Instant pot slow cooker for your kitchen in 2018!
In every kitchen, whether it’s a family, a single mother, father, or bachelor, an instant pot slow cooker is an excellent part of the kitchen tool, and they can cook an entire meal for you and save you lots of time in the kitchen. They’re especially helpful if you work outside the house, apartment, or even home. Just make your main dish early in the day, throw in all of your selected ingredients, select the relevant setting, and you’re good to go. You can even use two slow cookers to prepare a side dish.
On a regular day, surprise everyone with their favorite soup or stew by letting it cook all day. When the household arrives home with the delicious meal that’s been simmering, you immediately earn some excellent points with hardly any effort for preparing that delightful meal. And speaking of brownies, since you’ll be saving lots of time on your dinner, you’ll have more time to make some or perhaps another favorite family treat.
The instant slow pot cooker duo 7-in-1 multi-use programmable has over 3,817 customer reviews on Amazon.
The Instant Pot Has Seriously Changed My Life. It has undoubtedly cut down my food expenses (taking-out and product waste) and has also renewed my passion for cooking! I was tired of dry, overcooked meat and hours of standing in the kitchen trying to simmer cook meals for flavor.
I work long hours and can’t devote an entire day to meal prep, so coming home and making a one-pot meal in 10 minutes with veggies, protein, and my starch has been life-changing! You can cook meat from frozen states in minutes with no need to even defrost! I can thoroughly cook two juicy and tender chicken breasts in 5-6 minutes!
So Here Are My Favourite Features Of The Instant Pot DUO Series:
PROS:
FAST
The contents of the pressure cooker cook at a higher temperature than what can be achieved by a conventional boil — more heat means more speed. Pressure cooking is about twice as fast as a traditional dish (sometimes quicker!) I have included a few of the cook times below for common meats below. Below I provide my personal experiences so that yours may differ slightly. Please be advised that a full set of cooking times and charts will be available in the “recipe book” that comes with your instant pot.
BEEF:
• Pot Roasts – 30 – 40 minutes
• Stew Meat – 15 – 20 minutes
• Ribs – 25 – 30 minutes
• Ground Beef, frozen – 10-25 minutes
CHICKEN
• Whole – 6 minutes per pound
• Boneless – 5-8 minutes
• Boneless, frozen – 8-12 minutes
• Bone-In – 10 – 15 minutes
PORK
• Ham, re-heat boneless fully cooked – 6 – 7 minutes
• Ham, shoulder – 8 minutes/1LB
• Roast, butt – 15 minutes/1LB
• Roast, loin – 20 minutes/1LB
• Ribs – 20 – 25 minutes
• Chops – 5 – 6 minutes
FISH
• Whole – 5 – 6 minutes
• Whole, frozen – 7 – 10 minutes
• Fillets – 2 – 3 minutes
• Fillet, chilled – 3 – 4 minutes Please note that you can also make grains, fruits, and vegetables (fresh or frozen), yogurt, and many desserts in this post. Cook time will be available in your guide, but I will add pictures attached to this review of the cooling charts for your knowledge. This review cannot cover all the fantastic things this pot can do for you.
EASE OF USE
I truly believe anyone can make a fantastic meal regardless of their skill set! The instant pot Duo offers preset programs, so it’s as easy as putting your meat/starch/whatever in the pot, adding water, closing the lid, and pressing a button to get it started.
Please note that just because you do not have a specific pre-set button on your model does not mean you cannot use your pot to make it. For example, the Duo series does not have a “cake” button pre-set. All this means is that you will follow a recipe, and instead of hitting “cake,” you will hit “manual” and cook it at pressure for however long the recipe says. No calculations are required! This pot honestly can do everything!
HEALTHY
“Pressure cooking is one of the healthiest cooking methods. According to a study published in the Journal of Food Science, pressure cooking preserves 90-95% of vitamins. The extra speed and heat of pressure cooking practically flash-cooks vegetables, allowing them to retain more vitamins than boiling, (which only retains 40-75%), or even conventional steaming (75-90%!).” -Instant Pot
GREEN
“Pressure cookers require less energy/electricity to operate during cooking. Less heat and time translates to up to 70% energy savings than conventional cooking methods.” – Instant Pot.
SAFE
These are not your grandmother’s pressure cookers! The days of worrying about your cooler exploding are gone! Modern pressure cookers have different safety systems to ensure that if one should fail, another kicks in.
This pot is so safe that I genuinely believe there is nothing to be worried about this item. The only problem I have with it is the steam release valve. If misused, you could get burned by steam. I will be covering that next in the CONS section.
So What Are The Cons:
1. The steam release valve- I am not a fan of this design for two reasons:
The first is that the valve must be reset from its “venting” position to its “sealed” position each time before pressure cooking. When pressure cooking and time is finished, the valve will automatically go from sealed to venting. However, it does not reset, so next time you go to pressure cook in this pot, you must remember to reset the valve to “sealing,” or open your pot and find out your food is underdone.
If this is a big deal-breaker for you as it was for me, I recommend you check out my review on the Instant Pot Ultra 60. It has an automatic venting/sealing feature, so you no longer worry about this. Sadly this model does not alert you if you forget.
The second is the position of the valve. Please always use a long spoon or rice paddle to push the steam valve to vent If you want a “quick release.” Never use your fingers. The steam comes out of the tap at extremely high pressure, and it is HOT HOT HOT. I must say that this appears to be a significant design flaw, in my opinion.
It would help if you did not get burnt as long as you stand back a little from the valve and do not use your hands. So always use a long spoon. Another tip is that you’re making good that could splatter out from the pressure and make a mess, throw a dish towel over the valve as it vents to prevent clean up.
2. Cooking with Stainless Steel:
If you are unfamiliar with adequately heating the pot before use (especially in saute mode), it is easy to burn food initially. Luckily there are many online resources on doing this, and it’s pretty simple!
3. Accessories CAN be Expensive:
Although it’s easy to get around buying a bunch of extra stuff, you may go down the rabbit hole of wanting to try it all. If you are new to cooking, this might mean needing some new things for the kitchen. Almost everything can be made in this pot, though with everyday glass dishes and the included trivet.
Other Great Things Not Mentioned:
-Colorful Manual that is easy to follow with lots of pictures!
-Many online support and chat groups for 24/7 support and advice!
-Fits neatly onto any amount of kitchen counter space.
And many more!!! This list is just a starter!!
Overall I would highly recommend this product to anyone looking to cut down on their time in the kitchen, save money or make more flavourful and healthy meals! The Instant Pot Duo has the same function as the upgraded models but without the extra price.
However, it is missing a few of the “bells and whistles” that make your life even easier but are not necessary to make amazing food 70% faster! If you are looking for the fanciest version of them all, I recommend you check out my review of the “Ultra 60 Instant Pot” model, my everyday user and total favorite.
