What Foods Can You Cook in a Steamer? Let’s Find out!

A food steamer is a small cooking appliance that provides steam heat to your food to cook various delicious recipes. It is one of the healthiest and easy methods to cook food. By steaming, you won’t lose your food’s exact color, taste, flavor, and nutrients.

Also, you can use a food steamer to sterilize, defrost, warm, reheat, and strain food. In this article, I will cover all the details about a steamer’s benefits and how to steam different foods, including What foods can you cook in a steamer and what is not suitable. Let’s know all the detailed information.

What Foods Can You Cook in a Steamer?

In a food steamer or food cooker, you can cook almost all types of veg and non-veg perfectly. Also, you won’t lose your food’s exact color, taste, flavor, and nutrients while steaming.

Vegetables

Kale, pumpkin and squash, leafy greens, and Cruciferous. Also, frozen vegetables can be easily cooked in a food steamer.

Root Vegetables

Baby carrots, corn, green beans, tomatoes, broccoli, potatoes, zucchini, delicate greens, and more root vegetables you can steam in a food steamer.

Non-veg

you can cook all types of meat such as beef, lamb, and chicken easily, and it will remain tender and moist inside.

Seafood

you can easily steam fish and various types of seafood.

Poultry

Birds’ breasts, legs, thighs, and wings can be easily steamed in a food steamer. These may take a little more time to cook as it is tough.

Grains

Rice, pasta, noodles, and eggs also can be cooked in a food steamer.

What Foods Are Not Suitable for Steaming?

A steamer cooks a portion of food using the heat generated from the water. It’s a powerful machine that generates powerful steam, but it takes a long time to steam or cook when it comes to the harder veggies or large pieces. For that cause, some veggies are not suitable for steaming.

You can or shouldn’t steam large carrots, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, bell peppers, squash, and beets in a food steamer.

What Meat Can You Steam?

You can steam all types of meat, including lamb, beef, and chicken meats in a food steamer. If you take thinner and smaller slices of meat to steam, it will steam faster, and if you take a large piece of meat to steam, it will take more time to cook, but you will get juicy and tender food that will retain the moisture and volume perfectly and provide you a better result than baking and roasting.

While steaming, you can add seasoning and herd in the water or on the food to have better meat flavors.

Salt Bae

Is Steaming Better Than Boiling?

Steaming is one of the healthiest and simple methods of cooking food. In a food steamer, the food won’t get the touch of the water. Your food cooks on the steam heat generated from the water, so your food won’t lose its exact color, taste, flavor, and nutrients.

On the other hand, while boiling your food, it gets in contact with the hot water, which may cook your food faster, but your food may lose some of its color, taste, flavor, and important nutrients. That’s why steaming is better than boiling.

Can You Steam Egg Noodles?

You can easily steam egg noodles, and you will get the same taste if they had been boiled. To steam egg noodles, you need a bowl of water and add salt there. Then put the noodles in the mixture for a little time and put it out. After that, take a colander and spread the noodles in the colander. Place the colander in the steam pan or saucepan and steam it with the lid on. In approximately 15 to 20 minutes, your egg noodles will be ready.

Related Article: Best colander made in the USA.

How Do You Steam Dry Potatoes?

Steaming dry potatoes is not a hard task. First of all, take potatoes, it would be good if you take small potatoes and clean them after that take water in the steam pan or in the saucepan. Then take a colander, put the potatoes in the colander, and place it in the saucepan or the steam pot. Lastly, steam it with a lid on; it will take 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the potato’s size and steaming heat.

Can I Steam Dried Noodles?

Yes, you can easily steam-dried noodles. First, take a bowl and add salt and water to it. Then put the dried noodles once or twice in the mixture. By this time, take a saucepan or steam pot and fill it with some inches of water. Put out the noodles from the boil and drain them. Then take a colander and put the noodles in it. After that, place the colander in the saucepan or steam pan and steam it with the lid on. In around 20 minutes, your dried noodles will be perfectly ready.

Are Electric Steamers Safe?

In the marker, you will get stainless steel basket and a plastic basket or bowl of electric steamers. The stainless steel steamers are undoubtedly safe to use, but sometimes the plastic baskets may affect the food to overheat. For that while, buying make sure the steamer is made of food-grade BPA-free material. Also, I recommend you buy a good quality steamer as it is directly related to food.

What Are the Disadvantages of Steaming?

Steaming is very good for exact color, taste, flavorful, and nutrient foods. But steaming has some disadvantages also.

Firstly, steaming needs a lot of time to cook because it is a slow process.

Secondly, while cooking, the water can run out from the container, and it’s sometimes harder to refill.

Thirdly, your food may start burning because of low water or waterlessness. Fourthly, browning food is tough during steaming.

Fourthly, while removing food from the steamer, you may burn yourself because the container remains hot.

What recipes can you cook in a steamer?

You can try lots of recipes in a steamer, and if you mix all the ingredients perfectly, you can easily get delicious dishes at home. You can cook Prawns in Garlic Sauce, Chinese Cabbage Parcels, Spring Rolls, Palak Vada, Thai Steamed Fish, Honey Sponge Cake, Chicken Momo’s in a steamer, Steamed Sandesh, and more recipes.

Conclusion

A steamer is a perfect appliance and the simplest way to cook different foods to have delicious recipes at home. In this article, I provided you with all the details about what food you can cook, how you can cook and what food is not suitable for a steamer. I hope you got all the points and understand how to deal with them. Thank you.