You can! In fact, some of the best rice cookers are made of stainless steel. Unlike Teflon-coated aluminum, which is non-stick, stainless steel won’t release chemicals when scratched, so stainless can actually be a better pick than Teflon for a rice cooker. (When you scrape bits of rice off the bottom of a Teflon model, you have to be careful not to scratch the surface.) In addition to stainless steel, other worry-free materials for cookers include ceramic and clay.