Instant Pot Duo 6-Quart 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Rice Cooker, Steamer, Sauté, Yogurt Maker, Warmer & Sterilizer, Includes App With Over 800 Recipes, Stainless Steel

Instant Pot is a 7-in-1 Multi-Functional Pressure Cooker. It is a Pressure cooker, a rice cooker, a slow cooker, a yogurt maker, a steamer, a saute pan, and a warmer all in one pot. The first, and most obvious, benefit is that it saves tons of space in your kitchen by eliminating the need for appliances to do all these things. It also has the huge advantage of the saute feature which allows you to brown or sear the outside of meat dishes without the need to use a separate pan. I tried this pot for making two items. First I tried cooking a whole roasting chicken. As I said it was nice to be able to sear the skin without using a separate pan and the additional clean up. I then added a cup of water and put the chicken on the steaming rack. A four pound chicken took 26 minutes to cook, a real time saver for last minute meals. I'll be honest and say that, to me, the best part of a roast chicken is the nice crispy skin and you will not get that here. However I am usually strictly a dark meat person since I find the white meat to be too dry. That was NOT the case here. All the meat on this chicken was very moist which is a definite plus. The next day I tried a recipe for baby back ribs and they came out great. I seasoned the ribs and cooked them in the Instant Pot for 32 minutes in an apple juice/ apple cider mix. I then laid them out on a pan and brushed on my favorite BBQ sauce and put them in the oven under the broiler for about ten minutes to caramelize the sugars in the sauce. This is also a great time to pop on four ears of corn into the Instant Pot and steam them for the perfect side dish and everything is ready at the same time. With the stainless steel liner cleanup is remarkably quick and easy. I highly recommend this appliance since it saves time, space and energy costs.

I love to slow cook meals and use my electric slow cooker a lot but there are times when I want slow cooker flavor and tenderness but I don't have 6-8 hours to cook a meal. This is where I felt the Instant Pot would shine but after a couple weeks of use I realize that there is so much more to it. First the picture of the chicken thighs isn't the most visually appealing food picture but I wanted to show it. A hour beforehand this chicken was frozen solid. I put it in the Instant Pot with a packet of onion soup and in an hour it went from a frozen block of chicken thighs to fully cooked. No need to defrost, no need to thaw for a day or two in the refrigerator. For that reason alone I LOVE this product. The Instant Pot community is large as you can find several websites with recipes and cooking tips. Youtube is littered with videos showing recipes and ideas. Complete meals can be cooked in the Instant Pot making it a huge time and dishes saver. Also no more worrying about everything finishing at the same time for dinner. Meat cooks up very tender and juicy. The chicken in the picture literally was falling off the bone and was very moist. I love making meat for pulled pork and shredded chicken in the Instant Pot. It comes out perfect every time. The Instant Pot is also a very capable slow cooker so you can still prepare your favorite slow cooker recipes in it. It is amazing to me how versatile one device can be. If you enjoy slow cooker cooking give the Instant Pot a try and expand your abilities even further than you could have imagined!