Design Engineer Tests $89 & $305 Multicookers (Instant Pot vs Breville) | Epicurious


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Today product design engineer Vincent Valderrama returns to Epicurious to pit the massively popular $89 Instant Pot multicooker …

39 replies
  1. Nykole
    Nykole says:

    The only thing that makes me sad about stovetop pressure cookers is that they aren't big enough to hold in a cake or cheesecake pan (at least, mine isn't)

    Reply
  2. [ithy]
    [ithy] says:

    I paid $25 for my instant pot. Also bought one for my brother and sister in law. A couple of years ago a, Kroger in central Ohio had them for at most $25. I think they had around 15 of them, they sold every one within twenty minutes.

    Reply
  3. John Michels
    John Michels says:

    Rice tip: don't use the pot itself. Instead, add rice to a smaller bowl or dish, wash it, and then place it on the trivet or a silicone sling with about half a cup of water in the actual pot. I do this with 160g botan calrose rice + 275g water and 8 minutes at high pressure and then another 15-30 minutes natural release.

    Resulting rice is comparable to an expensive and far less versatile rice cooker. And this way, all that needs to be cleaned up is the dish I used, not the pot itself. I also do this with almost everything I cook in my instant pot like chicken, oatmeal, veggies, etc. Nothing can burn this way and it really changes things significantly. I also usually use the dish I used to cook as my serving dish too so very efficient and already preheated to stay at temp through the meal.

    Reply
  4. seancoyote
    seancoyote says:

    I love my instant pot, the combo of rice cooker and pressure cooker, even yogurt and other things, earns it's space. My rice cooker got retired to the garage to be used as a black garlic maker in the future.

    Reply
  5. Giseli Coelho Freitas
    Giseli Coelho Freitas says:

    I think it depends on the model for instant pot. I have the ultra and it does let me regulate the temperature and the pressure.
    I can also see the stages of cooking in the panel: building, cooking, keep warm (if I chose to keep warm option – I think it's default and you can turn it on/off).
    I wish it had a sound for when the pressure is all released. I have to estimate everytime.
    Also for the crispy skin, you can achieve that on the instant pot, there are options: you can buy the crisp lid where you change lids and it's going to air fry, broil, etc (many options) or buy the model that already comes with this type of lid.

    Reply
  6. Jacob Smith
    Jacob Smith says:

    I don't know about you, but there is no amount of excellent user interface that would make me spend $200 more on a product that doesn't actually exceed the capability of its much cheaper rival. In fact, the only test here where they weren't nearly indistinguishable was the cheesecake, which the instant pot won. I'm not rich enough to think that my time and effort learning to use an appliance properly is worth more than double the appliance's value.

    Reply
  7. Bev in TX
    Bev in TX says:

    Thanks for this extremely interesting review! I would be interested in comparisons of other features. In particular, I use the Instant Pot’s slow cooking function, but I think it cooks too hot. This made me curious as to how that function works on the Breville. Also, are there functions that are available on one brand, but not on the other?

    Regarding cooking beans, I still find that beans cook better when soaked, even when cooking under pressure. And the time under pressure gets greatly reduced when doing so (good because of high energy costs). Yes, in a pinch I still cook them unsoaked, but those results aren’t quite as good.

    Reply
  8. Aiden S. Shin
    Aiden S. Shin says:

    Ok, I think uncle Roger will say this, too. You don’t need this fancy cooker thingy. A normal rice cooker will do all these things perfectly. Just buying a rice cooker.

    Reply
  9. Desiree Michaels
    Desiree Michaels says:

    I love my Instant Pot, I loathe cleaning that stainless steel liner after cooking anything (like rice) that tends to stick. I’ve never regretted the roughly $30 I spent buying their non-stick liner which for some reason isn’t an option except as an available accessory. Not sure how it’d work for the Breville, but best thing I’ve found for cleaning that rim on the Instant Pot are the small foam paint brushes. They’re the only thing I’ve found that can do a decent job of getting into that tight spot.

    Reply

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