Honestly, I’m not quite sure. All I know is that I don’t want to imagine a world without it anymore. I’m talking about the Instant Pot. That countertop appliance that may look like a glorified cooking pot, but is so much more than that. Before purchasing my first Instant Pot back in 2022, I never quite understood the hype myself. But once I got my hands on one, I was converted within days. There’s life before an Instant Pot, and then there’s life after an Instant Pot. There’s no going back. Since then, they’ve released many new models, all with better, smarter and more attractive functions. The Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid, the one I’m writing about, is a multi-cooker on kryptonite. It has 12 functions: There’s also a ‘keep warm’ function and a ‘delay start’ function, so you can programme it to start cooking later. Alongside this, you can adjust the temperature - there are 6 heat settings for sauté mode, 2 for pressure cook and slow cook, and you can adjust the temperature from 80°C to 200°C for the air fry, bake, grill and roast settings. That’s A LOT of functionality from one single appliance, and a HUGE step up from the original Instant Pot! The pressure cooking cover is a flat plate-like cover which you’ll need to insert onto the lid if you’re using the pressure cook, slow cook, sauté, yogurt, steam cook and sous vide settings. There a button to remove it when you want to use any of the other settings. The inner pot has a capacity of 6.2l, which is a good size for a family of 5-6. It’s dimensions are 34 x 39.1 x 39.3cm (h x w x d) - in layman’s terms, it’s a sizeable chunk of counter space. On the counter: With the lid open + side view (it’s pretty tall fully extended: And finally, a view of the air fryer basket insert + a view of the back, which includes a small container for collecting any liquid. You’ll need to empty it out every so often.
Sauté mode: for frying my onions, making my masala base, simmering - essentially any kind of cooking you’d want to do on your stovetop, the sauté mode is perfect for. Pressure cook: this is where a lot of magic happens. The pressure cook function allows you to trim down your cook time majorly! I can cook chicken in 3 minutes, lamb in 7-8 minutes, mutton in 12 minutes and beef in 20 minutes. Lentils will take between 5-10 minutes, depending on which kind. Slow cooking recipes like Yakhni, Nihari, Haleem and Paya are ready in a breeze! I save SO much time thanks to this setting.But that’s not all - I also sometimes use it to give my onions or masala base a flash 2-3 minutes of pressure to help it break down quicker for a smooth masala base. Even things that don’t have a long cook time can have a flash 1-2 minutes in the pressure cook setting to accelerate cook times. I LOVE this so much! Air fry: this setting is pretty self explanatory - you can use it for chips, chicken wings, kebabs, pastries, samosas etc. I also use it to reheat any previously fried goods or pizzas, to get a cheesy, melty top over pastas. It’s great for roast potatoes too! I use the air fry setting much more often than the bake, roast or grill setting - just because I’m more familiar with the settings. I’ve used this setting in my Butter Chicken, Roghni Naan and Malai Tikka recipe with success. The air fryer setting gets food ready much faster than using an oven to bake - for e.g., chips are ready in 10 minutes, fish fingers ready in 5 minutes and frozen pizza ready in 4 minutes - it would easily take double these time in the oven! Slow cook: I love love love the slow cook function for my desserts - Kheer, Gajar Ka Halwa and Sheer Khurma are solid slow cook favourites which eliminates the need to stand around and stir constantly. Usually, I’ll add everything to the Instant Pot before bed, turn on the slow cook function for 8 hours and leave - and in the morning, I’m greeting with the fragrance of cardamom and creamy goodness 🤤 It’s also great for yakhni, stews, soups and anything else you’d like to cook low and slow. Dehydrate: Admittedly, I’ve not used this much. This is supposedly great for making vegetable or fruit crisps, drying out herbs or even making fruit leather. I haven’t played around with this much - I’ve dried green chillies, fresh herbs and apples with success. I definitely want to explore this function more.
But once I caved and took the plunge, I realised just how much of a gamechanger this is. Here’s why I love it:
➡️ The timer is life changing (I don’t say that lightly)
The thing about life as a busy parent is sometimes there’ll be a very urgent matter (a spilt drink, an injury, an over-tired cranky toddler, etc) and you have to drop everything immediately. And if you’ve got something in the oven or on the hob, you have to choose between either switching it off because you don’t know how long you’ll be gone, or taking the risk and keeping it on (and developing lowkey anxiety because you don’t want the house to burn to the ground). I didn’t know I needed a timer in my life until the Instant Pot waltzed into my life. All I have to do is set the timer for X minutes, and I can go about my life without needing to think twice about it. I can leave the house, take my kids to bed, take a call, and I know that after X minutes the Instant Pot will turn off with zero interventions from me.
➡️ The pressure cooker is super safe
If you’ve ever used a traditional, old-style stovetop pressure cooker (the ones our Desi mums probably used), you may know they’re not particularly… safe. If any of the parts aren’t sealed or on properly, the pressure cooker can quite literally burst - I’ve witnessed this twice and it’s TERRIFYING. And if something is burning on the inside whilst you’re pressure cooking, it’s not so easy to detect, or to salvage it immediately. These two things make me feel like a stove-top pressure cooker can be a very real hazard if you’re not absolutely meticulous about it. With the Instant Pot, if any parts are damaged or not on properly, the cooker won’t seal. And if something is burning on the inside, the Instant Pot detects it and automatically turns off. It eliminates those two hazards completely!
