The Best Rice Cooker (UK, 2026)

The Breville is the rice cooker most people should buy. It does the fundamentals perfectly: add rice and water, press the button, and it cooks the rice and switches to keep-warm automatically when done, so you get consistent results with no watching, no boil-overs and no stuck-on mess. The 1.8L, 10-cup capacity comfortably feeds a family or lets you batch-cook, and Breville is a dependable brand at a fair price.

It is a simple one-button cooker rather than a programmable fuzzy-logic machine, so there are no separate settings for different rice types or porridge. But for everyday white and most other rice, that simplicity is a virtue, foolproof and nothing to fiddle with, and it is exactly what the vast majority of households actually need. If you cook specialist rices and want fine control, a multi-function model suits; for perfect everyday rice with zero effort, this is the pick.

If you want more than rice from the machine, the Russell Hobbs pairs the same foolproof 1.8L rice cooking with a steamer basket that sits above the rice, so vegetables or fish steam in the rising steam while the rice cooks below. That means a whole side, or a simple rice-and-fish meal, from one appliance and one lot of energy, which is genuinely useful for easy weeknight dinners and healthy cooking.

The steaming is gentle and timed to the rice rather than fully independent, so it suits foods that cook in a similar time rather than precise separate control, and it is a simple cooker rather than a programmable one. But for the common want of rice plus steamed veg or fish together, it does the job neatly and cheaply. If you only ever cook plain rice, the Breville is all you need; if you like the idea of steaming alongside, this adds that for little more. (Stock can be limited.)

If you cook for one or two, a big 10-cup cooker is more than you need, and this compact 6-portion Russell Hobbs gives you the same foolproof rice and keep-warm in a smaller, tidier package. It takes up little worktop and cupboard space, cooks the right amount for a couple or small family without leftovers you did not want, and still carries the convenience and brand reassurance of the bigger models, for less money.

The obvious limit is capacity, it will not batch-cook or feed a crowd, so it is the wrong pick for large families or meal-preppers. But for smaller households it is the right size rather than a compromise, and buying small when small suits you saves money and space. If you regularly cook larger amounts, choose a 1.8L model; for one or two people, this compact cooker is the sensible fit.

If you want a rice cooker without spending much, the GEEPAS does the job for around £22, and throws in a steamer basket and keep-warm function at that price. It cooks rice automatically and holds it warm until you are ready, and the steamer lets you cook some veg above it, which is a lot of function for the money. For a first rice cooker, a spare, or a tight budget, it is honest value.

At this price the build and finish are basic and it is a simple cooker rather than a refined one, but a rice cooker is a simple appliance and this covers the essentials fine. Plenty of people never need more than cheap, foolproof rice with keep-warm. If you want a trusted brand, more capacity or steaming built around the rice more cleverly, spend a little more on the picks above; as the cheapest capable cooker here, this does the basics.