Hamilton Beach Digital Food Steamer, Vegetable Steamer and Rice Cooker, Programmable, 5.5 Qt., Black

Hamilton Beach 5.5-Quart Digital Steamer Before you get started remember to season your food or not, I found tossing veggies in a bowl before placing into steamer is better, season your fish or chicken breast before placing into steamer, I think it is better to remove your cooked food from steamer to plate without taking containers off of the steamer. When it's time to clean up if you don't want a mess I suggest you take an empty plate or bowl to sit your containers into remember there are holes at the bottom of each container except for the rice bowl. This steamer really cooks well I used it for veggies and fish; If you are cooking for a family of 4, I suggest cooking only your veggies using both containers or placing a total of 4 pieces of fish in both containers. This steamer will work perfect for two person meal or if you have to cook for more people I suggest you try using it as I did (steamed all veggie or steam all fish) Perfect for dorm use giving the option to have a healthy meal at least 4 or more times during a course of a week, you can study while your food is cooking all you may have to do is add water, cleanup is easy and its small enough to store away. I'll take this over microwave food any day.

At first, all I thought about steamed food was that it would be watery and bland. Boy, was I wrong! When I got the Hamilton Beach steamer, it came in an attractive and informative box. It had good information on it. Like I said, I was hesitant about using a steamer, but when I started to put it together and reading about it in the enclosed pamphlet, I got really interested. At first I thought I'd try to cook rice in it because good rice is hard to make. If you don't have a rice cooker, it can turn out to be too sticky or even crunchy. I don't think I know anyone who likes crunchy rice. My video captures the first time I tried the steamer and the first rice I cooked with it. I was very impressed. All I did was fill up the steamer with water, put the rice and water in the rice container and set the time for 32 minutes. The results were amazing. My husband, who is a rice aficionado, simply loved the rice. Even I thought that the rice was excellent without adding anything to it except maybe some light salt. Very good rice because it was cooked evenly and separated easily instead of sticking together in clumps. Then I thought I'd try to steam some eggs. Eggs?? Whoever would steam eggs? But I tried it anyway. I put eight large eggs into the tray which has little bowl-like indents on the bottom so you can stand the eggs up in them. Then I filled the water reservoir again to the max and steamed the eggs for 22 minutes. Those eggs were amazing! The yolks were not hard, but rather had a light, almost creamy texture even though they were thoroughly hard boiled. This is an excellent steamer because it works well. I would definitely recommend it to a friend..

I received this product for free in exchange for my honest opinion through the Spark Reviewer Program. I have been checking out this steamer for some time now. And the fact that my mom has one. At first I didn't see any use at all for the item but now, I stay on the go with all my children activities, this really came in hand. It is very easy to put together and washing it is easy as well. There are so many different things you can cook in this steamer. Only thing I do not like about this steamer is the timer does not go pass an hour. I am not really sure why that is but it stops at 1 hour. Maybe food should not be steamed for that long. The first thing cooked in the steamer was some boneless pork chops. I let them steam for 1 hour. Once I took them out the steamer and onto a plate, I could cut them with a fork. It was finger licking good. I cannot wait to steam me some broccoli and corn. I can see this steamer being used for many different things. This steamer will be put to go use. I am so glad I picked this item.

Getting to try the Hamilton Beach Digital steamer was a great joy. I appreciate the Spark Program for giving me a chance to try, and review it so that others may be well informed. The steamer has, technically, 3 compartments, but only 2 actual steamers. In my video I said it had 3 shelves. It's actually 2. One is a rice bowl that fits inside one of the compartments. I've used this to make 2 meals. One was without rice. Both were steamed chicken and veges. After my first... almost meal.. (meaning it was planned, but not executed) I failed to read the directions clearly and I had everything out to make my significant other, and myself a nice lunch of steamed lemon chicken with rice and steamed veges. I ended up scratching that plan and waiting until another meal because I didn't realize how long the rice was going to take, so my planning was going to be off, and the meal was going to be late. The rice does take a full 60 min to steam, so plan accordingly. The chicken only took 30, the veges 20 I believe (from frozen). But once everything was cooked at proper times, and the meal was complete, I was amazed at how handy the steamer was! I love the thing, and would suggest it to friends/family. Only other issue I encountered besides the timing, was that cleaning.. the food wanted to stick to the plastic, so it was more work than I had anticipated. So the second time, I sprayed the bottom surfaces with Pam and it helped cleanup immensely. Great product overall!

This is a very nice machine. I really like the trays in the “bowls” as they have holes to hold eggs and ridges for other things. The trays are removable so that you can stand ears of corn upright to cook. I had a little trouble trying to program the timer, but it works really well. I made hard boiled eggs and it was set for twenty minutes, when that time was up, it continued into another cycle and continued cooking. I believe it would've kept going through cycles of time until it was turned off. This may have been because I had the issue with programming and was a user issue rather than the machine malfunctioning. It does make a dinging sound when it's plugged in and when it gets turned on. I believe it also made the sound when it was turned off, however, the book says it also makes the sound when unplugged, but it didn't. I would recommend this unit if you do a lot of steaming. It is a healthy alternative when cooking. It is versatile in the manner that you can use one bowl or both and it also has a rice bowl included. It is aesthetically pleasing. It would certainly go with any décor if you were to leave it on the counter. All in all, I really like this steamer and I believe it will get a lot of use in my home. Try it out for yourself!

