How To Use A Steamer For Broccoli

The best food and vegetable steamers

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A skilful food steamer helps you gear up delicious, healthy food without extra oil or fatty. Plus, steamers help preserve the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals in your food.
The Hamilton Beach Digital Nutrient Steamer is our favorite electric food steamer considering it's affordable, steams all kinds of foods, and is super easy to use.

Different boiling, where the food is actually submerged in hot water, steaming involves cooking food in the water vapor rising off the boiling water. This means your fish, vegetables, or fruits will be moist and tender, but not soggy or mushy, as long as you don't overdo it. Plus, there's no need to add together oil, butter, or fatty to your recipe, which lowers the calorie count.

Another benefit of steaming is that it doesn't reduce the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in your food as it cooks. It's a quick-cooking method, also, compared to many other kitchen techniques such as baking, roasting, or stewing.

While y'all might call back that the only foods you tin steam are vegetables, this like shooting fish in a barrel cooking technique is also perfect for turning out many tasty dishes. Steaming is commonly employed in Asian cuisine to ready succulent rice, spring rolls, dumplings of all sorts, and fish.

Turning out perfectly steamed foods requires a steamer of some sort, of course, and that's where we come in. We did the research for you lot and whittled downwardly your choices to the best nutrient steamers in vi categories.

Here are the all-time food steamers:

All-time overall: Hamilton Beach Digital Food Steamer
Best basket insert: OXO Expert Grips Stainless Steel Steamer
Best for stovetops: Farberware Classic Stack 'n' Steam Set up
All-time for microwaves: Sistema Microwave Steamer
All-time silicone basket: Kitchen Deluxe Premium Silicone Steamer Basket

Updated on vii/10/2020. We updated prices and links for accuracy and removed the best budget electric food steamer due to stock issues. We also added a pick of relevant buying guides.

The best overall

Y'all tin steam your entrée and side at the same time with the ii-tiered Hamilton Beach Digital Food Steamer.

The Hamilton Beach electrical food steamer takes away merely about all of the guesswork of cooking, and makes steaming super easy. Only put your food into 1 or both of the nutrient containers, make full the reservoir with h2o, set the timer, and walk away.

In one case the time is up, the Hamilton Beach Digital Food Steamer automatically switches to the "Warm" manner to proceed your dinner prepare, but not overdone.

The appliance besides has a delayed beginning setting, an alert if the h2o reservoir runs low, and an piece of cake-to-utilize touchpad. Information technology includes 2 food containers that hold a total of v-1/ii quarts, just you can remove the center divider to create one actress-big container, if desired. You lot'll also become a rice steamer insert, so yous can make perfect rice.

Pros: Stackable food containers permit you cook two separate dishes at the same fourth dimension, count down timer, proceed-warm setting, low-water alert, reasonable price

Cons: Food containers are not dishwasher prophylactic

The best handbasket insert

If y'all just steam vegetables occasionally, the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Steamer makes it oh-and so-easy and folds away for storage afterward.

If you don't steam often, or don't want to be bothered with using and storing an electrical steamer, the OXO Adept Grips Stainless Steel Steamer lets you convert whatever pot that'south 8 inches or smaller into a stovetop steamer. It tin can likewise be used in the Instant Pot.

The steamer is simple — it's a folding, stainless steel "basket" with small wire legs that hold the food to a higher place the water level so that your veggies, fish, eggs, or dumplings are bathed in steam, not water. The handle makes it easy to lift the steamer basket in and out of your cookpot, merely if yous need more infinite in the basket for larger foods, such as corn on the cob, the handle easily unscrews for actress room.

Pros: Like shooting fish in a barrel to shop, no electricity required, fits in Instant Pot and other force per unit area cookers, dishwasher safe

Cons: Some complaints the handle is flimsy, may rust

The best for stovetops

With the Farberware Archetype Stack 'n' Steam Set, you go both a 3-quart saucepot for all types of stovetop cooking, plus a steamer insert with a perfect fit.

Fabricated of heavy-duty stainless steel, the Farberware Classic Stack 'n' Steam Prepare brings versatility to your kitchen. Perfect for those just starting out or new to the kitchen, the set includes an aluminum-core stainless-steel three-quart saucepot with like shooting fish in a barrel-grasp handles and a self-basting lid, plus a stainless steel stacking steamer that fits over the saucepot for easy steaming. The set is also oven-safe upwardly to 350 degrees Fharenheit.

On the downside, this steamer is non very large. Although the saucepot holds three quarts, the steamer handbasket but holds two quarts.

Pros: Sturdy stainless steel with aluminum core, dishwasher and oven rubber, versatile

Cons: Steamer and saucepan are not very large

The best for microwaves

Combine the speed of the microwave with the healthiness of steam cooking, and you get the Sistema Microwave Steamer.

If you lot prefer to practise your steaming in a hurry, yous'll beloved the Sistema Microwave Steamer, which turns out perfectly steamed vegetables, fish, dumplings, fruits, and chicken in minutes. The steamer basket, the principal container, and the lid are all made of BPA-and-phthalate free plastic that's prophylactic for the dishwasher, freezer, and refrigerator.

When using the steamer, put water into the main container, ready your nutrient into the steamer basket, clip the lid into place with the like shooting fish in a barrel-elevator tabs, and then open the hat'south steam vent. Pop the steamer into the microwave, set your desired number of minutes, and voila! You have tasty, healthy, steamed food.

The Sistema Microwave Steamer is available in iii sizes: small, which holds 1.5 quarts, medium, which holds 2.vi quarts, and big, which holds 3.4 quarts.

Pros: Like shooting fish in a barrel use and cleanup, quick results, freezer safety

Cons: Some complaints of the lid not locking securely during use

The best silicone handbasket

The Kitchen Deluxe Premium Silicone Steamer Basket doesn't become hot to the bear on, fits in any saucepan that'south eight inches or less in bore or your Instant Pot, and hands washes clean after apply.

Made of flexible, nonstick, easy-make clean, and durable 100% silicone, the Kitchen Deluxe Premium Silicone Steamer Basket fits in your favorite saucepan or Instant Pot, won't scratch or impairment your cookware, won't burn your hands, and won't tip or wobble during the steaming process.

When not in use, it rolls up for easy storage in a drawer, but you lot'll be reaching for this useful kitchen utensil over and over once more.

Pros: Flexible and easy to handle, dishwasher safe, can be used in an Instant Pot

Cons: Nutrient can get stuck in the small holes

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Michelle Ullman

Freelance Author

Michelle is a home and garden guides author for Business Insider. She's a freelance writer specializing in all things related to life at home. Her favorite kitchen appliance is her Crock Pot.