Can’t cook? Well, to combat your kitchen woes, Cooking Pal has recently announced the Multo Intelligent Cooking System to help the novice home cook level up. It aims to take some of the stress out of things like family dinners and meal-prepping. But how does it perform? In this product review, we’re going to help you decide whether Multo is for you.

What Is Multo?

The Multo Intelligent Cooking System is an all-in-one cooking appliance that Cooking Pal touts as “the only cooking appliance you will ever need.” It comes in two main parts, an intelligent hub specially designed to stand up to being in the kitchen, and the main cooking unit, which looks like a food processor on steroids.

These types of all-in-one cooking devices are supposedly great for those who aren’t confident in the kitchen. All-in-one devices aren’t new, and many might remember the old Ronco “set-it-and-forget-it” ads from 90’s late-night TV. Multo, on the other hand, is a smart appliance with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a specialized wireless Android tablet interface.

Currently, Multo is available for special pre-order at $799, but Cooking Pal expects to release the device commercially in July. At that time, though, expect the price to increase. So if you’re interested, you might want to head over to Cooking Pal’s website and sign up for a pre-order discount.

Cooking Pal states that this device can cook, weigh, chop, sauté, knead, steam, boil, whisk, mix, emulsify, grate, and grind. Essentially, it’s an appliance that will take some of the hassles out of cooking. It does this by providing a unique guided cooking function. According to Cooking Pal’s website, this device has also gotten praise from Elle Magazine, Working Mother Magazine, and The Guardian.

In the interface, Multo has step-by-step recipes, and the device will guide you as you cook. This guidance includes weighing ingredients, adding things at the proper times, and keeping track of when your dish is complete. It’s really an exciting concept.

Ideally, if you’re a novice home cook, something like Multo should allow you to spend less time in the kitchen, and the guided recipe function claims to help you make great dishes as long as you can follow instructions.

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Who Is Multo For?

If you’re not confident in the kitchen, then something like this will improve your culinary prowess. Multo isn’t going to turn you into a four-star Michelin chef, but if you can’t cook, then the device can keep you from spending hundreds on take-out.

For more experienced home chefs, Multo also offers some unique benefits like easy cleanup. According to Cooking Pal, everything except the main unit and the hub is dishwasher safe. The device also has two self-cleaning modes built in to make cleanup even more manageable. Just add water and a little dish soap to the mixing bowl, select the preset cleaning mode, and the machine gets to work.

What’s in the Box?

The list of items and accessories included with this unit is pretty long. When you buy Multo, you’ll get:

• The main unit
• The blade and blade seal
• The 3.1 qt stainless steel mixing bowl
• 5 oz measuring cup
• The lid and lid seal
• A butterfly whisk
• A simmering basket
• A steamer lid
• Both shallow and deep steaming trays
• A steamer seal
• The hub
• The hub stand
• A specialty spatula
• The owner’s manual & warranty information
• A USB type-C to type-A charging cable for the hub
• The power cable

It may seem like a lot of stuff, but the idea here is that the Multo will replace many of your current kitchen appliances.

Technical Specifications

These technical specifications came directly from the owner’s manual of the unit, but keep in mind, Multo is currently in pre-release status, so some specs could change.

Main Unit

• Rated Voltage: 120V, 60Hz
• Power Output (port) 5V 2A
• Power Rating: 1200 W
• Weight: Approx. 13 lbs (5.9 kg)
• Mixing Bowl Capacity: 3.1 QT (3 L)

Smart Kitchen Hub

• Display: 8.9 inches with a resolution of 800 x 1200
• Operating System: Android 8.1
• Ram: 2 GB
• Rom: 32 GB
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n/ac and both 2.4Ghz and 5GhZ support
• Bluetooth: 4.2
• Camera: 8 MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Charging: DC 5V, 2A
• Weight: 1.5 lbs. (.7 kg)

Testing the Multo Intelligent Cooking System

To test this unit, I tried two recipes from the included recipes in the app. The first was the bacon-wrapped chicken recipe, and the second was a more simple dish, the pasta alfredo. The primary reason for choosing these two dishes is they represent both ends of the difficulty spectrum for novice cooks. Making pasta alfredo isn’t exactly difficult without Multo, and the dish seemed pretty fool-proof.

As for the bacon-wrapped chicken, this dish represented the full meal capabilities of Multo. The dish included steamed carrots, bacon-wrapped chicken breast fillets, and stick-to-your-ribs mashed potatoes.

Pasta Alfredo

The pasta alfredo dish started out promising with fresh-grated parmesan cheese and chopped parsley, though it was a little annoying to have to thoroughly clean the mixing bowl out after blitzing both of these ingredients. Despite this, I tried to stay positive. Then things started getting a bit strange.

I added 17.5 oz of water to the mixing bowl (but no salt!!) and waited until it reached a temperature of 194F (per the instructions) before adding half a package of dry spaghetti to the bowl. I accomplished this feat by feeding the spaghetti through the small hole in the lid of Multo. This action resulted in abject hilarity when, rather than falling into the bowl, the spaghetti just rotated in place like it was on some strange carnival ride. After a few moments of watching this nonsense, I paused the machine and then pressed the dry noodles down until they were entirely inside of the mixing bowl.

Now, I could have used Fettuccini here, as that is the traditional way to make pasta alfredo, and I could have also chosen to make pasta from scratch. But, because Cooking Pal designed Multo with novices in mind, homemade noodles might not be an option. Once the noodles were finished, I drained the spaghetti and let it hang out in its half al-dente state until the remainder of the sauce was complete.

