Thinking of Switching to Induction Cooking? Here's Everything You Need to Know Along with Best Products to Get Started in 2020

Would you believe us if we told you that the history of induction cooking dates back to over more than a century? Well, we didn't either when we came across this fact! However, mainstream induction cooking has only been around for the last couple of decades or so. With the world shifting from non-renewable sources to more environment-friendly and renewable energy sources, induction cooking is just one small step towards that.

Induction cooking works by directly heating the utensils using magnetic currents without using the primary heating method of fire or electricity. The best thing about induction cooking is that it can cook your food evenly. And there are a lot more benefits such as it helps you boil items faster, steady temperature control, the cooking surface remains cool, which it easier for you to handle, and so on. Truly, induction cooking is going to become the future of cooking and revolutionize your cooking methods.

There's one catch though, most of your regular kitchen utensils can't work for induction cooktops, and you'll have to buy special ones if you want to start cooking with an induction cooktop. Here are some points that you must know about while looking for utensils for induction cooktops

There already might be a few induction-compatible cookware in your kitchen. Material made from cast-iron, enameled cast iron are the compatible material choices for induction cooking. A few items from the stainless-steel category also work just fine on induction cooktops. Hence in case, the manufacture doesn't mention if the utensil is induction-compatible or not, you can decide for yourself by looking at the material from which it is made.

As mentioned earlier, your typical kitchenware won't work with induction cooktops. Other than that, while shopping for induction stove cookware, you must avoid items that are made from copper. Some aluminum cookware work, while others don't so, you'll have to check every time in case a piece of cookware is made from Aluminium; and, not to forget, glassware also doesn't work on induction cooktops.

Now, to check the compatibility of your kitchenware that can work on induction cookware, you can follow this simple trick: get any small piece of magnet lying around in your home (these can generally be found in electrical toys for kids). Place this piece of a magnet near the utensil that you want to test for the compatibility. If the magnet gets attached to the utensil or material in the blink of the eye, then you have your winner! That material will work just fine on the induction cooktop. If the magnet only softly attaches to the material of the utensil, then you may have a little success, but you still won't be able to get satisfactory results as heat won't be able to be adequately induced. And, you can completely discard those which do not attach at all.

If you've already gotten yourself an induction cooktop, here is the list of the best pieces of cookware you can buy online! But if you're still looking for a cooktop, you can skip the later section of the article where we've mentioned some of the best induction cooktops available in India. Let us now see the best induction stove cookware.

We've selected this beginner's kit for those who are just starting with induction cooking. Pigeon by Stovekraft Induction Base 4-in-1 Starter Kit comes with four basic cookware, including a pressure cooker with 3 mm base and 5 litres capacity, a pressure pan with 4 mm base, and 3 litres capacity, a standard non-stick tawa, and a standard kadai with lid.

All these utensils are made from the best quality Aluminium having ISI certification as well; the cooker comes with a weight valve, a gasket release system, along with a gasket release system as well. And all the other pieces come with an anti-deflecting bottom, which helps increase thermal efficiency and cut fuel costs: All-in-all, an excellent starter kit for first-time induction cooking users. It can be bought for Rs. 2,480 from Amazon and comes with a 1-year warranty.

Another product from the Pigeon brand, this cookware set comes in an eye-catching terracotta brown colour. The utensils are made from Aluminium, and the set contains one kadai with a glass lid (24 cm), a frying pan (24 cm), and a flat tawa (25 cm). The base of all these utensils has a thickness of 2.8 mm.

The material used for coating from the inside is made with Italian technology, which increases the product's strength and allows greater flexibility. Also, it is a 5-layered cook set and s PFOA-free, which means it's completely non-toxic. It is also compatible with stove-cooking. You can purchase this cook set for yourself or gift any loved on for Rs. 2,199 from Amazon. If you're looking for a set for gifting purpose only, you can also go with this set, and a 1.5 Litre Electric Kettle set; this combo will cost you Rs.1,472.

After you have shopped for kadhai and frying pans, next comes "pateela" or tope. And for this, we've chosen this duo from the Sumeet brand. There are a lot of choices available for sizes, and you can buy as per the members in your home or at your convenience.

The package comes with two tops along with their kids. It can also be used for both the induction cooktop and your regular gas stove. However, we recommend you keep this separate for your induction stove only. Their flat-bottom enables you to save up to 35% more electricity as well. You can buy this multipurpose tope set from Amazon according to their sizes. The price range is from Rs. 864 (for 1L, 1.25 L set) to Rs. 1,122 (for 5L, 6L set).

