Product Review: Vegetable Steamer

When I first saw this item at my local Target I was intrigued. I had previously been using the microwave to cook my veggies to save time, which really wasn't working well. Microwaving vegetables makes them kinda mushy and bland. I was also eyeing the rice cooking feature of the device. I like to make a lot of brown and long grain/wild rice to go with my dishes, but my rice was always...wrong. It never quite tasted right. Before I purchased the steamer I did my homework. I checked it out on epinions and read as many product reviews as I could find, including the reviews on Target.com and other sites. The reviews were mixed, but one thing stood out to me, which was that most of the issues stemmed from user error, or misunderstanding of what steaming entailed. Some complaints centered around getting a nasty steam burn lifting the lid off. Personally I found this to be kinda silly. It's quite obvious where the steam vents are in the lid and how to avoid them. The only way to get a steam burn is by 'absent mindedly' placing ones hands directly over the steam vent.


After reading the reviews I booked it down to Target and picked up my Oster 6.1 Qt Food Steamer. It comes with a basic usage book as well as a book filled with meal ideas. You can steam anything but your clothes in this bad boy and it does an excellent job. I found it quite easy to avoid the steam burn issue by not placing my hands over the vents. The steamer comes with two steam baskets and a small tray for foods like rice, cous cous, etc... Using the steaming guide you simply fill up the bottom of the steamer with the necessary amount of water and set the timer. A wonderful feature on this steamer is that it has a warming fuction, therefor when your timer has gone off the steamer will kick it down a notch and keep your food warm until you remove it from the machine. However, you food will still cook a little so I would advise removing your food promptly if it is sensitive to slight overcooking.


If you have never had steamed food before, especially vegetables, you might be surprised at the difference in taste. Boiling or microwaving vegetables degrades their taste, in some cases more than others. Don't be surprised if your favorite vegetables taste a bit different, and a lot more flavorful. Rice is a bit more, sticky, as it is meant to be. It took me some trial and error to discover the correct amount of time for each type of food, so I would suggest starting with the least amount of time for the food you want to cook and working forward in 5 minute increments.

This machine is very easy to clean up, just pop it in the dishwasher and voila! I'll post some of my steam recipes here in the future.

Happy Steaming!