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The Full Bamboo Steamer FAQ

I’m sure you’ve seen or at least heard of a bamboo steamer. They typically look like this:

It’s a type of cookware made out of several layers of cooking trays that usually have openings in the bottom. They’ll stack on top of each other so that steam (from boiling water below) can waft up through the tower.

Originating in Asia, people have been cooking amazing dishes with bamboo steamers for almost 5,000 years! Most scholars believe the original steamer was first used in parts of Southern China.

In Chinese, they’re called 蒸籠 (zhēnglóng) and is directly translated as steam + cage. Over in Korea, they’re called 대나무 찜기 (daenamoo jjimgi) and in Japan go by one of two names; mushiki (蒸し器) or seiro (蒸籠).

Have you ever heard of dim sum? That’s the usual name for these style of dishes in the West.

In Mandarin, the name is 點心 (Diǎnxīn), which can translate as dessert or pastries. But neither of these translations quite represents the amazing taste and texture of dim sum.
The reason they’re so special? Because of bamboo steamers!
So yes, bamboo steamers are good. To me, they’re absolutely fantastic.

The main food style bamboo steamers are used for is to create exquisite tasting dim sum.

This dish typically looks something like this:

But really, it’s kind of an all encompassing word to include any steamed food you’d find in a dim sum restaurant.

And it doesn’t stop there. Chicken, vegetables, dumplings, the list goes on. If you can steam a food, you can use a bamboo steamer to do it.

Let’s say you have 5 stacks of bamboo steamers with a big lid on top. Most chefs would then have a wok or a pot placed underneath it full of a bunch of water.

Add a little flame, heat, or sexy dances to that pot of water and it will start boiling. The steam then rises through all of the bamboo stacks slowly cooking whatever is lucky enough to be placed inside.

While not the easiest method of cooking, the results can be amazing. It will also impress the hell out of your friends when they see you cooking in one of these bad boys.

1. Fill your wok or pot with a few inches of water
2. Place the 1st level of bamboo steamer inside the wok, just enough to cover the lowest rim (so it doesn’t burn)
3. If you’re cooking foods without plates or that have the potential to stick to surfaces when cooking (like dumpling skins), you’ll need a form of liner to place between their bottom and the bamboo steamer floors (like baking paper or even lettuce leaves)
4. Fill the baskets with your soon-to-be-steamed food and make sure to keep ample room between each item
5. Stack them up, throw on a lid, and light the source of heat
6. Keep an eye on the amount of water left throughout the cooking process and be sure to add boiling water when it needs a top up
7. Smile, eat, and impress your friends!

Here’s a much more in-depth guide if you want more details. Most recipes will also give instructions on how long to cook and at what heat.

While a wok is definitely the best tool to use for boiling the water underneath a bamboo steamer, you can use other methods too.

Some people have small pots with a shorter diameter than their bamboo steamers. They’ll fill the small pots halfway with water, bring to a boil, then stack 1–3 steamers on top of it. The only issue with using a bot is you need to make sure the bottom steamer doesn’t get burnt, as it will be sitting on the hot rims of the pot.

Other people kind of jimmy rig a little stand within a large pot, where they put the water to boil. The bottom line when trying something like this — the bottom layer of the bamboo steamers shouldn’t be flat on a hot surface, nor should it be fully submerged in water.

When in doubt, go for a wok.

You can clean a bamboo steamer just like most other dishes — with love. Directly after use, be sure to rinse off any residue both on the top and bottom of the steamers. Feel free to use a cloth or sponge alongside mild dish soap (to not harm the wood).

It’s also best if you can leave your bamboo steamer to dry for around 2 days in the open air. No, the bamboo doesn’t like a breathe of fresh air, it just wants to avoid mold and mildew growing in the dank dark.

Also try to avoid soaking your bamboo steamer in the water for too long as it may absorb too much of the water. This could lead it to warping and/or taking way longer to dry.

It’s usually advised not to clean your steamer in the dishwasher as the heat and water can affect the bamboo.

You can try though, of course. You daredevil, you.

The general rule of thumb for sizing a steamer is that it has to fit in you pot, pan, wok. So, that depends on the size of whatever your water boiling tool is.

As for what’s most popular? That’s usually the steamers that have a diameter of 10 inches (25.4 cm).

While there’s lots of brand names that make and sell bamboo steamers, here are 5 of the best ones. All of the below have near 5 star ratings with hundreds of reviews.

1. Joyce Chen Bamboo Steamer
2. Mister Kitchenware Bamboo Steamer
3. Trademark Innovations Bamboo Steamer (Amazon’s Choice as of this writing)
4. Helen Chen’s Asian Kitchen Bamboo Steamer
5. i-PLAYLOFT Handmade Bamboo steamer