Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker review: is it worth the counter space?

Don’t be distracted by the name. This extremely useful kitchen appliance can do much more than cooking rice. It can also handle a variety of dishes like soups, casseroles, steamed fish, oatmeal, and even cakes. You can fry, steam, bake, slow-cook, and boil. The only thing it doesn’t do is roast.

To be clear, though, the Cosori 5.0-Quart can make a LOT of rice, not just plain white rice. It can also dish up the lightest, fluffiest jasmine, sushi, brown, quinoa, and even mixed grains – some of which have been known to make Michelin-starred chefs weep. So, if it’s the rice you struggle with most, and you cook a lot of it, this could save the day or curry night.

Additional features include its clear LED display, which is intuitive to use without laboring over an instruction guide. It’s also extremely easy to clean—especially the inner pan, which has the best non-stick coating ever. I also loved the ‘stay warm’ function and delay timer, which was handy for feeding my family when they came home at different times after school clubs.

I tested the Cosori 5.0-quart rice cooker in my home for two weeks, cooking as many dishes and using as many different functions as possible to feed my hungry family of four.

Keep reading to learn how the Cosori 5.0-Quart rice cooker performed, and check out our best food steamers guide to see what else is available in this popular countertop appliance category.

Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker: Key specs

Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker: Setup

Delivered in a large box, the Cosori 5.0-quart Rice Cooker was well protected by polystyrene and neatly stacked to minimize packaging. My first impressions were very promising. It’s a weighty appliance that feels robustly made, and the glossy black design is simple yet stylish enough to leave out on the countertops.

Inside the box is the main unit, a non-stick inner pot, a measuring cup, a rice paddle, a steamer tray, and a folder with instructions and other paperwork. Assembly was as simple as inserting the pot, attaching the inner lid, and plugging it in.

Before first use, I had to peel off the handy Quick Start Guide covering the LED display panel. Then, all the components and accessories must be washed to rinse off any dust. Cosori recommends an empty run in steamer mode to sanitize the interior and remove any of that ‘new appliance’ odor before putting edibles inside – the (straightforward) instructions are on the Quick Start sticker.

The initial setup, including unpacking, cleaning, and familiarizing myself with the control panel, took less than 20 minutes. Once the Cosori 5.0-Quart is plugged in, the LED display springs to life with a loud beep, and navigating through the cooking modes is intuitive. Overall, I found the initial setup process a breeze despite having never used a rice cooker before, so beginners should have no problem getting on with the cooking business.

• Score: 8/10

Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker: Design & Features

Essentially a black cube with rounded corners and a steel-trimmed top, the Cosori 5.0-quart rice cooker is sleek and unassuming and not dissimilar in looks to a small air fryer, albeit without the drawer handle. Several guests asked me what on earth it was! The neutral color and simple shape mean it would suit most kitchens. While it didn’t take up a lot of space on my countertops, the lid has to open up fully to pull the inner pan and steamer basket out, so you probably wouldn’t want to store it directly under wall cupboards or a shelf unless you had space to pull it forward while cooking.

Note that the power cable is quite short (37 inches), so it must be positioned close to a socket. With no wall sockets to spare, I ran an extension cable to use it on my island, but that’s not a safe long-term solution. It would take around half a shelf of a standard base unit if you wanted to store it inside a kitchen cabinet.

In terms of build quality, Cosori has done a great job in making it feel solid and robust. The black plastic exterior is smooth, and the control panel is flush, making it easy to wipe clean. The internal components are all stainless steel, and the main pan has an excellent non-stick coating and a water guide chart inside to measure ingredients easily. I did manage to burn the spatula paddle, melting the plastic, which wasn’t ideal, but that was more user error – I am certain I shouldn’t have left it resting on the base of the pan while in full saute mode!

The 5.0-quart capacity is generous and ideal for cooking enough rice for larger families. For those who like to cook in batches, its max capacity of 10 cups of dried rice is easily enough to feed ten adults, possibly more. In other modes, like steam, soup, and saute, I’d say it’s better suited to a family of four people. I managed to steam a whole broccoli, half a cauliflower, and four carrots in the steamer basket, which is plenty for a roast for my family of four but wouldn’t have been enough for guests.

The preset buttons are marked on the display panel, and you use the mode button to flick through them to the one you want. It took me a minute to understand this scrolling technique—my instinct was to use it as one big touchscreen, but it’s not.

