Best Performing Food Steamers for 2025, Based on Health

2024 was certainly a year for steamers. Many food steamers reviews were published that year. However, they were all somehow dissatisfying.  All are focused on workability, capacity, sometimes on taste or texture, cooking performance, and of course budget. However, they are not health minded, i.e. attentive to how the design impacts the cleanliness, nutrient density, taste and texture of foods. This, should be factored into the price. As health coach and nutrition professional, I can tell first hand how color taste, texture and scent signal nutrient density and the glycemic index of foods. In short, my health based criteria and durability are paramount in my choice of my most used cooking tool. 

This is my review of the best reviewed food steamers, according to health based criteria.

What is a food steamer?

A food steamer is a cooker that cooks foods exclusively with hot water vapor or hot steam. As such, it requires a vapor source, i.e. a reservoir of water, to reach the boiling point and build vapor in abundance. Like in a sauna, vapor penetrates the foods to cooks them evenly and quickly. In so doing, it also helps your food expel toxins and fats back into the tank. The water itself does not touch the food.

The downsides of existing reviews

Many food steamer reviews were published in 2024. Some focused on specific types of steamers, either collapsible steamer baskets or electric steamers. Other reviews were more original and covered interesting steamers I had not encountered before. To me, the Spruce Eats and Consumer reports were the best reviews. However, the latter limited its test on several types of foods ( dumplings, vegetables, seafood and buns) which limited the scope and usefulness of review. For example, they didn’t test for rice, meat, steam baking. None of them tested for nutrient density after cooking, although I would expect that from nutrition scientists rather than appliance testing companies.

Why trust my review

I am writing as a nutrition health coach ( since 2021) who learned to cook with a steam cooker, over 30 years ago. Over the years devoted to steam cooking and counseling clients on how to eat and cook best for health, I came across many types of steamers and heard private reviews from clients.

As a lone practitioner, I don’t have a lab and can’t afford buying steamers to test them. So I decided to use my experience and health-based criteria to assess these ratings for you, and share my personal steamer choice. The goal is to help you choose a steamer that works for you, thats does the job you want, with one additional criteria: best health boosting performance.

What is a good steamer, what is it supposed to do for me?

I steam my food for health, i.e. preserving nutrition density, cleanliness of my food, taste, and efficiency in meal-making. This my main criterion, slightly different than most reviewers. To this end I look for:

Preserving nutritional identity of foods, i.e. color, flavor, texture, and scent

For that, temperature in the basket must be below 100°C – 212°F. The vapor must be abundant and free flowing. If food loses color, texture becomes mushy, scents turn bad, flavors go bland, you probably overcooked and lost many nutrients. That can happen in the best of steam cookers, but some are harder to rely on.

Ingredients Detox

For that, you want:

• Space for vapor to flow, in the tank and in the basket under the lid holes, so vapor easily penetrates your food, cook and detoxify it.
• Holes large enough (5mm), located everywhere at the bottom of the basket, all the way to the sides, so that juices, fats and toxins evacuate easily back into the tank. 
• A bell-shaped lid, so the condensation water streams down the lid inside walls into the tank rather than onto your food.

Quick

How quick your foods cook depends on how large holes are to allow for vapor to flow freely and abundantly.

Reliable

The temperature must be reliably constant so cooking time is reliable on a daily basis.

Versatility

It must be able to steam everything YOU need. That may be ingredients for cooking baby food, hard boiled eggs, grains , fish, meat, sea food, all types of vegetables, cakes or bread. In short, you want one steamer and that’s it. If you are just starting out with steaming vegetables only, a collapsible steamer basket may be what you need. However, texture, nutrition and tastes aren’t equal with all steamers. 

Durability 

You are looking at reviews beyond amazon or Walmart: you want to make the right investment. Whether you are looking into a $20, $50 steamer or are ready to spend more, learn what you are really looking for based on what you want to make. Need ideas? Look at the recipes on my blog and how I cook these meals!

Capacity

Large tank:

Choose a large tank that can easily fit 4 to 8 qt of water. As a matter of fact, you only need to heat 2 to 3 qt water. The rest of the tall tank space is room for steam to build up and become abundant once it reaches your foods the steamer basket.  A large tank also leaves enough space for water NOT to touch and contaminate your foods.

Number of tiers:

I don’t believe more tiers matter that much. A single layer with large capacity is enough to me, even with a family of 7! Cook times are more reliable that way. I would not buy a steamer with 3 layers for one reason. Steaming foods excretes toxins, and you don’t want toxins of the upper tier to fall onto the food below and contaminate it. 

