Here is my latest product review for the Sage Risotto Plus slow cooker, which is essentially a slow cooker with a few extra features added in. For example, you can steam rice, cook risotto, sauté and of course, do slow cooking.
The Risotto Plus comes in stainless steel (like a lot of other Sage appliances) and also feels pretty well made. There are also some handy measurements on the inside of the slow cooker which is helpful when you’re measuring out your ingredients, or if you need to know where the fill line is.
And the good news is, the cooking bowl is non-stick and it’s also removable. You also get thrown in a stainless steel steaming tray as well as a rice scoop and measuring cup.
So I wanted to test the Risotto plus using 3 recipes including stew, (of course) risotto and mulled wine.
Stew
So I started off with the stew, simply by doing it on the slow-cook setting. I left it for about 4 hours which was just enough time to make sure the stew was thick enough as well as the meat being cooked through to my liking.
Risotto
The next recipe I wanted to test was my risotto recipe. Here I got to use the sauté and sear setting because I had to fry off some onions and garlic as well. It actually worked a lot better than I anticipated because it came up to a really high heat when I needed it.
Luckily the Sage Risotto Plus also comes with a measurement guide so you know exactly how much water or stock to put in depending on the amount of rice you have. One thing I would say after using it is you might need more stock or water depending on how much onion, garlic or other ingredients you're throwing in with your risotto.
After putting in the stock, I put the slow cooker on the risotto setting and it takes 20-30 minutes, notifying you when it’s done. Apparently it causes just enough agitation with the rice to make sure you don’t have to go back and stir.
As I said before, I would just keep an eye on it to make sure there’s always enough stock in there whilst you’re cooking it. And I can say after the second test, it delivered a really nice risotto.
Mulled wine
And finally, over the festive season I used the Risotto Plus to make mulled wine. To do this I kept the slow cooker on it’s lowest heat setting and poured in the red wine. I then added all my spices and fruits and left it to heat up and mull.
The slow cooker did heat up really quickly (which is great) and it also did a good job at keeping a steady temperature when I needed it.
In conclusion
So in conclusion, I’d say the Risotto Plus does everything you need it to from a slow cooker with some handy features thrown in as well. I was especially impressed with how quickly it heats up as well as how hot it gets, especially when you need to use it to fry.
I was also impressed with how easy it is to clean because the cooking pan is removable and it’s also non-stick, meaning things tend not to get stuck too badly.
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