The GreenPan Omni Cooker is a hybrid fashion equipment that I might describe as a cross between a rice cooker, sluggish cooker, steamer, and a frying pan. The household measurement non-stick pot can be utilized for all kinds of meals and aspect dishes. It’s an ideal various to your hob, notably if yours is inefficient otherwise you frequently prepare dinner for a crowd and want additional cooking house.

The greatest multi-cookers have gotten more and more common and there are many choices out there from massive manufacturers like Immediate Pot and Ninja, however most are based mostly on the core operate being an electrical stress cooker. Whereas the GreenPan Omni Cooker provides a distinct tackle a multi-purpose countertop cooker, that may go well with these whose fashion of cooking is extra hands-on.

I wasn’t certain I wanted the Omni Cooker in my life, however I used to be very open to it. Like a lot of individuals I’ve been making an attempt to streamline my cooking to scale back my vitality payments and though I don’t actually understand how a lot vitality my hob makes use of, I can’t assist considering the fuel flame is heating the room as a lot because the pan and might be not probably the most environment friendly alternative. So I used to be eager to see what the Omni Cooker was like to make use of and I additionally hooked it as much as an electrical energy meter so I might work out how a lot every dish price me to prepare dinner, learn on to see what I discovered.

GreenPan Omni Cooker product specs 

• Capability: 5.6 litres
• Good programmes: Stir-fry, sauce, simmer, steam, white rice, brown rice, grains, soup, sear/ sauté, heat or handbook operation
• Energy: 2200 Watts
• Pan: PFAS free Ceramic Non-Stick
• Equipment: steam rack
• Out there colors: blue, chrome steel, cream, black
• Dishwasher secure: sure

Who examined this cooker?

 Unboxing

The GreenPan Omni cooker arrives packed in a neat field with a number of protecting cardboard inserts which can be simple to recycle. There are additionally some plastic baggage surrounding the parts, however these will be recycled with the service baggage at your native grocery store. I used to be despatched the black model and it seems to be like an enormous, lidded saucepan that has a management panel on the entrance. I wouldn’t name it a shocking equipment, I’d say it’s inoffensive and sensible.

There are two massive handles on both aspect of the outer pot making it simple to maneuver round. The internal cooking pot has a hid aspect hooked up to the underside, it slots simply into place and for the avoidance of doubt, the entrance of the pot is labelled as such. The glass lid sits on high of the pot and has a steam gap, although notably it doesn’t seem to type a good seal.

On the entrance of the cooker there’s a inexperienced LCD show that’s a bit garish when lit, although it strikes me that the inexperienced might be a deliberate ‘on model’ alternative for GreenPan. There are solely seven small buttons on the management panel, the time and temperature are adjusted with plus and minus buttons and urgent the menu button repeatedly will cycle by the pre-programmed choices. The place of the display and buttons did imply I discovered myself crouching right down to get the most effective view after I was utilizing it. If it had been angled upwards even barely, it could be somewhat simpler to see, however I’m nit-picking!

First impressions 

The straightforward menu means it doesn’t take lengthy in any respect to become familiar with the assorted settings and controls. Among the cooking capabilities have a preset cooking temperature that may’t be adjusted, however most have adjustable temperature settings inside a selected vary and a useful desk within the instruction booklet provides extra element on the choices.

Talking of the instruction booklet, whereas it accommodates all of the related info for utilizing the Omni cooker, I’d have preferred to see some cooking timetables or recipes to get you began. As a result of though there are pre-set programmes for meals like rice, grains, and soup, there’s restricted info on the right way to get the most effective out of those programmes, so I’m instantly considering there’s going to be some trial and error required.

Making beef chilli and vegetarian bolognese 

I sauteed chopped onions and beef mince together with garlic and spices for 5 minutes on the sauté operate, and it was speedy. Then I added the remainder of my substances together with tinned tomatoes, chipotle paste and diced pepper, and switched it to the simmer operate. The preset time is 4 hours, so I assumed this mode can be extra like a sluggish cooker than simmering on the hob, however I used to be flawed.

Peering by the steamed-up glass lid I might see that as the warmth cycled on and off, the chilli was continuously effervescent away on what I’d describe as fairly a excessive simmer. After 20 minutes I gave it a stir and added in kidney beans and a few additional seasoning. It was thickened and properly cooked by simply ten minutes later. It’s much more just like cooking on the hob than in a sluggish cooker. So that you wouldn’t wish to go away it unattended for too lengthy. On the plus aspect, should you’re not the sort of one that plans prematurely and will get the sluggish cooker going earlier than you set off to work, this can go well with you higher than a sluggish cooker.

