topic Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker? in Kitchen

Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Madisson — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:18:03 GMT

We're looking into purchasing either a rice cooker or pressure cooker, and I am wondering which you would choose if given your choice?

We eat a lot of rice, beans, lentils, etc. so that makes me think rice cooker. Friends tell us to get a pressure cooker though because you can cook rice in it and also meat. Truthfully, we are not big meat eaters...sort of semi-vegetarians. We usually BBQ on the grill on the rare occasion that we eat meat.

I'm kind of leaning toward the rice cooker, but am interested in hearing your pros and cons of both cookers. Also, if we got a rice cooker, would Zojirushi be your preference? And...I don't understand the difference between the neuro and the micom. I saw that book called "Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook" by Beth Hensperger and Julie Kaufmann advertised and have requested it from the library as a reference.

Thanks for your input!

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Tigriss — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:35:31 GMT

Pressure cooker because you can do rice, but you can do plenty of veggies and beans very quickly and easily. The flavor is really infused into them and super for those winter stews and soups too!

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Campion — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:38:59 GMT

Who says you can't have both in one unit? There are some pressure-cooker-seven-in-one units that do rice, pressure, saute, slow cooking and I have tried it on rice and it is actually better than a rice cooker for brown rice.

The Insta-pot is one that really does a good job. It even works as a yogurt maker.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

jaxs mom — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:47:32 GMT

Well I have both, I love my zojirushi rice cooker, I love that I keep rice ready to eat for 24 hours in it. We eat a lot of rice at my house. I have a 8 qt stove top pressure cooker and a 23 qt pressure canner and I'm thinking about the insta-pot.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Sammijo10 — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 23:52:16 GMT

I just received the Cook's Essentials Pressure Cooker that was the TSV a couple of weeks ago and I'm having fun experimenting with it. The first thing I made was a pot roast which was the best I've ever made. Yesterday I made risotto with butternut squash and it was perfect. And no standing over a pot on the stove for nearly 45 minutes and stirring continually, it was 'set it and forget it' kind of meal. A rice cooker is sort of a one trick pony, but with a pressure cooker you get more versatility, IMO. And it does rice and beans superbly as well. Next week it will be lentil soup and probably mac and cheese. My very limited experience is that the pressure makes good food fast and makes the texture/taste better. It uses real ingredients and it's a safe cooking method - nothing processed or microwaved. I'm a new fan!

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

chickenbutt — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 00:17:10 GMT

They are two completely different things, so I guess I don't get the 'either or' deal.

Rice is super simple to cook in a pot with a lid.

So I guess I'd go for the pressure cooker.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

HonnyBrown — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 00:18:24 GMT

I had an Oster rice cooker a few years ago.

My rice either came out hard on the bottom, and mushy on the top, burned on the bottom and perfect above, but with the burnt rice taste, undercooked on top and perfect on the bottom.

After a few months of that, I went back to baking my rice. It comes out perfect every time.

I would get the pressure cooker.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Carmie — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 02:20:39 GMT

I have both. I use the rice cooker for rice and it has a steamer basket to cook veggies too. I use it often.

I used to have a Cook Essentials Electric Pressure Cooker. I used it a maybe 2 times a month. After about a year, it broke down while I was cooking something in it. I had to finish my meal on the stove top. I e-mailed QVC customer service and they told me they would send me a replacement ASAP and a box and label to return the broken one. After 3 weeks, I heard nothing from them, so I e-mailed them again. I was told the guarantee only covered the inside coating and not the electronics, so I was stuck with a broken pressure cooker. I was shocked that I didn't receive a message from CS telling me this while I waited for 3 weeks.

I now use my Presto stove top pressure cooker that I have had for about 40 years....about 2 times a month.

If you eat rice everyday or a few times a week, I'd go with the rice cooker. The pressure cooker is great for cooking frozen items or meat or soupy food, but I would think that the rice would get too sticky and overdone in one. Truthfully, I've never tried to cook just rice in mine.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

BichonEmma — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 04:12:24 GMT

I love my zujiroshi rice cooker. I got one with a steamer basket too you can make so much more than just rice in it. I love that you can set a time and have oatmeal ready when we get up or prep the rice for dinner before I leave for work. I steam veggies right over the rice for dinner. I also make pudding in it. It's the most useful appliance in my kitchen.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

BichonEmma — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 04:15:30 GMT

Oh forgot to add that the ultimate rice cooker cookbook is awesome! I ended up buying a copy after taking it out at the library. It really helps you to get a lot out of the rice cooker. It is a little dated that it says the fuzzy logic cookers do not have steamer baskets. Several models do now. I do recommend one with a steamer basket if you get the rice cooker so you can make your whole meal in the rice cooker

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

sunshine45 — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 04:24:31 GMT

have no need for a pressure cooker.....i generally prefer low and slow when i am cooking something to be tender.

LOVE having a rice cooker and i use mine several times a week. i make all different types of rice dishes in them and i like not having to use a burner on the stove if i dont have to. i actually own three rice cookers!

