Comprehensive Review: Testing the Magnifique Claypot Multicooker After Weeks of Use
Traditional slow cookers have always presented a frustrating paradox for home cooks. While the concept of adding ingredients in the morning and returning to a perfectly prepared meal sounds ideal, the execution often disappoints. Many dishes emerge overcooked and mushy, lacking the complex flavors that make meals memorable. The inconvenience of retrieving these bulky appliances from storage further diminishes their appeal.
Enter the Magnifique Claypot Multicooker, a premium kitchen appliance that promises to revolutionize slow cooking through its unique clay construction and eight distinct cooking functions. Priced at nearly $200, this device claims to replace multiple kitchen tools while delivering superior results. After extensive testing over several weeks, here’s an in-depth evaluation of whether this multicooker lives up to its ambitious promises.
Understanding the Magnifique Claypot Multicooker
This innovative appliance features a removable clay pot and matching lid, both safe for oven use. The device offers eight cooking modes: Slow Cook, Braise, Sear/Sauté, Keep Warm, Brown Rice, White Rice, Oats, and Pasta. This versatility theoretically allows it to replace a slow cooker, rice maker, sauté pan, and braising vessel. Available in three natural colors—sage, brown sugar, and oatmeal—the sage variant appears more blue-tinted than promotional images suggest.
The package includes additional accessories: a cork trivet, lid holder, and a Y-shaped wooden utensil designed for scraping food from pot edges.
Key Differences from Standard Slow Cookers
The Magnifique’s construction centers on kaolin clay, which efficiently retains heat and accelerates the slow-cooking process. This clay material rates 8.5 on the Mohs hardness scale, making it exceptionally durable compared to glazed aluminum cookware (2.5) while remaining below diamond hardness (10). The pot contains no plastic or PFAS compounds and provides natural non-stick properties.
While Magnifique markets itself as the only 100% clay slow cooker available, other products like Vitaclay challenge this claim. Traditional Crock-Pot models originally featured ceramic crocks similar to Magnifique’s design, though modern versions typically use glazed stoneware containing quartz, feldspar, and clay blends. The Magnifique’s pure kaolin clay construction reportedly eliminates heavy metal traces found in some conventional alternatives.
The most notable design advantages include the oven-safe clay lid and the Sear/Sauté function, features often missing from traditional slow cookers, though some competitors like the Cuisinart Cook Central do offer similar browning capabilities.
Extensive Cooking Tests
Beef Stew Performance
Testing began with a classic red wine beef stew, traditionally challenging for slow cookers due to inadequate browning capabilities. The Magnifique exceeded expectations, properly searing beef chunks and developing excellent fond for flavor development. The low setting produced remarkably tender beef in just three hours, significantly faster than conventional slow cooking.
The clay lid’s steam release hole required occasional water additions to maintain proper consistency, but the final result delivered the concentrated, savory depth that makes beef stew exceptional.
Oatmeal Preparation
Daily oatmeal consumption made the Oats setting particularly relevant for testing. The standard process involves toasting oats, adding chia seeds, salt, dates, and water, then simmering until dates dissolve and oats soften. The Magnifique replicated this process effectively, though the 10-minute preheating time meant no significant time savings over stovetop preparation.
Some bottom sticking occurred, likely due to the inability to adjust temperature in oats mode. Regular stirring resolved this issue in subsequent preparations.
One-Pot Pasta Results
Testing the Pasta mode with a one-pot puttanesca recipe revealed both strengths and limitations. The Sear/Sauté function heated effectively but created hot spots that slightly burned garlic during the aromatic preparation phase. Despite this, the pasta achieved perfect al dente texture in exactly 10 minutes as specified.
The automatic cycle completion feature for pasta, oats, and rice modes lacks clear indication, making manual timing advisable to prevent overcooking.
Braising Capabilities
A whole chicken soup with leeks tested the braising function. Without initial searing, the distinction between braising and high-temperature slow cooking remained unclear. The chicken cooked thoroughly in 90 minutes, producing excellent soup. Later clarification revealed that braising should follow searing using the Sear/Sauté setting for optimal results.
Rice Cooking Assessment
Rice preparation using the White Rice setting produced mixed results. While the grain cooked properly, significant bottom sticking and browning occurred. The device’s shape likely accelerates water evaporation, suggesting larger rice quantities might improve outcomes. Overall, dedicated rice cookers remain superior for this specific task.
Yogurt Making Attempt
Homemade yogurt preparation required heating milk to 180°F using the low slow cook setting—a temperature never achieved due to user error in lid placement. After cooling to 110°F and adding yogurt starter, the mixture required eight hours wrapped in towels for setting. The final product emerged thin and runny, partly due to insufficient initial heating. Future attempts would benefit from using the Sear/Sauté function to reach proper temperatures more efficiently.
Notable Advantages
The Magnifique’s low, wide design delivers superior sautéing and browning compared to Instant Pots and traditional Crock-Pots. The Sear/Sauté function reaches 450°F, eliminating the steam issues that plague taller appliances with inadequate heating. While hot spots require occasional stirring, the overall performance significantly exceeds conventional alternatives.
Slow cooking proves faster and more effective than standard models. The clay construction with bottom and side heating elements, combined with the heavy-duty pot and lid, creates excellent heat retention. The oven-safe, aesthetically pleasing pot serves double duty for cooking and presentation, eliminating dish transfers.
Cleanup remains manageable despite the clay surface not being completely non-stick. Stubborn residue responds well to Bar Keepers Friend, restoring the pot to like-new condition.
Areas for Improvement
The Sear/Sauté function’s uneven heating requires attention and frequent stirring to prevent burning. The automatic sensing feature for pasta, oats, and rice modes lacks intuitive operation, with quiet beeps that are easily missed. These settings also prevent temperature and timing adjustments, limiting cooking flexibility.
The distinction between Slow Cook and Braise settings remains unclear. Slow Cook offers high and low temperatures with up to 12-hour programming, while Braise provides single temperature operation for maximum six hours. The manual’s explanations don’t adequately clarify when to use each setting.
Final Recommendation
At $180, the Magnifique Claypot Multicooker represents a premium investment that justifies its price point. It has effectively replaced Dutch oven use for soups and stews while providing convenient grain and sautéing capabilities, though dedicated rice cookers remain superior for rice preparation.
The substantial footprint requires consideration for small kitchens, but the space sacrifice proves worthwhile given the pot’s dual oven functionality. The device’s versatility and performance make it recommendable even for slow-cooking skeptics seeking reliable, high-quality results.
This multicooker successfully bridges the gap between convenience and quality, delivering the slow-cooking benefits that traditional appliances promise but often fail to achieve.