Wolf Gourmet Multi-Function Cooker review: A versatile slow cooker for preparing larger meals

While we all love a good appliance at Homes & Gardens, if we bought one of every gadget we put through its paces we'd have no room to cook. Air fryers, slow cookers, rice cookers and toaster ovens all have big counter footprints and it's a rare to find a kitchen that can hold them all at once.

Enter the multicooker, an appliance that can carry put multiple cooking functions, cutting costs and countertop real estate. The multicooker market has traditionally been dominated by Instant Pot, but we were excited to see Wolf Gourmet enter the fray with the Wolf Gourmet Multi-Function Cooker. 

However, like all Wolf Gourmet products, this multicooker commands a high price. That's why we simply had to get our hands on it put it to the test. I put it thorugh its paces on multiple recipes to see if the option to roast a chicken, boil eggs, steam rice, and much else all in one pot is really worth $700. 

Paige Cerulli

Paige has been writing for more than a decade, and has been reviewing products, including kitchen accessories and appliances, for five years. She greatly enjoys baking and cooking, and some of her favorite appliances include a slow cooker and a countertop oven. 

Unboxing the Wolf Gourmet Multi-Function Cooker

 Both boxes opened from the top. Because the slow cooker weighs nearly 30 pounds, I found it easiest to place the boxes on the floor. The cooker’s body was packed between two large pieces of styrofoam, and other packing materials included cardboard and thin plastic bags. 

The smaller components were easy to remove, but lifting the cooker out proved challenging alone. A second person who can help to lift the cooker and remove the styrofoam ends would be helpful. 

Assembling the slow cooker was simple and intuitive. The stainless steel vessel fits securely inside the cooker base, and the glass lid features a heavy-duty rubber gasket creating a seal that also serves to guide the lid into place.

The use and care guide is thorough and well-organized, and I could immediately find directions to assemble and then begin to cook with the unit. The quick tips cooking guide, a one-page reference sheet, was also helpful once I was familiar with how the cooker worked.

Everything about this slow cooker reflects high quality. The stainless steel vessel and lid have an excellent, durable, heavy feel to them. The packing also reflects excellent care and protected the cooker during shipping.

While the accessories included a sous vide rack and temperature probe to support different cooking modes, I noticed that the cooker didn’t include any sort of a recipe book. Recipes are available online through the Wolf Gourmet website, but a printed book of even a few recipes would have been nice to have.

Testing a whole roast chicken

To cook a 5.25-pound whole chicken, I used the program with probe slow cook function. By plugging the temperature probe into the cooker, this function allows you to set the cooker to bring the meat up to the desired temperature, then automatically keep the dish warm. 

I laid the chicken within the cooking vessel, connected the probe to the cooker, and then inserted the probe into the chicken. The lid includes a small lip in the gasket for the probe cord, so it doesn’t push it down onto the lip of the slow cooker. 

Setting the cooker is easy, and is accomplished by turning the main dial and navigating through settings displayed on the LCD screen. I selected a temperature of 165 degrees, and the machine began to cook. The LCD screen distributed the current temperature as it climbed, so I was able to monitor the process. I was also able to choose from slow, medium, and fast cooking speeds. I selected the medium speed. 

The chicken cooked in about one hour and 45 minutes. When the cooker reached 165 degrees, it automatically transitioned to keeping the chicken warm. I double-checked the chicken’s temperature with a manual meat thermometer and found that it had reached 165 degrees.

While the chicken lacked the darker brown, crispy skin characteristic of oven roasting, it was tender and moister than oven-cooked chickens. It was also well and evenly cooked. If that crispy skin is important to you, I imagine it could be achieved by placing the oven-safe cooking vessel into an oven at high heat for the last few minutes.

I was also pleased to find that the cooking vessel was easy to clean. I hand washed it with soap and water and barely had to scrub it. The vessel is also dishwasher safe.

Sous Vide Hard-Boiled Eggs

 The unit is also capable of sous vide cooking. To sous vide hard-boiled eggs, I filled the cooking vessel halfway with water and inserted the temperature probe into the water. I used a recipe that recommended cooking the eggs in water at 165 degrees for 40 minutes. 