Wonderchef is co-owned by the world-famous Indian chef – Sanjiv Kapoor. You can never go wrong with this brand's products! From Wonderchef, we've selected this Amaze cookware 4-piece set, which comes with a saucepan (16 cm), frying pan (24 cm), dosa Tawa (25 cm), wok (24 cm), a glass lid (24 cm), and 2 detachable handles.

Wonderchef boasts of using only virgin Aluminium and not the re-processed one, which is often mixed with impurities and makes the induction process slightly ineffective. After going through a rigorous 7-step procedure, Wonderchef products become available for your use! All the products are PFOA, PFOS, and PAH-free, which means they are 100% free from toxicity. The contrasting dark colour further adds to the charm of the product. You can buy this set form homecentre.in for Rs. 4,999.

Prestige is another brand whose utensils we can find in almost every household in India! The set features one frying pan (24 cm), a kadhai (24 cm), a tawa (25 cm), and a glass lid (25 com). All these products are made from Aluminium, and the coating is non-sticky.

In addition to all this, the handle is also detachable and is made from heat-resistant material for the easy-handling of utensils while you're cooking some hot meals. The inside material is also stain-free and PFOA-free. This designer induction cookware set can be purchased from Flipkart for Rs. 1,299. It comes with a one-year warranty as well.

This premium-looking Tawa is all you need to make the puffiest of rotis! Its 225 mm size would make it easier to bake even bigger rumali rotis. It also comes with perma-cool handles for easy handling.

Moreover, it is also non-staining and metal spoon-friendly as well, and you can use it on gas stoves also. You can buy this 880 g, aluminum-based tawa from Amazon for Rs. 655. But if you're looking to buy it on the combo, there are also options available for that, such as tawa, frying pan + tawa+ cooker, and so on. You can check Amazon for more details and prices for each combo.

If you're only looking for an induction-bottom cooker, then this handi-style cooker might prove to be the best option! It is roughly-build and comes with two kinds of the lid, one manual and another glass one.
The cooker is gas-stove-friendly as well, and it only requires a handful of oil for cooking, for it has a ceramic non-stick coating. And since it is scratch-resistant, it can also be used with other metal cookware. This handi-styled cooker can be purchased from Flipkart for Rs. 1,735 for the 3 L version, and Rs. 2,490 for the 5 L version.

If you're looking for a cheaper induction cookware set, which is also at-par on quality with other products, then you can buy this Dura Induction cookware set by MyStore. This steel-made set comes with 1 kadhai (2.5 L), one frying pan (1.4 L), a saucepan (1.4 L), a tadka pan (800 ml), a Tawa (1 L), along with 5 different spatulas made from wood, which can be used to make different dishes. The handles are ergonomically designed to smooth the utensils so that they don't slip out of your hands while cooking. You can buy this cookware set from Flipkart for Rs. 985 only from Flipkart.

Our first choice for the induction cooktop is this Philips Viva Collection, one which is feature-packed! The product dimensions are 29.2 x 39.2 x 6.8 cm; it comes with 0-3 hours setting for cooking a variety of dishes and ten pre-set menus for Indian recipes.

Its sensor-enabled touch panel will make you feel as if you're cooking on some futuristic device, which is truly so! It operates on 2100 watts of power. Other features include the RoHS compliance, child-lock feature, and auto-off program for safer cooking. This premium Philips induction cooktop can be purchased from Amazon for Rs. 3,599.

Another fine product from Wonderchef for this list, this cooktop, is recommended by chef Sanjeev Kapoor himself. The cooktop can cook food almost twice as fast compared to your gas cooktop.

Its specs and features include eight power levels, which makes it highly efficient, a sensor panel with a touch screen, an automatic timer which can work for up to 3 hours, 2200W power, and compact size for easy carry around if you want to take it on trips. This product can be purchased from wonderchef.com for Rs. 3,299.

If you're looking for a budget induction cooktop, then you can buy this Cook Joy Induction cooktop from the house of Usha. It comes with a slightly lesser power capacity – 1600 watts. The dimensions of this cooktop are 35.5 x 27 x 6.5 cm, and it weighs 2.75 kg.

Its features include 5 pre-set menus for Indian dishes along with manual settings for any dishes that you want to make yourself, an auto shut-off, and pause function, which works for up to 180 minutes. Another interesting feature of this cooktop includes the ability to detect vessels which are not induction-friendly. It is available for purchase on Amazon for Rs. 1,895 only.