Steam Oven Cooking Guide

Steam oven cooking allows you to add moisture to your cooking, without boiling or waterlogging your food. It preserves the natural textures and flavours in your food, and reduces the need for oils in your cooking. So whether it’s baking, roasting or slow cooking, add some steam and cook like a pro.

Man helping daughter cook in a steam oven

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Steam Ovens

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Why You Need Steam Cooking

Succulent Crispy Results

Steam ovens do more than steam veggies - they're pros at retaining food's moisture and creating the perfect crispiness.

Great For Baking

From baking a cake that has a soft centre with lots of moisture to bread with the tastiest crust - steam cooking can help you do it all.

Preserves Vitamins &
Nutrients

Unlike conventional cooking, steam cooking locks in vitamins and minerals to help you make healthier food.

Healthier & Cleaner Cooking

Steam-cooked food stays as close to its natural state as possible, so you enjoy the best, fresh flavours at home. Plus no oil means less mess!

TECHNOLOGY HUB

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Let’s Talk Tech

How Does A Steam Oven Work?

Different steam ovens add steam to your cooking in different ways. Some use a built-in steam wand, whilst others use an internal or external water canister.

Combi Cooking

Welcome to the world of multi-stage cooking. With a press of a button on your combi steam oven, you can start with steam cooking, then switch to roasting in seconds.

Sous Vide Mastery

For when every degree counts. By vacuum-sealing food, you can slow cook to perfection like a master chef, and bring out those incredible flavours.

Plumbed Or Non Plumbed?

Manual refills on your steam oven are easy with the simple to use water compartment or go for a plumbed steam oven for ultimate convenience.

Perfect Reheating

The only thing better than a great meal, is reheating it and eating it again. And Steam Ovens do this perfectly. Reheat or defrost your food without drying it out in no time.

Avoid Your Flavours Mingling

With an added manual compartment, you also have the option of doing a quick wash for 1-2 garments. It’s a great feature that helps you to reduce water wastage.

Steam Oven Technology Glossary

Check out below to get clued up on all the Steam Oven jargon before you start shopping.

Combi Steam Cooking

Cook with the ideal combination of moisture and dry heat for the best baking and roasting results, simply adjust your oven to the Combi Steam program to create the ultimate in soft-centred, crispy exterior-ed breads, meats and more.

Convection

Convection ovens encourage the transfer of heat through the circulation of air, forcing hotter, less dense air upward and colder denser air downward. The benefits of this mechanic see a reduced cooking time, a much more even cooking result and proves to be energy efficient.

Conventional

A conventional oven is a traditional oven that fills whatever you put inside it with hot air. most combi ovens nowadays offer a conventional setting, which works exceptionally well for baking as it traps moisture in the oven chamber, resulting in an even rise, and great cakes and bread.

Dual Steam

Ovens that feature Dual Steam have a powerful steam generator located on the outside of the oven. During the cooking process, steam enters the oven through two inlets (where the 'dual' name comes from), displacing the oxygen. This allows for faster heating, preservation of natural food colours and eliminates limescale build-up. *Feature specific to Miele

Plumbed or Non-Plumbed

Non-plumbed steam ovens mean that you must manually refill and empty the water compartment before and after every use. Alternatively, plumbed steam ovens require installation but automatically carry out this process for you.

Pyrolytic

A pyrolytic oven features an automatic cleaning function, where the inside of the oven heats to 400°C plus reducing grime and food residue to ash.

Sous Vide

The process in which food is placed in a vacuum-sealed bag and put into a water bath to prepare delicious, slow-cooked meals that retain flavour.

Steam Assist

This moisture function appears on some standard ovens and injects steam into the oven at intervals during a regular fan-forced mode.

Steam Clean

Ovens that hold a steam clean feature allow for easy chemical-free cleaning. Different brands offer different steam cleaning functions, with selected Westinghouse ovens you simply just add water and vinegar, turn on the steam cycle and wait until grime is softened and loosened and wipe away with a cloth. And with selected Asko ovens, the steam clean program involves powerful jets of very hot steam that soak food residue making for easy removal with a cloth.

*Features not specific to every brand of Steam Oven. Please refer to the technical specifications of the individual product for more information.

What Real Customers Have To
Say About Cooking With Steam

Our Latest Steam Oven Reviews

Bosch Built-In Oven Series 8

Pete's Customer Review

"Cannot believe how good it is! I was worried on its performance vs price. First I cooked a roast pork. the best pork I have done. The crackling was perfect. Can not speak more highly of this oven and easy of use."

Westinghouse Electric Oven

Rosalia's Customer Review

"Bakes absolutely beautifully. Even cooking, without having to rotate food. Quiet, and easy to use. Excellent price, and looks great! - no complaints here :)"

Bosch 60Cm Combi-Steam Oven

Anna's Customer Review

"I've had this oven 2 weeks now and have been very impressed. We've slow roasted 2 succulent pieces of meat using steam assist, sous vide eggs at 63 degrees and cooked perfect rice using the steam function."

Electrolux Pyrolytic Steam Oven

Katrina's Customer Review

"A Baker's Dream - This oven is amazing for baking. Its bakes nice and evenly across the whole tray. I'm very impressed."

Electrolux 60Cm Electric Oven

Joseph's Customer Review

"Great Aussie Oven - Much better than a famous European brand it replaced. And, it has a built in steam-feature which is wonderful for my wife's cakes."

There's More To Love About
Cooking With Steam

Roast Chicken With Adam Liaw in ASKO’s Steam Oven

How to use the multi-phase cooking function in the ASKO Steam Oven.

Westinghouse Steam Ovens

Use steam and hot air for crispy, tender family roasts without oil or fat.

Electrolux Steam Oven with Smart Food Probe

Retain the vitamins, minerals and
flavours of your ingredients.

Adam Liaw Cooking with ASKO’s Combi Steam Oven

Enjoy gentle defrosting, multi-stage cooking and many more user-friendly functions.

Discover Steam Assisted Cooking with Westinghouse

Enjoy delicious tasting food cooked with the Westinghouse Steam Assist function.

Discover Easy Bake and Steam with Westinghouse

Take your baking to the next level with Westinghouse Easy Bake + Steam.

More Tips, Advice & Buying Guides

More Tips And Advice

Cooking With Steam FAQs

What is a steam oven?

An oven that cooks with steam? Here’s how! A steam oven work by utilising water stored in a tank, when this water is boiled the steam is released into the oven to cook. It has been found to cook as effectively as a traditional convection oven. To discover why it might be the perfect fit for you read this page.

Are steam ovens worth it?

This does depend on your personal preference and how you cook, you also need to consider the capacity and other features when picking an oven. A steam oven is ideal for those who love baking, or those who are health conscious (as it requires less oil).