Electronics & Gadgets Blog
Instant Pot, Your Ultimate Guide to Mastering This Multi-Functional Kitchen Appliance
by Samuel Kalenga on Oct 04, 2024
With the appeal of time and space-saving ‘set and forget’ multifunctionality, the Instant Pot has become a kitchen gadget celebrity. Do you ever hope you could combine all the functionalities of a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, a rice cooker, a yogurt maker, a sautéing function, and more, all into one affordable appliance, a single pot? In this Instant Pot guide, learn everything you need to know to operate this powerful cooking device as it brings you towards your path to culinary expert. Shop the best Instant Pot on Amazon now!
The Rise of the Instant Pot: A Culinary Phenomenon
If its popularity is an indication, the Instant Pot is truly a device that makes cooking easy, and it also makes it taste good – mainly because it promotes another of my personal favourite hacks. This comes from one of its more traditional features: pressure cooking. Pressure cookers use steam to speed the cooking process dramatically, delivering restaurant-quality tenderness in less than a third of the time. And tenderness is exactly what too-busy people want.
The Instant Pot – sold since the late 2000s – hearkens back to the dawn of pressure cookers more than a century ago, but refined with attractive appearances and easy interfaces. These late-model accessories attend to the earlier demands of creating a ‘home expectancy’. During the early 20th century, sales pitches for pressure cookers promised to revolutionise cooking by preparing dishes in record time. These early pressure cookers were fragile entities, awash in safety panic. If users didn’t open the lid in the proper sequence, a blinding burst of escaping steam could assail the whole kitchen.
And the cookers themselves were unwieldy contraptions. The bride in Jack’s parlance did not have ‘home expectancy’. As food historian Laura Snyder has shown in her work on selling late 19th- and early 20th-century domestic technologies such as cookers, there were actually different marketing approaches for devices intended for ‘the sister’ versus ‘the bride’. The former were more affordable, whereas the latter products were expected to speaker to the consumer’s social needs.
The Instant Pot's success can be attributed to several factors, including:
- Ease of Use: Compared to the old-fashioned pressure cooker, the Instant Pot has simple controls, automated release of pressure, and safety features that make it easy to use for anyone, even a beginner.
- Time-saving: By utilising the Instant Pot’s pressure-cooking function, most dishes require less than one-third to one-half the time they would take to cook in conventional methods such as on a stovetop or in an old-fashioned pressure cooker.
- Important Benefits of the Instant Pot: The trademark feature in which food can be prepared with a minimum quantity of oil and water gives the Instant Pot a distinct advantage over traditional methods of cooking – it’s healthier.
- Affordability: the pantry with other appliances (which I happen not to have many of), I took note to compare their initial prices. Instant Pots are among the least expensive of these kitchen tools, something I am certain many budget-conscious families or individuals will appreciate.
Exploring the Instant Pot Family: A Range of Options
On the Instant Pot family is big enough to include numerous varieties to accommodate all manner of kitchen demands and personal tastes. Here are some of their most popular models.Classic Instant Pots
- Instant Pot Duo: The mother ship of the Instant Pot empire, and the ideal model to get started: it is easy to use and versatile, making a great starter cooker for fans of the Instant Pot. The Duo model is the most reliable cooker, and it is the best for tricky recipes, even with the delay start and keep warm settings.
- Instant Pot Duo Plus: Adding to the foundation of the Duo, the Duo Plus has additional features, such as a yogurt maker and a sterilisation setting, expanding its functionality greatly and appeals to a wider range of cooking possibilities.Best for: The test cook who likes to experiment with a wider variety of cooking methods, like making yoghurt from scratch or sterilising baby bottles.
- Instant Pot Duo Evo Plus: An updated model in the Duo series, this has a touchscreen interface, which is even easier than buttons – and much safer – to use, and builds on the design of the Duo Plus with some aesthetic updates, making it look very modern and sleek.
- Instant Pot Pro: For the more precise cook, who wants to finesse recipes or just do the cooking themselves, the Pro model has adjustable pressure levels, adjusted temperature and delayed start, and greater flexibility for more advanced cooks. For someone who wants to try out different approaches and develop a wider set of cooking skills, the Pro is the ideal model.
