"This is a 6 month update - Have used the product now for about 6 months and feel it proper to update some of my former comments as I have become more familiar with it's features. (I don't shill for Amazon or InstantPot, this is an independent appraisal) A lot of 5 star ratings. My initial rating was four stars. After a fair amount of use I decided to upgrade it to five. I really like InstantPot and would recommend it to others. I do a lot of soups and stews, a meal in a bowl; I dislike washing dishes! After many years of cooking for a crowd 3 times a day, my wife does not want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. She is a good cook when in the mood, but is the undisputed speed-queen in fixing a meal. She opens 5 cans, dumps them into a large saucepan, a little water and seasoning; 5 minutes later on High heat - Voila! - almost scorched Dinner. For gals who have cooked over 10,000 meals, this may be just the ticket! I enjoy cooking! My preferred menu utilizes pressure cooking to large extent because I live at 5,000 ft. elevation. A must if you live in Leadville Colo. My instant pot occupies a small unused ledge in the corner of the kitchen. Two instant pots together would nicely fill the space. Main reason I bought the InstantPot Duo 60 is the removable Tri-clad bottom mirror-finish all stainless steel liner (looks like chrome), along with the delay and cooking timer auto-shutoff. This sets it apart from old-time swisher type 1st Gen P.C.'s. An added lower pressure setting extends its ability to more tender foods. Tender vegetables and yogurt making features are what differs it from the non-duo 60. I haven't made Yogurt yet, but as a Diabetic, crisp veggies are a priority. Sometime soon I'm gonna try making some Yogurt. I've used it in several different modes, enough to feel comfortable about offering my little opinion. To make a stew, you can brown the meat, pressure cook it until tender, quickly de-pressurize, add some beans or veggies, put on the glass lid, set the timer for 2 or 3 hours and slow cook until done. Eat the meal, put the entire steel pot of leftovers with glass lid, (must be ordered separately), in the fridge for tomorrow or day after, all using a single container using only one very safe, quiet, clean appliance. For Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls I cook a whole chicken on the Poultry setting for 35 minutes and let it depressurize on its own. Still under pressure it actually cooks for another 15 minutes. Remove the Chicken, de-skin and de-bone all those little bones and cartilage. Set the pot outside on top of the Barbecue for a few hours, (when it's cold out), to solidify and remove all but some of the surface layer of fat. Put the shredded chicken pieces back in, add the veggies and seasonings, another 6 minutes low pressure cooking or slow cook 'till done; add the freshly cooked, hot Matzo Balls when serving. Others have said they have purchased an extra liner and glass lid so you can see how that would extend its usability. The liner really is easy to clean. Rinse it out under the hot water, a soapy sponge, re-rinse and set it in the sink basket to dry. It's operation is really quiet and there is not any visible steam whooshing through the air. You could very easily cook on the dining room table, or a small adjacent table. Making a pot of beans outdoors next to the barbecue is easy too. Lack of a 15 lb setting poses a problem for some potential buyers as it does add somewhat to the overall cooking time. Some P.C. reviewers have remarked that is a big problem for them. The actual high pressure setting is 11 psi which drops the cooking temp for 260 to 240 degrees. The low pressure is 7 psi. I'm sure it must add to cooking time, but for me, it is not a consideration. In some instances I find it preferable to use my second electric 15 psi P.C. tucked away in another kitchen corner using my stove to steam some Broccoli, using my Barbeque as a convection oven for a Casserole in the summer so I don't heat up the house, If I have two electric pressure cookers going at once it's getting a big Sunday meal done in even less time! During the week I just nuke leftovers. Initially, at the start you can program it just about any way you like over a wide range of different settings and presets. After 10 seconds has elapsed, it starts whatever you have programmed and cannot be changed without stopping and resetting it. In my initial review I complained a little about the Manual setting. I have come to realize that a good percentage of negative comments (aside from shipping damage or DOA out of the box) are because the person does not understand the operation of the device. Well... I guess I am no different than anyone else in that I misunderstood the purpose of the Manual Program. Manual is a pressure cook only setting and it allows you to vary the P.C. time. No need to change temp, just time and pressure. If you can't find any of the preset times to suit you. Manual will allow you to choose either pressure, or any time from 1 - 120 minutes. Most will not really need to use Manual, but they added it just in case someone finds it useful I guess. Except for the Rice setting you can use almost any setting any way you want, OR you can do it by the book. You can pretty much do whatever you want. You could