Eating healthily can take a lot of time if you don’t have the right equipment in your kitchen to back you up. A good quality steamer can help you make delicious and healthy meals with little or no added fat.
They also help keep the water-soluble nutrients locked into your vegetables and are a great way of cooking meat and fish, allowing the moisture to remain in the food instead of being lost to the hot air of an oven.
If you’re looking to invest in a steamer, you should consider the Magic Chef Food Steamer, a great, affordable option.
Keep reading for a complete review of this three-tier food steamer to see what it has to offer.
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Magic Chef Food Steamer
MCA Corporation owns the Magic Chef brand, which has been making people’s lives easier in the kitchen for over 85 years. They pride themselves on product innovation and development and have a great customer service team to help you with any questions.
Who Is This Product For?
This product is perfect for people who want to start eating more healthily. The steamer has a large capacity, so it would suit a family or an individual who cooks for other people on occasion.
This product is particularly well suited to those who lead busy lives and potentially own a dishwasher.
What’s Included?
The steamer will come in several pieces inside its box. You should have the electric base that plugs into a socket and a black drip tray, as well as three large, clear food compartments or baskets, a black rice bowl, and a lid.
Overview of Features
This steamer is a really attractive one, with a stainless steel exterior, black trim, and accessories. If you have a large kitchen and plan to use it often, then you could keep it on the counter alongside your other appliances, and it will look great.
If you lack countertop space, then the baskets all stacked together are the most convenient way to store them.
The food baskets are large, so you may only need one or two of them for each meal.
If you are cooking a whole family meal in the steamer, then you can use all three. It even comes with a free rice bowl that sits on the top.
So it is a very convenient gadget to have in your kitchen. We also like that the food baskets are clear to see your food cooking.
What we love about this steamer is that it has seven one-touch program settings so you can quickly and easily set the correct steaming time for fish, vegetables, chicken, and more.
You literally just have to add water to the base and click on the program of your choice, and the steamer does everything else for you.
The large LCD will tell you exactly how much cooking time is left, and then the Magic Chef Food Steamer will switch itself off when it has finished cooking, making it an extremely safe steamer to use.
Everything apart from the base is dishwasher safe, so you don’t even have to do any washing up.
Many steamers on the market have food baskets that aren’t suitable for dishwasher use, so this is great if you are lucky enough to own a dishwasher.
How to Get the Most Out of It
Get the most out of your steamer by using it to its full potential. Many people don’t realize how much you can cook in a steamer, including all kinds of meat, fish, shellfish, vegetables, eggs, and even cakes!
Alternatives
Aroma Housewares Food Steamer
If you don’t think you’ll find a need for the larger capacity of the Magic Chef Food Steamer, then you could consider the Aroma Housewares Food Steamer. It is also made from stainless steel with black trim.
Unlike the Magic Chef, it has just two stackable baskets and a dial on the front that you can twist to set cooking time up to 60 minutes, so it is also very easy to operate.
The cooking times of some food items are written up on the side of the electric base for quick reference, which is really handy. Also, the removable components of this steamer are also dishwasher safe.
Conclusion
Considering that the baskets are stackable for easy storage, the smaller steamer from Aroma doesn’t take up any less space in the kitchen, so we feel you may as well have the option of the larger capacity.
On top of this, the Magic Chef Food Steamer is more attractive in shape, and the black accessories, such as the rice bowl and lid, really tie it all together more.
The one-touch button and LCD also make the Magic Chef Food Steamer our preferred choice, and the price difference is negligible for all of the extras you get.
The Magic Chef Food Steamer is our steamer of choice. It represents fantastic value for money and will make a great addition to any kitchen!