Cosori Rice Cooker Review: A Countertop Rice Cooker for More Than Just Rice

One minute review

Cosori is a brand best known for its range of air fryers, many of which are featured in ours best air fryer round up . If you are considering an over the counter multi cooker as one of the the best instant pots, it’s not the first brand that comes to mind; and add to that the fact that this particular appliance is called a “rice cooker,” and it’s unlikely to be high on the favorite list of most people looking for a multi-cooker.

However, the Cosori rice cooker offers a decent range of cooking modes that make it more than just a rice cooker. With slow cook, sauté, steam and other options, it’s a versatile countertop cooker, though unlike models like the Instant Pot and Ninja, it doesn’t come with a pressure cook function.

It’s streamlined and compact and probably looks nicer than most multi-cookers out there, although the 5L/5L capacity limits it to smaller households of 2-4 people. It’s an affordable, easy-to-use countertop hob, and with dishwasher-safe components, it’s easy to clean too.

In testing it produced tasty food, even though many cooking times were long. Conversely, in slow cook mode, it was a bit too fast. So it’s not perfect; but I think you will soon get used to his quirks and adjust your expectations and recipes accordingly.

Cosori Rice Cooker Review: Price and Availability

• List price: $99.99 / £119.99

The Cosori Rice Cooker is available on Amazon in the US and UK or directly from Cosori in the US. At $99.99 / £119.99 it’s already affordable, but we’ve seen it discounted on Amazon to $89.99 in the US and £99.99 in the UK, so it’s worth keeping an eye on the price on Amazon to get a discount.

Cosori Rice Cooker Review: Specifications

Cosori rice cooker review: design and features

• Compact footprint
• Intuitive and touch sensitive LED display
• Dishwasher safe accessories

I’ve reviewed many multi-cookers and it’s safe to say they’re generally not the most stylish kitchen appliances, but I was impressed by the streamlined look of this Cosori rice cooker. The control panel turns black when the device is not turned on, giving it a neat and elegant look. Because it doesn’t have the ability to pressure cook, it has a clean flat lid and I like how compact it is on the counter.

The lid lifts off at the touch of a button on the top of the pot. The non-stick inner pot sits inside, and there’s a steamer basket as well. The inner pot has water level indications for steaming and rice portions.

Other accessories include a couple of spoons and a measuring cup. Inside the lid is an inner lid that comes off easily for cleaning, and all accessories are dishwasher safe.

The touchscreen is easy to operate and offers numerous cooking options. For white and brown rice there are three choices: long-grain, short-grain, or fast. There are also three grain options: quinoa, porridge, or mixed.

The manual offers information on rice or cereal-water ratios and estimated cooking times. However, unlike the other cooking functions, the pre-set cooking times for rice and cereals cannot be changed. Instead, the brand claims the appliance automatically adjusts settings as you cook for perfect results.

Cooking functions include slow cook, steam, sauté, soup, jam/sauce and cake. Within these functions, cooking time can be adjusted, but temperature cannot, so it doesn’t offer the same degree of control as other multicookers.

Additionally, there is a keep-warm function that can keep the contents warm for up to 24 hours. There’s also a delay timer that can delay cooking for 24 hours. The included cookbook provides some tips and recipes to help you get started, along with helpful cooking charts for rice and grains.

There is no setting to do this. As with most home appliances, the manual recommends washing all parts before use, and other than that, it’s simply a matter of familiarizing yourself with the control panel.

Cosori Rice Cooker Review: Performance

• The slow cooker thickens and cooks quickly
• Rice programs are quite long
• The lid can be opened during cooking

The first thing I cooked in the Cosori Rice Cooker was brown basmati rice. I consulted the rice-to-water ratio tables in the manual and concluded that for my two cups of rice, I needed to add 2.75 cups of water. I selected the long grain brown rice preset and the timer showed 75 minutes, which was a surprise.

I cook brown rice a lot and know it’s slow to cook, but I could cook it on the stove in about 25 minutes, so 75 minutes seemed like a lot to me. At this point I was expecting to be able to adjust the timer, but that’s not possible.

After 60 minutes I opened the lid to check the rice, and it was cooked through, so I canceled the rest of the cooking time. The rice was slightly stickier than I’d like, but it was cooked well without lumps or drying out, so I was happy with the outcome.

Next I tried steaming broccoli. I cut the broccoli into florets and placed them in the steamer basket, then filled the main pot with water to the steamer mark. I was completely clueless as to the timing, so I set the timer for five minutes and hoped for the best.

It started with a preheat phase that took 9.5 minutes, then began counting down the five minutes on the timer. After this time the broccoli wasn’t fully cooked, so I put it back to cook for another five minutes. So all in all, it took us almost 20 minutes to cook the broccoli, but the texture was great and unlike when cooking on the stove, you can leave the stove unattended and get on with other things.

I made a slow cooker beef chili, which also allowed me to try the sauté feature to brown the ground beef, as well as the onion and celery. The sauté function worked well; when I first poured the oil, it pooled around the edges because the base of the pot is slightly convex. But as soon as you add the ingredients and start mixing them, it’s no longer a problem.

It would have been nice to be able to adjust the cooking temperature while cooking. It was effective though, and being able to do this part in the pot saves on any additional washing, so no complaints here.

I added all the chili ingredients and set it to slow cook for eight hours. In my experience, other multicookers usually have a very airtight seal, which means that very little steam escapes and therefore the sauce doesn’t thicken much.

However, I did notice that steam was constantly escaping from the vent at the top of the lid. So I kept a close eye on it and opened it occasionally to check it was okay. I ended up stopping it after 5.5 hours, as I didn’t want the chili to get any thicker.

This was fine for my beef chili, but if you’re cooking something that requires particularly slow cooking to tenderize it, you may have to add more liquid halfway through cooking, which isn’t very convenient if you were planning to leave. a dish to cook while you’re away from home.

Finally, I tried the cake function by following the chocolate cake recipe in the manual. After mixing the cake batter, I poured it into the greased pot and set the timer for 70 minutes. At the end of cooking the cake wasn’t cooked yet so I added another 10 minutes. This far exceeds the time required to bake a cake in the oven, although undoubtedly the amount of energy used to bake it in this appliance is much less.

The cooked cake had a glossy top with a few bubble craters, while inside the texture was moist, and while it wasn’t dense like a brownie, it wasn’t light and fluffy either; it was somewhere in between. It worked best warm with a scoop of ice cream.

Should I buy the Cosori rice cooker?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider…

If you’re unsure about the Cosori rice cooker, here are a couple of other options to consider…

How I tested the Cosori rice cooker

• I’ve cooked in it four times
• I used five different cooking functions
• I noticed how easy it was to clean

I’ve looked at several multicookers that are currently on our list the best instant pots. So for easy comparison, I made the same foods: slow-cooked beef chili, steamed broccoli, and brown rice. But since the Cosori doesn’t have the pressure cook feature, I replaced the usual pressure cooked Thai curry with a cake.

During these tests I evaluated how simple the kitchen was to use and how easy it was to adjust the settings. I also washed it by hand, as well as in the dishwasher, to see how easy it is to clean. I also noticed other quirks or frustrations along the way.

I have been reviewing kitchen and household appliances for over 15 years. I learned how to thoroughly test and evaluate products during my time at the Good Housekeeping Institute and now as a freelancer I work on a variety of publications and have tried most of the big brand multi-cookers.

Learn more about how we test.

[First reviewed August 2023]