The Tiger JKT-S series uses induction heating to cook white rice, brown rice and oatmeal. It can also steam food in its plastic cooking plate. The JKT-S might be the only rice cooker on the US market with menu options for fermenting and baking bread. In this review, I discuss the key features, menu options, cooking times, synchro-cooking and other details about the Tiger JKT-S electric rice cooker.
Tiger JKT-S: Best Features
- Multi-function cooker for rice and steel cut oatmeal.
- Bread settings for rising and baking bread.
- Delay timer with two settings that are stored in its memory.
- Induction heating system and microcomputer controlled cooking.
- Multi-layer inner pot with nonstick coating inside pot.
- Synchro-Cooking setting and cooking plate for steaming food.
- Rice cooker keeps cooked rice warm.
- Reheat cooked rice or oatmeal.
- 5.5-cup and 10-cup models are available.
Menu Options
The Tiger JKT-S has two buttons for menu selection: up or down. This is a unique way to navigate the menu settings that we have not seen on other micom rice cookers. Here are the microcomputer programs that you may choose:
- Plain (cooks white rice)
- Ultra (extra sweet sticky white rice)
- Quick
- Synchro-Cooking (cook both rice and food with cooking plate)
- Jasmine (use this menu for long-grain rice)
- Brown (also used for multi-grain rice)
- Mixed (cooks rice with seasonings or steamy sweet rice)
- Porridge
- Slow Cook
- Oatmeal (cook steel cut oatmeal with this menu setting)
- Fermentation (rises bread dough)
- Bake (bakes bread dough)
Cooking Times
Microcomputer controlled rice cookers such as the Tiger JKT-S are known to have longer cooking times than analog electric rice cookers. The cooking times are also influenced by the immediate kitchen environment. If the room temperature or water is cold, then the rice might cook a few minutes longer. The amount and type of rice also changes how much time is needed for cooking. Brown rice cooks longer and needs more water than white rice. Rinse-free rice also tends to need a few extra minutes to cook completely.
The fastest way to cook white rice is with the Quick menu setting. This option will cook the rice in less than 35 minutes. The Jasmine setting cooks long-grain rice just as fast.
Plain white rice takes about 40 to 50 minutes to cook. The Ultra setting has a longer soaking and cooking time, so it needs up to 70 minutes to finish. Synchro-cooking both rice and food can take anywhere from 40 to 60 minutes. Brown rice might take the longest to cook: between 60 and 80 minutes. The Oatmeal (Steel cut) setting cooks steel cut oats in about 45 minutes.
Making Oatmeal
You can cook steel cut oatmeal porridge with the Tiger JKT-S induction heating rice cooker. The smaller JKT-S10U can cook between 1 and 2.5 cups of oatmeal. The larger JKT-S18U can cook up to 3 cups of oatmeal.
Here is how to make oatmeal porridge with the JKT-S rice cooker. Start by adding the oatmeal and water into the inner cooking pot. Close the lid and plug the cord into an outlet. Next, use the up or down menu buttons to cycle through the options until the small indicator reaches the Oatmeal (Steel cut) setting. Press the START button to start the cooking process.
The oatmeal porridge will be done about 45 minutes later. Listen for the eight alarm beeps. You will notice that the Keep Warm light is blinking. The reason for this is that the keep warm function is not available after using the Oatmeal menu setting. Therefore, stir the oatmeal and eat it. Remember to press the CANCEL button and to disconnect the rice cooker before cleaning it.
Synchro-Cooking
The Tiger JKT-S has a menu setting and a cooking plate to cook rice and steam food at the same time. However, it is recommended that you only use the recipes in the cookbook. We do not know which recipes are included in the cookbook, but after trying them out, you might want to experiment with some of your own dishes. Just be careful not to add too much food to the cooking plate because it might boil over. Food that contains a lot of liquid or oil might overflow onto the rice below.
The amount of rice that you can cook together with the food in the cooking plate is limited to two cups for the JKT-S10U and four cups for the JKT-S18U. Remove the cooking plate from the rice cooker after it has finished cooking the rice and steaming the food. Do not leave the cooking plate in the rice cooker when the keep warm function is active.

Steaming Food Without Rice
You can also use the cooking plate to steam food without cooking rice in the pot below. You add water into the inner pot according to the white rice scale markings. Insert the steamer plate in the pot, select the Slow Cook menu option and set the cooking time length to between 20 and 30 minutes.
Slow Cooking
The Slow Cook menu setting brings the heat up to almost boiling point before reducing the temperature, so the food can simmer. You may set the desired cooking time from 5 minutes up to 180 minutes. If the food is not yet done to your taste after the alarm beeps are heard, then you may simmer the food for up to 30 minutes longer by pressing the HOUR/MIN buttons and pressing START. This can only be done if the cooker is still in keep warm mode. You cannot extend the simmer time if you have pressed the CANCEL button.
Baking Bread
The included cookbook contains a few bread recipes. You should only use these recipes, and the one in the manual, because they have been tested. The bread recipes use dry yeast as a leavening agent.
The manual contains 19 steps that you should follow closely to bake a round bread loaf in the JKT-S rice cooker. Some key steps are:
- Mix and knead the dough into a ball.
- Use the Fermentation menu setting to let the dough rise.
- Gently press down the dough.
- Do a second rise with the Fermentation menu option.
- Bake the leavened dough with the Bake menu setting.
- Check if the bread is fully cooked.
- Add additional bake time if necessary.
- Remove the inner pot and shake out the bread.
You can also darken the crust by turning over the bread so that the top faces the bottom of the pan. Return the pot to the rice cooker, which is still in keep warm mode, and use the HOUR button to set the additional bake time to 10 minutes. Press START to darken the crust. Please use oven mitts when handling the hot pan and bread!

Accessories
These accessories are shipped with the Tiger JKT-S induction heating rice cooker: spatula, ladle, cooking plate, 180mL/5.29 oz measuring cup and a cookbook.
Tiger JKT-S vs. JKT-B
These Tiger rice cookers both use induction heating and micom technology to cook rice. They are made in Japan and have the same dimensions, cooking capacities and power consumption.
The biggest difference is that the JKT-S has a synchro-cooking menu setting and a tacook steamer plate. The JKT-B series has neither a cooking plate nor a synchro cooking menu option. The inner cooking pot of the JKT-B is also 1 millimeter thinner.
The JKT-S has more menu options. It can slow cook food. It also has the bread making menu settings for fermentation and baking. Nevertheless, these rice cookers share the other menu settings, which includes the menu option for cooking steel cut oatmeal porridge.
There is a minor cosmetic difference. The JKT-S has black trimmings, while the JKT-B has beige trimmings.
The last difference to consider is the price tag. The JKT-S seems to be the flagship model because it has induction heating, more menu settings, it has the cooking plate, and it can also ferment and bake bread. However, the JKT-S might cost up to $100 more than the JKT-B model. You might buy the JKT-B model if you have no interest in using the cooking plate or the bread making menu settings (view offers on Amazon – paid link).

Tiger JKT-S: Verdict
If you want a Tiger induction heating rice cooker with a steamer tray plate, slow cook function and bread fermentation/baking settings, then the JKT-S is the only option for you (check price on Amazon – paid link).