Commercial Steamers

Commercial steamers cook large volumes of food surrounded by moist heat, which keeps the flavour and the moisture in. A countertop grill lets water evaporate out of whatever you are cooking; a steamer keeps the water in the food, so nothing dries out.

You control the temperature and the length of time you steam for, which changes with what is in the basket. A combi steam oven does the same steam cooking and dry heat as well, in a bigger machine; a steamer does steam only, on a benchtop.

Commercial steamers give you the ability to cook in far higher volumes and at speed. This makes them ideal for everything from large scale restaurants to fast food establishments, with rapid come-up times to steam, quick cooking capabilities and timed functions.

You can also get steamers with auto-refill, which saves the time spent topping up the water reservoir. Apuro and Benchstar make the larger models, including dedicated dim sum steamers and pan fried dumpling makers.

Depending on what you’re preparing and the size of your kitchen, you have a few options when it comes to your countertop cooking setup. One option is to place it on a benchtop with easy access to an underbench fridge or freezer. That gives you fast access to bulk-prepared dumplings and dim sims, so prep is quicker.

Alternatively, if you want a more interactive setup or have a range of menu items that people can select and have cooked in front of them, pairing your commercial steamer with a grill, wok, or Bratt pan for bulk cooking is another option.

Newer models use less energy and less water than older ones, which brings the running cost down. They also have finer controls for temperature, humidity and cooking time, so there is less guesswork and less mess.

Steamers are not limited to meat-filled dumplings and dim sims. Marinated tofu, edamame, root vegetables and leafy greens like bok choi all steam well, and they keep their colour rather than going grey in a pot of water.

A rice steamer works like a bulk rice cooker and does one job: tender, light rice. Multi-purpose steamers take vegetables, dumplings and seafood as well, and they usually have more compartments or layers, so different menu items stay separate in one machine.

Modern steamers use less electricity and water across the cooking cycle. The ones to look at only make steam as it is needed, have auto-shutoff timers or alerts, and control humidity closely. Automatic water refilling and models that do away with traditional water cooling are the other two features worth checking, because they cut both the water used and the time staff spend on the machine.

Steam is gentle heat, and it holds the moisture and flavour in the food. Nothing collapses or goes soggy the way it can with other high-volume cooking methods, and the result is the same from one batch to the next.

You will see commercial kitchen steamers and commercial cooking steamers used for the same kind of equipment. The name changes with the supplier and the region, not the job it does. Compare models on capacity, construction and the specification on each product page, and check the full commercial steamers range to see every option side by side.