Lifts the food above the water for steaming. I put eggs in it and steamed them. Then I diced some red potatoes, removed the steamed eggs to an ice water bath and put the diced red potatoes in the same strainer the eggs just came out of after rinsing the strainer under tap water. The red potatoes steamed perfectly with no residual egg taste or smell. Then I pulled out the steamer basket and put it in a strainer and ran cold water over it to cool the potatoes. I put the drained cooled diced red spuds in a bowl. Peeled the eggs (very easily after steaming) and chopped them in the bowl. Added some diced celery and diced pickles. Made a sauce of mayonnaise, yellow mustard, sugar, salt, pepper and pickle juice and folded that into the bowl. Made some delicious easy quick potato salad. The couple of cups of water tends to fill the cavity in the bowl under the steamer so food isn't waterlogged. Next was corn on the cob. Put the raw shucked corn in the steamer basket. After putting a couple of cups of water in the pan, put the steamer basket in the pan and set the timer for vegetables and one minute. When the unit comes to pressure and beeps the one minute shutoff, use tongs to vent pressure from the unit by turning the pressure vent valve to its vent position. When the pot is ready to open, enjoy some wonderfully cooked fresh corn. The steamer basket allows steaming of many foods without scratching the unit's pot or mingling of the flavors and aromas of the various formerly steamed foods. One of the handiest accessories for an instant pot. Plus it cleans readily with ordinary soap and water. I store my steamer basket in my instant pot. The steamer basket is durable, easily cleaned (I hand wash mine using dish soap, water and a sponge), and it doesn't scuff, scrape or stain the pot. It doesn't stain or add any taste to the food either. Great product. Thanks to whomever came up with the idea for a silicone instant pot steamer basket. Bravo.When I make chicken soup, I boil the cut up chicken until cooked, then remove it from the pot to pull the meat and skin from the bones. This is a lot easier than getting each piece with tongs and if some bone or skin falls off, it stays in the basket. The handles easily loop over my pot handles. It cleans easily, I first use the sprayer in my sink to remove chicken particles then wash as any thing else. After hand drying, I hang it on one of my pot hooks for a couple of hours to make sure it's totally dry before collapsing it to put away.I've been looking for a silicone steamer for a regular pot for a while. The metal ones get so grungy, even with regular cleaning. I was hoping this instant pot one would work, but is actually too small and slightly too tall for my 5qt pot. I can make it work, but it was a bit disappointing, especially at that price. I'm giving it 5 stars because it does what it says it will.I make broth and have used a chinois for years. This completely removes the step of straining and I can simply pull the broth ingredients out with one step and boom, done!So much easier to use in the instant pot than the metal one I had. Hard Boiled eggs are much easier to do with this compared to racks I used in the past too. Great addition to my insta-pot accessories and love that it collapses so it does not take up much room for storage.Love everything about this steamer basket ?This basket can be immersed in boiling water without the handles heating up. I can lift it out of a pot of boiling water then immediately immerse in ice water. I lift it out of ice water, let it drain then fill my trays from the basket. Wonderful product! Highly recommended!Works as intended. The handles are not as skinny as I expected, so I am glad; they are reasonable wide and easy to hold, with a ball and buttonhole fastener in the middle to keep the handles together. The handles to flop down into the basket and don't stand up and out on their own - which is fine, everything is pretty steamy when I want to lift it out of the Instapot anyway - I just use a chopsticks or something with a long handle to fish out the handles and lift. But in a pinch the silicone is still ok to handle with bare hands, just be careful. Easy to clean. Has some feet on the bottom to raise the bottom of the basket off the bottom of the Instapot.I use this for blanching and man does it save me a lot of work! I just load what ever needs blanching into the basket and then lift the whole thing and put it into the boiling pot (not insta pot, a regular pot) set the timer and easily pull the whole thing out and put it right into the ice water! I used a ladle before and found a lot of my veggies were over blanching. One of the best kitchen tools i ever bought and then I just fold it flat and store it in my the drawer, easy peasy!This little silicone basket is not only an excellent steamer insert for my 3qt Instant Pot but it's also microwave steamer, and a terrific colander for washing, sorting and draining all kinds of foods. Because it's flexible, it folds up and takes up less space in a drawer than a stainless steel basket would.Seems very durable, though I haven't yet tested whether the silicone stains -- so far, I've avoided bringing tomatoes and turmeric into contact with the basket.Inicialmente había comprado una cesta de metal, pero sorpresa que venía chueca, se balanceaba como columpio y pues así la tuve que regresar. Adquirí ésta porque al ser de silicona pues tiene la base pareja. Es perfecta. La uso casi diario con verduras o huevo. Estoy muy contenta.I really like this product. It's big enough to hold everything in but just the correct size for a regular-size microwave. It's not shown on the product's pictures but it's collapsible to about 2" tall. I just wish it was a little bit stiffer to make it easier to collapse and for the walls to stand better when empty. Overall, it's a great product.Love this product I thought I could use it in both my 6 Qt and my 8qt but it is to tall for my 6 qt