I really like this Hamilton Beach 5.5 quart Digital Steamer. I already have a single steamer that I have had for years and use often. Now I have a double basket or one large basket and digital to boot. The baskets have an insert that is easily removed in order to make one large basket. There is a window that tells you how much water is being used and if you need to add more water there is a convenient pull out drawer to add the water to. If you don't have a rice cooker well this can also steam rice. Its great to have so many options of different foods to steam. The nice thing as well is being able to cook ears of corn and how about some artichokes! Love that I can cook my artichokes! Another great thing is the option to steam eggs for soft eggs or hard (boiled) eggs. It says maximum of eight so I think that's a down side because I think most people cook a little more than eight. Again another great thing is it will switches to warm after cooking. There is a delay switch, basically a pre-set button so you can choose when you would like to start steaming. Great for daily use and also for big gatherings. Would definitely recommend this steamer.

This Hamilton Beach Digital steamer is a great addition to your kitchen. If you're taking in more fresh vegetables in your diet, you need one of these. At five and a half quarts, it is large enough to do the job. It's lightweight, looks good on the kitchen counter, and will surprise you with how easy you can steam cook your whole meal if you wish. I ran it thru everything from fresh Broccoli to whole ears of corn to long grain rice to steam vegetables in a bag and even figured out the time needed to do Quick cook rice. Steamed up a piece of Salmon and did a carton of eggs just to check it's capacity. It passed every test. The next thing I want to try is doing foil wrapped mini meals in it. The steam guide in the instruction booklet helped a lot. The only one I had to watch close was the instant rice. It got done quicker than I expected. This unit has two steam chambers which allows you to cook most of your meal at one time. Just remember to leave the steam holes open around the food to ensure proper cooking. The steamer cleans up quick and easy, then by taking apart the bowls to place every part to stack up in itself keeping the steamer all together for the next use. The controls on the steamer are digital and easy to use. When your cycle is done , it sets itself to a warming condition for one hour before shutting off completely. Keep an eye on your water level. there is a warning for when it gets low, but you will find that you'll be adding water to the steamer often with heavy use. I put a pack of hot dogs in one bowl and started the unit for twelve minutes. at the ten minute mark, I added the second bowl with hot dog buns in it and resumed steaming. When the steamer finished and cycled to warm, I had hot dogs ready to put in freshly steamed hot dog buns. Excellent !! The Hamilton Beach Steamer is built solid, super easy to use, has a good sized capacity, it does the job and allows you to add more healthier foods to your diet.

When my husband and I were talking about how to cook healthier, we talked about grilling more, baking or broiling more, and also steaming more. Our version of steaming has always been a rack of some sort set on top of our fry pan or sauce pan with a bit of boiling water in it. I was thrilled when Sparks offered this steamer for review and I couldn't wait to try it. When it arrived, one thing that first impressed me is how all the pieces fit within each other so it is not some bulky machine to put away in a cupboard and it also does not take up much space on the counter top, two pluses in my book. It has a separate container for rice, generous sized upper and lower steam bowls, which can be used separately or together. Just remove the bottom of the upper steam bowl to accommodate larger items. Very easy to follow instructions and the feature I really like is the delay timer. I can time it so dinner will be well under way when I arrive home, nice. There is a handy steaming chart included that gives you ideas for what you may want to try in the steamer along with size recommendations and cooking times. We tried corn on the cob, green beans and asparagus and they all turned out fantastic! I also went online and googled meals for steamers and will put my own spin on them. This is such a wonderful appliance, no oil, just water, and the result is you eat healthier. I would highly recommend this to any individual or family who is trying to make healthier changes in their eating habits. Too many of our choices are greasy, fat filled fast food items that we eat because they are convenient. This steamer now makes cooking healthy fast and convenient.

Like most everyone in America, I would like to start eating a healthier diet. I thought that the Hamilton Beach Steamer could help with that. So upon receiving the steamer I washed it out as directed and assembled it. It has a lot of parts to you it, but the nice thing is they all can nest into each other when you put it away. So I began preparing a lunch for my husband consisting of salmon, zucchini, and Jasmine rice. The salmon fillets were cut by the butcher about an inch thick and so I just plopped them skin side down on the first floor (bottom) container. I sprinkled light garlic salt on both fillets and placed a medium slice of lemon on each. I csliced zucchini and squeezed them in around the fish. In the rice bowl you just add a cup of rice and a cup of water. I added a slice of lemon into the rice as well because I cut an extra one. I plugged in the steamer and I was very pleased to see how it lit up and was very easy to read and use. I put the timer on 30 minutes. This was an executive decision because the directions say rice is about 35 minutes but the salmon is about 17, although my salmon fillets were pretty big. Well, everything was done at the same time and it came out perfectly!! My husband was really impressed with our healthy lunch and so was I. But I was also really happy about how easy clean-up was. Helpful hint, turn off power and unplug machine if you don't need it to warm any remaining food that way everything is cooled enough after dinner to wash and put away. I took everything apart and threw the top pieces (NOT the base) into to the sink and washed them easily. Helpful hint, #2, don't use a really abrasive scrubber to wash the pieces as the plastic can get scratched. I can't wait to use this steamer again, and serve easy, healthy meals to my family.

The Hamilton Beach 5.5 qt digital steamer is a versatile food steamer with stackable 2 tier steaming. You can use one tier for small quantities or 2 tiers for an entire meal. there is also a removable center divider to fit a variety of larger foods, and a separate rice bowl. The digital touch pad makes setting the count-down timer and the other functions easy, with an easy to read digital timer screen. There are indicator lights for delay start, cook, warm, and low water with an easy to see water reservoir widow. The delay start cycle can be set for 30 min. to 24 hrs. The auto-warm cycle begins automatically at the end of the cook time for up to one hour. All in all the Hamilton Beach 5.5 qt. Digital Steamer is a great compact counter top unit that "nests" for easy storage. It has a sleek design and is easy to use and clean. Some parts are even top rack dishwasher safe. As always I recommend reading the easy to read and understand instruction book. It will help you get started with ease and has estimated cook times and guidelines. I would say I like it and would recommend it to friends and family.