Long the go-to for recipe performers, caterers, dorm chefs, and even professional chef, portable induction cooker is not just a simple hot plate. These single burners come in handy even in the most well-equipped kitchen. Whether you’re experimenting with an induction hob to learn new techniques or cut down on your stove usage, are looking for a tabletop appliance for family hot pot nights or need extra cooking space during the holidays. , the induction hob is a convenient way to quickly and efficiently increase your kitchen’s cooking capacity.
To find the best portable induction hobs for your kitchen, we spent the winter preparing classic meals like French onion soup and beef bourguignon on a number of different models to find out the best options.
The best portable induction cooker overall
Compact and powerful, the Duxtop heats food quickly and cooks it more evenly than any other we’ve tested. This burner also comes with a bunch of useful settings like a child lock, timer and boil and keep warm presets.
The best budget portable induction cooker
At half the price of the 9600LS, the Duxtop 8100MC Portable Induction Induction Cooker is just as powerful and cooks as great, albeit with less convenience features and less appealing styling.
The Duxtop 9600LS portable electric cooker is the best all-round induction burner we’ve tried. It excelled in our cooking tests, handling multiple tasks with ease. Since the induction cooker can heat pans directly and efficiently through electromagnetics, it can raise the temperature much faster than a traditional flame or electric burner, and the Duxtop 9600LS raises the temperature the fastest compared to conventional burners. manually (and keep that temperature more accurate). It cooks just as well as our brand new LG series, but only in a short amount of time.
The Duxtop 9600LS was the most efficient burner in our cooking tests. With 1800 watts of power and temperature settings from 130 degrees to 460 degrees Fahrenheit, the 9600LS handled every component and task we tested well. It boils two liters of water in 4 minutes, faster than some stoves that take up to 5 minutes to bring to a full boil. The 9600LS burner also gently sautés the onions, caramelizing them perfectly, instead of turning black or charring as has happened with other stoves we tested. At the highest heat setting, the 9600LS also beautifully cooks steaks in a cast iron skillet.
The 9600LS is compact — about 11.5 inches wide by 14 inches deep — and fits even in cramped kitchens, and its design is clean and practical, with an easy-to-read angled control panel. allowing us to make the most of this burner’s cooking capacity. You can adjust the output of the burner according to the power level or temperature; we found it easier to maintain a steady boil using the power setting (instead of choosing a temperature). Child safety lock, timer, boil and keep warm settings add useful features.
The only problem we had was the squeaky squeaking common in the induction hob when used with some cookware. This is actually less severe with the 9600LS than with other stoves we tested, so it’s a boon if you’re sensitive to sound.
The Duxtop 8100MC is a great alternative for occasional users, those on a tight budget, or those who are tight on space. At half the price of the 9600LS, the Duxtop 8100MC cooks almost perfectly, cooking meat, sautéing onions and simmering better than the competition. It even boils water faster than its bigger brother, in about 3.5 minutes.
The 8100MC is slightly more compact than the 9600LS (about an inch shorter in depth) and has a similar intuitive design, albeit with a slightly less polished aesthetic and a more minimalist display. Like the 9600LS, the 8100MC allows you to adjust settings by temperature or power level, though those settings aren’t as detailed, being spaced 40 degrees Fahrenheit instead of 20 degrees like on the 9600LS — even more so than on the 9600LS. with the higher end model, we found it easier to adjust the burner wattage according to the wattage instead.
The 8100MC also has a timer function, but it lacks a child lock or preset for boiling water and similar common uses. That said, the lack of presets doesn’t look like a deal breaker, because it’s still possible to simply set the burner low (or high) and maintain a constant temperature regardless of a dedicated button. for it. By the way, we like the 8100MC’s tactile buttons, they are fun to use.
Just like the 9600LS and the rest of the cooktops we tested, the Duxtop 8100MC squeaks when in use, but again, we don’t see that as a deal-breaker.
Induction hobs work very differently than the electric or gas hobs you may be familiar with, and their advantages over both traditional technologies make them a great addition to your home. prepare meals schedule. Instead of transferring energy by conducting heat to your pots and pans (which happens when you use a flame or electric coil), induction burners heat the pans directly through electrical induction.
Induction burners work by passing a rapidly oscillating current through a coil located under the burner surface. This creates a magnetic field (you may remember this from an experiment with an electromagnet at school) and an electric current (alternating at high frequencies) which creates a Eddy in a pan placed on top of the coil; The resistor in the pan then generates heat.