cook a Chicken using the Bean/Stew setting. Pssst! there aren't any InstantPot police! Because it has so many settings, it takes a while to find all the various available combinations. I've found combinations that cover all the bases. However It is very easy to just stop the running program and switch to a different program to enter a new or different time, pressure, or temp. It takes maybe ten seconds to do this. The only thing keeping you from thinking outside the box is you. Go crazy! Be creative! No Rules! For most, this probably would never even be an issue. I'm kinda finicky, (just ask my wife). For someone who just wants to have a pot of beef stew ready when they get home, no sweat, Read the manual, you won't encounter any problems, the standard settings will work fine). My initial rating was four stars because I thought I was limited by the presets. It turns out that is not really the case. With the InstantPot you really can do just about anything you want. It's just a matter or re-evaluating how you perceive you are able to use it. At first, the presets seem to be absolutes; they are not. It is all just a matter of perception, a little extra thought, a few more button clicks... or if you find the presets work well, as many reviewers have, you can literally just set it and forget it. The even heating of the Tri-Clad bottom of the stainless steel liner is a best feature for me as it greatly reduces, if not in most instances, eliminates entirely any probability of scorching your food. The 3 preset settings seem to work as advertised for the most part. Suppose you are going to cook a thick sauce. The preset temp is often Med. which might be too high. When you first turn it on, with any of the four top LH settings you are able to increase or decrease temperature, time and pressure, Hi-Lo. For something thick, you may choose to change the temp from Med. to Low which should avoid scorching. What I do when slow-cooking, is select Saute and High temp setting to save time in order to get 3 1/2 quarts of soup mix boiling, then stop it, select Slow Cook and reset the time choosing a low and slow temperature to finish cooking. I find the best way to cook pasta is to fill it two-thirds full of water, Select Saute, high temp to get the water boiling furiously, stop and reset temp to Medium to finish cooking the pasta. It might prove quicker to cook pasta on your stove, but you can also do it with the InstantPot, drain the water, add spices, Italian Sausage and/or Meatballs, Marinara Sauce, Slow cook on low heat and keep warm with the glass lid on beside the dining room table for a leisurely, more pleasurable, (second helpings don't get cold), dining experience with friends and family. High temp is what you want when pressure cooking meat or poultry with 1 or 2 inches of water which decreases startup time. Cook for 45 minutes using one and a half inches of water because very little water escapes as steam! Just this minute, as I am writing this, (first review), I paused and went into the kitchen to check up on my 5 1/2 quarts of Cowboy Chile that I am slow-cooking. It was almost out of time. I decided it needed another hour, so I stopped it, shut it off, re-selected Slow Cook medium temp, and reset the time for one more hour. The program would have automatically stopped by itself, gone into Keep Warm mode, so you can re-start to cook it longer, anyhoo it's not a deal-breaker. When slow-cooking on Low, my Chile just gurgles away nicely without any scorching with the pot maxed out to within 1 inch from the top. (DO NOT even think about filling the pot past 2/3 full when pressure cooking!) Once, the pot (stainless steel liner) had been in the freezer half-full of frozen soup. I put the pot liner back in its place, put on the glass lid, turned it on to keep warm for a little over an hour. it fully de-frosted the soup which was nice and warm to boot! Don't know if any one would ever do that, but you can set the keep warm timer for up to 10 hours and forget about it, Swedish Meatballs served warm, Fondue? No danger of overheating or boiling away. I speed up the bean pre-soak by putting the beans in the pot and setting the keep warm for an hour, and then letting them sit overnight. I find this necessary in the High and dry climate of Northern Nevada. Everything I've cooked so far has turned out just the way I wanted it, but not without a little creative fiddling. Every new gadget requires a learning curve. Because of it's many features, practice makes perfect! I give the InstantPot designers credit as most automatic settings work well, automating it for ease of use and safety. Cooking is part Science, but, I think, more Art than Science. I have the glass lid on for attended operation. A more tactile experience in food preparation. When slow-cooking I can check on it from time to time and make little adjustments, e.g. more time, less heat, add more chicken stock, taste it, more Oregano, a little Paprika, It's done when it's done, however long that takes. Most programs work just fine on full automatic, but some small exceptions may demand more online flexibility. I must admit that I am biased in that I very often combine pressure cooking with slow cooking. I live at 5,000 feet with 10% humidity in July. I store a lot of beans which dry out after 6 months. To