The method for my veggie bolognese was just about the identical as for the chilli. I sauteed the onions and greens earlier than including in the remainder of the substances and simmering for half an hour. It labored properly and made a wealthy, tasty dinner.

Cooking rice 

I opted to prepare dinner up a batch of brown rice – on the time of writing it’s January so I’m being additional wholesome! The cooking ideas part of the instruction ebook says to prepare dinner a minimal of two cups of rice and that when it’s within the pot, add water to succeed in the corresponding cup line. So I added my two cups of brown basmati rice and crammed the cooking pot with chilly water to the 2 cup line.

The default cooking time for brown rice is an hour and quarter-hour, which is properly over double the time it takes to deliver a saucepan of water to the boil after which simmer for 20-25 minutes on the hob, however nonetheless I didn’t alter something and pressed begin.

As I already talked about, the lid doesn’t seal tightly onto the pot, so throughout cooking various steam escapes throughout the edges of the lid in addition to by the opening on the high, which meant my kitchen acquired a tad steamy.

half-hour into cooking, there was no extra steam being emitted and I might inform there was no water left so I peered in and certain sufficient the pan was dry and the rice wasn’t cooked. I added an additional 300ml water – a complete guesstimate – and closed the lid to permit it to hold on cooking.

Simply ten minutes later it had boiled dry once more. The rice was nonetheless not cooked however it was very near being cooked so I added an additional 150ml of water. I switched it off after a complete of fifty minutes. At this level the rice was cooked and fluffy, however after I stirred it up, I found some rice had fashioned a crispy layer on the bottom of the pan. That is in all probability because of the reality it boiled dry a few occasions, however fortunately I used to be capable of peel it away from the remainder of the rice and discard it.

The vast majority of the rice was properly cooked with flavour and texture, it’ll simply take a few makes an attempt to grasp the right rice to water ratio and nail the prepare dinner time. After that although, I feel I’ll be capable to obtain constant outcomes each time. The one different subject is that in our home of simply two adults, I by no means usually prepare dinner this a lot rice, however fortunately cooked rice will be frozen for later, so I can batch prepare dinner it and pop parts within the freezer.

Steaming 

When contemplating what I wished to steam within the Omni cooker, I used to be instantly aggravated by the steaming rack. Firstly, it’s fairly small compared to the pot measurement, and secondly, the bars are far aside, in order that meant my inexperienced beans weren’t going to work. I made a decision broccoli was shout and tried to chop it into chunky florets that wouldn’t fall by the gaps. However to steam smaller greens sooner or later, I’ll want to search out an alternate steaming rack that’ll slot in.

I added the required 2.5cm water to the pan, the directions don’t specify whether or not this needs to be sizzling water from the kettle or chilly water. I made a decision I’d go for chilly and let the Omni cooker do all the work, as an alternative of getting the kettle concerned.

The default prepare dinner time is 20 minutes, however I stored a eager eye on it. It took about three minutes to preheat to a speedy boil and after that I let it steam for 4 minutes. The broccoli was the right texture, barely al dente with a vibrant inexperienced color. However a lot of steam poured out of the sides of the lid throughout cooking so I’d advise utilizing as near your extractor fan as attainable.

Stir frying 

I used the Omni cooker to make a scrumptious vegetable stir fry with prawns and tofu. The stir fry operate took an impressively speedy 1 ½ minutes to preheat. I discovered the pot was a good condition for stir frying and the greens cooked comparatively rapidly. My hob has a big central double burner fuel ring that’s nice for stir frying, so for me the Omni cooker was barely slower. However with that being mentioned, I feel lots of people with electrical hobs will discover stir frying within the Omni cooker is far faster and it heats up in a short time too.

Cooking soup 

Earlier than utilizing the soup operate I used the sauté operate to prepare dinner some onions and spices, which was very quick and efficient. Then I added sizzling inventory, carrots and lentils and switched it over to soup mode. The default settings are 75oC for one hour, I gave it a stir after 40 minutes and on the finish of the hour the carrots have been nonetheless very agency, and the lentils hadn’t softened both. So I began the soup mode once more, however this time elevated the temperature as much as 90oC and set the timer to half-hour. This did the trick and when the timer beeped, all the things was properly cooked.

