AROMA Professional ARC-994SG Rice Cooker: Full Review

The Aroma Professional ARC-994SG is a 6-cup digital rice cooker that aims to provide restaurant-quality rice cooking in a convenient at-home appliance. This model features advanced technology like preset digital controls and a specialized cooking pot design to deliver fluffy, restaurant-worthy rice every time.

With its digital controls and keep warm function, the Aroma Professional makes cooking rice simple - just add rice and water, select your settings, and let the rice cooker do the rest. This versatile appliance can cook all varieties of rice, including white rice, brown rice, basmati rice, and more. The Aroma Professional rice cooker is an ideal option for rice lovers who want delicious, consistent rice cooking results without the guesswork.

Design

The Aroma Professional ARC-994SG rice cooker has a sleek and modern stainless steel exterior that will look great on any kitchen countertop. The stainless steel body not only gives it a premium look and feel, but also makes the rice cooker very durable and easy to clean.

The interface is straightforward with simple buttons for cook, warm, and timer functions. There is a large LED screen that conveniently displays the cooking status and time remaining. The buttons have a smooth tactile feedback and audible beep when pressed.

On the inside, the inner cooking pot is surgical-grade 304 stainless steel which allows for quick, even heating. The inner lid is made of tempered glass so you can monitor the cooking process without letting heat and moisture escape.

Overall, the rice cooker has an elegant yet minimalist design both inside and out. The combination of stainless steel and glass gives it a modern and sophisticated look. The streamlined interface with easy-to-use buttons also makes the cooking process straightforward and hassle-free.

Another impressive option is the Zojirushi NS-LGC05XB, which features advanced fuzzy logic technology for precise cooking. Its unique cooking functions allow for perfect rice every time, whether brown, white, or sushi rice. The large capacity and dual heaters ensure even cooking, while the easy-to-read display and programmable settings add convenience. The Zojirushi rice cooker is designed for efficiency and will save you time in the kitchen, making it a valuable addition to your culinary tools.

Capacity

The Aroma ARC-994SG rice cooker has an impressive 20-Cup cooked capacity, making it suitable for families or for cooking large meals. It's one of the largest rice cookers on the market in terms of capacity.

The inner cooking pot has a 10-cup uncooked capacity, meaning it can hold up to 10 cups of uncooked rice. Once cooked, this expands to 20 cups of cooked rice. To put this into perspective, 1 cup of uncooked rice generally yields 2 cups cooked.

So with the 10-cup uncooked capacity, you can cook rice for around 10-20 people as a main dish. This makes it a great option for large gatherings, dinner parties, or meal prepping for an entire week.

Beyond rice, the spacious 20-cup capacity allows you to cook substantial portions of other grains like quinoa or barley, or even steam vegetables, meat, fish, etc. You can essentially cook an entire one-pot meal thanks to the generous capacity.

In addition to the ARC-994SG, the Aroma Housewares ARC-914D is another excellent option from Aroma Housewares. With its 8-cup cooked capacity, it's perfect for smaller families or those who may not require as much rice. This model is designed with a user-friendly interface and includes functions such as steaming and slow cooking, making it versatile for different meal preparations. Whether you're cooking rice, steaming vegetables, or making soups, the ARC-914D stands out for its convenience and efficiency.

Cooking Features

The Aroma ARC-994SG multicooker is equipped with a variety of cooking functions to handle anything you want to make. It can be used as a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, cake maker, and food warmer.

The rice cooking function allows you to cook white rice, brown rice, quinoa, and other grains to perfection. It has settings for both regular and quick cooking cycles so you can adjust based on the type of rice. The cooker automatically switches to keep warm mode when done cooking so your rice stays ready to eat.

For slow cooking, there are both high and low heat settings. Use the high setting to get dinner cooking faster when you're pressed for time, and the low setting when you want food to simmer gently all day for maximum flavor. The stoneware pot distributes heat evenly for great results.

You can use the steam function with the included steam tray to steam vegetables, seafood, and more. Steaming is a healthy cooking method that preserves nutrients.

The ARC-994SG can even be used to make homemade yogurt. Simply add yogurt starter to milk in the pot, incubate, and then refrigerate until set. The yogurt function provides the ideal temperature control for fermentation.

For baking cakes and other treats, take advantage of the specialized cake function. It optimizes temperature and timing to give your cake a perfect rise and texture.

Finally, the keep warm function can hold cooked food at an ideal serving temperature for hours. Use it when you want to cook ahead for meals or have food stay warm through a dinner party.

Ease of Use

The Aroma ARC-994SG rice cooker is designed with ease of use in mind. Setting up the rice cooker is straightforward - simply take it out of the box, remove any packaging material, wash the inner pot and steam tray, and you're ready to start cooking.

