Zojirushi Induction Heating System Rice Cooker & Warmer (NP-GBC05)

This is my first review and I'm writing it in case it helps anyone out there similar to me ... so first a little background: I recently decided to change up my diet - I had been on a mostly wild salmon / some-type-of-vegetable diet. I weight train a bit so I've tried to keep my protein high and carbs low, but I decided to totally shake it up after reading a lot of research on vascular health. Despite my carb / low protein fears, I switched to a more/less vegan diet: grains & legumes for fats/protein + vegetables - zero added fat of any type, zero animal protein including dairy and whey protein powder. Well, some surprising things happened within 1 week: I lost some of my stubborn belly flab! No amount of cardio, diet, lifting has made a budge in that for 10 years, but this mostly carb diet did! Bro-trition did NOT predict that. But there was a problem, and so on with this review: cooking steel cut oats, spelt, barley, brown rice and other grains just for 1 day's meal is a real pain in the butt. Sure you can make extra ahead of time but that's not very tasty re-heated, at least for me. And, yes, you can use a slow cooker for steel-cut oatmeal, but that also has mixed results. I began researching solutions and came across rice cookers ... a dedicated appliance just for rice? really? and, holy crap HOW MUCH? I skipped it and kept on with my pots and pans ... But I couldn't shake the notion that as odd as it sounded, a dedicated appliance might actually make sense, mostly because a few years ago I bought a Zoji hot water thermos Zojirushi America Corporation CV-DCC40XT VE Hybrid Water Boiler and Warmer, 4-Liter, Stainless Dark Brown which also seemed ridiculous but has turned out to be a real luxury ... that's another story. So I did a lot of rice cooker research: Zoji, tiger, cuckoo ... and I researched all of the features: size, fuzzy logic, timers, modes, heat type, pressure, clean up, et al. With all of that I settled on this one because I've had a good Zoji experience, I like the looks the best, and I couldn't find any data showing that other brands with more features were marginally better for my needs. However, I did struggle with which size ... if you buy from other retailers, I found the next size up for $10 more once you adjust for no taxes. I decided to go with amazon and this size but it felt like a mistake. Ok, so with that, and adding that I have zero other rice cooker experience, here's my 2 cents review: LOOKS: As others have mentioned, it's very dark brown trim over a slightly tinted stainless. It more/less matches all my other stainless stuff and looks great, so unless you're particular about an exact match I'd say it'll fit in with just about any decor. SIZE: I mostly use this for just me, but it could easily work for 2 people and probably 4, but that's probably a stretch; so if you routinely cook for more than 3 people I'd go with the size up. If you're usually cooking for 3 people or less and want the counter space get this one - it's a great size and I only use about 1/3 of it's capacity on a per-meal basis ... having the larger one would really bug me, so I'm glad I got this size. FUNCTIONS: As others have mentioned it's about as easy as it gets: dump in the grain, dump in the water/broth (and mix-ins) and go. I use either 1/2 or 1 zoji cup per meal. I don't eat white rice, but I use the mixed setting for quinoa, freekeh, barley, etc and the porridge setting for steel-cut oats. I've tried using most of the modes and broadly they don't seem to make much difference, but the modes above work best for the grains listed. I love the GABA rice feature ... I don't know if GABA helps me, but I use it daily as a hacked timer: if you want hot food in 3 hours, dump-n-go, when you return hot stuff. Speaking of the timer - 2 timers! perfect for my weekday/weekend oatmeal. FOOD: Many have mentioned ... this thing makes some killer grains! No comparison to my stove-top technique. Not only does it make the cooking easy, the food comes out PERFECT. and every time. I use this thing about 4-5 times/day, and it's perfect every time. Some examples: * Steel-cut oats - the night before I dump in 1 zoji cup of oats, 1 cup of water, some cinnamon and it's perfect. I also put a tbs of fresh ground flax over the top and yeah I like it a bit thicker and am off dairy so no milk ... but I did try oat milk both before and after. I guess I'm a traditionalist but I like just water best. The oatmeal is perfect, and really the best oatmeal I've had as with all the other grains I've tried. * Freekeh, wheat berries, barley, etc: half-zoji-cup of freekeh, 1 zoji cup of veg broth, some soy sauce, a bunch of fresh or dried shitakes - perfect! * Spanish Rice: 1 zoji cup of brown rice, 1 zoji cup of hot salsa, 1 zoji cup of water - perfect! SUMMARY: If you cook grains often, it's a game-changer. Yes, it's also an expensive luxury, but it's such a daily (hourly) luxury that it makes it actually cheap given the usefulness. It's very simple to use, easy to clean, and makes perfect food. and,oh, who would've thought one could lose fat by going all carb??? Dreams do come true.

