Zojirushi NL-GAQ Review: The Micom Rice Cooker That Steams Dinner While the Rice Cooks

Last updated: 27 October 2026

The Zojirushi NL-GAQ is the micom rice cooker we recommend most often to households that want one appliance to do the whole dinner. Its full-sized steaming basket runs while white rice cooks below, and it adds slow cooking and eleven rice menus on top. It is made in Japan, and it was the first Zojirushi rice cooker sold officially in Australia.

This review works through what the cooker does, how long each menu takes, where the steaming function is useful and where it is not, and who should buy the 5.5-cup NL-GAQ10 or the 10-cup NL-GAQ18. Every figure below comes from the Zojirushi operating manual supplied with the Australian model.

1. Who the NL-GAQ is for

The NL-GAQ is a micom cooker — Zojirushi's term for microcomputer control, where the cooker senses temperature through the cycle and adjusts heating and timing on its own. It heats from the base, not by induction, so it sits below the IH models in price and in rice quality. What it adds over the other micom models is the steaming basket that works at the same time as white rice, plus a Slow Cook menu.

That makes it the cooker for a household that wants rice and a steamed dish to finish together without a second pot on the stove: dumplings and rice, fish and rice, vegetables and rice. If you only ever cook plain white rice, the NS-ZAQ does that for less. If rice quality is the priority, the NW-QAQ IH model is the step up.

2. Functions and cooking times

Eleven rice menus plus Slow Cook and Steam. Times are Zojirushi's estimates at 230 V, 20°C room temperature and 18°C water, measured from the start of cooking to the switch to Keep Warm. A full pot runs toward the top of each range.

Two things to read from the table. First, the Quick menu is the only way to get white rice under 45 minutes, and it costs a little texture. Second, GABA Brown is a three-and-a-half-hour cycle — plan it for the afternoon, not for dinner tonight. For how the NL-GAQ compares with every other model we stock, see the full cooking time table.

3. How it cooks white rice

Four white rice menus, and the difference between them is soaking and steaming time, not heat. White is the standard. Premium soaks and steams longer, and the manual says it does so for a sweeter taste — it adds about 15 minutes, and if you have the time it is the menu to use for Japanese short-grain rice. Short Grain White is tuned for the water ratio of short-grain rice specifically. Quick cuts the soak and finishes in 34 to 45 minutes; the manual notes the texture may be slightly harder, which in our experience is closer to what a conventional cooker produces.

None of them needs you to soak the rice first — the manual says rice can be cooked immediately after rinsing. Soaking beforehand softens the texture, so if you prefer softer rice, soak for half an hour and use the White menu rather than switching to Premium.

The measuring cup is 180 ml, not a metric cup, and one level cup cooks about two restaurant-sized bowls. The water lines inside the pot are numbered for that cup and for each menu — fill to the line for the menu you chose, on a flat surface, and adjust by a millimetre or two to taste.

4. Steaming while the rice cooks

This is the function that separates the NL-GAQ from the rest of the Zojirushi range, and it is worth being precise about what it does.

On its own, the Steam menu runs 1 to 60 minutes (default 40) with 540 ml of water in the pot on the GAQ10, or 720 ml on the GAQ18. The manual's timing guide covers the things people actually steam: broccoli 15 minutes, a 200 g carrot 20, a 300 g chicken fillet 40, a 150 g fish fillet 35, prawns in the shell 30, and refrigerated dumplings or buns 20. Food must sit no higher than 3.5 cm in the basket, or it touches the inner lid.

Together with rice, the limits are tighter. Use the White menu only, cook no more than 1 cup of rice on the GAQ10 or 2 to 4 cups on the GAQ18 — more and the lid may lift during cooking — and level the rice so it does not touch the basket. Choose ingredients that need a long steam: potato, sweet potato, corn, pumpkin, fish wrapped in foil. Spinach and other quick-steaming vegetables will not cook properly over a rice cycle. Do not add ingredients once the rice has started.

What it is not: a replacement for a bamboo or stainless steamer on the stove. The basket is a single layer, the height limit rules out a whole fish or a plate of anything, and steaming meat for the full rice cycle makes it tough. Where it earns its place is the weeknight dinner — rice below, a fillet of fish and some sweet potato above, both ready when the melody plays.

5. The eleven menus — which ones you will actually use

Honest answer: most households use three. White or Short Grain White for everyday rice, Quick when dinner is late, and one of Brown, Congee or Mixed depending on the household. The Premium menu is worth trying once to see if you notice the difference. Quinoa and Steel Cut Oatmeal are useful if you eat them, but they are the menus most customers never press.

Two rules from the manual that save a mess. The Congee, Quinoa and Oatmeal water lines use far more water than the rice lines, so never cook those menus' water levels on a rice menu, or it boils over through the steam vent. And those three menus, along with Mixed, do not keep warm — the cooker switches to Keep Warm by habit, but the manual says to serve them straight away.

For the Mixed menu, three rules from the manual: ingredients should be 30 to 50 per cent of the weight of the rice and chopped small; place them on top of the rice without mixing; and dissolve seasonings in the water rather than adding them to the rice, or they settle and scorch.

6. Slow Cook

Slow Cook brings the pot to the boil and then holds a simmer for the time you set, from 1 minute to 4 hours. It suits soups and gently simmered dishes, and it is useful for a stock or a congee-style soup you want to leave alone.

