Oster 5712 Electronic 2-Tier 6-Quart Food Steamer, White

by Oster

• 2-Tiered 6-quart capacity steamer creates instant steam for preparing all kinds of food
• Delay cooking up to 12-hours; LCD display with 95-minute timer; auto keep-warm setting
• External water-fill system with see-through reservoir; fully collapsible steaming trays
• Includes 3.8-quart and 2.3-quart steaming bowl, plus 8 egg holders for soft-or hard-cooked eggs
• Measures approximately 14 by 9-1/2 by 10-inch

Product Details

Product Manual [846kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 10 x 14.4 inches ; 5.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00019G8IS
• Item model number: 5712
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (448 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #999 in Kitchen & Dining (See Top 100 in Kitchen & Dining)
  • #1 in Kitchen & Dining > Small Appliances > Steamers

Product Description

Electric two-tiered food steamer for healthy, delicious homemade meals. View larger

6-quart total capacity for steaming meat, fish, vegetables, and more.

User-friendly push-button control panel with LCD display and quick reference guide.
View larger

Exterior water-level indicator and exterior water-fill inlet for no-interruption filling.
View larger

Electric 2-Tier 6-Quart Food Steamer

Steam Your Cuisine for Mouthwatering Meals

Cook healthy, delicious dinners at home with help from Oster's easy-to-use electric food steamer. Whether gathering food from a favorite store, local farmer's market, or from your very own vegetable garden, the food steamer makes it fun to indulge in nature's bounty all year long.

Use the food steamer to prepare a variety of entrees and side dishes--anything from savory jasmine rice, wild-caught fish, or farm-raised chicken to the whole gamut of fresh or frozen vegetables, including artichokes, asparagus, summer squash, red potatoes, and more.

Large 2-Tier Capacity

The versatile 6-quart food steamer provides a double-tiered design and two stackable transparent steaming bowls--a large 3-4/5-quart steaming bowl and a 2-2/7-quart steaming bowl--that make it possible to steam two different foods simultaneously, without any cross-over of flavors. The large steaming bowl can also be used for cooking up to eight soft- or hard-cooked eggs at a time--great for springtime holidays, Sunday brunch, or as a healthy on-the-go snack throughout the week.

For rice, simply add the rice (or other foods with sauce or liquid) to the included 10-cup-capacity rice bowl. Place the rice bowl in the lower steaming bowl and cover with the lid. The food steamer takes it from there.

Powerful Steam in an Instant

Start cooking right away thanks to the unit's instant-steam function. The food steamer's powerful 900-watt heating element quickly heats the water in the reservoir, automatically and instantaneously generating steam. Even more, its exterior water-level indicator makes it possible to monitor water levels at a glance, while its exterior water inlet on the base of the unit offers a convenient way to add water during the steaming process (no need to remove the steaming bowls).

User-Friendly Design with LCD Display

The food steamer's push-button control panel includes an LCD display with a 95-minute timer (the maximum cook time), a red "cook" indicator light, a green "keep-warm" indicator light, an audible "ready" signal, and an on-board reference guide that lists cooking times for popular food items. Cooking can be delayed for up to 12 hours, and the food steamer's automatic keep-warm setting will maintain an ideal serving temperature (for up to an hour) while the finishing touches on dinner are being made.

Other highlights include integrated side handles on the steaming bowls for a secure grip, a secure-fitting lid to help trap heat and moisture, a drip tray to catch drips and spills, and an easy-to-clean design (most parts are top-rack dishwasher-safe). Even more, the bowls nest together, which allows for space-saving storage in between use.

What's in the Box

Electric 6-quart two-tiered food steamer, user manual, recipe book

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

426 of 437 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars My new favorite toy... February 17, 2004

By A Customer

I saw this steamer in an ad in Runner's World and just had to have it. Since going on the South Beach Diet, I've upped my intake of eggs, fish, chicken, and vegetables tremendously. And because I live an extremely active lifestyle, I never have time to wait for things to thaw before cooking. I was defrosting frozen meat and nuking scrambled eggs and frozen vegetables in the microwave everyday when I did some reading and found out that microwaving destroys over 90% of the healthy vitamins and nutrients in foods. Researchers have found that steaming is the best way to preserve nutrients if you have to cook a food.

This steamer gets the job done better than I'd ever hoped. While it does take a little longer to cook with steam than in the microwave or on the stovetop (add 5-15 minutes of cook time), it is a more hassle-free way to prepare food. You don't have to constantly check your food to see if its burning or stir it. No more exploding eggs in the microwave or rice stuck to the bottom of the pan. Just load it up, set the timer, and leave it to cook. For example, I stuck a couple of frozen chicken breasts and a cup of brown rice in, set for 45 minutes, and left to do something else. Halfway through I poured in frozen vegetables and seasoned the chicken and rice. The chicken cooked through perfectly, the vegetables were tender, and the rice was perfect. Hard boiled eggs are easy too.

Clean up afterwards was a breeze. The plastic containers are easy to wash off, but the drip pan fills up quickly and when full is hard to get to the sink to pour out without spilling. Cooking directions and times are approximate, so there is some trial and error involved. But since I love it so far, I will definitely be using it several times a week and get lots of practice. I highly recommend.

