Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer – Review

I’m a big fan of steaming vegetables and have been using a steamer for a number of years.  The stacking trays on my old steamer have recently broken so I was interested to see how the Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer would compare.  Sometimes a review request comes up just at the right time.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

I’ve not used a Sensio product before so I wasn’t 100% sure what to expect, but my order arrived quickly so it wasn’t long before I could put it to the test.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

The Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer comes with a lightweight base unit, drip tray, three stackable trays, a lid and instruction booklet.  Other steamers I’ve used have come with a plastic bowl for steaming rice, but not this one, and it makes no mention of being able to steam rice in the booklet either.

The base unit has a water level indicator, power light and a 60 minute timer, as well as housing the heating element for the steamer.

I’ve been using the Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer for the last couple of weeks and my main criticism of this product is the timer.  It’s very difficult to see where you’ve set the time too, and also how much cooking time is left as it steams away.  Black on black is not ideal, and you have to get down to the level of the knob to see clearly.  A design improvement would fix this instantly.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

Check the steaming guide within the booklet for information on whether the items you are cooking require the base unit to be filled with water to the min or max levels.  The booklet also gives information on cooking time for vegetables, meat, fish and even eggs, as well as the amount of each item the information relates too.  The water level indicators can be clearly seen on the inside of the base, they just don’t photograph well.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

Once you’ve filled the base to the correct level with tap water, you place the drip tray on top.  I actually use filtered water as the water here is so hard, it just helps with the limescale buildup around the heating element. This tray also features a pull out water top up drawer, should you need to add more water to the steamer when it’s in use.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

Then add the stacking trays as required.  With vegetables, potatoes can take between 35-40 minutes to steam (smaller new potatoes take about 25 minutes I’ve found) so I place them in the first tray, put the lid on and start steaming, with 17 minutes to go, I remove the lid (use oven gloves because of the steam) and stack the second tray on top of the first, replace the lid and continue to steam.  You can work with the same principle for meat and fish, although these should always be in the lowest tray, so juices don’t run down into the vegetables.

The water in the base unit boils, steam is created and rises up through the stacking trays to cook the food.

When steaming time is over the timer pings, the power indicator light goes out and you are ready to serve your food.  I have found that the trays seem to stick together a little more than with other steamers I’ve had, so I certainly recommend wearing oven gloves when taking the stack apart.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

I’ve been really pleased with the results of my steaming so far with the Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer.  other tips that I’m yet to try are to add chicken stock or white wine to the water in the base unit to add a bit of extra flavour to the steaming food.

It’s also worth knowing that you can steam hard-boiled eggs – each tray comes with 8 egg holders, and they take 13-15 minutes to cook.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

Once cooking is complete, let the water cool down before attempting to clean the unit.  Remaining water should be drained from the drip tray and base unit.  The base unit cannot be immersed in water.  I wipe it round with a cloth and dry it off. The heating element should be cleaned every 7-10 uses, and in hard water areas descaling is a must to ensure the unit works effectively. Full descaling instructions are included in the booklet.

The drip tray, stacking trays and lid are all dishwasher safe, should you have one, and wash equally well by hand.  I have found with other steamers that over time the trays and their handles specifically can break, but only time and use will tell if the Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer is better with this issue.

Once everything is dried, the trays stack down for easier storage.

Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer

The Sensio Home Stainless Steel 3 Tier Steamer features and 800W steamer and also a 6.8 litre capacity, making it ideal for family cooking. The unit is priced at £29.99 and I’ve included my Amazon Affiliate link below for your reference.

disclosure:  we were sent the item mentioned in exchange for an honest review

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