slow-cook those beans from scratch takes hours and they still are not done because water boils here at 201 degrees. It is surprising what a difference that makes. In New Orleans beans have much higher moisture content and at 212 degrees are done in an hour or less. I have to use a rapid boil just to make tea. A pressure cooker is the great equalizer, a must at higher altitudes because 15 lbs is 15 lbs pressure inside the pot regardless of altitude. I take a little extra time with my beans by using the low pressure setting. I especially like the delay start, cook, auto shut-off, keep warm features. The cooking timer and auto shut-off is absolutely essential for peace of mind for unattended operation as I have been known to doze off when cooking late at night. Every electric cooking appliance I own, including my Induction Range, is flameless and has a timed shutoff feature. I am retired and have the time, but, for those busy people on the go, the set-it-and-forget-it, ability of the InstantPot may prove it's best feature. I very much like my InstantPot and have used it 2 or 3 times a week for one-pot meals. Having used it now for almost half a year, (I've got a pot of Navy beans cooking now as I update this review). I would say my initial impression was pretty close. One thing I especially like is I use less pots and pans when I am using the InstantPot, (I dislike washing pots and pans). It has some great features which leads me to believe they are really trying to hit it out of the park with this one. A Canadian Distributor; "Way to go eh! Makes me want to stand up and sing "Oh Canada!" I guess price/point is the big bugaboo with manufacturers. If they added 15 psi I would fork over a little extra cash to get the "totally perfect" all-in-one cooker. They could test market it as their top-of-the-line world-beater Ultra Deluxe 7.6 litre model. I believe people will pay a little more if they know what they are paying for. For those desiring the convenience of an all-in-one cooker, at the price, there is little competition. I think it's a great value. Bottom line is: "I like it just fine the way it is." The InstantPot has earned a permanent place in my kitchen. W.O"
Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker (Compare deals from $132.45)
"As nearly all things I have ordered through Amazon, the pressure cooker arrived when expected in fine condition. With this purchase I am replacing a much loved Cuisinart electric pressure cooker that is still available, and is $30 less expensive. I chose the InstantPot because the Teflon coating was wearing hard on my 2 year old Cuisinart which is bad (and not because of metal utensils). Also, I'd had to already replace the silicone ring (expected), but most recently the pressure sealing pop-up value has been problematic so the unit never pressurized. I thought about replacing the parts (i.e. the lid) but that was $55 and it seemed better to replace the whole unit at that price. So I will compare (thus far) the Cuisinart to the Instant Pot (IP) and hope it helps others since I couldn't find a similar comparison. Many people note that the instructions for the IP aren't good. They are correct. IP seems to run home to its roots of stove top items and PSI numbers. Cuisinart never did, so I never learned this "language." I used my stove top Fagor only briefly. And for an electric, you don't NEED to know that stuff. You only need to know what the machine's buttons do. For my first try, I wanted to make just simple white rice. This unit is billed as a "rice cooker," after all. But even the recipe in the booklet enclosed (for basmati rice) doesn't use the "Rice" function on the machine. I searched far and wide for what pressing the rice button meant -- how long would it cook? how much rice does the Rice setting function plan for you to be cooking, and how should you adjust timing up or down based on volume? Using Basmati rice and their ratio's of 1:1.5 grain to water, I did a manual high pressure for 8 minutes on 3 cups of rice. It was very, very good, but maybe a minute too long--the top was lovely and loose, but the bottom was clumpy and a bit further done than desirable. Now I am making a stew. Compared to the extremely hot browning function on the Cuisinart, even in a nonstick pot, the saute function in the Instant Pot's stainless pot (a major draw for me) felt a bit anemic. It browned nicely, but took much more time than a fast browning sear should, and the heat level went from "on" to "hot" (Hot being the goal) when I added cool things to the pan. (And I was browning 5-6 chunks of stew meat at a time. Not a lot. For both the rice and now the stew, the "come to pressure" time feels longer than the Cuisinart's. Still, I am charmed by the idea of making homemade yogurt, and that was an appeal to me on this unit. The rest I will figure out with time, because I refuse to be bested by a machine's clunky instructions when I believe we can develop a great relationship. I'll update on the Stew function. I browned the meat, sautéed some aromatics, and dumped in your usual stew vegetables, wine, beef broth and hit the STEW function, which sets at 35 minutes under pressure. I would estimate it took 10-15 minutes for the IP to reach the pressure level to begin the countdown. Again -- no telling how much meat and