Kings back in those days...lol, works for me. Anyhow the Icheon is on Timer and should be ready in 2 hours...can't wait!

*UPDATE*

The Icheon Rice was Amazing! It was made on regular white rice mode and the texture you would have to taste yourself to appreciate. Paired with Pork Belly and Gai Lan(chinese broccoli), perfect meal! This is easily the best $200 I spent!


*UPDATE #2*
Made some split pea soup(1 lb of split peas, 2 small white onions, some dried beef stock and water) last night using the porridge mode, and it came out amazing!

I have also made a whole wheat cake, brownie, and corn bread in it and all have came out quite well. I did not expect it to taste like oven made, but the bowl itself added some nice crispy textures. Although there is no "cake" mode in this, don't be worried, just use brown rice and it works out just fine.