Customer Reviews

Joyce Chen 4 in 1 Microwave Rice Steamer

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

A lightweight, low-maintanence, and astonishingly versatile item for putting fresh veggies, rice, or pasta on the table at every meal.

I'd gotten a regular electric rice cooker as a wedding present, but never used it because it was large, heavy, unwieldy, hard to set up, and I always had to figure out where to plug it in. If I wanted rice for a meal, I'd make Uncle Ben's according to the package instructions and silently mourn the fact that I didn't have a good way to make real Asian sticky rice. So, when I saw a small, cheap microwave rice cooker at my local market, I had to give it a try.

Three years later I own two of these things and have given several as gifts. This rice cooker is one of my most-used kitchen items (only my paring knife really rivals it for frequency of use). Not only does it make really wonderful sticky rice, it steams vegetables easily, cooks pasta, and even makes popcorn! Most steamers are a pain to clean, with lots of small holes or fiddly parts, or made from materials the can't just get a once-over from a soapy sponge and be clean, but cleaning the rice cooker is a breeze too, since you just throw it in the top rack of the dishwasher after dinner and pull it out the next morning clean and dry and ready to cook up something else.

To me, this is an absolute kitchen must-have.

My college roommate bought the Joyce Chen Microwave Rice Steamer for me as a birthday present, and it's easily one of my most-used tools in the kitchen. It can be used for a variety of dishes, from rice to couscous, popcorn, and steamed veggies. I've tried several varieties of rice (short, medium, and long grain) and couscous, air-popped popcorn (no oil added), and various veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus), and everything comes out perfectly. Simply add water, slip in the steamer tray (if cooking veggies) and the two lids (one to lock in steam), and in a few minutes, you'll have a healthy, fast option for lunches and dinners. I hand wash mine, but you could probably put it in the dishwasher on the top rack. Simple to use and easy to clean, every kitchen should have one of these!

Inexpensive lightweight all purpose helper. I just microwaved popcorn and it reminded me again I owed a review because I so enjoy this item. Last week, made brown rice. If you are hesitating at all -- don't -- go for it.

Since my original review, I bought a second one in case the other is in dishwasher. I love this set. It makes rice, white, wild or brown, polenta, oatmeal, popcorn, all without problems, spills, or loss of good food. Toss it up in the top rack of the dishwasher to clean.

It is a perfect kitchen accessory.

I liked the whole idea of steaming rice in the microwave because I ALREADY HAVE a microwave oven.
I didn't want to purchase another appliance (electric rice steamer) to squeeze into my already too small kitchen.

When I saw the Joyce Chen Microwave Rice Steamer at Cost Plus World Market, I knew I had to have it.

My microwave is old, so after a little experimenting, I learned that 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water for 15 minutes on HIGH, then left for 5 minutes before fluffing, cooked up just right, but would boil over a bit and left a little starchy mess. I didn't want to think of what 2 cups of rice would look like!

Like some other reviewers, I was disappointed that I could only put in the half batch.

Well, by accident I learned on the internet today what causes the boil over, and how to prevent it.
The starch in the rice reacts with the surface of the water giving it a more elastic surface tension. You can break this up by adding a tablespoon of olive oil to the mix. Oil and water don't mix. The droplets of oil bouncing around on the surface of the water disrupt the surface created by the starch.

A few minutes ago, I made a full batch of rice in my Joyce Chen Microwave Rice Steamer.
I added 2 cups of rice, then poured in a tablespoon of olive oil and stirred it around to coat the rice. (I figured this would disperse the oil all around the rice and help prevent the rice from blocking up if I didn't get to fluffing right away. I was correct.)

I added 4 cups of cold water. (Cold, because I don't like to think of my cooking water sitting around in my apartments limey water heater when I'm just going to boil it anyway.)

I placed it in the microwave for 15 minutes. The water boiled up inside the container, up into the reservoir lid a bit, but NEVER out the vents in the snap on top.

I stirred my rice up just now, and it's perfect.

So, the lesson is, experiment a bit with your microwave, and add a bit of oil.
You should get perfect rice, every time.

[...]

I own two of these steamers. It's the best thing I've found to make rice quickly, easily, and healthy. I also use it to make all my vegetables. It's probably the piece of cookware I use most often in my kitchen.

I was so pleasantly surprised -- the steamer set made really nice rice! We have always used a traditional steamer, and we like our rice fairly dry. The Joyce Chen microwave pot requires 1 1/2 times as much rice as water, but it wasn't sticky. It took 20 minutes altogether, 15 cooking and 5 sitting for our 2 cups.

I first bought a microwave steamer set from Black and Decker several years ago (for $10) and just found out that they no longer make them. My parents wanted something similar so I tried this set here. Problems: the plastic material is not as sturdy as the B&D one and the bowl has little legs that make the whole thing not very stable (since the whole thing is made of plastic, it does not weigh much and hence topples easily). However it does the required job of steaming veggies very easily and fast in the microwave.

I had an old microwaveable rice cooker that worked well, it broke, so I purchased this one. I have used it a couple times now and every time it makes a mess in the microwave. The plastic gets hot and loses its tight seal and water leaks everywhere. The rice comes out perfect, but the mess is not worth it.

I've had my steamer for about 3 months now. I don't know how I ever lived without it! We use it at least once a week for rice, and every day for veggies. Last week I cooked pasta in it for the first time and was very pleasantly surprised at the ease of use and quick cleanup! I look forward to testing out the popcorn feature.

This is one I'll be giving as a gift, time and time again.

I've had a hard time finding a microwavable steamer and finally ran across this product! It is excellent. It steams rice perfectly every time and it much easier to clean than my electric rice steamer. I bought the steamer primarily for vegetables, but this does rice and popcorn, too. And it's large enough to steam vegetables for at least four servings, which is great. This is a great product!