vegetables their 35 minutes means -- and that's just too bad that Instant Pot isn't responding to make things more clear. I will say that compared to the Cuisinart, the IP unit spews much less steam, is quieter, sits a bit shorter, has a top that is more intuitive, and the truly lovely design of dual lid holders to catch the lid liquid without having to set a hot, wet lid on the counter when you're dealing with a steaming unit. That is a very, very good thing. Amazon gets a 5 on shipping. Instant Pot has what I believe to be a great unit if I can maximize its functionality, which is not something I want to work terribly hard to accomplish. But I hear some beeping so the Stew has completed and the unit has gone into warming. Here's hoping! Adding on from several days later. The stew was terrific, but a minute or two less on the meat would have been fine. Since then I've made an awesome soup and a lovely lemon/basil skinless, boneless chicken breast I'm sure to make again. I figured out that the sauté function could be elevated and I am content that it is, while not my stovetop, not anemic. I still think the Cuisinart is hotter, but I did love sauteeing the chicken in a bit of olive oil and butter tonight with a perfect outcome. My decision is to worry less about the function buttons, which I will learn over time, and focus on the basics I know and the recipes I love. If you are thinking about buying an electric pressure cooker, don't waste a second more time in thought. Just GET one. You will love the investment, you will use it, you will make great meals fast, and you will explore cuts of meats and vegetables that you might not otherwise have tried, and love them. These appliances are AWESOME. I had a love affair with my Cuisinart but feel like my second relationship with Instant Pot is already terrific. I am delighted with the functionality and the more I use it, the more I love it."
"I received my Instant Pot right before the end of the year as I had pre-ordered it. I had done a good amount of research on the previous model and was convinced it could replace my small slow cooker as well as diversify my cooking and reduce my time in the kitchen. The main improvements I liked on this model over the previous model was the holder for the lid on both sides of the handles of the pot, the larger display, and the main improvement I was interested in was the dual pressure setting (mainly comes in handy for veggies for me). At first use it took a little getting used to this new appliance. Some of the features which take some getting used to for me were the pressure release valve, and how to use the electronic controls. When cooking in a pressure cooker using traditional methods it is necessary to set the pressure release valve to closed, this allows pressure to build up in the pot during cooking. During the first few times I had forgotten to twist the pressure release valve to closed. Not doing this will eventually cause a light whistling sound and steam to come out of the release. Twist it back and all is well. I mention this because I read a review giving this pot a 1 star rating, and I could tell they hadn't closed their pressure valve based on the results they said they achieved. Once you have used it a few times you will remember to shut the valve, as I have. Once the valve is closed then the second part I found took some getting used to was the controls, but now I realize they couldn't be easier. This is truly set it and forget style here people. Once you close the valve on the lid and lock the lid in place (you will hear an electronic "chime" letting you know the lid is closed) then it's as easy as hitting the button labeled "manual" and choosing an amount of time with the selector. This will allow you to follow recipes for times if you'd like. You can also hit the "pressure" button to adjust between high and low pressure. There are also a whole bunch of pre programmed recipes, a slow cooker option and a convenient "sauté" function which I have used a number of times. 10 seconds after choosing your options the cooker will beep 3 times and the pot will start to heat up. (make sure again you have the pressure release valve closed here) It takes varying amounts of time for the pot to heat up but usually it's between 5 and 10 minutes for the pot to create enough pressure to where it pushes up a metal lock on the back of the unit, this prevents you from opening the pot until the pot is at a safe pressure. Once the lock sets it's only a few minutes till the timer will count down on the pot letting you know how much time is left. So keep in mind it takes 20 minutes or so from start to finish to cook 10 minutes cook time on the pressure cooker. Sometimes it seems like nothing is happening, but if you listen carefully you will hear boiling in the pot whenever it is in cycle. Once the time is up the pot will stay locked until you release the pressure by twisting the pressure release valve, or by waiting for 10 minutes to an hour for the pressure to release naturally. This will drop the metal lock in the back so you can open up the pot. One feature i love is the keep warm function. After any cooking is completed the system automatically goes to "keep warm." One night i forgot my chili in the pot after cooking it, but woke up late at night on the couch to