497 of 531 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Mold + BPA (synthetic estrogen) = unhealthy March 7, 2008

By Lee VINE™ VOICE

This product would have been one step up from the previous generation of Oster steamers if it weren't for two major flaws. UPDATE: it's been years since my original review. I still don't understand why this product is still a top seller on Amazon when Oster (aka Sunbeam) still hasn't made any real fixes or improvements to this product line.

[Good]

Digital: the electronic timer works really well (this was the new upgrade from previous models)

Versatile: This is pretty flexible and does great for Asian food.

Quick: it works much faster than I would expect.

Bad:

MOLD: The steamer's water inlet, that also serves to help you measure how much water is in the steamer, is a great way to collect mold. Currently it is nearly impossible to dry this inlet completely without pushing a Q-tip or tissue through; and no, turning it upside down doesn't help since the inlet's curves are designed to keep water in. Cleaning this part is also near impossible for the same reason. This is just really stupid. Oster should spend more time testing their products. This should have been fixed before being released. I'm not sure using fungicide would be a good thing since it's hard for most liquids to evaporate from this inlet (i.e. it'll probably eventually mix with the main water supply used for steaming).

#7 Plastic: As other reviewers have noted, this product made with #7 plastic. This material has a great chance of leeching biphenyl-A, synthetic estrogen, when it's heated. BPA is just not good for general health (it has links to causing obesity, cancer, heart problems, neurological problems and so on); for children the issues are even more complicated. Google can tell you all the details.... This just isn't something you should put in contact with your food. UPDATE: Plastic is just not meant to be heated when it's in contact with food. When you heat plastic, it will start leeching stuff and chances are you don't want that on your food.

Summary:

Get a stainless steel steamer instead. Yes they are more expensive, but health problems are also expensive.

Amazon sells a couple:

Oyama CFS-B12U All Stainless Rice Cooker

Aroma ARC-838TC 8-Cup Digital Rice Cooker & Food Steamer

Stainless Steel Rice Cooker Model ME81 (Formerly ME8) - by Miracle Exclusives

UPDATE: Here are my responses to frequently occurring posts and questions:

"Many consumer reviews erroneously assume that #7 plastic contains BPA. In reality, that number doesn't represent a plastic made with specific materials."

Yes that is correct. #7 plastic (which is what this product is made of) is a "surprise - anything and everything can be in this material including BPA or worse" plastic; use at your own risk. I'm sure it's even healthier when it's used with food while it's heated. Why? Because when plastic is heated, there's a good chance that it starts leeching things like chemicals.

The BPA claim is not erroneous. There are seven types of plastic. The first six types are clearly defined. I could be wrong but food grade plastics are only: #1, #2, #4, and #5. Out of that list only #1, #2, and #4 do not contain BPA. #7 plastic is not food grade plastic and is typically known to contain BPA.

"We called Oster directly and they confirmed over the phone that the food containers in their food steamers are BPA-free."

It is really easy for Oster to make it known that their products do not contain BPA. They can print "BPA free" on their products' packaging (a lot of other companies have been doing this for years already), as well as adding that statement to the Amazon product description. Amazon even allows companies to respond directly to individual product reviews like mine. Oster can write a response to my review, "We've made changes and improvements to our product. One of them is that it no longer contains BPA!". Sadly even though this is really easy to do, it still hasn't happened.

I would imagine the reasons Oster doesn't do it is 1) because what they say over the phone isn't true, and 2) because of legal liability. With a phone call, Oster reps can say anything they want with less legal repercussions. When its proven to be untrue; they can just say that the particular rep in question was either ill informed or just incompetent. Moreover, typically when companies make a non-written statement, they try to make it more official by using an official spokesman who is directly quoted with their full name. That hasn't happened yet. Read more ›

105 of 110 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent product April 30, 2005

By Parents of 3

Amazon Verified Purchase

The Oster 5712 Food Steamer is an excellent buy. Yes, it is large but well worth it's size for a family of 5 vegetable lovers. It has all the features I wanted, such as; water level indicator, two steaming containers, and a timer. It also keeps the food warm after the steaming of the food is complete.I have used this product many times since it arrived. I have prepared complete meals at once. The clean-up is very easy and much less mess in the kitchen. No pots no pans. I have no complaints. I am very pleased with this product. It is stylish enough to place on the counter. I would most definitly recommend the 5712.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic steamer! September 14, 2005

By Stacy Stewart

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is our second Oster steamer, and we are very happy with it. It's extremely convenient to use and it's much easier to clean than our old model was. I have only two complaints, and they are very minor. When the steamer is finished, the timer bell is a single quiet beep which is quite easy to miss. On the other hand, thanks to the keep warm function it's not as if the food is going to burn or get cold. We usually know how long the food is going to take anyway. Also, the cooking times printed on the steamer are not accurate. Although certain fresh vegetables are supposed to cook in 15 minutes, we find that it takes more like 30. All the same, we are very pleased with the steamer and would buy it again.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Pick! March 16, 2005

By Stray Acres

I researched steamers for weeks reading reviews before I bought this one. Couldn't be happier. Once opened it has never left the counter and gets used almost daily. I have used it for rice, fresh vegtables and frozen vegtables, and fish. I have set the timer estimates and I have been a little under and need to reset it but so far I haven't gone over. The rice has been perfect everytime. Alot of the reviews have said the all purpose steamers don't work for rice and you have to buy a rice steamer as well. I found this one did a great job. It does not produce a large quantity bit fine for 2-4 people depending serving sizes.