Next, I added garlic to the bowl, and Multo chopped it. The machine then asked me to add butter, which I did, but rather than sautéing the garlic in the butter, Multo sort of steeped the garlic as it warmed the butter. There was no sizzle from the bowl to indicate sauteing, and by the end of this process, there were chunks of raw garlic in a warm butter mixture. It was at this point that I started to lose some of my confidence in the machine.

Then, the machine instructed me to add heavy cream, parmesan, and milk into the bowl, along with salt and pepper. I did this and watched as Multo half-heartedly stirred this sauce together. Finally, it was time to add my pasta back into the bowl with the sauce. I did so and let the machine do its thing for another five minutes.

When these minutes were up, I opened the lid to find a soupy, lukewarm mess of noodles, raw garlic, and heavy cream. It was terrible. The raw garlic imparted a strange sweetness to the dish, and though it looked okay, it didn’t taste very good. There was also quite a bit of liquid at the bottom of the mixing bowl.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breast

My next culinary adventure with Multo was started by peeling some potatoes and carrots. Multo didn’t help with this task as much as a vegetable peeler and one of my kitchen knives did. After completing this step, I added water to the mixing bowl and suspended my quartered potatoes in the included steamer basket.

I then cut my carrots into bite-sized chunks and placed them in the small steamer attachment until the tablet reported I was at the proper weight. Then, I washed and dried my chicken fillets (per the instructions) and added salt and pepper before wrapping the fillets in thick hickory-smoked bacon. These I placed in the lower steaming bowl and then covered with the upper steaming bowl full of carrots.

I added salt and sugar to the carrots and placed the steaming lid on the unit. Multo set a time for 20 minutes, and I pressed the start button. The whole process here did not take long. I timed it, and it took about fifteen minutes to get everything together, not including peeling my potatoes or chopping my carrots—which I did before I started.

When the timer went off, I removed the chicken and the carrots from the mixing bowl. Then it was time to make mashed potatoes. Once the timer finished, I plated the carrots and the chicken and prepared to taste everything. First, I loaded up a forkful of carrot and stuffed it in my mouth. But after 20 minutes in the steamer basket, these carrots were still mostly raw.

Next, I cut into one of the breast filets. However, the inside of the chicken seemed okay, so I sliced off a small piece and put it in my mouth only to immediately spit it out when the rubbery texture and cool temperature told me that the meat was undercooked. At that point, I concluded my testing, tossed $30 of undercooked ingredients in the bin, and ordered a pizza.

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What Do We Love About Multo?

In theory, this device has a lot of potential. Other devices like it—the Thermomix TM6, for example—have a lot of fans. And technically, it does what it is supposed to do: cook, weigh, chop, sauté, knead, steam, boil, whisk, mix, emulsify, grate, and grind. All of those things can be used in manual mode with Multo to make cooking much easier theoretically. But based on my testing, it doesn’t do many of those things well except for chopping.

If the included recipes were better, then the device might make a great alternative to some of the more expensive devices like it on the market. Unfortunately, it’s not there yet, and until the recipes are updated to produce meals that won’t come out soupy or undercooked, then I think this device is still a bit half-baked.

There is one good thing, and that’s the self-cleaning mode. It is nice not to have to scrub a mixing bowl when cooking is complete. However, the number of accessories almost fills my dishwasher if I use them all for a single meal.

What’s Not to Love About Multo?

Again, the purpose of this device is to help cook full dishes. In other words, you’re not going to use the device as a single step in the cooking process. Cooking Pal made Multo to serve as an all-in-one appliance for beginners or people who want to save time.

But from my experience, it doesn’t do that. At least not with the included recipes. Unfortunately, these recipes are a big draw, and there’s a pretty steep learning curve if you’re going to try and create your own.

Then there’s the size of the unit. It’s bigger than many food processors and stand mixers, and the accessories take up a lot of space. It’s a lot for a countertop. If you have a smaller kitchen, you’ll want to consider the size of Multo before purchase.

There’s also the issue of mobile app development, Amazon Alexa support, and the ability to use the rear hub camera for impromptu recipe recommendations. These are three items that Cooking Pal is still working on despite being featured on the company’s website. I was invited to try a demo version of the app, but I didn’t see much point if it was still in development as so much might change.

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Can You Repair the Multo Intelligent Cooking System?

This question is an interesting one. For breakdowns, you’re better off contacting Cooking Pal. The internal components of this device aren’t designed to be taken apart. However, there is an answer in the FAQ on Cooking Pal’s website that indicates spare parts are available. The warranty on the product is one year, so if there is an issue, you can get in touch with Cooking Pal, and they can help you get things sorted out.

Should You Buy Multo by Cooking Pal?

Not yet. Based on my experience, Multo’s key feature is the guided cooking aspect, but that part of the device isn’t quite dialed in. Perhaps once some improvements are made maybe I can revisit the device. As for first impressions, however, we're not confident that Multo is ready to deliver on its promise of making cooking easy.

However, if you aren’t comfortable in your kitchen, I can see how this device could increase your confidence. But if you’re a seasoned home chef, then you’ll probably get more mileage out of a quality set of pots, pans, and knives.

On the other hand, despite the single-year warranty, I will say that the build quality of Multo seems to be top tier. I’d certainly be curious to see how it holds up after eight or nine months of constant use. It seems pretty sturdy as kitchen appliances go.

Overall, we really wanted to like Multo. At its core, the machine has a whole mess of potential. Unfortunately, based on our testing, Multo needs a little more time in the oven before Cooking Pal releases it into the world—especially at $799 or more.