Expensive, yes, but its a high quality item that is made in Japan and cooks rice quite well. I recommend adding more water than what the manual tells you to. If you're a family of four it may be too small for you, however. It is great for just the wife and I.

I had the basic frumpy Zoji NS-KCC05 that I got as a hand-me-down around 20 years ago. Worked fine and still does, but the coating started flecking off the pan and the internal battery died so it was time for an upgrade. I got the NP-GBC05XT because it has a brown rice setting, has 3 cup capacity, and looks good. The first batch of brown rice was superb with no learning curve. Plump individual grains, a bit chewy and not mushy. Perfect. Long grain white rice was also excellent. I tried the GABA setting on brown rice. It takes twice as long and the cooked rice was identical to the regular brown rice, but if there's any chance of lowering my cholesterol I'll take it. I like the brown tones of the exterior. I can leave it out on the counter and it matches my Zoji boiler. Hope it lasts 20 years like the old one.

I give 5 stars because it makes me five stars happy, almost no imperfections for my needs. i have had it going on 4 years, i use it every morning to make oatmeal with steel cut oats. i have never made rice with it!!! i had wanted to and intended to, but i have been putting it off after learning about arsenic in rice. But i am sure if i did make rice with this cooker, it would make great rice. Taking into account, compared to some other reviewers i read, i wouldn’t know how to make it exactly right if i tried, and as long as it’s not dried out, i would be happy with it. As for oatmeal, even after using it for so long, i often think to myself how glad i am that i got it. it’s one of those really good things i’ve done for myself, though it wasn’t cheap. My daughter asked for one for her wedding in 2012 and she said it had to be induction heating, so when i got one in 2014, i stuck with that after enjoying the rice hers made so much. what i love about it is--- super easy to use, preparing breakfast takes seconds when i put the oatmeal and water in the cooker and set the menu to Porridge setting. i use, as per the instructions, one near full measuring cup ( the clear one, not the turqois blue one, it comes with two, the blue one is for rice), and then put in two of those cups with water. i don't set the timer because i always wake up once during the night, so i just go and push the start button then and sleep 2 or 3 more hours. It makes a little musical sound to let you know it's on, so you don't accidentally forget. That's all there is to that. Just eat the oatmeal. When i eat the oatmeal, i don't clean the rice cooker at that time, i have found that when i wait until later, usually at night, the cooker is still so easy to clean, that too takes seconds, less than a minute. When they say nonstick, they mean NONstick. Once is a great while, i forget to turn the rice cooker off after getting my oatmeal out to eat, and once in a while it's still on (lid closed) hours later before i notice the little orange light is on. This does not matter--when i go to wash the rice cooker bowl and cover thing later, the small amount of oatmeal debris in it does not stick and isn't even dried on, it's still kind of moist, or soft. Less than a minute and it's clean. Also, even if i leave the lid open and the oatmeal debris is exposed to air, it doesn’t dry on. it stays soft. always easy to clean. As user manuals go, the one that comes with this is good enough, no aggravations. It comes with a long detailed user manual and also a short quick start guide. The only imperfections for how i would have designed it are, one, it can only be set to 24 hour time, no 12 hour time. It doesn't matter to me, but if i were cooking something where it's relevant what time it is, it would be inconvenient. i would not even take a small fraction of a star off for this. The other thing is that the little screen with the settings on it is really hard for me to see and to read, it's a strain, takes some patience for me, to