If you end up using your food steamer as much as I do, perhaps invest in two stainless steel steamers that you can run at the same time. Most vegetables have similar cooking times: I classify them my green leafy – 2 minutes, most veggies 4-5 minutes, and root vegetables 6-7 minutes. Therefore, so you won’t need to cook every type of vegetables individually, you can steam by groups.

To mix ingredients, place steamed veggies and other ingredients a few minutes on low heat in a sauté pan or skillet and mix them here, with your favorite dressing. You will be amazed at the flavors. During my cooking process, steaming is the first step, mixing and dressing the second.

Easy clean

Of course, non stick surfaces clean easy, and assumedly silicone and plastic too. But in my experience, a flat surface stainless steel steamer basket is easy to clean – nothing burns or fries! –  even after sticky fish, meat or dumplings. No need to be gentle, use your steel cleaner and usually, a 1-2 minutes brushing will take care of it. Moreover, they are dishwasher safe.
Following is my honest review of what I regard as the best among best reviewed and tested steamers. I include non collapsible and collapsible steamer baskets, electric steamers, multicookers with steamer functions. Pressure cooking is not, in my opinion, a health boosting cooking method as the temperature is too high. Therefore, I do not include pressure cookers in the review. To finish, I will compare these types of steamers to my all-time favorite. 

What defeats the point of steaming 

Pressure cooking: 

First, high temp (120°C or 248°F) destroys nutrients, tastes, fibers, plant hormones. Second, condensation water is full of toxins that fall back on ingredients and contaminate them. Third, it takes a long time to heat water to the pressure point. It is not, in the end, a very fast means of cooking a meal.

Using tank water as a dressing base: You ingest the toxins excreted out by food!

We all know our food are loaded in pollutants and pesticides. I do not recommend using the tank water or drip tray juices as sauce base. Why? Because a steamer is like a steam room: steaming makes you sweat! What your cooking ingredients excrete is essentially their sweat and toxins: sprays, pesticides, rain pollutants and the like, fats and toxins from toxic animal foods (GMOs), inflammatory fats (particularly for animals that don’t roam freely).  Thus the outer layers of what your foods sweats out should not be your go-to for sauce. Instead, dress your foods together in a pan after steaming. PS: I make exceptions for pasture raised animal juices to use as sauce base, but these are much cleaner than conventionally raised animals.

Microwave steamers and plastic steamer baskets

I do believe microwaving is toxic for our health. The waves itself I do not trust because it causes radiation. I always found that microwave foods tasted off. So far all I find online are claims that “there is no proof microwave are toxic” but I would prefer studies proving their safety. Microwave steam baskets are useless for another reason:  microwaving and heating degrades plastic , which lands into our foods. Worse, long term exposure to microplastic can be a problem for our fertility among others.

Best steamers

Best electric Steamers

FAQ: Criteria for CHOSING ELECTRIC STEAMERS:

• Do I need a tray to prevent condensation and water juices from “polluting” the reservoir water? NO. You need to avoid condensation falling back into the food, not the tank. The water in the tank builds vapor, which is always clean and sterile. The tray is a receptacle usually used to make sauce. Since it contains toxins from condensation water, I would not use these juices anyway.
• How many tiers? Having several tiers may slow down cooking. Also, it may be cumbersome to reach each tier to test doneness even with a see-through steamer ! A knife is the best way to test if your food is cooked enough, as well as color and the scent of the veggies. So I prefer having an easy way to reach my veggies. Conclusion: favor a food steamer with one or two tiers steamer baskets over three.
• Make: When it comes to electric steamers, I prefer stainless steel, so food is not contaminated by plastic. 
• Chose one with large tank capacity and large holes for steam to be abundant. 

Selection: Euro Cuisine FS2500 and Secura

Euro Cuisine FS2500 Electric Food Steamer

Stainless steel, large holes in baskets with easy condensation flow back down, rounder although not bell-shaped lid.

• Pro : No food contact with plastic. Large holes all the way to the side. Rounded lid, although not as round as I wish it was so condensation water streams along the lid sides rather than onto the food.
• Con: The lid would be better rounder. Since it’s electric, I am not sure what’s the life span of this cooker is. 
• Budget: $161, decent for the quality. It may seem high compared to prices of stovepot steamers that could last you decades.

Secura (Less pricey, well rated by consumers at Amazon)

Stainless steel, large tank, large holes are plus. Lid is too flat for condensation water not to fall on food.