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

cndkrick — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 04:55:12 GMT

Do yourself a great favor and get an instant pot.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

debic — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 13:22:59 GMT

My son has a Zojirushi rice cooker and uses it all the time. I've never had one myself, but I do have pressure cookers. I think they are too large to do rice, but with all the options the electric ones have I think they'd be more versatile. I do rice on the stove like many others, but I do know it's not always perfect.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Poodlepet2 — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 15:27:58 GMT

I think a pressure cooker is far more versatile: you can cook rice in any pressure cooker. I also have a rice cooker, and I like it, but it just is not versatile. You can make soups and stews in a rice cooker, but here's the deal: it's dangerous. I bought a couple of rice cooker recipe books and you have to "jam" the operating lever-that is not the what the rice cooker was designed for, or how it was designed to be used. If you were going to use it that way, I would make it a point to be very near the kitchen. If you use it strictly as a rice cooker, I feel that's safe-no worries about fire or burning.I like the Sanyo: it can do white, brown, sticky, quick, porridge, steam-and of all things-and this feature I have never used, cake......A pressure cooker can do all that and more. The best cheesecake I ever made came out of my PC. I can make risotto the old fashioned way, but it's so easy to do in the PC, I don't make it that way any more. Poodlepet

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Sooner — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:36:41 GMT

We hardly ever use a pressure cooker (we have 2) but use the rice cooker at least once or twice every week. We eat beans and rice, rice and soups, we do a lot of stir frys and have rice with that, chili over brown rice, etc. etc. It is a Zojirushi and we would NOT part with it.

The pressure cookers? We'll either put roasts in the oven on the weekends or chickens or something. Chicken breasts we thaw in the microwave and cook during the week (but not in the PC), and fish we have frozen in single portions, thaw quickly in water and then cook either bake on in a skillet. When they quit working, I won't buy another. Actually one won't quit--it is a Fissler 6 qt and 2.5 qt pans and is a good one--not electric, so the electric one is nice because you can walk away, do something else and come back to cooked food.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Madisson — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:43:10 GMT

Hmmm...A lot to think about when reading these posts -- which is what I wanted. I definitely do not want both a pressure cooker and a rice cooker. There are only my husband and I at home now. We are trying to minimize the amount of appliances that we have in the kitchen. We are semi-vegetarians, so we rarely cook meat...usually on the BBQ pit when we do. I am leaning toward the rice cooker as I didn't realize that they had steamer baskets...which is right up our alley. We love rice, legumes, lentils, and veggies.

I've read both good and bad about the Insta-Pot, which is typical for any appliance. I'm just not sure that we need all those features. Pressure cookers have always scared me ever since I saw cabbage rolls in tomato sauce splatter all over the kitchen of my parents' home. I know that they are made much safer now.

I know that you can be even more practical and just cook rice in a sauce pan and lid on the stove, but we like to cook different types of rice, which require different amounts of water and timing. Sometimes we end up with slightly burned rice, mushy rice, or underdone rice. It's almost a science! I'd like to take the guess work out of it.

Guess I'll continue to study up on these appliances now that I have some educated opinions on them. Thank you, everyone!

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

Sooner — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 18:53:26 GMT

We have the Zo Neuro-Fuzzy 5.5 cup model and have had it a long time and it is still going strong. It is expensive (wasn't THAT expensive when we bought it) but that and the VitaMix are two things I'd replace for sure if they quit working.

I'm sure there are less expensive ones that do a good job, but wanted to say this has worked great! Some of the newer ones have more rice settings I think, but this has done the job for us. You can some AMAZoning (ha ha) deals on them cheaper than some other places you might look. . .

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

depglass — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 19:07:24 GMT

We just don't eat rice as much as we used to, no idea why. So I have a pressure cooker and just do rice on the stove top, Uncle Ben's Converted is super easy.

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

ChynnaBlue — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 19:09:05 GMT

On 9/25/2014 Campion said:
Who says you can't have both in one unit? There are some pressure-cooker-seven-in-one units that do rice, pressure, saute, slow cooking and I have tried it on rice and it is actually better than a rice cooker for brown rice.

The Insta-pot is one that really does a good job. It even works as a yogurt maker.

Thank you for posting that. I've been looking for a crock pot with a removable and dishwasher safe liner, but didn't want to spend too much or get one that is too big because I also wanted a rice cooker. The smaller size will work for me and the fact that it's more expensive than the other cookers I looked at is more than made up for by the fact that I can use it for rice and so much more! Being able to remove the liner and put it in the dishwasher means I'll get even more use out of it because I won't dread cleaning it and won't feel like I'm being wasteful by using a plastic liner. This looks like a great solution!

Re: Rice Cooker or Pressure Cooker?

suzyQ3 — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:33:28 GMT

I never thought of it as an either-or. They really are very different appliances.

I second the comments about buying a Zojirushi rice cooker. We have a similar "fuzzy logic" National/Panasonic (not sure if they're even still around) and love it. If it ever dies, we'll get a Zojirushi. I'd say we use ours four to eight times a month. And we have the cookbook already mentioned here (The Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook) and find it invaluable.

We also have two Kuhn-Rikon stovetop pressure cookers and use them both quite often, especially in the fall and winter. While we have made wonderful risotto in the pressure cooker (no stirring needed!), we have not used it for steamed rice. And I checked the five or six excellent PC cookbooks I have, and not one of them stresses the use of a pressure cooker for plain rice.