Once again, the process was simple. The cooker brought itself up to the 165 degree temperature that I set, then maintained that temperature. When I inserted the eggs, the temperature dropped slightly, but the cooker automatically brought the temperature back to 165 degrees within about 10 minutes. 

In the sous vide cooking mode, the cooker features a count-up timer that counts the amount of time that the food has been in the water. It lacks a count-down timer that would alert you when the food had been in the water for a desired amount of time. While I was able to use my kitchen timer, it would be nice to have that count-down timer within the machine, too.

The resulting eggs were cooked through and were easy to peel.

Testing white rice

The rice setting can cook 6 to 18 cups of rice. While six cups of rice is more than I generally need, the cooker would be helpful for preparing larger dishes. 

I prepared six cups of white rice, and the white rice cycle takes 35 minutes. The cooker automatically transitions to its keep warm setting once cooking is completed. I left the rice to sit for about 10 minutes after it had completed cooking. 

The rice was cooked well and evenly, and there were no areas that were undercooked. When I removed the rice from the cooking vessel, I found that lots of grains were stuck to the vessel, and an area in the center of the very edge appeared to have burned.

After soaking the vessel, I was able to easily remove the stuck rice.

Baking an apple crisp

 I also made apple crisp, following Wolf Gourmet’s online recipe. After placing the apple mixture ingredients into the vessel, I cooked them using the one program mode on medium for three hours, according to the recipe. Afterwards, I added the crumble mixture and transferred the vessel into my oven for 20 minutes to finish cooking. 

While this recipe takes a significant amount of time to prepare, it resulted in fantastic taste and texture. This was, without question, the best apple crisp I’ve ever eaten. The apples were soft and full of flavor, resembling a well-baked apple pie more than an apple crisp.

While I cut the recipe in half, at full volume it makes six to eight servings. It would be an ideal option for a large family or when preparing for a party or guests.

How does it compare to similar models and its predecessors?

 The Wolf Gourmet Multi-Function Cooker is the first multi-function cooker that Wolf Gourmet has manufactured. The Green Pan Ceramic Nonstick 6-Quart Slow Cooker is the most similar product currently available. 

There are some key differences between the Wolf Gourmet and the Green Pan cookers. The Green Pan cooker has a smaller capacity of six quarts compared to the Wolf Gourmet’s seven. While the Green Pan cooker is about $300 less than the Wolf Gourmet model, it also lacks the Wolf Gourmet cooker’s versatility. 

The Green Pan cooker has limited cooking options with modes including slow cook, simmer, reheat, sauté, and steam. It lacks the temperature probe that gives the Wolf Gourmet cooker its precision, and isn’t capable of the sous vide cooking or programmable food temperatures that the Wolf Gourmet cooker offers. 

Should you buy the Wolf Gourmet Multi-Function Cooker?

This multi-function cooker is easy to use, the directions are clear, and the eight cooking functions are capable of preparing a wide variety of dishes, including meats, vegetables, rice, breakfast foods, and desserts. While rice did stick to the cooking vessel during the rice test, the cooker performed very well in our other tests. 

The temperature probe makes for hands-off preparation, particularly when it comes to meats and sous vide cooking. The ability to simply set the cooker and allow it to run is an advantage, and in most tests the cooker delivered an even, accurate cook without burnt or undercooked areas. It's easy to set all these functions, too. 

Given its large capacity, it’s best for families and those with larger meal preparation tasks. It could be a valuable addition to a home with limited stovetop space, or for a user who often prepares for guests and parties. 

The machine weighs 27.98 pounds, so it’s not an ideal choice for those with mobility issues like arthritis. It takes up significant counter space, so while it’s a solid option for large kitchens, it might not work in smaller spaces.

While the Wolf Gourmet Multi-Function Cooker has a higher price point than many other slow cookers, its overall quality and performance justify that price point. It would be an excellent addition to most kitchens looking for a hands-off solution to prepare foods at larger volumes.