• PRO: Stainless steel, two tiers baskets, large capacity, auto shut off. The lid is rounder, but could be better: The condensation water still will fall back onto food. Holes are large enough, so the vapor flows fairly easily and cooks efficiently. 8 qt large capacity. 10 inch diameter is a decent, family compatible size.  
• Cons:  Large footprint for small spaces. And Not fast: manufacturer says veggies need 15-20 min, my non-electric steamer cook faster.
• Budget : $ 99

LONE METAL STEAMER BASKETS: Caraway Non-Stick Metal Steamer Basket

I give Caraway A for effort, with some reservations:

• Pro:  Holes are a decent size, however, there is no hole one inch to the sides of the steamer insert, which keeps significant amounts of steam from flowing in and toxins from easily clearing back into the tank.
• Cons:
  • Like any lone steamer basket, it does not come with a lid, and you have to rely on other lids, usually rather flat, to cover your cooking foods. This keeps vapor steam from flowing freely and cooking evenly. If you purchase Caraway dutch oven and basket, sadly the lid is completely flat, so the condensation water will fall back on your foods.
• Pro and con at once: Caraway is non-stick. Non toxic coating sounds great, for cookies sheet and cake molds. However, I am not sure I trust the “non toxic” claim very much, even if it is purportedly ceramic and durable. Moreover, as owner of a stainless steel steamer, I don’t think non stick coating is necessary. Little food sticks to flat stainless steel surfaces. And it is easily cleaned with a steel wool scrubber. For a gentler, very efficient not scratchy option, you also have steel wool scrub pads.
• Budget: I find the price tag of caraway high since you can find metal steamer baskets for much cheaper that will be durable and easy to clean. 
• Amazon links: Total budget: $200 

Best Multicooker for Steaming : Ninja Foodi PRO 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker

Ninja, like famous Instant Pot, is an electric multi cooker that can do steaming. However, it seems better suited to steaming than its counterpart.

• Pro:
  • It’s fast . It allies steam with convection to get the dinner around in 15  minutes. 
  • Several temperature settings including 100°C, (212°F), which means boiling. I have to assume that temperature is set for water, which is where the water boils and builds vapor that reaches a temperature below boiling that steams your food gently with no pressure. It also has the capacity to steam bake, which is great ! I love steam baking and do it a lot with my own steamer, with great results.
• Con: the top is very flat, which means condensation water falls on food, contaminates them and washes off nutrients. Not the best for health minded steaming.
• Budget  ($ 220+)

Best Collapsible Steaming Basket: Kitchenaid Universal Steamer Basket

Best collapsible, Based on both reviews  and consumer ratings 

• Pro:  Sturdy handle, good budget for good durability. The 10 inch diameter, allows it to fit many pots with large water capacity.
• Con: Rather small holes, not big enough for easy evacuation of build-up and toxines. Hard to clean , although it looks big it has fairly small capacity. you can probably only cook one type of vegetables at a time, for 3 persons max.
• If you use it on a pot like in the photo, don’t use it in non-stick pots, or you would scratch their surface. Also, it is very likely that the steamer basket is too close to the boiling water for water not to touch it, and for having enough vapor build-up to cook efficiently, especially without a bell-shaped lid!
• Budget: $21

Best Bamboo Steamer: Trademark Innovations Bamboo Steamer – 3 Piece 10 inch diameter

If you are use to cook with a bamboo steamer and don’t look for more than steaming fish, veggies and dumplings, this may be for you. As for me, I look for much more versatile than that!

• Pro: This specific one is  reported by reviewers  to cook well, has larger capacity and does the job well.
• Con:
  • However, like other bamboo steamer baskets, it is not as versatile as many taller tower steamers, whether electric or not.
  • Bamboo steamers are cheap but hard to clean, and take time to dry out. Parchment paper kind of defeats the purpose of steaming if it is blocking the holes, which cooks best and allow for vapor flow.
• Price: $25.15

Best Whole Stove pot Steamer : Concord 30 CM Stainless Steel Steamer Pot

• PRO:
  • I only found one review including a whole stove pot food steamer. I looked at other options on the marketplace and I have to agree with Consumer reports, that  the best online. However for being “3 tiers”, it actually has two steamer baskets.
  • It has large capacity, and one of the steamer baskets has perfectly large holes I would use, the other one not.
• Con: The shape of the lid is too flat. It looks good for vegetables but reviewers report condensation water falls on dumplings and ruins their texture.
• Note: There are other stovepot options with better lids, but not better holes. All in all, most all-in-one steel steamers have downsides. 
• Budget: $69.98 at Amazon.

PERSONAL FAVORITE BEST FOOD STEAMER; A Health Boosting stovepot steamer, The Vitaliseur de Marion

At the beginning of this article, I established my criteria for choosing a good steamer. My main criteria is health based. 

