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See why.Microwave Pasta Cookers
Do any of these gadgets simplify and speed up the pasta-cooking process?
Published July 1, 2014. Appears in America's Test Kitchen TV Season 15: The Italian Vegetarian
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It’s time-consuming to bring a big pot of water to a boil, but it’s not exactly hard to prepare pasta. Despite our skepticism, we tested three different microwave pasta cookers, priced from $12.95 to $35. We simply added pasta to each oblong plastic box, poured in enough cold water to cover, microwaved until done (no stirring), and then flipped to drain through the lid. Every model cooked both strand and shaped pasta properly in almost half of the time it took to cook the same amount in the traditional stovetop method from start to finish. Draining through one model’s floppy lid was problematic: Its draining holes let small noodles slip through and it exposed our hands to steam and water burns. But the other two models won favor for sturdy, quick-cooling plastic handles and lids, with narrow slits that strained water away from our hands. Of the two, our winner got the edge for its low price. Foolproof for cooking up to four servings, it makes fast pasta dinners even faster.
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cooking: 3 stars out of 3.
- Straining: 3 stars out of 3.
It’s not much to look at, but this microwave pasta cooker makes light work of preparing pasta. Our panel detected no difference in taste or texture between strands cooked in the microwave and those boiled on the stovetop. Wide handles clip the lid firmly in place for safe, secure straining.
- Design: 3 stars out of 3.
- Cooking: 3 stars out of 3.
- Straining: 3 stars out of 3.
While it has a slightly larger (five-portion) capacity than our winner and comes in a pretty bright blue color, this is not enough to justify paying twice as much. The design is simple but clever. An arrow and slight differences in the lip of the lid ensure that users fasten the lid in the proper direction, and sturdy handles help you drain the hot water safely.
Not Recommended
- Design: 1 stars out of 3.
- Cooking: 3 stars out of 3.
- Straining: 1 stars out of 3.
We had high hopes for this pretty model, but it posed serious safety concerns. While it cooked pasta just fine, its plastic basin was slow to cool and had no handles. The floppy silicone lid had poorly placed holes that were responsible for our hands getting burned with hot water and steam, the shock of which often loosened our grip and sent pasta flying into the sink.
Reviews you can trust
Reviews you can trust
The mission of America’s Test Kitchen Reviews is to find the best equipment and ingredients for the home cook through rigorous, hands-on testing. We stand behind our winners so much that we even put our seal of approval on them.
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