make sure i don’t make a mistake because i'm reading it wrong, easy to do, so it's not as carefree for me as everything else about using this is. There is a more expensive model on Amazon which shows a very nice orange back light which gives contrast to the digits and setting names, but it says it's a 1 Liter size which i think is 4 cups. When and if i replace this, and i will definitely replace it if it stops working, i will get the one with the back light. It's model number NP-HCC18XH. i would pay more. i just like to save space on my counter so i don't want one that is much bigger than the one i have. i don't take a star off for the poor visibility of the little screen. i don't take a star off because if this is the only one of these i can get, i will gladly buy it again, it's that useful and that easy to use, other than the poor light, i love the rice cooker. Some reviewers have complained about the battery going out and costing $70 to replace and others have complained about the nonstick coating on the bowl chipping off or peeling, and replacing the bowl is $60-$70. I agree, that is annoying, but it would not stop me from replacing those parts ASAP. i’m even thinking of buying back ups of both of those so as not to be without my daily breakfast.

I’ve been using this rice cooker for a few weeks now and have eaten more rice in that time than the previous year. The rice that comes out of it is great. I have done both brown (using the gaba brown setting), and short and medium grain white rice to good effect. Now, it isn’t quite the perfect, magical experience I was expecting from other reviews and YouTube. Pros: Very easy to clean I learned I should be washing my rice before cooking. Great white rice I have never successfully cooked brown rice on the stove or in the instant pot that came out as good as it comes out of this. My favorite restaurants that have brown rice don’t make it as good as this. I’ve made white rice in it exactly twice, but am almost exclusively brown rice now which is the opposite of how it used to be. Neutrals: Brown rice seems a little browner on the bottom, but there isn’t a texture difference and it is still very good. The pot that came with this one doesn’t have the steal cut oats line on it Doing grits on the timer doesn’t work. They come out very lumpy. You need to stir at 10, 15, 20 minutes. But if you are not cooking on a timer, you can do 2 cups of water and 2 cups of milk which is better anyway. Steel cut oats on a timer are a little lumpy but can be stirred out and still good. Cons: Not being able to do grits on a timer was a downer. I read after the fact that the fuzzy logic models might handle other grains better than the induction model. I likely would have saved a bunch of money and gone with that instead if I’d known it earlier. Without the stirring, grits are noticeably brown on the bottom too. They are not burnt and don’t TASTE burnt, but I wasn’t expecting that from the reviews I read. That said, it isn’t worth the trouble of returning it to only “maybe” have a better experience with oats and grits with the fuzzy logic one. Timer oats are still better than instant. Best oats take a stir at the 10 and 20 minute marks. Even with the shortcomings, I have had oatmeal or grits every morning since it came in. I just save the grits for the weekend when I can babysit them. Still less work and better result than stovetop. Not to mention that the brown rice tastes so much better and isn’t chewy or weird like it comes out on the stove top. The brown rice out of this is an order of magnitude better than the brown rice from my favorite Indian and Thai places. For me, it is on par with the white rice it cooks in terms of tastiness, so no complaints about how it cooks rice at all. For the curious, this is what I found to work best for oats and grits. For rice, don’t be fancy. Use the measuring cup that comes with it. Wash 5-8 times. Fill to the lines on the bowl. For both grits and oats, I use the Porridge cycle, which takes about an hour. Steel Cut Oats: Note: these are not rolled oats. Not sure how those would do, but steel cut is usually cooked longer anyway. 