realize it was kept warm all night! Pressing the off button will toggle the keep warm function on and off. The stainless steel cooking pot is very easy to clean, however 6 of 10 on the unit for ease of clean. I love the stainless steel insert especially, it is very thick and of high quality. I just ordered a second one so i can more easily cook and store a variety of different things without having to constantly be cleaning and moving containers and food. It does take a bit of getting used to this seemingly complex cooker, but after a little reading of the manual (which is great by the way) and some experience you will be able to cook just about anything in the instant pot. I just started cooking in the last year and I'm cooking up some amazing soups, chilies, meats, rices, pastas, and vegetables all in my first couple weeks, and i'm a beginner! After looking into the pressure settings (it runs at around 11.x PSI on high) I am able to better plan my cook times. Note: Many recipes I found for pressure cooking on high are for 15 PSI so I have had to add a few minutes to most recipes. I also live in Denver, CO so I have to add some cook time due to the higher altitude as well. I found some good info using google on how to adjust pressure cooking for altitude. I would highly recommend picking up a food slicer with the instant pot as well. I am dicing onions, celery, carrots, pineapple, potatoes, and more in seconds instead of minutes, then with the help of the instant pot I've got that stuff cooked quick and served hot. The slicer in combination with the instant pot cuts my cook and prep time by a third to a half I would estimate, in some cases more. I got a top rated Borner slicer off Amazon for about $30, and it's worth every penny. Most importantly the food tastes amazing, meats are tender, rice is well cooked, veggies are incredible. I would recommend this Pressure cooker to anyone in the market for a replacement slow cooker, someone looking to cook more quickly, anyone looking to eat healthier, and for any person without access to a stove. I plan on purchasing more as gifts for family in the future. For those of you ordering an Instant Pot: Your only regret will be that you didn't get one sooner!"
"This is my first ever pressure cooker. I had been researching different models for the past several months before deciding on this Instant Pot. There were several reasons why I chose this one. 1. It has a stainless steel inner pot. I stay away from anything with a non-stick coating on it. 2. It has the most functions such as pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, etc. With limited space, it's best to have as many functions in one unit as possible. 3. Spare parts such as gaskets for the lid, pressure valves, and extra pots are readily available. For future longevity of the product, I know I can easily find replacement parts when mine wear out. It would be a shame if I had to throw the whole thing out just because I need a new gasket for the lid but can't find one anywhere. 4. It has the best reviews here on Amazon. I know you can't always tell if reviews are legit, so this may just be a psychological thing. I never used an appliance like this before so I needed to read the instruction manual to learn how to use it. The manual is pretty easy to understand but everything is much clearer if you follow along the directions while you're actually using the machine. I made my first ever pressure cooker dinner, Chicken Parmesean, in my Instant Pot. It was very easy and very delicious. The chicken breasts were moist and tender. I can't wait to try more recipes. It does come with a small recipe book written in both English and Chinese, but I'm gonna go to the library to find a book with more recipes. It's a very cool looking machine, kind of like a robot. I'm thinking of giving it a name. It communicates to you with all sorts of beeps, even when you're putting on or taking off the lid. Everything about the machine seems to be well built and sturdy. The inner pot is made of heavy duty stainless steel with an aluminum encapsulated base, and is polished to a very shiny finish. I think the only complaint I may have about the machine is that the lid is a bit difficult to wash because of all the creases and crevices on the underside. But overall, I am very happy with this purchase and would recommend. I wish I bought this 10 years ago. One word of caution!!! Do not order this from the "seller" Nexlus.com. Nexlus.com is a fraudulent website. They occasionally list themselves as an other seller on Amazon, offering this Instant Pot for $99 with free shipping. It seems very tempting, but I have been taking a very close look at their website and see all signs of fraud including the use of ever changing PayPal accounts and the fact that their Contact Us page is linked to a totally different website called pretendplays.com. Once again, I would strongly recommend staying away from Nexlus.com. Play it safe. Do what I did and order it directly from Amazon. Update 8/26/2014: Good news! The fraudulent site nexlus.com has been shut down. Update 9/21/2014: After having this Instant Pot for over a month, I have to say I've been using it more than I ever expected. And I don't need to use my big regular oven as much anymore. I've mostly been using it as a pressure