➡️ Do all the things in 1 device
The reason I began considering the Instant Pot even though I didn’t get the hype at the time was because I wanted an air fryer, but the cost was coming out to be about the same as the Instant Pot. It felt like the financially savvy decision to get an appliance that did all these things at once. Counter real estate is valuable, ya know? And I’m so glad I did!
➡️ Save on energy bills
I have an electric cooker, and our energy bills can be… a lot. Lol. The Instant Pot uses significantly less electricity than a stove or oven per hour. There were even some claims that it ends up paying for itself after a year when you account for savings on energy bills (annoyingly can’t remember the source for this claim). And I reckon this was actually the tipping point for me back when I got my first one! This blows a stove-top pressure cooker out of the WATER. Here’s why: ➡️ I have used a stove-top pressure cooker in the past and I have always hated how I’d have to keep track of EVERYTHING - from when it comes to pressure, the whistles, how long it’s been cooking on pressure etc. Yes, it cooked my food quicker than a normal pot but honestly, it felt so hands on. Coupled with the lack of safety I mentioned above and how freaking loud it gets, I just avoided using it altogether. The Instant Pot takes the guesswork out of it completely - just set the timer, press ‘start’ and relax! It’s hands-off, if there’s a sealing issue it will bleep to let you know and it’s SO MUCH QUIETER than a stove-top pressure cooker! ➡️ I often get asked whether the Instant Pot cooks quicker than a stove-top pressure cooker. Honestly, I don’t think it does. If it does, it’s a very marginal difference. But if you think it’s a battle between which pressure cooker cooks quicker, you’ve got the point of the Instant Pot all wrong. The selling point is NOT that it cooks quicker than a stove-top pressure cooker. The selling point is that it’s more convenient, safer and lets me go about my day without needing to monitor the cooking. I can do the school run, take my kids to bed, have a shower, take a call - anything - whilst the Instant Pot is running. And I can rest assured it will do its job, switch off when it’s done and be ready for me when I’m ready for it. And don’t we all need someone (or something) as reliable as that in our lives? I’ve previously owned the standard Instant Pot Duo Crisp which comes with 2 lids, and I’ve had some experience with the original Instant Pot. Here’s why this model trumps all the others for me:
So. Many. Functions - It has all the functions most people will need in the kitchen, whilst having just one lid. If you want an Instant Pot, but also need an air fryer, it makes much more sense to buy this, as opposed to 2 separate appliances. Superior bhoon-ing capabilities - if you’re familiar with Pakistani cooking, you’ll know how important bhoon-ing (sauteing over a high heat) is. With other models, I’ve found the heat doesn’t get high enough to sauté well enough, which leads to frustration and subpar results. However, this Instant Pot Ultimate Lid model has 6 heat settings and I’ve found it is excellent at bhoon-ing my meats to my standard! My old model was rubbish at this, so this has been a game changer for me! Perfect size for my family - for reference, we’re a family of 4, but I usually cook enough for more than one meal. Cost - It seems to be on sale more often than some of the other models, despite being the best one I’ve had experience with!
All these parts are very easy to clean and are dishwasher friendly. Just to be safe, I’d take off and handwash the rubber seal on the pressure cooking cover if you’re going to use a dishwasher - it can get warped, which basically means you can’t pressure cook with it. There are however a few trickier, non-removable parts to clean. Here I’m showing you them, in all their icky glory, so please look away if you’re sensitive to mess! 😜 This finnicky part around the outer rim (first image above). Food, spices powders and even liquid sometimes fall in and I need to use a very fine brush to get into this bit to clean it up. I’ve found if it’s particularly gunked up, the pressure cooker setting has trouble sealing. So it’s really important to keep this clean. The pressure cooking grill (second image above). You can already tell this is a problem area for me, lol. I reckon it would need some serious scrubbing with a brush and something abrasive to get this clean, so my advice here would be to wipe it down before it builds up like mine has. Two other areas that’ll need some attention include the inner rim of the lid, and the inside of the Instant Pot, both pictured below. Truly, the best way to keep these clean is to not let it accumulate. Give it a wipe down with some dish soap and a clean cloth after every use, before anything has gotten stuck and stubborn, and you’re all good. Another thing worth mentioning here - which is something you’ll be accustomed to if you’ve pressure cooked before - is that there’s a lot of steam involved when you release the pressure. With the Instant Pot, the pressure will release from the round top pictured below, and when it does there’ll be a lot of… well, moisture. And grease too, if there’s a lot of fat in whatever you’re cooking. It’s not an obnoxious amount of steam, if I’m honest. And this isn’t really a problem if there’s nothing within the vicinity of the steam - but if there is, it’s something you’ll need to wipe down otherwise it can get greasy over time. In my case, my blinds tend to get this steam shot and they’re not a problem to wipe down. But if I had wallpaper, or anything I don’t want getting moist, it would be something to consider. CONS:
Takes up sizeable counter space. If you have limited worktop space, fitting this into your kitchen may be a tough call. But with the functions it performs, this is one to do a cost/benefit analysis for. It’s quite heavy. So if you plan on storing this in the cupboard when not in use, be prepared to be moving around a big and heavy appliance. Cleaning the air fryer grills on the lid is tricky. Steam will release from the pressure cook function and anything where the steam hits will get… steamy. And maybe greasy. So you’ll need to think about that (wiping down immediately is the best solution).
In the US, it’s currently $114.99, down from the original price of $229.99 - again, huge saving! You can also purchase it directly from the Instant Pot websites, or from stores like Argos, John Lewis and Currys.