Most people adopt steaming for health reasons, for its reputation of being the healthiest cooking method. What they don’t know is just how much healthier they could be, and how much better they could feel. More importantly, they don’t know how much the choice of appliance can impact its health boosting performance.

Meet the Vitaliseur de Marion – namely, the Vitalizer.

Its name suggests a capacity for restoring life into your foods. It may seem exaggerated, but as long time user, I don’t feel that it is. This steamer ticks all the health boxes. It is the best performer in the field of the best of all cooking methods. This is my top pick and an excellent choice. And best of all, it looks fabulous! Here is why:

• Category:  stovetop steamers
• Health-minded design:
  • Food grade stainless steel, safest for our health;
  • Bell shaped lid, which keeps condensation water from falling in your foods and contaminating them; Rather, it streams down the inside walls of the lid back to the tank.
  • Large holes (5mm) : easy vapor flows as well as toxins and build-up evacuation.
  • Large tank or water reservoir ( 8 qt ) 
• YOUR BEST OPTION FOR HEALTH BOOSTING PERFORMANCE
  • Preserves nutrients texture, scent and colors of your foods ( i.e. among others, it preserves vitamin c). It reaches the best outcomes compared to any food steamers out there, health and taste wise.
  • Steamed foods are made flavorful, retain vibrant colors, maintain good texture, fibers, smells delightful. This fact is confirmed by many French users I know that adopted it with no regrets after several attempts at other steamers. The Vitalizer is now over 30 years old BECAUSE it respects all health benefits of your foods, and because the incomparable taste of its foods. 
• EASE OF USE : Cook, store, clean easily whether you have a gas or electric stove. Some coaching clients have learned using it to cook everything within a few weeks.
• CAPACITY
  • It Works with the size of your household : large or small. The normal size steamer is said to be suitable for 2-6 persons ( I use it for 7). The small version for 1-2 persons. Personally, I would only use the larger one, the Grand Chef, even alone, because I use it for 90% of my foods. As my kids keep growing, I may use two at a time!
  • Easily stores in standard kitchen cabinets.
• EFFICIENCY:  It is very quick and efficient. It does better on cooking times that most steamers, especially electric. With the additional help of an electric kettle, you can even speed it up more! Cooking times range from 2 minutes for leafy vegetables like kale to 15 minutes for rice and some thick, fatty fish cuts, 20- 40 min for a very big artichoke and 40 min to an hour for a cake.
• VERSATILITY
  • It cooks all different types of rice ( brown rice, black rice, white rice etc) . You will obtain a fluffy rice or crunchy rice within 15-20 minutes. It cooks as well as the best rice cookers. You won’t need a dedicated rice cooker any longer. 
  • Cook all types of vegetables, legumes, meat fish and seafood, breads and cakes, sponge cakes. Use as bain marie. You can cook larger items like a whole salmon. It also cooks grains in ceramic or stainless steel bowls. 
  • You can fit a 8 in  rectangular cake mold, or a 9 inch round cake mold.
  • For the Normal size steamer, you can also purchase a pack including the soup pot – to make soup, cook rice or make vegetable fondue! – and a stainless steel cake mold. This adds to the versatility and provides with an even classier pot.

• DURABILITY: It is very sturdy and durable, despite some bad burns! My oldest one, inherited from my mom, is now almost 30 years old (one of the oldest existing!), we use it on camping trips! My second is 12 years old, and I recently acquired a third new one, from the new model. 
• Budget is fair considering the quality and durability.
  • Small sized steamer: €180 incl. sales tax, i.e. €141 without tax. Non european residents pay €187.33 with shipping and after discount code i.e. all in $196.
  • Large size steamer alone : Grand Chef: €232 incl. Sales Tax, i.e. $202 without sales tax (for non European consumers), without applying my discount code, $233 applying discount code and shipping cost to the U.S.
  • Large size steamer Grand Chef with soup insert and cake mold: €280, i.e. €233 without sales tax. All in, discount code and shipping applied: €262.50 i.e. $274,70

In Conclusion:

If you are looking of a health-minded design for a steam cooker, this is the one for you. Of course the fact that it is not electric may be a downside for you. However, steaming is so fast leaving your food unattended may result in overcooked ingredients that no longer taste good and which glycemic index has risen. Meals are made so fast you may not need to rely on electric timers and shut off functions. Just mind the water level, and stick around. It will only taste better !

Note that am not paid to promote the Vitalizer and don’t earn money from my discount code, which I negociated for the people I coach. To be honest, I would earn more from my Amazon affiliate links than from you buying this specific steamer. I do believe it is the best out there for your health and for your daily practice.

Happy Steaming!