The Best Instant Pot For You

The 8-quart is best for roasts or prepping a few days’ worth of meals for large families. Instant Pots occasionally come in a 10-quart size, which is probably overkill unless you frequently cook for groups or are renovating your kitchen and won’t have access to your large appliances for months. One of the most difficult things to decide when buying an is which size you’ll need for your family. The 6-quart size is the most popular one and many recipes are written for this Instant Pot size as well. This size is big enough to make a meal for around 3-6 people.

Three customizable temperature settings across each Smart Program let you program your Duo Nova to your preferences. For example, with the Saute function, you can set to simmer, sear or thicken pressure cook your dish to completion — all in one easy-to-clean pot. Make your favorite slow cooker recipes in your Instant Pot. With the Slow Cook function with three settings , you no longer need an extra slow cooker. Easy-to-use controls and new easy-to-read icons that indicate cooking progress make selecting Smart Programs and making adjustments simple — even during cooking. The Duo Nova is equipped with dual-pressure settings, giving you the option to cook at Low or High pressure.

Meanwhile, the Duo Nova lets you release the pressure with the push of a button, so you won’t have to get anywhere near the release valve. Because of this, instant pot duo nova reviews all state that this feature makes the unit a better choice for beginners. Well, the newer Duo Nova model has an auto sealing function which makes it almost impossible to forget to seal the lid.

instant pot duo nova

Low pressure is useful for pressure cooking delicate foods such as eggs, seafood, and pasta. Don’t worry, you don’t need a special “egg” button to pressure cook eggs as long as you have a model that also lets you choose low pressure, you can just follow our instructions. Instant Pot Duo is a basic, medium-quality pressure cooker, but it looks solid, does a good job of pressure cooking, and is simple to operate. I’ve been cooking a lot more recently and plan to cook even more into the holidays. I’ve been looking for ways to still make the same delicious food, while making my life a little easier. With the Duo Nova, you can cook just about anything and through several different methods.

I was impressed by the searing process, which didn’t take as long to brown as it would in a conventional frying pan. The Instant Pot reaches the ideal, high temperature to brown and crisp the meat before adding in the rest of your ingredients and stock to the pot. After closing the lid with a simple twist and lock, press the Pressure Cook button twice to set the temperature to either Low, Normal or High, which is set at 239°F to 245°F. The time also allows for preheat time which you can see on the handy progress bar on the display. I wrote a detailed review of this pressure cooker and even used the LUX to test recipe and ingredient timing for electric pressure cookers for my cookbook. An Instant Pot is basically a multi-functional electric pressure cooker.

Also, make sure to wipe down the pressure cooker housing and the lip around the top before returning the dried cooking pot. The pressure release button is also easy to manually reset if you need to use an intermittent pressure release. Our convenient guide outlines all the Instant Pot models available to assist you in narrowing down your choices. At the end of the day, it’s better to get one device with plenty of diverse features instead of purchasing and storing many different appliances. The biggest claim to fame of the Instant Pot Max is its canning feature.

Remove the silicone ring, from the lid and wash in hot soapy water. I do not like to submerge my lid or let it soak; instead, I use a wet sponge to scrub the and then rinse in running water. The full Instant Pot Duo Nova user manual is available here. I like to keep my cord inside the pot when not in use to make it easier to store.) The other 2019 offerings, the Duo Evo and the Duo Crisp, both have attached power cords. Though the buttons have been rearranged, all the same functionality is there.