Poorly cooked rice can ruin the most flavoursome meal, and if you’re someone who struggles to achieve soft, fluffy grains, let Aldi do all the legwork with their Ambiano 2-Cup Rice Cooker (£9.99).
Landing in stores yesterday (31 August), Aldi’s rice cooker launched as part of their big student event. However, at Ideal Home, we believe the best rice cooker is a staple of any kitchen.
From achieving perfect fluffy rice for curries and more, this is everything you need to know about Aldi’s handy and affordable cooker.
Ambiano 2-Cup Rice Cooker
Rice is a staple of many meals, given that it is both cheap and delicious. But there is an art to cooking it, and struggling to get the perfect rice isn’t uncommon. This is why rice cookers and microwave cookers – such as Lidl’s microwave rice and pasta cookers – are so popular.
A rice cooker takes away any of the hassle of cooking rice and does it for you, with the best ones creating perfect, fluffy rice every time. Perhaps this is why a rice cooker is Nigella’s favourite present to gift at Christmas.
Available in a mint green colourway, Aldi’s rice cooker claims to cook perfect rice at the touch of a button. It’s compact, sleek and easy to use. Coming with a handy measuring cup, all you need to do is use the cup to measure the correct amount of rice, add water, press the button and walk away.
The cooker comes with a booklet that explains how much water you need per cup of rice. It produces the equivalent of two cups of cooked rice for one cup of uncooked rice, and has a keep warm function for when it’s finished cooking. The cooker also has a ceramic, non-stick-coated inner pot for easy cleaning, too.
The little cooker has been gaining traction on TikTok, with shoppers keen to pick up the rice cooker. One user even praised how you can cook more than rice, such as dumplings and vegetables. Users have commented that the cooker is suitable for one to two people and cooks rice in about 20 minutes, praising how easy and handy they are to have. Bear in mind that brown rice can take longer to cook.
None of the Ideal Home team has tested Aldi’s 2-cup rice cooker, but we are keen to try it after hearing all the social media reviews. However, we have tested Lakeland’s Digital Rice Cooker (£44.99) and found it produced perfect, fluffy rice every time in our Lakeland Rice Cooker review. It also has a larger capacity than Aldi’s, producing four to six portions of rice.
I personally like to use a steamer, such as Salter’s 3 Tier Electric Food Steamer (£29.99 at Amazon), which produces amazing rice in just 10 to 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can opt for one of these highly rated, affordable rice cookers.
Amazon
Judge Small Electric Rice Cooker
This rice cooker is the one favoured by Nigell and has over 2,800 reviews contributing towards this rice cooker’s 4.5-star status. It serves the same amount as the Aldi one, and is a little powerhouse.
Cookworks
Cookworks 1.5l Rice Cooker – Black
This super-affordable rice cooker has a 1.5L capacity and great reviews, too, with shoppers praising the ‘beautiful’ rice it produces and how easy it is to use.
Lakeland Electricals
Lakeland Digital Rice Cooker 1l
Our expert reviewers have tried and tested this Lakeland Rice Cooker and were impressed. It has white rice and brown rice settings and makes enough to feed a family.
Rice can make or break a meal, but a good rice cooker means you no longer have to worry about this.
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