Zojirushi Rice Cooker User Guide

Find Your Manual

The model number is printed on the rating label underneath the cooker.

Before First Use

• Wash the inner pot, inner lid and steaming basket in warm soapy water with a soft sponge, then dry. Wipe the body with a damp cloth; never immerse it.
• Check the inner lid is clipped in place before closing the outer lid. On most models it lifts off for washing and clicks back on.
• Use the supplied Australian power cord. The cooker runs on 220–240 V and is SAA approved in this configuration.
• Set the clock if you plan to use the timer. Models with a memory battery keep the clock and your settings when unplugged.
• Leave space above and behind the cooker. Steam leaves from the top of the lid and will mark an overhead cupboard.

Measuring Rice and Water

• One Zojirushi cup = 180 ml (about 150 g of rice). Level the cup off; do not heap it.
• Rinse white rice until the water runs mostly clear, then drain well. Skip rinsing only for rinse-free (musenmai) rice — the NS-ZAQ has a separate green 171 ml cup and its own water lines for it.
• Fill water to the numbered line that matches your cups of rice, on the scale for the menu you are using. White, Brown, Congee and Mixed each have their own scale inside the pot.
• Adjust after the first cook, not before. Slightly under the line for firmer rice, slightly over for softer. The IH models also have Softer / Regular / Harder settings.
• Respect the minimum and maximum. Cooking below the minimum (usually 1 cup, 0.5 cup on the IH and 3-cup models) gives uneven results; overfilling causes boil-over through the steam vent.
• Wipe the outside of the inner pot dry and seat it flat on the heating plate before you press START.

Menus and Cooking Times

Zojirushi cookers soak, cook and steam in one cycle, so a full batch of white rice takes longer than a basic cooker: roughly 45 to 60 minutes, with brown rice around 90 minutes and GABA brown up to about three hours. This is by design; the Quick menu cuts the time to 25–40 minutes by shortening the soak, at a small cost in texture.

• Congee cooks in small amounts only — typically half a cup to 1 cup — and takes close to two hours.
• Steaming while rice cooks: the NL-GAQ and NS-TSQ baskets can be used at the same time as white rice, with a limit on the rice below (GAQ10 up to 1 cup, GAQ18 up to 4 cups; food no taller than about 3.5 cm). The NW-QAQ basket runs on its own Steam menu and cannot share the pot with rice. The NW-YAQ and NS-ZAQ have no steam function.
• Slow Cook (GAQ, QAQ) holds a gentle simmer for 1 minute to 4 hours; it is not a pressure cooker or a substitute for the stovetop.
• Cake (NS-TSQ) bakes sponge and cheesecake using the recipes in the manual; other batters may not release cleanly.
• Do not open the lid mid-cycle to stir or add ingredients. Wait for the finishing beep, then fluff the rice straight away so the steam escapes evenly.

Timer and Keep Warm

• Two preset timers (Timer 1 and Timer 2) store two finishing times — one for breakfast, one for dinner — up to 13 hours ahead. The timer is not available on Quick, Steam and Slow Cook.
• Do not timer-cook in hot weather for more than a few hours; soaked rice spoils. Use freshly rinsed rice and cold water.
• Regular Keep Warm holds rice for up to 12 hours. The Extended mode on the IH models (NW-QAQ, NW-YAQ) is a lower temperature that holds for up to 24; on the GAQ and TSQ it is a low-temperature mode with the same 12-hour limit. Only white rice keeps well — congee, quinoa and oats have no Keep Warm.
• The Keep Warm temperature is adjustable (−3 to +3) on the GAQ, QAQ and YAQ. Raise it if rice develops an odour; lower it if rice dries out or yellows. The setting is in the manual under troubleshooting, not on the panel.
• In summer, keep warm as briefly as you can. Our own habit: fluff the rice as soon as it finishes, portion what you will not eat into containers, refrigerate, and use Reheat or a microwave later. Rice left warm all day loses texture and is a food-safety risk.

Pressure Models

• The lid locks while pressure is applied. It will not open until the PRESSURE indicator clears from the display. Do not force it.
• Keep hands and face clear of the steam vent during cooking and for a few minutes after; the steam is under pressure and very hot.
• Rice and the listed menus only. The YAQ is not designed for stews, beans, pasta or anything that foams or expands. Fill only to the marked line for the menu selected.
• Pressure switches itself off on Congee and Quinoa, so those menus behave like a normal cooker.
• The inner lid, pressure valve and filter lift out as one unit. Wash them after every use and check the gasket is seated before closing the lid.

Cleaning

• After every use: wash the inner pot and the inner lid set (lid, gasket and steam vent cap where fitted) in warm soapy water. Dry the gasket before refitting — a wet gasket is the usual cause of a lid that will not seal.
• Hand wash only. The nonstick inner pot is not dishwasher safe. Use a soft sponge and mild detergent; no scourers, no metal utensils, and do not rinse rice in the pot with a strainer or whisk.
• Wipe the heating plate and temperature sensor in the base with a dry cloth. A grain of rice stuck here causes error codes and uneven cooking.
• Self-Cleaning cycle (NW-QAQ 50 min, NW-YAQ 60 min): water to the White line 1 (5.5-cup) or 2 (10-cup), lid closed, hold TIMER. It reduces odours around the inner lid and vent; it does not replace washing.
• Nonstick coatings wear after years of daily use. When rice starts to stick, fit a new inner pot rather than scrubbing harder — see replacement inner pots.

Troubleshooting

• Rice too hard or too soft: check the cup, the water line and the menu scale first; then use the texture setting or move the water a fraction either side of the line.
• Rice sticks or browns at the bottom: too little water, pot not seated flat, or a coating that has worn.
• Water bubbles out of the vent: over the maximum line for that menu, or the wrong menu for the grain (brown rice on the white scale, for example).
• Odour after Keep Warm: wash the inner lid set and vent, run Self-Cleaning if your model has it, and raise the Keep Warm temperature one step.
• Error code on the display (E0x / H0x): unplug, check for rice on the heating plate and that the inner pot is seated, then plug in again. The code table is in the manual; if it repeats, contact us with the code and model number.
• Clock lost after unplugging: the internal memory battery has run down. It is a service item; the cooker still works without it.