1 rice-cooker cup of oats 2.5 rice-cooker cups of water 1/4 teaspoon of salt Set timer and go to bed (If you’re cooking in the morning when you can stir, I did not notice a difference from soaking the oats overnight or not) If cooking while you are awake in the morning, stir at 10 minutes and 20 minutes for best results When the finished tone plays, add 1 rice cooker cup of milk and stir. If you cooked without stirring, mix the oats up well with the paddle to break the clumps before adding milk, and then stir until smooth. Optionally add diced fruit. My favorites are a diced up peach and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla. Stir in, close the lid and give it another 10 minutes. Makes 3 breakfasts worth of oatmeal Grits: I used Bob’s Red Mill White Grits 1 rice cooker cup of grits 2 cups of water. — Best if you set this up before bed. Close the lid to limit evaporation and let them soak. They came out a little creamier with the soak but not essential to do so. 2 cups of milk 1/4 teaspoon of salt Start rice cooker on porridge setting. Stir at 10 minutes (not quite boiling), 15 minutes (boiling), 20 minutes. When cycle is done, they are good. Optionally add 2 tablespoons of butter and a couple of handfuls of shredded cheese, mix, and give 10 minutes for the cheese to melt. Makes 4 breakfasts worth of grits. When reheating both the oatmeal and grits in the microwave, I add a bit of butter or heavy cream to the Tupperware before heating and mix it up well after heating. The extra liquid restores the texture.

I had a rice cooker before this, some $30 thing I got at the store out of curiosity. I liked it well enough but it would burn rice to the bottom of the bowl making it a massive pain to clean, and rice generally came out half-mushy / half-dry even after careful water measuring. I was on the fence about spending nearly $200 for a single-function device to fix this when I could just make rice on the stove but now I'm really glad I did. This thing seriously saves me a ton of time making dinner during the week for three main reasons: Cleaning is simple and FAST. The bowl is thick, and the heating elements do a great job of heating the bowl evenly, so after cooking not a single grain of rice sticks to the inside of the bowl. Only a small amount of film remains after cooking which is easily cleaned with a wet paper towel in a few seconds. The timer: I can set a time I want the rice to be done at. And if work runs late, it's no big deal because this can automatically keep cooked rice warm for apparently 12 hours. I've opened it 4 hours after I set the timer for, and still had rice that tasted fresh (steam even came out like it had just finished cooking). This means with some meal prepped meat or veg on the weekend, I can have fresh rice for a way better meal during the week ready the instant I walk in the door. It's a game changer. The biggest reason I love this is for the quality of the rice. I cook 1 to 2 cup batches, and every batch comes out perfectly cooked with seemingly every grain of rice uniformly done. It's seriously incredible. I expected a lot from someone who didn't really have high standards for rice before, and I was still impressed. Some minor complaints/considerations: The size (0.54 L or 3 cup) is excellent for a one or two person household, but if you need to feed anymore than that (or those two people are really hungry) you will want a bigger size. It's nice that the cord is detachable, but some other models have a retractable cord which honestly would have been nicer and I think at $200 that isn't too much to ask for. The bowl has white markings to guide how much water you need, but the dark coating of the rest of the bowl makes it kind of hard to see where the waterline is unless you're in a lot of direct light. If you eat a lot of rice, or think you might like eating a lot of rice if you could have it prepared automatically for you, or are looking for ways to minimize time spent cooking without microwaving prepped meals every day, this is a great tool.