For this to happen, the pan must be made of a ferrous material, which is why aluminum and copper cookware won’t work on touch surfaces. Cast iron and most stainless steel cookware will work fine. A good way to check is to bring a small magnet with you when you go cookware shopping — if the magnet sticks to the bottom of the pan you’re interested in, it will work on an induction hob. Fortunately, the majority of the high-quality cookware we’ve tested recently, from Dutch oven and cast iron pan arrive non-stick pancompatible with touch and manufacturers, recognizing the interest in this technology, have clarified compatibility in packaging and labeling.
The benefits of induction are many (you can find a good article on the finer points of induction at good cook). Induction burners are at least twice as fast as gas or electric burners for most tasks. Since induction does not depend on the transfer of thermal energy, the induction burner is both comfortable to work in the front and very safe — only the pan itself is heated during cooking so there is no residual heat and the burner surface still relatively cool. And of course there are no environmental risks or climate impacts, because yes with gas burner.
Single-burner portable induction hobs are a great way to experiment with technology if you’re considering swapping out a gas or electric stove, or incorporate it into your routine if you rent and don’t have that option. About the footprints of a food processor, they are ideal for temporarily adding extra capacity to your kitchen during the holidays or for family meals like hotpot that require a source of heat at the table. Because they’re cool to the touch, they’re much safer than traditional electric stoves — and they’re also incredibly efficient. And they are easy to keep clean and store away when not in use.
A common problem with induction burners — and we’ve had this to some degree on every burner we’ve tested — is that they tend to make a high-pitched, whistling sound. flutes, rattles or buzzes when the pot or pan placed on the burner is activated. While the sound annoys us, some people are more sensitive to it than others, and your mileage may vary. Either way, it’s not cause for concern or the result of a faulty burner.
The whine is more pronounced on high heat settings or in light pans, pans smaller than the burner coils or pans with less food, heavier cookware (like cast iron pans) can reduce the noise somewhat. there, so you can always make sure to choose a pan that completely covers the burner area.
We tested each induction burner with a series of simple but standard cooking tasks, noting which models performed particularly well or poorly and whether there were any design issues affecting functionality. or not. We evaluated the burners on a wide range of criteria.
We tested how well the burners sauteed the onions, noting if they caramelized or they started to brown and burn. We also tested the oven’s ability to burn at high temperatures by browning large steaks to make beef bourguignon. And finally, we did a few simple tests to see how quickly the burners could boil water and, afterwards, if they could keep the fire low.
Out of the box, we note things like preset cooking functions, the size of each burner, and build quality. We also pay attention to any useful features like a child-safe interface or a cooking timer. If any burner beeps when making setting selections or when the timer is up, we note that too. Finally, we noted how tactile the buttons were and if any were particularly unresponsive. Some burners only have a membrane control panel, while others have physical buttons and switches.
Isiler’s portable induction hob comes in second behind the two Duxtop hobs we recommend. This burner’s large footprint—it’s about an inch deeper than the Duxtorp 9600LS—is what finally pushed it out of the way. If you have a lot of counter space, this burner works as well as our main recommendations, but in my small Brooklyn apartment, that extra depth means it’s harder to use and store. .
The popular and affordable Max Burton 6400 Digital Choice induction hob features an attractive design, with an angled display that makes setting up the burner simple. We ended up getting rid of this burner because its heat settings weren’t detailed enough to maintain a boil – we could either boil the water or let it stand completely. It also has a higher whine than the others, is very hard to bear, and burns the onions rather than beautifully caramelizing them.
The NuWave PIC Flex precision induction hob has a lot of great features, such as heat settings with the right cooking type (boil, simmer, simmer, etc.) listed and no noticeable rattles. in any setting. But NuWave only allows you to adjust the temperature in increments (albeit in a relatively good 10 degrees Fahrenheit increments), only offering low, medium, and high power choices (we love models for allowing us to fine-tune the burner output according to both wattage and temperature). It’s the only burner that doesn’t have a power off button, which we found inconvenient and lacks a child safety lock.
The Zavor Pro portable induction hob works well and offers many functions, such as many preset cooking settings. If you’re very sensitive to noise, this burner might be a good choice, as we didn’t notice any hum when using this model. However, the Zavor has the largest footprint of the models we tested, is more expensive than most induction cooktops (which cost over $100, even at a discount), and its heat settings are only adjustable. Adjust increments according to temperature rather than power level, which we missed when we tried to keep the fire low.
The design of the Aobosi Induction Cooker is visually appealing and it costs around $56, but we found the buttons difficult to use and it couldn’t maintain a consistent boil.
