Oster 5712 Electronic 2-Tier 6.1-Quart Food Steamer Review

My sister bought me this electric Oster 2-tier food steamer (model 5712) and I've found it to be much better than an old steamer that I had years ago. My old steamer did not cook much at a time and tended to be slow and had to be refilled while cooking. It tends to be user friendly and cooks food nicely without burning it.

How does the food taste?

I have steamed meat, rice, and vegetables with this steamer. The chicken came out thoroughly cooked throughout and delicious. The rice was soft and tasty. The broccoli was a bit too crunchy for my taste when I checked it at the allotted time, but I steamed it a bit longer than the recommended time and it tasted just find to me. The size of the slices and individual tastes can make a difference in how long one wishes to cook with a steamer. Once I have tried a particular food and discover any changes that need to be made, I can make a note of that in the owner's manual that gives suggested times for steaming.

Is it user friendly?

This Oster food steamer has several different parts, but the owner's manual has clear instructions and pictures with recommended times for cooking. The manual gives instructions for steaming rice and grains, vegetables, fish and seafood, meat and eggs (I would have never thought to steam eggs). It also gives helpful hints for reheating breads and leftovers, which I would not have thought to use this to reheat foods, but I will probably take it on our next camping trip to do just that. This could be an alternative to a microwave if a person did not have one available.

The steamer itself also has some pictures of various foods that are commonly steamed with recommended cooking times printed on the front. It has four buttons on the front. One is for turning the unit on and off, two are for decreasing or increasing the amount of time you wish to steam, and one is for setting the timer for delayed cooking. I have not tried the delay cooking, but turning the unit on and pressing the up button until I have reached the cook time is rather easy.

The water reservoir is easy to fill before beginning by taking the drip tray out and holding the unit under the tap until you reach the top fill line. If the water level falls below the bottom fill line, adding water while the food is cooking is also easy since it has a water inlet where I may add water without taking any items off the top. The red and green lights will blink and the unit will beep if the unit becomes too low on water.

I have cooked single layers of food and also used the double tier option in this Oster food steamer. I will admit that I had my doubts that the steamer would actually be able to cook the top layer, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is best to cook meats on the bottom layer. The multi-tasking mother in me loves to be able to cook twice the amount of food!

This unit is quick to produce steam--35 seconds, so it is important to assemble everything before plugging it in and turning it on. When the steamer has cooked the set amount of time, it will beep for two seconds and then will enter a 1-hour warming mode, which is indicated by a green light. That is a nice feature since I may be cooking other items on the stove or attending to the three kids when the steamer has completed cooking.

Can it be better than cooking in other ways? 

A steamer might save a bit of money and help me to be healthier. I would think that this little unit would use less electricity than cooking two items on a full-sized range, but I do not know that for sure. Steaming foods is a healthy was in which to prepare foods, so if you are looking for alternatives to frying, this might be just for you.

How is it working for me? 

The owner's manual mentions that the Oster 2-tiered 5712 food steamer has a 2-year limited warranty and provides an 800 phone number as well as a website (oster dot com). I have not had any problems with my steamer in the year that I have had it.

The Downside:

There are not many negatives to this Oster steamer, and I think the good features outweigh the bad ones for me, but since this is a review, I'll give my opinion regarding any negatives of the Oster food steamer below:

• hard to clean if cooking meats (The bottom of the steamer bowls have numerous grooves and holes that are difficult to clean and I've had to spend a good deal of time cleaning it out after cooking meats, but I think perhaps if I use the rice bowl to cook meats that this problem might be improved dramatically--it would be great if the unit included two rice bowls so that one could be used on the top and one on the bottom at the same time. Unfortunately, the rice bowl is a good bit smaller, so I would not be able to cook the same amount of meat that I do currently if I used a rice bowl.)
• can burn those who are in a hurry--the owner's manual mentions to "lift and open cover carefully" and they were not kidding. I now tend to use potholders wait a few minutes after the food is cooked and make sure to remove the lid at an angle to allow trapped water to drip down the side and into the water reservoir. This is definitely not a product for children to use unless they are helping before turning the unit on.
• fairly large unit--storage might be an issue with some but the larger size allows me to cook large amounts of food for a family of five. The smaller steamer pan and the rice bowl will fit inside the larger steamer pan, and I tend to place the owner's manual inside of the rice bowl for storing.

My Viewpoint:

I have enjoyed cooking tasty and healthy meals using my Oster double-tiered food steamer. It allows me to cook two different foods without burning them while I do other things. It may take a while to clean the steamer bowl if cooking meat in one with grooves, but it is a lot easier to clean that than it is for me to clean a pan in which I have burned chicken.