What Is Waterless Cookware, And Is It Better for You?

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases on this page.

It’s the start of a new year and one of the most popular new year resolutions is to eat healthy food and live a healthier life. A lot of people would like to kick-start their year with low-fat food bursting with vitamins, minerals and fresh flavours. One such way may be to start using waterless cookware.

What is Waterless Cookware, and is it Actually Healthier?: Waterless cookware is cookware with a stainless steel cooking surface to prevent metals leaching into food, an iron core to retain heat, and an aluminium or copper base to evenly distribute heat. This cookware allows food to cook at low heat and quickly without any oil, fat or water being used.This method of cooking is healthy, as it allows us to eat food bursting with vitamins, minerals and enzymes.

How Does Waterless Cookware Work?

As the name implies, waterless cookware ensures food is cooked without adding oil, fat, or water. The key properties of waterless cookware are: even heating, rapid heat transfer, and heat retention inside the cookware.

Waterless cookware is made up of several layers of metal. The cooking surface is high-grade stainless steel that prevents transfer of metallic taste to your food. The heating surface is made of either copper or aluminum layers to ensure even distribution of heat. An iron core serves as a conductor and retains heat longer compared to other materials.

To seal moisture inside the cookware, a steam-release valve lid is often used. The lid prevents escape of moisture from food when cooking. It forms a seal with the pot as heat increases and vapor is formed, the food is cooked without water. Due to the iron core, a steady temperature is maintained and food cooks faster.

Some waterless cookware have a steam control valve built-in to regulate the amount of steam in the cookware and to detect any steam rushing out of the valve. The cookware emits a whistling sound that ensures the user knows when to turn the temperature down or turn the stove off.

Some examples of high quality waterless cookware available on Amazon are:

Advantages of Waterless Cookware

Some of the main reasons why you should invest in a waterless cookware set are:

Healthy and Tasty Food

  • No Water Required: When you boil your food, up to 50% of minerals are leached into the water. In addition, large amounts of vitamins and minerals are lost through oxidation – when steam escapes the pot. All this can be avoided with a waterless cookware set where all the nutrients are sealed into the cookware pot or pan. Waterless cooking results in healthier, attractive and better tasting meals. Waterless cooking helps retain over 90% of the food’s nutrient (vitamins, minerals and enzymes). With the traditional cooking methods, foods lose nutrients, flavors, appearances, and their unique texture.
  • No Baking Or Frying: Baking in the oven or frying on the stove uses a lot of energy and requires high temperatures. In addition, as a result of the high temperatures, the nutritive value of the food is lost.  
  • Replaces high temperatures cooking: Using waterless cookware. This cookware allows a healthy equivalent to baking and frying using low to medium heat and retains most of the nutritive value of the food.
  • Less Additives and Preservatives: By using waterless cookware to cook meals, additives and preservatives are no longer a part and parcel of your daily meals. The natural flavor, colour and aroma of food is not lost or diluted.

Attractive Food and Cookware

  • Attractive Food: Waterless cooking makes food more appealing due to the lack of oil, butter, and water. As a result of using waterless cookware, the texture, color, aroma, and flavor of food is enhanced. This ensures that meals are more enjoyable and presentable.
  • Attractive Cookware: Waterless cookware is pretty to look at and easy to keep in the kitchen. The mirrored finish needs a gentle rubbing or wiping to bring back into beautiful original condition.

Time and Energy Efficient Cooking

  • Less Cooking Time: Waterless cookware makes cooking faster and hassle free. Some cookware sets include pots and pans in a variety of sizes  that can be heated with a single stove or burner. This will ensure that you have an even cooking heat and save time.
  • Energy Efficient Cooking: Waterless cookware is designed to cook food on low heat and save energy. The materials used in the cookware ensure most cooking is done while the stove is on low heat. Waterless cooking leads to less consumption of gas or electricity.

This type of cookware uses low energy cooking, so you only need the low to medium setting on your stove top. This preserves the vitamins, minerals and enzymes in your cooking.

Safer Cooking

  • Safety Enhanced: The materials used in making the waterless cookware enhance its safety. Due to its impermeable nature, the surgical stainless steel prevents heavy metals leaching into the food. The stainless steel layers ensure aluminum does not have contact with your food.
  • Corrosion Resistant: As the heating surface of the waterless cookware is usually made of stainless steel, it is resistant to corrosion. Therefore, there will be no corroded pot particles in your food.

