What size of rice cooker

[feathers69]

I'm buying a rice cooker but I can't decide what size.

Mostly when we cook rice it is for two people (one and a half when you take into account how much one of them eats compared to a regular person). So most of the time I suppose a 3-cup cooker will be adequate.

But if we happen to have four for dinner that won't be big enough, so maybe I should get a 5-cup or 5.5-cup cooker, to have a bit more flexibility in the quantity cooked.

I've heard that if there's too much difference between the capacity of the cooker and the amount of rice actually cooked that the appliance doesn't work well - but I'm not sure how much is "too much difference". Will the 5-cup or 5.5-cup cooker work well cooking rice for 2 people? Are there other reasons to avoid the larger one?

 

[ohsmily]

That size will cook fine for you. I have a 6 cup cooker and often only do 2 cups (cooked) of rice in it. It comes out fine. Rice cookers are great.

 

[FryBoy]

I have a 6-cup National brand rice cooker, and usually cook only one scoop of dried rice in it, which is adequate for two people. The scoop, which came with the rice maker, is 180 ml or about 3/4 of a cup.

The rice cooker works well with all kinds of rice -- long grain, short grain, white, brown, jasmine, basmatti, brown basmatti, Cal Rose, etc.

 

[candelbc]

I would say, a 3 cup would likely be sufficient. I generally take storage space into consideration and have to resist the bigger models sometimes.. If you have a rare event where you need more rice, simply make two batches of rice. If space is not a concern, go with a 6 cup model... Some day when my kitchen grows, my Rice cooker will likely follow since we eat so much rice in the house...

Just my 2 cents...

-Brad

 

[expatgirl]

just take the over amount and put it in a ziploc bag, squeeze out the extra air and freeze it. When you are ready to use it again, defrost it, and micowave it in the bag.

 

[Chopstix]

I also use my rice cooker for steaming vegetables (okra, yams), dimsums, chinese buns, whole eggs (instead of boiling) etc. Very convenient. So any extra capacity in your rice cooker can really go to good use.

 

[aribaba]

I think 5.5L is better!

I using a bigger one than yours for two people.....

 

[Michael in FtW]

Well .... check the box, or the instruction manual, to see how they define the size of the rice cooker. The ones I have seen define quantity by the amount of RAW rice ... ie - a 2-cup rice cooker is designed for 2-cups of RAW dry rice ... which will yield about 4-cups cooked rice.

Compare the prices of the various models ... and see if maybe one a little bigger than what you were planning to get might not be a better deal.