Waterless Cookware: A Detailed Analysis

By trk

Last Updated: April 27, 2023

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If you've heard of waterless cookware, then you've probably heard the following things:

It's healthier than other cookware
It reduces cooking time
It's extremely high quality
It's more expensive than other cookware, but well worth the higher cost.

You may also have heard:

You can only buy it from a direct seller (it's not available in a retail setting)
It's gimmicky
It's overpriced.

Oddly enough, the truth encompasses all of these: waterless cookware can be very high quality cookware and it can be a healthy way to cook.

But it can also be gimmicky. So if you want to buy wisely, you have to be able to separate the science from the marketing hype.

In this detailed analysis, we're going to look several facets of waterless cookware so you can decide whether waterless cookware is right for you and your family. We'll also provide information on popular brands so you can understand how they differ and know what you're paying for.

Table Of Contents (click to expand)

Summary: Pros and Cons of Waterless Cookware

Pros

The USA-made brands are high quality, fully clad cookware, most with lifetime warranties.
Many brands are stackable, allowing you to cook several dishes at once on one burner.
Some brands have steam control valves that whistle, alerting you to when it's time to turn down the temperature.

Cons

Buzz words and unprovable health claims make the sales tactics for some waterless cookware gimmicky and perhaps even unethical.
The American-made brands are very expensive.
Overseas brands are disc clad, which we do not recommend for waterless cooking.
Plastic knobs and handles are fragile and make the cookware less oven safe.
This cookware is no higher quality than other clad stainless cookware brands that cost hundreds of dollars less.
You don't need special cookware to use a waterless or low fat cooking method. Any cookware with lids, or a pressure cooker, will work.

What Is Waterless Cooking?

Waterless cooking is a cooking method that uses low temperatures, very little water, and usually no added fat. Tight-fitting lids create steam from the naturally high water content of most foods, and the steam pressurizes the pot, causing food to cook at a lower temperature than it would without a lid.

The higher pressure also causes some foods to cook faster (also like using a pressure cooker).

Additionally, this method involves using smaller vessels and packing them full of food, as shown above with chicken breasts (by the time she's done filling the pan, there will be no room between the breasts). Browning food is less important than steaming with this method, and filling a pot with a lot of food creates more steam than less food in a larger pot.

The advantage of cooking with low temperatures and little to no water is that foods retain more of some nutrients. However, this is not as straightforward as it sounds (more on this in a minute).

The advantage of using no added fat is a reduction in calories, although this is not necessarily healthier, either (more on this in a minute, too).

These claims add up to two major selling points: waterless cooking is 1) healthier and 2) more convenient than other kinds of cooking (because it's faster).

Being healthier is the main selling point of waterless cookware, and convenience is the cherry on top of the sundae. But is it really healthier? In some ways, absolutely. But in other ways, not so much.

Rarely are things as simple, black-and-white as sellers would have you believe, and waterless cooking is no exception.

The hallmarks of waterless cooking are that it uses 1) low temperatures, 2) little to no water, and 3) no added fat. Advocates also believe waterless cooking is healthier than other cooking methods, but this is only partially true.

The Origins of "Waterless" Cookware

Waterless cookware goes back to the mid-1940s. There was low-water cooking before this--known as pressure cooking, which is still popular today--but the term "waterless" wasn't used until the advent of stainless steel cookware.

When the term "waterless cooking" began to gain popularity, boiling was a popular way to prepare vegetables and even meat (it's hard to imagine cooking meat by boiling, but back then, people did). Research showed that boiling could destroy nutrients in food--so what better way to tout healthy cooking than a method that used less water?

Thus, the term "waterless cooking" was coined in response to the popularity of boiling. And it was deliberately meant to denote a better cooking method.

Since people rarely boil food anymore, the term is outdated, although still a buzzword that means "healthier" to many people. It is also largely misunderstood. For example, some websites will tell you that you can use waterless cooking for foods like rice, pasta, and beans, and that it requires much less water when preparing these foods. This is absurd.

Regardless of the type of cookware you use, foods like rice, pasta and dried beans require hydration, and the cooking process does not destroy nutrients in these foods. Quite the opposite: these foods must be hydrated in order to be edible.

"Waterless" originally referred to cooking without boiling--and it is, in many ways, a healthier way to cook both meat and vegetables. (More on this in a minute.)

"Waterless" cooking came about in reaction to boiling, which was a popular way to cook food in the 1940-50s, and which leached several nutrients from food. Today, the term is largely outdated, but still has connotations of healthier cooking.

Features of Waterless Cookware

To achieve the results of waterless cooking, you have to use special waterless cookware--or at least, that's what the manufacturers of waterless cookware will tell you.

The features of waterless cookware are: