The Aroma ARC-2000asb is a 20 cup rice cooker, food steamer, and slow cooker all wrapped up in a small affordable package. It measures 10.8 x 10.8 x 11.2 inches. Its small size means that it can make a nice countertop companion.
Aroma claims that they are the number one U.S. brand for rice cookers. While that assertion is debatable, the Aroma ARC-2000asb is certainly a very popular choice.
I reviewed this popular multi cooker, and reported the results below.
20 Cup Affordable Rice Cooker
Aroma certainly isn’t the first company to make products that have multiple functions. The more I research small kitchen appliances, the more I come across products that have several abilities. The Aroma ARC-2000asb can cook rice, and it can also steam food and slow cook.
Sure, we have a rice cooker and a slow cooker, but it would be nice if they were combined. It would save us counter space and, in this case at least, money.
But what about the limitations? Surely an inexpensive product with this many features has to be lacking in some way, right?
Does it have lots of convenient features?
Our slow cooker is cheap. It’s a very basic slow cooker. There is no delay start. It doesn’t have convenient features like “keep warm” or “auto shutoff”. And it certainly doesn’t have an advance heating element or “fuzzy logic” technology like the Zojirushi NP-NVC10. So what features does the ARC-2000asb have?
The Aroma ARC-2000asb has a lot features. It has an automatic keep warm feature and a programmable 15 hour delay timer and of course it can steam food and slow cook. You can choose from white, brown, or quick rice. The interface is easy-to-use and the display is easy-to-understand.
Performance
You can cook up to 20 cups of rice in this thing. That’s a large capacity. The “quick” setting cuts cooking time down by up to 50%. The most surprising feature is the “sensor logic” technology.
It works by adjusting its temperature and cooking times based on your individual habits. It is similar technology to the Zojirushi NP-NVC10 “fuzzy logic”, an expensive machine..
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How Does It Slow Cook and Steam?
After researching so many products, features like auto shutoff and self-cleaning seem standard fare. So, given the choice, I’d choose a cooker with as many features as possible. But there is something else you need to look out for.
Sometimes multi-cookers and other small kitchen appliances have ancillary functions that aren’t comparable to the machine it was meant to replace. For example, the Breville BES870XL espresso maker has an attached coffee bean grinder, but that grinder isn’t very good according to many reports.
So, does the Aroma ARC-2000asb slow cook and steam food as well as it cooks rice?
With the “Smart steam” setting, you can program the timer to auto shutoff. There is a separate container for the steamer, which means that you can steam the rest of your meal while the rice cooks below. The slow cooker has low and high temp options.
After reading through customer questions and answers, and reviews, there are many people that are happy with the performance of this steamer and slow cooker.
Appearance
The Aroma ARC-2000asb isn’t a bad looking machine. Don’t be fooled though, that exterior isn’t stainless steel, it’s silver plastic.
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Features/Specs.
- Measures 10.8 x 10.8 x 11.2 inches
- 20-cup capacity
- Slow cooker function
- Food steamer function
- 15-hour delay timer
- Auto-shutoff
- Automatic keep warm setting
- Includes: Steam Tray, Rice Measuring Cup, Serving Spatula, Soup Ladle and Recipe Booklet
What Do The Customers Think?
There is a nice amount of feedback available for this machine. And, there’s a nice amount of customers who are satisfied with this rice cooker. I read through the negative reviews and many of them were one off complaints, like a unit arriving damaged. Those types of things can and will happen with just about any product.
But then there were more serious complaints.
There were several customers that had issues cooking both white and brown rice. Some stated that the rice turns out mushy in the middle. Some complained that the brown rice ended up under cooked. Other reviewers stated the exact opposite. You might want to check out the reviews for yourself.
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Summary
After researching this and other rice cookers and multi-cookers in this price range, I think that the Aroma ARC-2000asb is a decent choice. It has convenient features like auto shutoff, and keep warm.
The “smart” rice cooking function is surprising. You usually find that feature on the more expensive rice cookers. It can steam food and slow cook as well. Aroma is a brand that has been making rice cookers for years, so they know what they’re doing.
But, I’m a firm believer in the saying, “you get what you pay for”, and this rice cooker is no exception. This is a decent “entry level” rice cooker for the money, but there are certainly better (and more expensive) quality rice cookers/multi-cookers out there.
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