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See why.The Best Bamboo Steamers
Steaming mad? A bamboo steamer is just what you need.
Top Picks
What You Need To Know
Bamboo steamers are great for cooking lots of food efficiently. Our favorite is the Juvale 10 Inch Bamboo Steamer with Steel Rings for Cooking. It does a great job of steaming different foods, and it’s well-made and durable to boot. If you’re cooking for an especially large crowd, we also like the Hcooker 3 Tier Kitchen Bamboo Steamer with Stainless Steel Banding, which comes with three tiers instead of two. And if you want a steamer that will let you cook taller foods, the i-Playloft Premium Handmade Bamboo Steamer is a good option.
What You Need to Know
Originally from China, bamboo steamers are perhaps best known today as the vessels used to cook and serve many popular dim sum dishes. Because they’re made up of bamboo tiers with level interior surfaces, they’re ideal for steaming any food that needs to sit flat during cooking, such as dumplings or bao, or food that might break or become misshapen in a collapsible steamer with a curved base, such as fragile fish fillets. While you can get bamboo steamers in many sizes and configurations, they’re most commonly available as sets of two or three 10-inch round bamboo tiers—a size that is compatible for use with a 14-inch wok or a 12-inch skillet or sauté pan, among other vessels. Each tier provides about 68 square inches of surface area—roughly the same surface area as our favorite metal steamer. But because the tiers are stackable, you can double and triple the capacity as needed. Cooking dumplings for a crowd? Use two or three tiers. A piece of salmon for one? A single tier will do.
The separate tiers have another advantage: You can steam foods with different cooking times simultaneously, removing tiers as each food finishes cooking. Just be aware that foods take longer to cook the farther they are from the heat source. Another advantage is that the bamboo absorbs some of the steam during cooking, preventing condensation from dripping back onto your food and getting it wet. And of course, the steamers are pretty enough that you can serve food right out of them at the table.
A few caveats: Because they’re made of a natural fiber, bamboo steamers are more fragile than metal steamer baskets—they must be washed and dried carefully between uses so that they don’t warp, crack, or develop mold. They can absorb odors from your food or cooking liquid, though at least in our experience, these odors faded after a few washes and didn’t transfer to subsequent foods we cooked. Finally, bamboo steamers take up a bit more room in your cabinet; unlike those metal steamer baskets, they’re not collapsible.
What to Look For
- Solid Construction: A good steamer should have relatively smo...
Everything We Tested
Highly Recommended
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
This bamboo steamer cooked dumplings, bao, salmon, and greens quickly and efficiently. The thick bamboo slats in the base of each tier were durable and didn’t chip or shred. And because those tiers were reinforced with steel bands, they kept their shapes better than those of the other models, remaining perfectly circular and easy to align after 10 washes.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
This all-bamboo steamer basket was well-made enough that it kept its shape throughout testing, never warping or shedding more than a very occasional fiber or two. The thick bamboo slats in its base stayed intact nicely. Best of all, it did a great job of steaming dumplings and bao.
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 3 stars out of 3.
This model is a great option if you’re steaming food for a large family or crowd. It has not only three tiers instead of the two that are more common but also a slightly larger diameter than the other models we tested, fitting a few more dumplings and bao. (It still fit in our favorite skillet and sauté pan.) And with tiers reinforced by steel bands and thick, solid bamboo slats, this model stood up to extended use well.
Recommended
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 2 stars out of 3.
With a height of 2.8 inches per tier, this extra-roomy steamer is ideal if you like to cook taller foods. It did a great job of steaming dumplings and bao. It’s just a tiny bit less durable than some of the other models we tested. Made only of bamboo, its tiers warped slightly out of alignment after several washes, though we were still able to use it and the warping did not affect its performance. Its thin bamboo slats were also a tad flimsy; a few of the ties that secured them unraveled slightly over time.
Recommended with reservations
- Performance: 3 stars out of 3.
- Durability: 1.5 stars out of 3.
Two copies of this steamer arrived in less-than-stellar condition, with lots of loose fibers that had to be pulled off before use. And some of the ties on their thin, flimsy slats came undone after a few washes. Over time, the all-bamboo tiers warped a bit, making it a bit tricky to line them up securely. Still, the tiers fit well enough to contain plenty of steam—they did a perfectly good job of cooking both dumplings and bao.
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.
Miye Bromberg
Miye is a senior editor for ATK Reviews. She covers booze, blades, and gadgets of questionable value.