We were intrigued by the VitaClay Slow Cooker because of its healthy claim — the healthier cooker is one of their claims. As the name suggests, its made of clay, which is one of their differentiators.
It turns out that natural, unglazed, highly prized Zisha clay enhances flavors and preserves important nutrients, enzymes, and vitamins in savory soups, hearty stews, grains and legumes. The other nice thing about their cooker is that it is always free from added non-stick chemical glazes, lead and aluminum.
The feature that we love most about this diverse and flexible product is that it is a rice cooker, slow cooker, digital steamer and low-temperature artisan yogurt maker all in one – yes, really! I don’t eat a lot of carbs, but I do love my yoghurt and who doesn’t love a great stew, especially on a cold day.
You can make large batches of probiotic, calcium-rich Greek-style yogurt in this clay cooker – how cool is that?
By stewing foods rather than sautéing or frying, you can cook dishes that are low in fat and cholesterol, leaving the extra fattening oils off the recipe. The cooker brings food to boil two to four times faster than most of conventional slow cookers and then, reduces it to a simmer.
This cooking process is meant to retain the texture of food and shorten the cooking time by half while maintaining the food’s original flavor, which you often lose when you cook things too quickly.
The all-natural clay-cooking bowl promotes uniform cooking. Double lid design creates micro-pressure to maximize steaming quality for tender and flavorful food and cuts slow cooking time and energy usage in half. Your whole meals or side dishes can be made in as little as 30 minutes from scratch.
We also love the fact that this organic multicooker is fully programmable from ten minutes to up to 5 hours with 10 minute increments, which is a great feature for busy people with crazy schedules (that’d be me)!
Additionally, you can set the multi-program functions for savory stews and soups, pot roast, rice, brown rice, sweet rice, porridge and more. You can also use it to make veggies and steam fish and you can use the yoghurt making feature of the cooker as a brown rice germinator. We love this cooker’s diversity and it’s also beautifully designed.
The cooker includes a recipe booklet with 30+ original international recipes by VitaClay Chef Suzanne, a founder of the Company who we met at the New Living Expo last month. For traditionalists, you may be wondering why clay is better (and healthier?)
The first one is an obvious one: you can cook without adding salt, sugar or oils. Hear hear! Secondly, clay is porous and as noted earlier in our post, heat and moisture can better circulate through the pot during cooking, unlike metal or enamel-lined pots.
They use clay a lot in Asia and let’s just say that I’m in foodie heaven in every Asian country I’ve visited. Clay acts as a natural insulator that holds and absorbs heat to cook foods slowly and evenly bringing out earthy flavors and textures. Oh so yum!!
Naturally thermal, clay cooks four times faster and stays warm longer and who couldn’t find that useful?
It turns out that clay is also alkaline and if you’ve read up on the benefits of alkaline foods, you’ll know this is a good thing. Clay interacts with acidity in the food, neutralizing the pH balance which means that highly acidic foods like tomato sauce (so delish) become naturally sweet when cooked in clay. People often find foods cooked in clay have more authentic flavors and textures.
7 function settings include White rice (Quinoa), Brown rice (Wholegrain, or Wild rice), Sweet rice (Sushi, Sticky), Reheat, Stew (Roast or Steam or Beans, or less liquid cooking), Soup (Broth or more liquid based cooking) and Yogurt (Germinate).
Whether you want to use this cooker in a more traditional slow cooker way, such as making homemade broth soups or stews, or more healing herbal infusions, it’s a great all in one product for regular use, regardless of season. More information on their site and to purchase, it’s reasonably priced and available over on Amazon.
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Note: we were sent product to test out but not told what to write or say, nor were we paid for this review. Opinions are entirely my own.
Renee Blodgett is the Founder and Managing Editor of We Blog the World, a global travel, culture and lifestyle publication exploring the world through the lens of meaningful experiences, human connection and cultural depth. Having lived in 10 countries and traveled to 95, Renee has spent much of her life immersed in the people, traditions, landscapes and ideas that shape how we experience the world.
Since launching We Blog the World in 2007, she has written and produced extensive editorial coverage spanning boutique and luxury travel, culinary experiences, arts and culture, wellness, adventure, technology, spiritual traditions and transformative travel. Her work is rooted in the belief that travel is about more than where we go—it is also about what a place, culture or encounter awakens within us.
Renee brings more than three decades of experience across journalism, photography, media, brand strategy, technology, wellness and global storytelling. She has worked with companies and organizations around the world on brand positioning, communications, product launches, media strategy, speaker positioning and storytelling. Through Blue Soul Media, she works with authors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and purpose-driven brands to clarify their message and expand their impact, which includes speaker coaching/training for high-profile stages such as TED and bringing authors’ work to market while retaining authors rights.
She is also the co-founder of Blue Soul Earth, an educational platform exploring consciousness, ancient wisdom, spirituality, healing and the intersection between science and the nature of reality. Renee is the producer and host of the award-winning Blue Soul CHATS, a conversational series bringing together leading voices in science, technology, consciousness, wellness and spirituality.
Her growing body of work also includes Blue Soul Living, which extends her interest in consciousness and well-being into the spaces we inhabit, exploring how intentional design, energy and environment can support greater harmony and connection.
Renee is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling Magdalene’s Journey and founder of the Magdalene Collection, inspired by women’s voices, stories and wisdom across cultures and generations.
A longtime photographer and storyteller, Renee has documented people, places and cultures around the world and produced photographic collections focused on destinations including the Galápagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome and Ecuador. She also co-founded Traveling Geeks, an international initiative that brought entrepreneurs, journalists, creators and technology leaders together with their counterparts in other countries to exchange ideas and explore innovation across cultures.
Renee’s work has been recognized by Forbes, the United Nations and others for her influence in media and social storytelling. Across her work in travel, media, consciousness and culture, a common thread remains: curiosity about the world, the stories that connect us and the ways meaningful experiences can change how we see ourselves and one another.