It is not a pressure cooker and not a stovetop. The manual rules out thick dishes such as curry and stews, anything with baking soda, processed fish products that expand, beans, hard ingredients such as ribs, and large amounts of oil. Fill no higher than the SLOW COOK MAX line, mix seasonings in well so they do not settle and scorch, and take the food out as soon as it finishes — the cooker beeps every 30 minutes until you press Cancel. Slow-cooked food cannot be kept warm or reheated in the cooker; the manual says to warm it in a saucepan.

7. Keep Warm and Reheat

The cooker switches to Keep Warm automatically when rice finishes. There are two modes, and the names mislead: Regular Keep Warm and Extended Keep Warm are both rated to 12 hours. Extended is not longer — it holds the rice at a slightly lower temperature, which the manual says reduces drying and yellowing. After 12 hours on either mode the hours display blinks as a warning.

Only white rice keeps well. Brown and GABA Brown allow Regular Keep Warm only; Mixed, Congee, Quinoa and Oatmeal should not be kept warm at all.

Adjusting the Keep Warm temperature

This setting is in the troubleshooting pages of the manual, not on the panel, so most owners never find it. The Keep Warm temperature can be raised or lowered in seven steps, from −3 to +3. Raise it if rice develops an odour; lower it if rice dries out or yellows. The setting is kept after you change it.

1. With the cooker plugged in and idle, press and hold CANCEL for about 3 seconds until the display shows the current setting (0 by default).
2. Press ▲ or ▼ to choose a setting from −3 to +3.
3. Press MENU to confirm.

Our own habit, and the manual's advice for summer: keep warm as briefly as you can. Fluff the rice as soon as it finishes, portion what you will not eat into containers and refrigerate, then use Reheat or a microwave later. The manual is candid that odours and bacteria can develop during long Keep Warm depending on cleaning, room temperature and how often the lid is opened.

Reheat

Reheat brings kept-warm rice back to serving temperature in about 7 to 9 minutes — most useful after Extended Keep Warm, which holds the rice cooler. Loosen the rice first, and for a small amount add a tablespoon of water per bowl and gather it toward the centre of the pot. It works only while the KEEP WARM light is on, only for white rice, and not if the pot is more than half full (above water line 3 on the GAQ10, line 6 on the GAQ18). Do not reheat twice, and do not reheat rice that has gone cold.

8. Drawbacks — who should not buy it

• It is base heat, not induction. Heat comes up from the plate under the pot. At full capacity the rice at the top of the pot is cooked a little less evenly than in an IH cooker. If you cook a full pot most nights and rice quality is the point, the NW-QAQ is the better buy.
• Nothing is fast. The quickest white rice is 34 minutes, and that is with the Quick menu. If speed matters more than texture, the conventional Tiger JNP cooks a small batch in about 15.
• The steaming basket is a single layer with a 3.5 cm height limit, and steaming with rice caps the rice at 1 cup on the GAQ10. It is a convenience, not a steamer.
• No cake menu. The NS-TSQ has one; the GAQ does not.
• Nothing is dishwasher safe — inner pot, inner lid, steam vent set and basket are all hand wash.

9. 5.5 cups or 10 cups?

Decide by the smallest amount you cook, not the largest. The GAQ10 cooks from 1 cup; the GAQ18 needs 2 cups before it cooks properly, and a 10-cup pot cooking 2 cups is not at its best. For one or two people, or a family that cooks 2 to 3 cups a night, the GAQ10 is the right size. Choose the GAQ18 if you regularly cook 5 cups or more, or steam with rice often — its basket runs over up to 4 cups of rice, against 1 cup on the GAQ10.

Allow for the lid: the GAQ10 needs 42.5 cm of clearance when open, the GAQ18 48.5 cm, so neither fits under a standard overhead cupboard with the lid up.

10. Cleaning and parts

After every use: wash the inner pot, the inner lid set and the steam vent set by hand with a soft sponge, and wipe the inside of the outer lid and the gasket. The inner lid set lifts off by its two knobs and must go back on before the next cook. Nothing goes in the dishwasher. If odours build up, the manual's remedy is a thorough clean of the interior, then Regular Keep Warm rather than Extended, then raising the Keep Warm temperature.

The nonstick coating will eventually wear — the manual says this is harmless and does not affect cooking — and the pot is a replaceable part: B566 for the GAQ10, B567 for the GAQ18. Keep a second one and you can cook congee or soup while the rice pot is in use. A lithium battery inside keeps the clock and menu settings when the cooker is unplugged; it wears out with use and is replaced by a service agent.

11. Frequently asked questions

12. Verdict

Buy the NL-GAQ for the steaming basket. It is the only cooker in our range that steams a dish over white rice as it cooks, and for a household that eats rice with a steamed side most nights, that saves a pot and a burner every evening. The eleven menus and Slow Cook are real, but they are the same menus you get on other micom cookers; the basket is what you are paying for.

Skip it if you only cook plain white rice — the NS-ZAQ is cheaper and made in the same Japanese factory — or if rice quality at full capacity is your priority, where the NW-QAQ's induction heating is worth the extra. Between the two sizes, the GAQ10 suits most households; the GAQ18 is for families cooking 5 cups or more, or anyone who wants to steam over more than a cup of rice.

Zojirushi NL-GAQ10 — 5.5 cups · Zojirushi NL-GAQ18 — 10 cups

We're here to help

If you would like to discuss whether the NL-GAQ suits you, contact us any time, or visit us in Chatswood, Sydney to see it beside the other models.

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