- Instant Pot 8 Quart: This largest-capacity model is for folks who love to whip up a big batch of something yummy for dinner, decadent dessert, curries, big roasts, mashed potatoes, soups, especially for when you entertain friends and loved ones, or want to cook large servings of your favorite dish! The 8-quart model is the one you use to make a meal for the big game, potluck or just get a bunch of food prepared in your Instant Pot for the week’s meals.
- Instant Pot 3 Quart: Smsized model for its combination you have a small kitchen, or are cooking for a small number of people, you might want to go for this smaller-sized 3-quart model. For some people, this 3-quart model is a perfect size for them to make something like rice, soup or pasta for they don’t have many people at home.
- Instant Pot: 6 Quart: Choose this instant pot for your family if you don’t have a particularly large one; its capacity makes it a great all-round instant pot for most families or guests. This 6-quart instant pot is the most commonly used size for a family.
- Quin-1 Multi-Use Programs, Sauté, Slow Cook, Rice Cooker, Yogurt Maker, Steamer, and Warmer. Capacity: 6 qt/ Instant Pot for the largest capacityFor the biggest family gatherings and events, this 10-quart Instant Pot will keep your meals, soups and mains in the same pot at once. Compared with the other Instant Pot options, this one is perfect for event catering, family gatherings or preparing a meal for a particularly large family.
Instant Pots with Air Fryers
- Instant Pot Duo Crisp: A two-for-one appliance, this pressure cooker/air fryer has the ability to braise meats and vegetables to fork-tenderness while the air fryer lid delivers crispy fried food. It’s good for home cooks who want to use both air fryer and pressure cooker methods, without buying two appliances.
- Instant Pot Pro Crisp: with its programmable settings, precise temperature control, and capability, this is a kitchen multitool for the serious cook. Experienced cooks who want to experiment with their own recipes will appreciate the Pro Crisp’s interface and breadth of choices.
- Instant Pot Duo Nova: This model has the Essential features of an air fryer lid, but it’s less useful for those who already have an air fryer. It’s also smaller and less expensive than the Duo Plus. Seenu Sekhar/Shutterstock.
Other Notable Models
- Instant Pot Dutch Oven Once again, as with the smaller Instant Pot Duo, controlling the unit with your finger requires the use of a secondary device Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 This PLUS model couples the six-quart Instant Pot Duo with a cast iron Dutch oven insert, which allows for braising, roasting and baking, and the other two functions. It is also, obviously, great for stews, roasts and baked goods.
- Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 4-Quart The 4-Quart model of the Duo Plus Instant Pot 7-in-1 Plus Instant Pot MiniThis compact model is ideal for singles, or preparing half portions of dinner.A great option for those who want the Instant Pot, but on a budget, and don’t need the extra space.
The Instant Pot Air Fryer: A Culinary Game-Changer
The Instant Pot Air Fryer, formerly known as the Instant Vortex, combines the potent power of air frying and pressure cooking technology all into one appliance. You can enjoy delicious air-fried foods, without the guilt, including fries, chicken wings and veggies that have a browned, crunchy texture without the need for frying them in fat. The Instant Pot Air Fryer is a great option if you want to skyrocket into air frying with one appliance.Instant Pot Vortex Air Fryer Models: Options for Every Kitchen
- Instex Plus 6-in-1 air fry, reheater, dehydratorExtend your culinary possibilities with this versatile air-frying beast. Multipurpose cooking from one compact appliance. It’s ideal for busy kitchens.
- Inst Fryer: Wither baskets, this model allows you to prepare multiple dishes at once. This feature is great for busy families or dinner parties. This Vortex Plus Dual Air Fryer is ideal for any individual who cooks larger meals or multiple dishes at the same time.
- Quart Instant Vortex Air Fryer: speed and a budget-priced model that’s large enough for a family of six – 6 quarts translates to sizeable batches of crispy goodies for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Instant Vortex 6-Quart Air Fryer is a is looking for fast results and a budget-priced appliance.
- Instant Vortex Plus 6 in 1 Air Fryer: This is the same air fryer as the Vortex Plus but with a large capacity. It’s the biggest model of the Instant range, which makes it the best option for families of five or more, and for hosting guests. It has six presets so you can easily roast, bake and air fry large portions of food, or cook two dishes at a time.