The timer is a delay style that you set by adding hours according to the time you want the cooking to complete rather than start, which I am used to with my breadmaker. A Keep Warm function also allows you to keep contents warm (158°F) for up to 24 hours. The cooker will also automatically activate Keep Warm after every function, except Saute and Cake – handy if you’re not quite ready to serve or, in my case, have wandered off and started doing something else entirely!

Cosori recommends downloading its VeSync App, setting up a user account, and adding your device. I followed the advice, but it’s not that enthralling. I might be missing something, but I could only see a few extra recipes (14 in total) and a tool to save your recipes. I liked how you can change the number of servings required, and it automatically adjusts the ingredients. The Cosori 5.0-Quart is not wi-fi enabled, so although the App requested access to my Bluetooth settings, it can’t control or monitor the rice cooker.

• Score: 8/10

Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker: Performance

What’s a little weird about this rice cooker compared to other countertop cookers I have used (i.e., slow cookers, air fryers, etc) is there’s no ability to adjust the cooking times in rice mode. For example, if you put in one cup of white short-grain rice, the display will have an estimated cooking time of 51 minutes. Because it uses Fuzzy Logic (sensors that monitor and automatically adjust progress as it cooks), the time can change slightly as it goes along. The actual cooking time is rarely more than a few minutes out and usually shorter rather than longer than advertised. Still, I find the imprecision annoying, making it hard to correlate the timings of other dishes. This might be standard practice for a rice cooker, but it’s not ideal if you like everything to finish cooking simultaneously.

Overall, I found the cooking results very good, whether in steam, saute, rice, slow cooking, or soup mode, so the Fuzzy Logic does work well. With the exception of a total fail with rice pudding, everything was cooked beautifully and exactly how I would want it—not too hard, not too soft, just right.

However, I have to say right now that you should be prepared to wait for your dinner, especially regarding rice. On my hob, I can knock up a pan of basmati rice for four people in 15 minutes – sure, it’s sometimes a little sticky (so I run it under the boiling water tap) – but generally, 15 minutes is perfect. So, if I do a stir-fry or sweet and sour simultaneously, I can get dinner cooked and on the table in 30 minutes. The quickest rice I managed in the Cosori 5.0-quart rice cooker took 45 minutes for one cup, which was enough for two people, and that’s longer than I have spare for cooking on a school night.

Steaming is quicker, and it will steam vegetables to how I like them (al dente) in 10 minutes (as long as they're chopped small), and I could knock up fresh soup in 30 minutes. Sauteing is quick, although the cooker takes longer than I’d like to heat up. However, I’m used to an induction hob, and nothing heats faster than induction. Again, there are no temperature controls, so you just have to put up with the searing heat, which is great for browning meat, but you need to be careful not to burn onions when softening them.

There are no noise concerns with this appliance. If you hear anything at all, it’s just the gentle sound of steam or stew bubbling—nothing that disturbs kitchen life.

Test 1: Rice

I began with the basics—plain white long-grain rice—and turned to the user manual for guidance. The process was refreshingly straightforward: measure the desired rice cups, rinse thoroughly in a sieve, and transfer the grains to the inner pot. Next, add water to the corresponding level marked inside the pot, ensuring the perfect water-to-rice ratio for the quantity you’re preparing.

Once the inner pot is inside the rice cooker, I close the lid and press the White Rice button on the front panel (long-grain rice is automatically selected). Then, I hit Start. If you prefer, you can set the delay timer—up to 24 hours—by pressing the ‘+’ button before starting. While the process was straightforward, I encountered an immediate hiccup. Cooking for just my husband and I meant I only needed one cup of rice, but the water level markers for white rice start at two cups. After consulting the user manual again, I found a handy Grain-to-Water ratio chart for single-cup portions across all grain types. For white long-grain rice, the required water was one ¼ cup.

As mentioned, cooking rice is not a quick process in the Cosori 5.0-Quart rice cooker. The user manual lists the cooking time as 35-45 minutes for 1 cup of rice, 45-55 for 5 cups, and an astonishing 55-65 minutes for 10 cups of rice. Brown rice always takes longer to cook than white, but in this machine, you’ll be looking at 60-70 minutes for one cup’s worth—enough to feed two people. Madness.

