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So, let's begin. Welcome to Hot Thai Kitchen. Back in 2020, I released a video comparing this $230 rice cooker, the popular Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy, against a basic one-button $30 rice cooker. And in that review, I concluded that yes, the Zojirushi does indeed produce better rice. But, after using this guy for 5 years basically every day, I finally ditched it for this cheap and cheerful $35 one-button stainless steel rice cooker. And in this video, I will tell you why and why ultimately, if you want good rice, the fancy machine is not the secret. Now, first and foremost, everything that I said in that first review video is still true because in that video, I focused on the quality of the cooked rice and all the fancy features that the Zoji provides.
But after 5 years of basically daily usage, there were just other issues that came up besides the quality of rice that I did not anticipate. Turns out, there's much more to a rice cooker than how good the rice is, at least for me. So, let's talk about it. First, one of the main reasons I love the Zojirushi so much was its ability to keep rice warm and moist until the next day. As an Asian household, we eat rice almost every single day. And with this guy, if I don't finish my rice tonight, I can leave it in here in the warm mode, and then tomorrow dinner, it would still be fine. Yes, it would dry out a little bit, but nothing I couldn't fix by adding a splash of water, stirring it
in, and letting it sit, and it would be perfectly fine. It was so convenient to not have to put the rice away and then bringing it out and reheating it the next day. But, after about 2 years, the rice started drying out faster and more severely. It got to a point where we couldn't even keep it for breakfast the next morning, let alone the next dinner. And the drying out wasn't anything I could have fixed with a splash of water. The top layer would be completely hard and dry, not edible, and not revivable. And eventually, the drying out would become noticeable after only 6 hours in the warm mode. So then, I consulted the internet and found out that the thing that likely failed was this inner lid that has a rubber seal that's supposed
to keep the moisture in. Okay, I can just get another one. So, I went to the Zojirushi website. You can buy this thing this one brand new for $32 US. As a side note, this thing is $35 US. And the new lid worked. Yay! We identified the right solution. But the new lid worked for even less time than the original lid. In less than 2 years, the rice started to dry again in exactly the same manner. So, that became really annoying. Like I did not want to deal with this every 2 years, right? And if you're not a regular daily user of this rice cooker, your lid might last much longer than mine did. But for Asian households, it is very common for the rice cooker to be on basically all day, every day. Now, you might be thinking,
well, the basic rice cooker, it can't keep rice warm and moist until the next day, either. So, how am I better off with this one? Well, surprisingly, the glass lid is everything. See, the problem with the Zoji is that after we realized that okay, we have to put the rice away at night, we would forget to put the rice away because you can't see the rice inside except for the little indicator light that's there that's very easy to miss. And after years of habit of not worrying about it, you know, it just we just forgot about it all the time. Whereas with this guy, the glass lid makes it glaringly obvious
that there's rice inside. So, when we're putting stuff away in the kitchen after dinner, we just never miss that there's rice that needs to be put away. So, I wasted so many batches of rice simply because we forgot to put it away with the Zoji, but since we got this guy, not a single batch has gone wasted. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, I started to get dissatisfied with the nonstick coated inner pot. As you know, once a piece of nonstick cookware is scratched, you should not continue to use it because it can leach toxic chemicals into your food, right? And despite my best efforts to never use metal utensils or anything harsh on it, it started to develop scratches. And I can see a lot of sort of shallow
scratches all around, which I'm guessing is from me washing the rice in the pot and the rice grain scratching it. But there are also spots where the coating is just missing entirely, which I don't know, I might have eaten it. So, I just no longer felt comfortable using this every day to be feeding my family. And hey, if you are not personally worried about the toxicity of nonstick cookware, that's your call. Maybe that's not a problem for you, but for me, I'm concerned about it, and many people are concerned about it. So, I think it's just worth talking about. And of course, you can get a replacement inner pot on the Zojirushi website for $65 US. And just as a side note, this guy is $35.