The handbook says metallic utensils can be utilized within the pan so I very tentatively used my hand blender to blitz up the soup and fortunately it didn’t scratch, however I’d in all probability keep away from mixing soup within the pot subsequent time, as a result of there’s an excessive amount of of a threat of scratching it.

Annoyingly there isn’t a pouting lip or handles on the internal pan, so as an alternative of trying to pour the soup out and threat spilling a lot of it, I ended up ladling it out into my freezer containers. It wasn’t an excessive amount of of a faff, however a pouring lip and handles would definitely be a welcome improve.

Cooking quinoa 

I used the grains setting to prepare dinner some quinoa with a spice combine. Often I boil a pan of water then add rinsed quinoa, however because the handbook doesn’t say so as to add sizzling water I put the quinoa and chilly water in collectively and I feel this was a mistake.

By this level I’d come to understand that the default cooking occasions are considerably meaningless, so regardless of the actual fact the prepare dinner time mentioned 1 hour and quarter-hour, I stored a watch on it and switched it off after 45 minutes when all of the water was absorbed. However the cooked quinoa was stodgy and overcooked and I’m unsure if I acquired my water ratio flawed or if it was as a result of I began with chilly water, both manner I’ll must do issues in another way subsequent time.

 Cleansing

The pot and lid are dishwasher secure, although they’re fairly massive, so I usually discovered I most well-liked to clean them by hand as an alternative of utilizing up a great deal of house in my dishwasher. The non-stick coating on the pot is basically environment friendly, which implies that it doesn’t matter what you’ve been cooking it hardly ever requires greater than a fast wipe over with a sizzling soapy sponge. Equally, the glass lid was simple to wash by hand.

I hardly ever discovered that the surface of the pot acquired soiled however when it did it cleaned simply. The buttons on the management panel have the potential to get muck and dirt trapped across the edges, so it’s price being cautious to not press them when your arms are caked in meals residues.

 Comparisons

Should you’re in search of a extra conventional sluggish cooker, we’d suggest the Morphy Richards Sear and Stew, it’s an uncomplicated sluggish cooker for stews and casseroles. Not like the Omni cooker it doesn’t provide the flexibility to stir fry or simmer, and to sear meats you’ll have to make use of your hob. However at below £50 it’s a complete lot extra inexpensive.

The Immediate Pot Professional is an alternate multi-cooker that provides a distinct vary of capabilities to the OmniCooker. Just like the Omni cooker it could possibly steam, sauté and prepare dinner rice, however it additionally provides stress prepare dinner and sluggish prepare dinner capabilities in addition to barely extra area of interest sous vide and yogurt settings. It’s additionally somewhat cheaper than the OmniCooker at round £170, however it actually comes right down to which capabilities shall be helpful to you.

Vitality use 

I plugged in an vitality meter whereas utilizing the GreenPan Omni cooker and calculated the utilization based mostly on vitality costs being 35p/ kWh. I used to be stunned that though it was cooking for an hour and a half, the soup price simply 17p. Chilli and bolognese price 18p-19p together with the sauteing. And regardless of utilizing a excessive warmth, my stir fry solely used 13p of electrical energy. Cooking brown rice price 19p, which appears extreme, however as I mentioned above, I don’t understand how a lot it normally prices on my fuel hob, so I don’t have a comparability. 

Do you have to purchase the GreenPan Omni Cooker?

I’d undoubtedly suggest the Omni cooker should you continuously run out of house in your hob, or in case your hob is basically inefficient. I feel it excelled at cooking meals like chilli, Bolognese, and stir fry, likewise it’d be nice for curries too. For basic frying and sauteing it’s tremendous fast to warmth up and has wonderful non-stick properties so works properly.

Nevertheless it gained’t go well with everybody for cooking rice and grains, particularly should you normally prepare dinner small parts, or should you’re not ready to experiment with water ratios and prepare dinner occasions.  Steaming isn’t its strongest operate and I don’t suppose it could possibly exchange a tiered steamer, it’s greatest used for infrequent steaming. If you would like a hands-off cooker which you can stroll away and go away to get on with the job, it’s not for you. However hands-on cooks will get pleasure from having the ability to open the lid continuously to stir and style dishes.

About this evaluation, and the reviewer: 

Helen used this cooker at residence to make dinner for herself and her husband and to batch prepare dinner some fast and straightforward lunch choices to fill her freezer. She tried to make use of as lots of the programmes as attainable to provide it well-rounded evaluation.