Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker – Quality You Can Taste

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Growing up, we never had a rice cooker in the house. My mom just made rice the same way her mom taught her, using her finger to measure the rice and water. Just boil, turn down the heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. It turned out perfectly when my mom made it. That, however, was not the case for me. I could never get the measurement or the heat right. A few ruined pots were proof of my rice cooking issues (sorry unnamed sister-in-law).

Several years ago I was gifted an automatic rice cooker. That was great but the rice tasted like nothing and if you left it in just a bit too long, the bottom would get overcooked and hard. Still, it was good enough. I received a Zojirushi rice cooker last month, which is known to be a very high end rice cooker. What does that even mean? Well, let me tell you, I had no idea what I was missing this whole time!

Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker Review – Taste

The Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker is named after the “umami” cook setting. This setting takes about 1-1/2 hours as it allow the rice to soak and steam longer, drawing out more flavor. Oh, man. The rice on this setting is so good! I can eat it straight (instead of with butter like I usually would) like at a restaurant. You can actually taste it!

The rice stays warm for a long time and stays just as yummy. Plus, the reheat setting will allow you to make bigger batches at a time. The Umami also sings to you (this can be changed to a beep though).

Don’t worry if you don’t have that much time. You can set a timer so the rice will be done when you want it to be or you can choose the “quick” setting that takes about 30-40 minutes. It’s not AS good but still tastier than anything I’ve made before.

Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker Review – Options

There are also settings for optimal cooking of white, mixed, sushi, porridge, sweet, brown, GABA brown, rinse-free. The “slow cook” setting lets you use this as a slow cooker for soups and stews as well. Thanks to the Fuzzy Logic technology used, food comes out perfect pretty much all the time.

I haven’t had a chance to try this as a slow cooker yet but I did try making sushi rice (my first time ever) in this. I used the Sushi Rice recipe from the site and it was super easy. The hardest part was just rolling the Maki Sushi (sushi rolls). I decided to make our favorite California Rolls but had to substitute the meat for salmon since I’m allergic to the usual crab filling. Nom nom! It was a breeze make and so much less expensive. Why have I waited so long?!

We’ve also made gluten-free steel cut oats in the Zojirushi rice cooker. Again, it was very simple and I set the time to be ready at 5:40am. By the time my husband woke up, the oats were ready and hot. He said it was “restaurant style.” Just make sure you take the oats out right away. If the oats stay in the heated pot, they’ll overcook and get dry (found out the hard way).

Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker Review – Size & Cleaning

Many of the Zojirushi rice cookers come in a 5.5-cup and a 10-cup size. For families, I’d highly recommend getting the 10-cup Umami Rice Cooker. You’ll be able to get a lot more use out of it, especially for slow cooking. It’s not THAT big either, although we had a 10-cup cooker before so I could just be used to it.

You don’t have to worry about clean up as the pot and removable inner lid can be cleaned in the dishwasher. This gains major brownie points with me as the inner lid of our other rice cooker always grossed me out, especially when I tried to clean it and found moldy stuff – EIUW! Being able to easily take out that piece and wash it thoroughly gives great peace of mind for any germaphobe!

Zojirushi offers a wide range of rice cookers to fit your needs and your budget. These are definitely worth any extra cost. The quality is fantastic and the saying “you get what you pay for” definitely applies in this case. We love our Umami Rice Cooker and use it several times a week with no problems whatsoever.

Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker Giveaway

Zojirushi is generously offering one Zojirushi Umami Rice Cooker ($338 value) to one of our readers. Enter below!

Item was provided at no cost for review purposes. All opinions are my own.