So, those are the two main pain points that drove me to look for an alternative. Now, as I said, everything I said about the Zoji in that first review is still true. The rice came out noticeably better, and we will talk more about that in a bit. The user experience is unbeatable. The retractable cord, the rice paddle holder, all the different modes you can use, and the celebratory music that plays when your rice is done. All that is delightful. But at the end of the day, the two problems that I have far outweigh all of those little positives. So, if I'm not using the Zojirushi, then what am I using? Well, please meet my new friend, the cheap and
cheerful one-button stainless steel rice cooker that I got for $35, which may I remind you is the price of the inner lid of the Zojirushi. So, what are the positives about this one? First and most importantly, it is not nonstick. It is a stainless steel inner pot, and I know that this will not wear out. I don't have to be gentle with it. I can scrape it with a metal spoon if I wanted to, and it will basically last forever. And speaking of lasting forever, this thing, because it is so simple, it will probably last me longer than the Zojirushi because there's just not much that can break, right? It's a one-button thing. That basic rice cooker
in the back there, that is literally 40 years old, and it is still going. So, as we know, the more complex something is, the more possible things can go wrong with it. And so, this one, it is just nice and simple. Next is cost. Obviously, it's much cheaper to buy, but also, there's no ongoing maintenance cost. Nothing I need to replace regularly like the inner lid of the Zoji. The only thing that could break is if I drop this lid on the ground and shatter it. But guess what? There's nothing special about this lid. It is just a pot lid. You can just go online and buy another pot lid of this size. In fact, I already have another pot lid of the same size that I could
potentially use if I broke this one. Another thing is, because this just looks like a simple pot that just happens to be electric, I find myself way more inclined to use it as just a pot for all kinds of things other than rice. Like if all my stove spots are taken, I often just like use this to boil my vegetables or grains. Or it comes with a steamer rack, so I sometimes steam my vegetables in here. You can cook sticky rice in here. I mean, like I just use it for so many different things. The warm mode you can also use to like keep soups warm and things like that. Finally, as I said before, the glass lid cannot be under
appreciated. I mean, the ability to be able to see what's going on inside, you know how right how close your rice is to being done. If you're cooking other things that's not rice, it's even more important. And most of all, not forgetting that there is rice inside is the biggest positive of all. Now, I hear you asking, "But what about the rice quality? Doesn't the Zojirushi produce better rice? And ultimately, is that not the most important thing?" Yes, it does, but no, it isn't. And let me explain. So, in my previous review video, I concluded that it produces better rice, but only in a straight-up rice side-by-side taste test. That is not how I eat rice in real life.
This guy makes perfectly good rice. And when I eat the rice from this guy in a meal, I'm going to put curry on it. I'm going to put stir-fry on it. And I have never once thought, "Man, the rice from here is not as good as my old rice cooker." Never, because when you eat rice in a meal, the difference, it's just not that big. This brings me to the most important thing that I will say in this entire video. And that is how good your rice turns out is 90% the user and 10% the machine, in my opinion, okay? Which means that if you add the wrong amount of water for the type of rice that you are using, there is no fancy machine that can give you perfect rice. If you forgot to wash your rice before
you cook it, there is no fancy machine that can get rid of the starch for you. The fancy machine can give you that extra quality boost if you have done your part correctly. The best rice can be made with just a pot on the stove if you know what you're doing. The machine just makes it more of a hands-off experience. One last thing some of you might be thinking is that but if the pot is not nonstick, then the rice is going to stick. Why yes, it does, and that's okay. It's Yes, the rice sticks, but it's just not that big of a deal. Like I grew up in Thailand where every single household had a basic rice cooker and rice sticking to the bottom is just like a
fact of life. You just let it soak, and the next morning it comes off with no problem. If you're in a rush to clean it, leave the inner pot in the rice cooker, add some water, press cook, and let it boil for a few minutes, and it'll come off pretty easily. Like the slight inconvenience of cleaning is, for me, far better than the risk of consuming toxic chemicals. Not to mention, some people like that crispy stuff. So, those are my current thoughts around rice cookers based on my experience and my needs. If you've got different situations around rice and different needs, hey, you may find that this is a better rice cooker for you. But because I have recommended the Zojirushi in the
past, I need to update you all on my current recommendation. And if you want to know how to cook rice perfectly with or without a rice cooker, please check out the blog post I will link to in the description below, and I will also put the links to both of these rice cookers in the description below as well if you want to check them out. A special thanks to all of our Patreon members who help support the show. If you want to know what that's all about and how you can join our private Discord server, check out the link in the description below. Thank you, everyone, for watching, and I will see you next time. Sawasdee ka.
