October 18, 2026
The 8 in Steamer Insert in Ciwete's 11-Piece Sets: What It Is and How to Use It
Both of Ciwete's 11-piece cookware sets ship with an 8-inch steamer insert, and neither listing explains what it is for. Here is how the insert works, how much water to put under it, a timing table for vegetables, dumplings and fish, which pot in the set to pair it with, and what it cannot do.
The one piece in the box nobody explains
An 8-inch steamer insert is the only item in an 11-piece set that does not have an obvious job. Pans fry, saucepans simmer, stock pots boil - but an insert with holes in the bottom tends to get put in a cupboard and forgotten. That is a waste, because it turns two pots you already own into a steamer and adds a cooking method most kitchens otherwise do without.
What is in each 11-piece box
The two sets are the 11-piece tri-ply stainless set and the 11-piece nonstick set.
Ciwete sells two 11-piece sets and they contain the same eleven items. The difference is the surface: the $169.99 set is bare 18/10 stainless steel, and the $179.99 set describes its two frying pans as nonstick.
| Piece | Size | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Steamer insert | 8 in across | Sits above boiling water to steam food |
| Saucepan with lid | 2 qt | Sauces, grains, small batches |
| Saucepan with helper handle and lid | 3.5 qt | Soups, pasta for two or three |
| Stockpot with lid | 4 qt | Stews, beans, a chicken |
| Stockpot with lid | 7.5 qt | Pasta for a family, stock, corn |
| Frying pan | 8 in | Eggs, single portions |
| Frying pan | 10 in | Searing, sauteing for two to four |
Counted properly that is seven vessels and four lids. Both sets also state a 3-ply impact-bonded base (18/10 stainless over an aluminum core), an oven rating of 400 F with the lids on, dishwasher-safe construction, tempered glass lids with steam vents, measurement markings, and a 2-year warranty.
How an insert steams food without touching the water
Steaming cooks with vapour rather than contact heat: water boils in the pot below, and the food sits in the perforated insert above the waterline, so it cooks at roughly the temperature of steam instead of the far higher temperature of a dry pan. That is why vegetables keep their colour and bite, why a fish fillet stays moist, and why nothing needs oil. The 8-inch insert is simply the basket that makes that possible in a pot you already have.
Setting it up: water, heat, lid
If you want the general theory before the method, Wikipedia's steaming article covers why vapour cooks food differently from a dry pan.
The method is short, and almost all of it is about the water level.
- Water below the insert, not in it. Fill the pot with 1-2 in of water - enough that it will not boil dry in ten minutes, low enough that it never touches the insert's base.
- Bring it to a boil first, with the lid on and the insert in place. Steam only starts when the water does.
- Drop to a steady simmer. A hard rolling boil throws water into the insert and turns steaming into boiling; a simmer keeps the vapour coming without splashing.
- Load in one layer where you can. Crowding traps steam between pieces and cooks unevenly; two loose layers of dumplings are fine, a packed mound of broccoli is not.
- Keep the glass lid on and use its steam vent. Every time you lift the lid you lose the heat that is doing the work, so check at the early end of the time range and add minutes rather than starting over.
Steaming times to start from
These are normal kitchen timings for a steady simmer in a lidded pot, not figures taken from Ciwete's listings. Start at the low end, taste, and add time in two-minute steps.
| Food | Preparation | Approximate time |
|---|---|---|
| Broccoli | Florets, stems split | 4-5 min |
| Green beans | Trimmed whole | 5-7 min |
| Asparagus | Whole spears | 4-6 min |
| Carrots | 1/4 in coins | 6-8 min |
| Cauliflower | Florets | 8-10 min |
| Potatoes | 1 in cubes | 12-15 min |
| Dumplings or potstickers | Frozen, on parchment or cabbage leaves | 10-12 min |
| Fish fillet | About 1 in thick | 8-10 min |
| Cold cooked rice | Spread loose in the insert | 8-10 min |
Which pot to pair it with
An insert only works when its rim rests on a pot rim of the same width, so the choice is a fit question before it is a capacity question. Both 11-piece sets include an 8 in frying pan, a 2 qt saucepan, a 3.5 qt saucepan, a 4 qt stockpot and a 7.5 qt stockpot, and the set copy publishes the insert's diameter (8 in) but not the rim diameters of the pots. In practice the two saucepans and the 4 qt stockpot are the candidates - measure the inner rim of the pot you plan to use, and if the insert drops through, the pot is too wide.
Which one you pick changes the batch, not the method. The 2 qt saucepan is enough for a bowl of broccoli or two fish fillets; the 3.5 qt and 4 qt handle dumplings for four; the 7.5 qt gives the widest steam surface for corn, shellfish or a whole head of cauliflower, at the cost of needing more water and a longer preheat.
What the insert cannot do
- It is not a pressure cooker. A lidded pot with a vented glass lid holds no pressure, so timings stay in normal steaming territory.
- It cannot go over direct heat. The insert is designed to sit above water; on a burner with nothing under it, it has no way to shed heat.
- It cannot be run dry. Ten minutes of steaming uses water, and an empty pot scorches and can warp. Top up with boiling water from a kettle if the level drops.
- It will not boil pasta or make stock. Both of those need the pot itself - the 7.5 qt stockpot is the one for a pasta night.
One more honest gap: neither listing states the insert's material, depth or coating. In the nonstick set, only the two frying pans are described as nonstick, so there is no published claim that the insert or the pots carry a coating.
Cleaning, storage and the per-piece maths
Both sets are listed as dishwasher safe, and hand washing the insert keeps it from spotting on the perforations. Dry it upside down so water does not sit in the rim, and store it nested in the stockpot it belongs to - which is also the reason a set is a better home for this piece than a bare pan.
On price, $169.99 for 11 pieces is $15.45 a piece, and $179.99 for the nonstick version is $16.36 - before counting the insert at all. Bought as a set, the steamer adds nothing to the bill; bought separately, a steamer basket is an extra line item and one more thing to find cupboard space for.
Bottom line
The insert is the cheapest kind of upgrade: it costs nothing extra inside an 11-piece set, needs no fat, and covers a whole cooking method - vegetables, dumplings, fish, reheated rice - that a frying pan cannot. Fill the pot with an inch of water, boil, drop to a simmer, and use the timings above as a first pass.
This article was researched and written with AI assistance, reviewed by the Ciwete SEO Team.