cooker, but also as a rice cooker and slow cooker. It has made cooking real food much more convenient especially during busy nights when I don't really have time to plan what to cook. On one such night, I threw in some whole potatoes, some pork chops seasoned with salt & pepper, and 3/4 cups water, Cooked it on high pressure for 10 mins, then released the pressure and threw in some corn on the cob. Cooked it on high pressure for another 4 mins. Everything came out great. The corn was cooked to perfection, the pork chops were tender and juicy, and the potatoes were nice and moist, unlike when I nuke them in the microwave. It was so simple and all done in one pot. Really great! Update 11/13/2014: This Instant Pot is truly an energy efficient cooker. Over the past several months of using it on a regular basis, I have seen a very definite decrease in both my gas and electricity bills. How often, if ever, do you see your bills go down? Love it. Update 2/1/2015: After using this Instant Pot for 6 months now, I am still just as excited about using it as I was the day I first got it. I frequently cook whole chickens in it, ranging from 4 to 7 lbs without any problems. I've also used it to make Chinese Tea Eggs. I actually think the eggs came out better than when I make them on the stovetop and in less time too. So Instant Pot recently released the Bluetooth enabled IP-Smart. When I was first thinking of buying a pressure cooker months ago, I had heard that it was in the works and would be released sometime in December. I was intrigued by it, but decided not to wait and so I bought the IP-Duo60. Now that the IP-Smart has been released, I think I made the right choice. The IP-Smart is double the price of the IP-Duo60. I don't think the extra benefits are worth the extra cost. After all, you still have to be in the kitchen to load the food into the cooker. And with Bluetooth being short range, you can't venture too far away without losing the signal. I think the IP-Duo60 is perfect as it is. I just load in the food, set the cooking time then walk away and do other things. I never feel the need to check on it. It's simple and easy."
"I normally wait longer to review a product but I really love this thing. I've had it for a month and will update this review should I ever change my mind about the product due to customer service or longevity. I've used a stovetop pressure cooker with mixed results. I could never seem to adjust the heat properly and always ended up with over- or under-cooked food. I also hated having to sit there and babysit the machine, adjusting the heat to keep the weight swaying. After (too much) research, I decided to buy this machine and I'm so happy with it - in fact, I regret waiting so long to make the purchase. And now here is my too-long review: In the month since I've had it, I've used it multiple times a week making: Dry beans (this took a lot of trial and error; feel free to reply if you want details on how I make perfect beans) Short ribs braised in wine and port Applesauce (several batches, ridiculously easy and delicious) Cheesecake (the absolute best I've ever made, believe it or not) Stew meat destined for a rice dish Broccoli mac and cheese Steamed white and sweet potatoes (whole) Tomato soup Apple ricotta cake Whole "roasted" chicken (in less than 40 minutes start to finish) Chicken broth Chicken stew and dumplings Roasted beet risotto Butternut squash risotto with brown butter (risotto is amazing from this...6 minutes at high pressure) Chicken makhani Mexican shredded chicken Cornbread Pumpkin (to puree) The only thing that was a fail was steamed broccoli. 3 minutes of pressure cooking on the steam setting resulted in overcooked, mushy broccoli. Next time I'll try one minute. If you're worried about cleanup since the cooking pot is stainless and not nonstick, don't be. Unless you scorch something (which has yet to happen to me) cleanup is shockingly simple. I've never had to really scrub to get this thing clean. Three things to note regarding pressure cooking in the Instant Pot: 1) Electric pressure cookers, including the Instant Pot, do not reach the same psi as a stovetop cooker. This means that you *may* need to add cooking time to a recipe designed for the traditional pressure cookers. However, I generally find that this isn't an issue and most of the recipes I use have adaptations for an electric cooker. 2) Cooking times are for pressure cooking only. Your food still needs to come to pressure, and depressurize. That means that a 6-minute risotto is probably more like 12-15 minutes total (5-8 minutes to pressurize, 6 minutes on high, 1 minute to quick release). Unsoaked dry pinto beans pressure cooked on high for 16 minutes actually take more like 45 - 5-8 minutes to come to pressure, 16 minutes of cooking time, then a full natural release which can take 20+ minutes). This is *hands-off* time though, so you can start a pot of beans and then do other things without stirring or adjusting heat. 3) This InstantPot comes with a trivet to keep foods raised off the base of the interior pot. If you plan to steam veggies, you'll also want to get a steamer basket (stainless steel or silicone). You may also want to buy a 7 inch springform pan if you want to make cheesecake in it (I also cooked the apple cake in this pan). Besides