First off, there's isn't a huge difference between the standard micom and the IH (Induction Heater) micom. Micom is the "smart" rice cooker. I, myself, as someone who purchased the first of a very long succession of rice cookers dating back 50 years ago, *do* like rice cookers and I *don't* prefer any kind of pressure cooked rice. Having said that, I will occasionally put rice in a stainless steel Tatung rice cooker bowl, pop it in my water filled Instant Pot and make rice in a few minutes. It won't be as good, and I never cook rice straight in the Instant pot bowl. But it is fine in a pinch. Pot in pot is the secret to Instant Pot. But I digress.... Of the electric rice cookers, I prefer the Panasonics and Zojirushis. The Tatung is highly regarded, and I ahve one, but I prefer these. When the old Panny wore out, the Zoji was half the price of the IH (Induction) Panasonic, so I switched. I went with the smallest size, which is fine for two people. Even three or four people. I actually prefer cooking rice in a smaller pot. The main difference between standard and induction cooking is that there is no toasty, crispy or dried out bottom on the rice. This is a shocker if you are used to it. The rice is the same all around. However, as I said, the standard micom is fine and you may actually *like* your ice a little crispy. Because it is not over cooked on the bottom, cleanup is marginally easier. No stick at all. I wanted a stainless steel inner lid, and only a few models have that feature. There's no Jasmine setting on the smallest model, but no biggie. The standard setting works fine, and you can if you wish add 30 minutes to the timer to get the same custom setting. Brown rice, and especially Gaba rice, works great. I don't use the odd sized cups, I just ratio the water and rice, for example, I cup rice to 1.24 cups water for Jasmine rice. Of course, it depends on the rice. The cooker is quite forgiving if you make a small mistake. I wouldn't say it is smart, but it is kindly. If you read cookbooks or look online, everyone has a "trick" to getting the rice to water ratio correct. There are thumbs and lines and weights and so on. It's all rubbish, of course. There are variables, like the type of rice. The moisture content of the rice, the humidity and pressure, the type of rice cooker, and, most importantly, how much water is sealed in by the cooker. Lid or no lid. Seal or no seal. No steam=less water, obviously. If no water escapes, you can do very well with a one to one ratio. Anyway, the sensors in the Zoji will compensate as the cooking goes along, and that's what you want. Unless you want to analyze the moisture in your rice. What else? it should have a retractable plug, Doh! But whatever. For many types of rice, this cooker will extract more flavor, just like a good coffee nachine. It tastes better than an instant pot. It is very easy to use. The standard model is good, the IH model is slightly better, but the difference is really tiny, the main difference is the teture of the rice at the bottom of the pan. The pain is a special induction pan, a steel-aluminum-teflon composite, so it is expensive to replace. OTOH you can buy a steel (no Teflon) Tatung pan for ~$15--if you buy the standard Tatung rice cooker--so factor that in. I prefer the taste of the rice of the Zoji and Panny models. The timer function is quite handy. Say you want dinner at 7:00 pm, just set the timer to 7:00 pm and the machine will figure it out. And, yes, it makes oatmeal, even though a thermos will do the same. Recommended.

Wow, I've been making rice for 50 years and thought it was good. I always wondered why anyone would buy a rice cooker just to make a simple rice. I'm not sure why I actually bought this, because it was a whim, and I thought I would probably be returning it. I am very glad I bought it and I am keeping it! I now know what stellar rice is. Honestly, before buying this I never knew that you should soak your rice for 30 minutes before cooking or how there was a need for an extended steaming time after cooking for the best rice. And, sure, I could do all that by hand, now that I know, but this rice cooker does all of that by itself. Plus, there is no scorching the rice on the bottom of the pot or taking the lid off to find that the rice is unevenly cooked or even has raw spots throughout the pot of rice now. I've never had flakier rice where every grain of rice is its own perfectly-cooked masterpiece. Rice is a great, low-cost meal extender and I find myself making it all the time now. The smaller footprint of this cooker is great for me. It still makes a good amount of rice, enough so I can have rice meals for 3+ days from one batch. Lemon Rice with Chicken, various homemade Chinese dishes with rice, Miso-Glazed Salmon with Rice, Garlic Lime Rice with Beef (or Chicken), Enchiladas and Spanish Rice, and Buttery Seasoned Rice with Pork Chops are just a few of the dishes that I've been making. It is exceptional rice every time.