When the timer beeped to signal the rice was ready, the results looked promising. A quick fluff with a fork confirmed it—this was a noticeable upgrade from my usual saucepan attempts. The rice was perfectly light and fluffy, with just the right balance of moisture and texture—neither too wet nor too claggy.

For our next rice-based meals, I opted for two cups—perfect for four—which allowed me to use the convenient water level marker inside the inner pot. We experimented with white, brown, and jasmine rice, which were as delicious and well-cooked as anything we enjoyed in restaurants.

The only rice dish that failed during the two-week test period was short-grain rice for a rice pudding. I followed Cosori's recipe (on the App), and it must have boiled over because when I got home, milk had clearly spilled out the steam vent, and the contents were concrete-like. However, I did leave it on Keep Warm for two hours after it had finished cooking, as I got unavoidably detained in the pub, so there was an element of user error in play!

That little whoopsy aside, my only real problem was with the cooking times, which were all extremely long, and there was no option to adjust them. This lack of customization might be a drawback for those who prefer slightly drier rice or moister.

I also checked out the Quick Rice setting and was disappointed to find it wasn’t worth cutting corners. It still took a tedious 35 minutes to cook 2 cups of rice, and it wasn’t nearly as nice as waiting it out.

• Score: 5/10

Test 2: Steaming vegetables

There is only one basket for steaming, so to simplify life, I chose carrots and broccoli as they are vegetables I’d usually steam together for 10 minutes in my hob-top pan steamer. The basket is steel with plenty of holes in the bottom and sides to ensure even steaming and good airflow around the vegetables. Like any steam cooker, you need to be careful not to overload the basket, but there was plenty of room to steam enough vegetables for a roast dinner for our family of four, plus grandma!

It would have been nice to have two tiers, but there’s quite a lot of room in the basket, so I had space to sling in some mange tout or similar when there were six minutes to go.

All you need to do is fill the inner pan with water to the wiggly steam line (I used boiling to speed it up), put the steamer basket in, put in the vegetables, press steam mode, and set the cooking time. The default is 10 minutes. You can also use the Delay Start for up to 24 hours, a handy feature if you are short on time and want to come home to freshly cooked veg. I used this function when I had a chicken and jacket potatoes in the oven on a timer – setting it up so everything would be ready when we got home from afterschool clubs.

The pre-heating takes five to six minutes, despite using boiling water, which again is slower than I am used to. The 10-minute steaming time I selected produced perfectly cooked carrots that retained their shape, color, and flavor and were not too soft. The broccoli wasn’t nearly cooked enough, though, and needed an extra five minutes, which was awkward because I had to pull out the cooked carrots before I could set the broccoli going again. Luckily, I have a warming oven to keep them warm while the broccoli catches up to speed. On a second test run of broccoli and carrots, I cut the broccoli much smaller and tried to get the sizes more even, and 10 minutes did the job. Just.

• Score: 6/10

Test 3: Soup

Homemade soup is one of my favorite lunch options, especially in the winter months, and it was also the perfect opportunity to test out the sauté mode. Following the Lemon Chicken and Rice Soup recipe in the book supplied (which has 35 recipes in addition to those on the App), I set the machine to sauté mode, adjusted the time to 10 minutes (as directed), and pressed start.

As always, the cooker took about five minutes to preheat, but once the countdown began, the base was too hot—almost burning the garlic, carrots, celery, and onions. Continuous movement with the spatula was required, and I’d have appreciated the option to turn the temperature down.

Next, the herbs, chicken, rice, and liquids (broth and lemon juice) were added, and I shut the lid, pressed soup mode, and pressed start. The default time is 30 minutes, but I did at least have the option to adjust this time if required. Completion was signified with loud bleeps, and then the rice cooker automatically switched to keep warm mode (this is true of every mode except steam and cake), which is a handy function for keeping the food hot until you’re ready to serve.

Then, all I needed to do was shred the chicken and add some frozen peas, and it was good to go. The flavor was quite zingy. Maybe dial down on the lemon if that’s not your thing, but our kids scoffed it down, and everyone agreed it could go on our winter menu again.

• Score: 8/10

Test 4: Slow cooking

I was quite excited to test out the slow cook function as I’ve never had a dedicated slow cooker, and my friends raved about how useful they are for quickly getting healthy food to hungry kids after school. Again, I used the sauté function to brown the chicken in my slow cooker curry recipe, and this time, I accidentally burnt the spatula because I'd left it resting inside. Oops. Burnt plastic aside, the chicken browned nicely, and then all I needed to do was load the rest of the ingredients, press Slow Cook mode, adjust the time to six hours, and press start.