Durable Cookware

  • Durable Cookware: Waterless cookware may be more expensive than other cookware, but it usually comes with the guarantee of a lifetime. If you are buying a waterless cookware set, it is important to check out, whether you are offered a lifetime guarantee.

Disadvantages of Waterless Cookware

We now look at some downsides of using waterless cookware to cook your food:

  • More expensive cookware: Waterless cookware is more expensive than other types of cookware. A good quality waterless cookware set can cost a couple of hundred dollars. The higher cost incurred is due to expensive materials (high-grade stainless steel, good quality copper and iron) used to make the cookware.
  • Heavy in Weight: Waterless cookware is heavy in weight compared to other types of cookware such as titanium cookware.This is mainly because a combination of metals are used – stainless steel, copper and iron. It might be more difficult for older people or people suffering from arthritis to handle this type of cookware.
  • Difficult to Clean Lids: Waterless cookware is dishwasher friendly; however, those that come with lids are not and need to be hand-washed. In addition, cleaning the valves is a hassle and time-consuming. Cleaning waterless cookware can be more time-consuming than other types of cookware.
  • Need time to Figure Out Recipes: You also need time to adjust to the new waterless cooking method and to learn to convert your favourite food recipes to the waterless method. Learning how to cook your favourite chicken, fish or vegetables recipes takes both time and patience. A good place to start for waterless cookware recipes is pinterest.
  • Lid Can’t be a Removed During Cooking: Another downside of the waterless cookware is the lid can’t be removed during cooking as this allows heat and moisture to escape.This means you don’t have the convenience of looking at and tasting the food in the pot or pan and you have to wait till the food is cooked.
  • Presence Required in Kitchen: You need to be in the kitchen when the steam valve whistles to turn the heat down. This means that you need to be physically present in or around the kitchen until the cooking is done.

Finger Licking Chicken Cooked in Waterless Cookware

This is a real gem of a recipe, quick and easy to make, and deeply satisfying to eat. This is a healthy alternative to the greasy, calorie laden fried chicken normally found in fried chicken joints. This recipe is guaranteed to fulfill your chicken cravings while being grease free, waterless, clean, healthy and low in calories.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking  Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Calories: 290 calories


Ingredients

  • 1 chicken breast; boneless, skinless

Marinade for one chicken breast

  • ½ teaspoon soya sauce
  • ½ teaspoon cornflour
  • A pinch of oregano or thyme
  • A few drops of lemon juice
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Cookware used:

  • A small (8 Inch) Waterless Pan With Cover will suffice for 1-2 breast pieces.

Method

  1. Wash the chicken breast, take a sharp knife and make a couple of slits in the chicken.
  2. Put you chicken breast in a bowl and marinate with soya sauce, lemon juice, cornflour, herbs and salt and pepper for 15 minutes.
  3. Pre-heat your waterless pan over low heat with the lid off. The burner can be turned  to medium if you prefer the chicken to be crisper.
  4. Once the pan is properly heated place the raw chicken into the pan meat side down in a single layer. Place the lid on the pan.
  5. Do not try to move or turn the chicken. Allow the chicken to cook for a few minutes until you see the juices coming out of the chicken.
  6. After a couple of minutes if you wish turn the chicken over, gently loosen from the pan with a pair of tongs, and allow the other side to cook for a few minutes until you see juices escaping again.
  7. Turn the burner down to low for the rest of cooking time – between 12 to 15 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked remove from the pan and eat while hot.

Serving Suggestions

Serve with a wholemeal Pita naan or brown rice. A leafy green salad will also compliment the chicken breast as well.

Conclusion

Fresh, nutrient rich, low fat, bursting with flavour and colour food is no longer an unattainable dream. You don’t have to spend hours preparing these meals and they don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Waterless cookware is the answer for attaining the goal of eating healthy, clean, and low-fat food. Once you try waterless cooking, savour the original flavours, aromas and colours of your favourite vegetables, meat and grains you will never want to go back to traditional cooking methods. The benefits of using waterless cooking far outweighs a few problem areas mentioned. Investing in waterless cookware is good value for money in the long run and allows you and your family to lead the healthy life you crave.

Learn all about waterless cooking, and whether it is actually healthier for you. What are the pros and cons of waterless cookware?

 

Leave a Comment