Customer Reviews

Fasta Pasta The Microwave Cooker

5 star:		(289)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I've been boiling various pasta noodles, at least twice a week, for over 25 years. When I first saw the FASTA PASTA microwave cooker internet demo video, I was a bit skeptical but interested enough to purchase the product from Amazon.com. After using the product three times, I can honestly say that it not only cooks pasta very fast but better, with less mess and energy, than pot boiling the noodles. Just follow the simple instructions and you will have perfectly cooked pasta without having to check it while cooking for readiness. I wish that this product had been invented years ago. My ONLY minor negative comments: 1. FASTA PASTA can only cook up to four pasta servings at one time, which makes its use for a large group impracticle. 2. The water measurement lines are a bit difficult to see when water and pasta is added to the cooker. Adding color to these lines would make them easier to see.

After looking at the Pasta n More reviews, which were average, I decided against getting that one, plus I didn't like those dorky looking handles, and I didn't want all those pieces. I saw this one and was swayed by the compact size, and it's actually made in the USA. The Fasta Pasta is slender enough to tuck on a pantry shelf or in a cabinet without sacrificing a lot of space, and it isn't flimsy.

The cooker holds enough pasta for 4 servings, which in most cases will be fine for me. I decided to make macaroni and cheese using 4 cups of water and 2 cups of elbow macaroni, which according to the pasta chart is 4 servings. I started the macaroni before I started making the cheese sauce, and the pasta was done before I finished the sauce! What a timesaver. The user guide suggests a cooking time of 10 minutes for macaroni and that's what I used. The pasta was al dente and just right for my baked macaroni and cheese. It says in the product description that you don't have to stir, but that's not the case. The pasta cooking chart instructions say to stir midway through the cooking time for hollow shaped pastas like macaroni and penne.

The cooker is easy to use and being able to strain and rinse the pasta in the same bowl is a plus. Just add the pasta to the bowl, and the appropriate amount of water, and pop it in the microwave. It doesn't get any easier than this. The bowl has markings on it to indicate the amount of water to be used for various pasta servings sizes which are included on the pasta cooking chart. The lid/strainer is only used when measuring pasta like spaghetti and when straining, and it has handles on it to assist with removing the bowl from the microwave and when straining. The lid should not be used while boiling the pasta as this causes the water to boil over. The user guide indicates that the Fasta Pasta is dishwasher safe.

The cooker comes with a user guide, which is just a single sheet of paper with step by step photo's, and a recipe guide that has a few recipes. I ordered the Fasta Pasta Cookbook with mine. Fasta Pasta Cookbook I'm not a fan of cooking in the microwave, but I will make an exception with the Fasta Pasta. This is a worthwhile product that performs as claimed and will get a lot of use in my kitchen!

This is really a Kitchen must have.
I'm not a microwave cooker, but this works perfect if you follow the directions, and do not put the lid on while cooking in your microwave.
Only use the lid for taking out of the microwave, and draining.

I made wholewheat pasta , and it was perfect and did not stick.
Also egg noodles came out perfect.

I like to wash the starch off of my pasta, and with this I still can with out useing a collender.

Using this, I do not have to wait for the water to boil, nothing boils over on my stove, and there is not a callender to wash either. No mess at all.
I put this on the top shelf of my dishwasher, it washed with out a problem.

I bought mine from qvc, and it came with two, for more money then this, but still a good price..

Would buy again..
Two thumbs up. Great invention.

Yes, the pasta comes out perfectly and a tiresome task is now satisfying and easy, but this unit also works for rice and vegetables. 1/2 cup of Uncle Ben's and water to line 1, plus 15 minutes in my 900 watt microwave produced perfectly cooked rice--better in fact, than my electric rice cooker. Brown rice takes longer and benefits from a stir, but also works.

The leaflet that comes with the unit has recipes for potatoes and broccoli. I have tried the broccoli and again, was very pleased. About 1 cup of broccoli, water to line 1 and 12 minutes delivered perfectly steamed (and nicely green) broccoli. This is different from what the recipe leaflet says since that is for salad and I was making a dinner vegetable. The Fasta Pasta is a multitasker that would make Alton Brown proud.

