We hope you found the perfect steamer pan for your needs on the list above. We love the Morphy Richards steamer pan, it’s nice and compact, yet you’re still able to cook a meal for a couple or small family in it. You can use both the tiers of the steamer at once or just one if you don’t have too many vegetables to steam.

A balanced diet with plenty of veggies is important and surprisingly achievable with the right tools. The best food steamer can be trusted to perfectly steam cook your grub without any help or assistance. They’re not just for vegetables, though. With tiered food steamers, you can cook meat, fish, rice, dumplings or potatoes all in one go. This means less time fussing over the hob and more time spent relaxing. This means you can use the saucepan part by itself or use one or two tiers, depending on how much you want to steam. We were impressed with the multi-cooker for many reasons. One of which is the option to adjust the time and temperature to ensure your food is prepared exactly how you like it. And with an automated keep warm feature, there’s no need to stress about getting your dish straight on the table.After all, bamboo steamers are nice and traditional and do a great job at steaming food. They also have more layers than a metal steamer, so you can cook different foods at once. When it comes to steaming, though, setting up a tier steamer is really simple. Just fill the base with water. You need to be ultra-careful when washing bamboo steamers, and this can make them frustrating to use.

Of course, many people think that steamer pans are just good for vegetables and they take up more space than a single saucepan. If you want to make really delicious food that harnesses the natural goodness in the ingredients then yes, a steamer pan is really worth it. While an argument could be made that bamboo steamers are more versatile because they have more tiers to use, we feel that because stainless steel steamers already have the saucepan included in the design (and you don’t have to sacrifice one of your saucepans every time you use the steamer), this makes stainless steel steamers a bit more versatile in a modern kitchen. So, whether you want better-tasting meals or meals that are better for you, a steamer pan can provide it all.

The verdict: Food steamers

To start with, you have the base. You can use the base to boil veg if you like. The lid that fits over the 3-tier steamer fits the base too. So, this can act as a saucepan all by itself. Bamboo, on the other hand, is quite fragile. You shouldn’t soak a bamboo steamer in water for longer than five minutes. Some cleaning instructions for bamboo steamers say you shouldn’t even use warm water and don’t even get us started on washing up liquid! Over time, the bamboo will absorb a lot of moisture, and this can mean that joints in the woods begin to fail.

We’re big fans of using traditional cookware in modern kitchens. However, in the case of steamers, we believe that stainless steel ones are the better option for most cooking tasks nowadays. Stainless steel is not affected by water. It is resistant to rust and doesn’t absorb water, so while a bamboo steamer may last a few years, a stainless steel one can last well over 10 years of daily use.So, steamer pans don’t really seem worth it because they are big and bulky and you can only use them for vegetables, right? Well, veg does taste great when steamed, but steamers are way more versatile than most of us give them credit for. Bamboo steamers absorb water as they cook, which is great when it comes to steaming as this prevents condensation from landing on the food.

Stainless steel is a really hardy material that can be washed in any way you usually wash your cookware. The Intellisteam has an easy-to-use digital display, there’s a rice tray and compartment divider included (both dishwasher safe) and it will even remember the last settings you used for each food group to minimise fumbling around. Overall, we think the Morphy Richards Intellisteam is a smart choice for its compact design and many attractive features. They are much easier to clean, last a lot longer, and offer more versatility when it comes to modern cooking practices. Stainless steel steamers don’t hold onto any flavours, so if you do use one for cooking fish, a simple clean will get rid of any lingering odours and get the steamer ready for use again. You can cook vegetables in one layer of the steamer and then salmon in the other and create a very simple, very healthy, very delicious dish in no time at all.Once plugged in, the turbo steam ring takes just 40 seconds to start cooking your food, and with a large water reservoir there’s enough to fuel an hour of steaming. Juices from the upper basket run into the compartments below, so be wary of placing a strong flavoured dish, like salmon, at the top. We’d advise putting fish and meat at the bottom, potatoes or veggies in the middle and rice at the top. However, if you are cooking smelly foods, like fish, for example, the water absorbed into the bamboo can leave an odour that is difficult to remove. This odour can then leech out in other cooking processes. If you want to cook healthier meals, a steamer pan is a great addition to your kitchen. With simple ingredients, you can do a lot with a steamer.