fast and delicious pressure cooking, the InstantPot has another benefit over a traditional slow cooker. I was prepping a stew that I didn't intend to pressure cook but that I wanted to let simmer while we had errands to run (so the gas stovetop wasn't an option). I sauteed my veggies right in the instant pot, threw in the other ingredients, and then turned the machine to slow cook on high which gave me a good simmer and let us leave the house. The "keep warm" setting is also great. After cooking tomato soup at pressure, I wanted to keep it at serving temperature until my husband got home. I could leave it unattended in the pressure cooker at the perfect temperature for over an hour, only stirring occasionally. Even the lowest setting on my stovetop would have scorched the soup for that length of time. There is going to be a learning curve with this machine, but I'm not deducting stars for that - there is a learning curve with many appliances and kitchen tools. The Hip Pressure Cooking blog and cookbook were very helpful in mastering this machine, and the cookbook has great recipes timed for both stovetop and electric pressure cookers. Also check out the blog Pressure Cooking Today for Instant Pot specific recipes, including fabulous cheesecakes. Tl;dr: I love my InstantPot and if it breaks one day after the warranty ends, I'll immediately buy another."
"This is my second electric pressure cooker. The first one worked well until the little button on the lid fell out and it wouldn't hold pressure anymore. Over the years I've used stove top cookers and liked them ok, but after having an electric one, I felt I'd rather replace my "broken" one with electric rather than a stove top. I'd been watching the infomercials on tv for another brand and was tempted to buy it, almost made the phone call, but stumbled upon the rating on Amazon, listing the Instant Pot as top rated. I went back and read the reviews for the one on tv and while most seemed good, there were several negative ones. The reviews for the Instant Pot were all good, and in reading nearly half of the [over] 300 reviews and finding them all positive, I decided to go with the Instant Pot even though it was more expensive. When I got the notice that it had been shipped, I anxiously awaited it's arrival and had a pork roast ready and waiting!! When it arrived, I went to YouTube to learn how long to cook the roast. Most videos said about 45 minutes, so I sent the Instant Pot for 45 minutes and waited. The first thing I noticed as it was cooking, was there was no sound and no smell. Was It working? I turned the release valve to Vent and sure enough, steam came out, so obviously it was working! The no smell no sound thing could be good or bad depending on your point of view. If you love the delicious smells of dinner cooking, your going to be disappointed, but if that's a non issue for you then it's not a problem. At the end of the 45 minutes, I released the steam and opened the lid. I was disappointed to find that the roast was not tender and yummy. Fortunately, in my eagerness to try the IP out, I had started dinner early enough that I had plenty of time to run it through another 45 minutes. After this second 45 minutes, I checked it again and still wasn't satisfied with it's doneness. I put it on for another 30 minutes and when I opened the lid, I was Thrilled with the results!! The fact that it ended up taking 2 hours for what I believed would take only 45 minutes was not a deterrent for me. The roast was delicious, the vegetables I had put in after the first 45 minute go-round were done to perfection, and my husband was a very happy man that night! From that night on, I used my Instant Pot every night for that first week. I used it in slow cook mode twice and again found it needed extra time but did an excellent job of cooking a delicious meal. My first electric pressure cooker had the non stick pot but in reading reviews for several brands, the requests and/or satisfaction with stainless steel pots was overwhelming, so that was one of the reasons I decided to go with the Instant Pot. The stainless pot has a heavy, good quality feel to it and could even be used for cooking on the stove top if one wanted to do that. I gave the Instant Pot a 5 star rating, but would have preferred to give it 4 1/2 because of the longer cooking times required, but my stars got posted publicly before I could figure out how to do a half star. In spite of the longer cooking times, I'm totally satisfied with the Instant Pot. Meals take longer than they say, but still get finished much faster than cooking on the stove or oven, so I just make allowances for that extra time. I love being able to put my food in the pot and walking away to go about my business without having to fuss with stirring and watching heat settings and all the things that go along with stove top or oven cooking. I'm so happy with it, that I will be buying one for a wedding present for a good friend who just got married recently! One thing I'd like to add, is that while I absolutely love the Instant Pot, I'm quite dissatisfied with the cookbook. It's filled with things that I'm not likely to cook for my family. While I do acknowledge that it's always fun to try new things, I'd like to see instructions for cooking more traditional things as well."