The greatest advantage I've found to this product is that I can easily and quickly make perfect small servings. Using regular means, I tend to make too much, be it pasta or rice, because I feel I have to maximize the effort and time involved. Unfortunately, I either overeat or find the leftovers growing in the back of the fridge--neither are good options. Being able to quickly and painlessly make only a little is as much an advantage to my perpetual diet as the process is to simple meal preparation. This thing is great.

I have found exactly three cons to this overall excellent item.

1) While this shouldn't be surprising given any experience with other foods microwaved vs cooked in their "traditional" method, the pasta is NOT exactly the same as it is when cooked on the stove. The texture is different. I don't mean the firmness of the noodles, following the cooking instructions has given me al dente noodles every time. I mean the outside of the pasta has a different texture. This is a minor point since it's still a very close approximation and if you are going to serve your noodles with sauce, cheese, or butter you won't even notice but it is there. I would probably not want to eat plain noodles from the Fasta Pasta but I also probably wouldn't want to eat plain noodles. ;)

2) While this will fit in the vast majority of microwaves it is too large for some. Make sure you have the dimensions of the microwave you intend to use this in most compared to the dimensions of the Fasta Pasta before you order. In my microwave at work the Fasta Pasta is too big to turn on the turn table and just sits in the microwave horizontally but it works just fine that way.

3) While I suppose the serving measuring holes in the top are useful for those measuring spaghetti (I prefer penne) they do make straining the noodles less convenient than it would be if there were no spaghetti measuring holes.

I'm just trying to be realistic about a product that I am overall extremely satisfied with. I would definitely recommend this item and I feel the price is fair.

The Fasta Pasta The Microwave Cooker is an ok product. It will boil your pasta and all but I'm not sure if the cooking times for cooking are accurate. I followed the directions to a tee. I measured the pasta, added cold water to the appropriate water level line of the Fasta Pasta Cooker and with the lid off, I cooked the pasta(in this case spaghetti) in the microwave for the time indicated in the instructions for regular spaghetti, which was what I was cooking. I cooked it at the highest level and still the spaghetti did not cook all the way through. I have a 1250W microwave. I don't see why cooking the pasta at the highest level in such a high wattage microwave would be a problem. It turns out that instead of the 13-14 minutes for 2 serving sizes as directed in the instructions, I have to cook the spaghetti for at least 20 minutes. I'm not sure how much of a time saver that is. The real time saver is the cleanup. You don't need a pot or strainer anymore. Everything can be done in this product. Less items to clean up.
All and all this is an alright product. It just doesn't work for me the way it seems to work for others.

Length:: 3:37 Mins

Jack Scalfani tries out the fasta pasta microwave cooker on his "Cooking With Jack" show. see his show at [...]

The Fasta Pasta works fine, but you can save your money and cabient space by using a pyrex to cook your pasta instead. It would not make any difference at all. what you need to do this is, put 1 cup of pasta and 2 cups of water plus 1 tbsp. of salt in a pyrex or any microwave container for 5 mins. at high speed, after 5 mins. use a fork to stir it and put it back for another 5 mins. and PRESTO!!!! pasta ready al dente!!!

This product is truly amazing. It works exactly as described. Quicker than the "boiling pot" method if you add up the waiting for the water to boil in the pot plus the pasta cooking time. So far I have tried it for linguine and they came out wonderfully. I would recommend this to anyone.

I've used this product to cook 2 pasta dishes and it works as advertised, in fact it works quite well. You can cook approximately 1 box of spaghetti max at one time with this.

Unless you like your pasta "al dente," your going to want to set it in the microwave for at least 15 minutes. If you like your pasta really soft you can simply let it sit for another few minutes.

The main benefit to me isn't so much the decreased cooking times but less clean up and it frees you to do other things while its cooking, like preparing sauces or other ingredients as you don't have to watch it like you would on a stove.

If you have a small microwave, I'm using a Goldstar Intellowave, with interior space (11.5" deep x 11.5" wide x 8" high) the rotating platter can get in the way as the space is too small inside for it to make a full revolution. You can get around this by taking out the rotating plate and just resting the Fasta Pasta towards the edge or back of the microwave. It still works well if it doesn't rotate in the microwave. If your small microwave has a way to temporarily disable the rotating plate even better.