Instant pot v slow cooker?

[MyOtherProfile]

We are slow cooker fans and use ours several times a week. We throw ingredients in in the morning so that dinner is ready when we come home. However I've been seeing ads for an instant pot. Has anyone got experience of both? What are the advantages of the instant pot (other than speed!) ?

We like how flavours come out in the slow cooker - what's it like with an instant pot in comparison?

Thanks.

The instant pot has a slow cooker button, but the option of using the saute mode to fry off anything (I did beef stew) before hand is helpful, no pan on the hob needed.

I do a 2.6kg pulled pork in 80 minutes, (I do slice it up though) I make yoghurt in it, it can cook frozen chicken breasts really quickly if you forgot to take them out of the freezer.

Very easy to clean, a million recipes on YouTube and IP facebook page.

The one downside when you first get it is working out the total cooking time. ie when I cook my pulled pork, I use saute to heat up the BBQ sauce, when that gets hot I put the pork in and close the lid. But you have to allow time for it to come up to pressure before it starts the cooking time, once it is cooked if it is natural release (manual release means opening the valve to let the steam out) then it can take 10 minutes or 30 minutes.

So this unknown can be problematic at first but once you get used to it then you know roughly how long things take. It is very easy to clean and we have had ours about 2 years.

I have a crock pot express multi cooker and love it. Food tastes good cooked either way.

Agree with ConfidingFish that the big advantage of the IP is the sauté function. It means I can brown off meat, onions etc. in the same pan and then set to slow cook.

I use my IP far more than I thought I would. Vegetables are quick and the 'keep warm' function is useful. Cooking joints is also quick. It's quick and easy for soups, curries, chillies and less messy. There is a bit of trial and error with timings and cooking times can be misleading as you have to allow it to get up to pressure but plenty of hints and tips online.

It also makes great yogurt and (strangely) is particularly useful for large quantities of hard-boiled eggs!

I used to have a slow cooker (still do - but not used) but got an instant pot a while back as it does what a slow cooker does and more! I have never used my slow cooker since but I have used my IP as a slow cooker but I more often use it as a pressure cooker. It really is an amazing gadget.

I have an instant pot and mainly I use it as a slow cooker with the added advantages. Fry off onions/meat without a separate pan and keep warm function so kids can eat earlier if dh is going to be late in.

I really should play with it more to get the most out of it but for that alone it's worth paying the extra £20 of a replacement slow cooker would of cost. I got mine in Black Friday deals 2018 so was half price

Thanks for the feedback. I suspect we will just stick with our slow cookers for now.

Would you say that food is really as flavoursome as when you leave it for hours in a slow cooker? We slow cook over conventional cooking partly for that reason.

@MyOtherProfile - the slow cooker function on the IP is exactly the same - food cooks for 6-8 hours so the flavour isn't any different. It just has the added extra - sauté and 'keep warm' for example.

Thanks Romaine what I'm actually wondering is does the instant pot on the fast setting somehow bring out the rich flavours that the slow cooker does over conventional cooking? If so then I might be tempted. If not I'll stick with the slow cooker.

Thanks again.

@MyOtherProfile incase you're still debating have you seen that instant pot is deal of the day on amazon today?

I love mine...if anything I think the IP is better at tasty food than just a slow cooker because you can easily saute/sweat the veg and brown the food before you start which so many people do not do in slow cooking

I often start something off under pressure and then once I have checked favour/seasoning I will leave it to slow cook. Maybe adding more fragile ingredients as the afternoon goes on, or dropping in some dumplings, but I am milling about at home so it's easy.

I got rid of my slowcooker and steamer more or less the week after I got the IP.