According to the user manual, slow cook mode is set at 212F, but when I checked in on progress a couple of hours in, everything was boiling away madly, and the cooker was blasting out steam. I couldn’t see an option to turn down the heat, so I reduced the time to three hours – before the vegetables were ruined and the sauce had boiled dry. I then used the sauté mode to reheat the curry when it was time to eat, although I suppose I could have left it in keep warm mode. The resulting chicken curry was delicious and full of flavor, and the meat was moist and tender enough but not exactly falling off the fork. I’m not sure this appliance works in quite the same way as a regular electric slow cooker–for one, it lets out a lot more moisture while cooking– and the lack of temperature control doesn’t make it very flexible.

• Score: 6/10

Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker: Care & Maintenance

Thanks to its thoughtful design, cleaning the Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker is refreshingly simple. Most removable parts—the inner pot, steam basket, and utensils—are dishwasher-safe (top rack only), taking the hassle out of post-cooking cleanup.

The cooker is easy to wipe down with a damp cloth, and the smooth, flat control panel eliminates tricky crevices where dirt or bacteria can hide. You need to regularly empty and rinse the steam cap inside the internal cover plate to ensure everything stays hygienic, but it is straightforward.

Maintenance is minimal, but if you plan to store the cooker between uses, ensure it's thoroughly dry (including the steam cap and inner lid) and avoid stacking items on top to keep it in prime condition.

• Score: 8/10

Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker: Price & Value

The Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker is very reasonably priced at $99.99. If you buy it directly from Cosori, you can get 10% off your first purchase, making it an even more appealing $89.99. However, it’s only $84.99 on Amazon, so we recommend you head straight there.

In the UK, it has an RRP of £119.99, but at the time of writing, it was on sale for £89.99 at Amazon.

• Score: 8/10

Would I buy the Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker?

There’s a lot to love about this stylish countertop appliance, the design being a big bonus. And it delivers decent rice, easily as good as that served in a quality Chinese restaurant. Suppose you have never mastered this in a pan or are already a rice cooker convert and are just in the market for a new machine. In that case, the Cosori 5.0-quart rice cooker is a worthy contender, not least because its price represents excellent value for money.

Most people will also appreciate the extra cooking functionality on offer – sauté, steam, slow cook, etc – that ensures it earns space on your countertops. Speaking of space, if you regularly struggle for space on your hob, this smart appliance will provide the equivalent of an extra hob zone/burner, which could make all the difference when cooking for crowds.

I am happy with the rice I cook in a saucepan, not just because it cooks much quicker than in the Cosori 5.0-quart. However, I am impatient, so the slow progress was a big problem for me. If I were to dedicate a spot on my countertop to another small appliance, I’d prefer something that saves time rather than one that takes longer than my current cooking methods.

How does the Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker compare?

The Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker is well-priced, well-made, and intuitive to use, which helps it hold its own in the competitive rice cooker market. Compared to premium models like the Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy, which has an excellent reputation for precision and efficiency, the Cosori offers many more cooking modes, and the rice it cooks is hard to beat in terms of fluffy, moist perfection. I’d argue the Cosori is much more attractive, too, but as ever, it falls short when it comes to speed – its cooking times are noticeably longer.

If you are looking beyond grain cooking, you might be better off checking out the best instant pots. The Instant Pot Duo Plus, for example, offers amazing functionality and a 6-quart capacity for less money. Admittedly, it’s not as sleek, but you’ll get pressure cooking, a yogurt maker, steam, sauté, and, of course, rice cooking–so there is plenty of bang for your buck.

How I tested the Cosori 5.0-Quart Rice Cooker

I tested the Cosori 5.0-Quart rice cooker at home for two weeks, checking out as many functions and modes as possible while cooking our regular family meals. I followed the user guide and quick start information supplied by Cosori to ensure my experience was the same as any would-be buyers’, and I cooked up three types of rice: soups, slow-cooked curry, rice pudding, and a whole lot of steamed vegetables.

This is in addition to general evaluations, such as how straightforward the rice cooker is to set up, its noise level during operation, user-friendliness, storage convenience, and ease of cleaning.