Programming the rice cooker is very simple thanks to the user friendly control panel. There are 2 main cooking functions - white rice and brown rice. Just press the corresponding button for the type of rice you want to cook. The digital display shows the cooking time remaining so you can easily monitor progress. There are also settings for steaming, slow cooking, simmering and warming.

Cleaning the Aroma rice cooker is hassle free. The inner cooking pot and steam tray have a non-stick coating which prevents rice sticking. These components can be easily washed by hand with warm soapy water. The exterior housing can be wiped clean with a damp cloth. There are no intricate parts or crevices that are hard to reach, so maintaining the rice cooker is effortless.

Overall, the Aroma ARC-994SG rice cooker delivers excellent ease of use with its straightforward setup, intuitive controls, and easy care and cleaning. It's designed to simplify the process of cooking rice and other dishes.

Cooking Performance

The Aroma Professional Rice Cooker delivers excellent cooking performance for rice as well as a variety of other foods. It can cook white rice, brown rice, basmati rice, jasmine rice, and more with perfect fluffy texture every time.

The intelligent cooking logic knows exactly how much water is needed and automatically switches to warm mode when done cooking to prevent overcooking. Rice comes out tender, fluffy, and full of flavor. It also excels at cooking other grains like quinoa, barley, and farro.

In addition to rice, this cooker can be used to prepare all kinds of one-pot meals. The steam function is great for cooking vegetables, seafood like salmon and shrimp, chicken breasts, or meat cuts. The simmer function works well for making stews, soups, chili, oatmeal, and more. Foods turn out moist and evenly cooked thanks to the insulated chamber.

Overall, the Aroma Professional Rice Cooker delivers exceptional performance for cooking flawless rice as well as being a versatile appliance for preparing all kinds of healthy one-pot meals with ease.

Accessories

The Aroma Professional ARC-994SG comes with some handy accessories that enhance the cooking experience.

• The inner cooking pot is made from surgical-grade 304 stainless steel, which is durable and distributes heat evenly. The dishwasher-safe pot has a generous 6-cup uncooked capacity.

• A tempered glass lid allows you to monitor cooking without lifting the lid and releasing heat. The lid fits securely to seal in moisture.

• A non-stick inner pot and steam tray prevent food from sticking while cooking. This makes cleanup much easier.

• The package includes a rice measuring cup and serving spatula. The cup ensures perfect rice-to-water ratios, while the soft spatula is ideal for scooping out every last bit of rice without scratching the pot's surface.

• A simple user manual provides basic operation instructions, maintenance tips, troubleshooting, and several authentic rice and multi-cooker recipes to get you started.

Overall, the included accessories are thoughtfully designed to simplify the cooking process and help users get the most out of the multi-cooker.

Pros

• Large 12-cup cooked (makes enough rice to feed the whole family!)
• Stainless steel cooking pot is durable and easy to clean
• Steam function allows you to steam veggies, seafood, or dumplings while rice cooks below
• 15 digital controls including settings for white and brown rice, soup, steam, slow cook, oatmeal, and more
• Delay timer allows flexibility in meal planning; set it and forget it
• Keep warm function prevents overcooking and burning
• Nonstick inner cooking pot is easy to clean
• Comes with serving spatula, rice measuring cup, and steaming tray

Cons

• The rice cooker is quite large and bulky, taking up a lot of counter space. It measures approximately 14 x 12 x 11 inches.

• The exterior gets very hot during cooking. The sides and lid reach temperatures that could burn if touched. Caution is needed, especially if there are children around.

• There are some reports of the rice cooker failing after 1-2 years of regular use. Durability may be an issue for long-term owners.

• The aluminum cooking pot leaves some black residue or staining after prolonged use. This can be difficult to scrub off completely.

Conclusion

Overall, the Aroma Professional ARC-994SG is an excellent rice cooker that offers great value for money. With its generous 9-cup cooked (4.5-cup uncooked) capacity, it can cook enough rice for families or gatherings. The programmable digital controls provide excellent flexibility with settings for white and brown rice, along with slow cook, steam and delay timer functions.

The cooking performance is exceptional, with the rice turning out tender and fluffy thanks to features like its heavy-duty inner pot and steam release. It's also very easy to use and clean. The only potential downside is the lack of a keep warm function, but this can be mitigated by using the slow cook function instead.

Compared to other rice cookers in this price range like the Zojirushi NS-ZCC10 or Tiger JBV-A10U, the Aroma Professional matches up very well in terms of features and performance. With its solid stainless steel construction, intuitive controls and excellent cooking, it's easy to recommend for most households looking for an affordable rice cooker that can handle regular use and larger batches. Unless you need specialized functions like sushi rice or porridge cooking, the ARC-994SG is a great choice that delivers delicious, fluffy rice every time.