"For the price, this kitchen marvel is an unbeatable cooking monster! You can chop cooking times down to a fraction of what traditional cooking requires, and the features of this machine are almost intimidating. As for the rice cooking feature, which was a big part of my motivation behind this purchase, it was refreshing to know that it uses a stainless steel bowl (refreshing after finding out that those $30 rice cookers have coatings that can come off onto your food (that has to be healthy, right?). Also interesting to note is that Zojirushi, a Japanese brand that specializes in super fancy rice cookers that start around $140 and go up to $440, has their top-of-the-line rice cooker as a pressure cooker and many reviewers claiming that pressure cooking is the best way to make the fluffiest rice. So while this unit doesn't have induction cooking, or the magical ability to count how many times or for how many minutes the lid has been open in order to determine how much heat is required to keep the rice at the ideal temperature, this unit is less than a fourth of the price, but still shares the same pressure-cooking feature as their best model. For people like me not sleeping on piles of money, that's not nothing! One reviewer made mention that while you can cook plenty of things in the rice cooker, and make wonderful spicy dishes, doing so means that you will never really get normal perfect rice going on again. My initial thought (agreed upon by a close friend) was, "How about you just clean it better after using spices?" Well, after making some curry in my Instant Pot, I found out where he was coming from. This is a quality cooker, but nothing seals better than plastic, and, you guessed it, the seal around the lid is a plastic ring. Anybody who has worked with plastic before knows that plastic has a nasty habit of letting things penetrate inside. And so while you may give your machine a normal cleaning, that plastic ring can redeposit some of your previous recipes' flavoring into your latest dish. It's not so noticeable when you go from full dish to full dish, but when you transfer to just doing plain light-flavored rice, it can be noticeable. Is it possible to completely clean that rubber seal to prevent that from happening? Of course, but just be aware that it will take noticeably more effort than your average cleaning to get it back to how it was when you started - that or buy a lot of replacement rings. ;-) That being said, it is a relatively minor inconvenience for how wonderful this machine is, and is the reason I decided not to drop a star from the machine. Another minor irritation is the steamer tray thing they give. Why not just provide a steamer tray, instead of a steamer thing that will hold a steamer tray? I didn't bother with it at all since you still have to buy something to hold your vegetables in anyway, you might as well just buy the classic collapsible steamer tray to use in it and never use the thing they give you. I actually tried to steam some edamame on the tray they provided while waiting for my collapsible steamer to arrive from Amazon......I wouldn't recommend that. (On a side note, if you steam your vegetables with any spices on them, use the leftover water to cook your rice in. It not only tastes pretty darn good, but you get to save any of those nutrients that may have leaked out of the vegetables during the steaming process! I like to do that and add a little saffron to the rice before cooking it - outstanding!) Another amazing feature is it's timer function. It doesn't have a clock, so you can't give it a starting time of day (which would be nice), but it does have a delay timer, which basically is the same thing, only this method helps keep your math skills sharp! I used it every day so that I could wake up to Steel Cut Oatmeal ready made for me, and for anyone who doesn't know, Steel Cut Oats can take up to 45 minutes to make on the stove if not prepared ahead of time. I know the manual says that you shouldn't make oatmeal in it, but I made it every morning and never had a problem, so you can decide for yourself if it's worth the risk. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Notice that I said "I used it every day" and not "I use it every day". Sadly it is no longer in my possession because I bought it when I went down to Texas for a military tour, and despite my optimism that all would be fine, I had to leave my machine with the baggage guy because it made my suitcase overweight. Early Christmas for him I guess. If it helps to tell you how much I enjoyed it while I had it, I'm thinking of repurchasing it again because I still haven't found anything better in a similar price category. If you are traveling and staying in a hotel for a while, this is perfect since most hotels don't come with kitchenettes. But even just for your house, this is a wonderful addition!"
Instant Pot IP-DUO60 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker (Compare deals from $132.45)
