Convince me to keep my instant pot

[OhWifey]

I've just taken delivery of an Instant Pot Duo Plus. It was £100ish. I am a bit taken aback by how massive it is. I have the space for it but it dwarfs my old faithful slow cooker and I feel like I'm cheating on my slow cooker a little bit. I've put it back in its box while I make a decision. Should I keep it? I read rave reviews but does anyone regret not just sticking with a slow cooker for one pot meals?

It depends what you want it for. If you want to cook things really quickly, it's great. If you want to replace your slow cooker, they're not as good.

I got rid of mine and stick with the slow cooker now.

I am hoping I can do nice risottos and curries in it but I do also want the slow cooker function. I'm no fan of clutter so don't want both if I can help it.

I only ever made risotto in mine. The slow cooker function was crap and I didn’t like the pressure cooked bolognaise etc. I sold mine and went back to my sear and stew slow cooker.

Risotto is amazing and so easy in it!

I've had mine a couple of years now and I still use it regularly. I've never had a slow cooker and I've never used the slow cooker function on the IP so maybe don't think of it as just a replacement for your slow cooker.

I have just cooked some dried kidney beans for a chilli, I am about to cook pork belly for my low carb lunches and then I'm going to chuck in some chicken bones to make bone broth/stock for soup.

I regularly use it to cook Rice and boil eggs, it makes the best cheesecake and occasionally I'll make a batch of yogurt.

But £100 is a lot to spend if you think you'll only use the slow cooker function.

Can you find room for it in a cupboard? We have one and I don't like it taking up worktop space. I store it in a cupboard and get it out when I need it. I'm awful at cooking rice and it's saved me and my DH from that stodge! I also like to make up dump bags. Just everything you'd need for a chilli, bolognaise, stew, curry and then freeze it. Put it in the pot frozen (out of the bag) for 20 mins and you have quick meals that are tender too.

I love the dump bag idea!

It's made cooking so much quicker and you don't have to stand chopping every day. It helps with my bad back anyway. Are you convinced enough to keep it yet? Also. I forgot to get our chicken out of the freezer today. It's taken 50 mins in the pot and a quick brown off in the oven. Roast dinner sorted

I really like my IP. However, the slow cook function is indeed dreadful.

If you ever need to replace your oven & have to wait for the replacement, you'll be glad of an IP...

YABU for spending that much on an Instant Pot when a Pressure King Pro does exactly the same for half the price. I love mine. Just cooked a chicken for dinner in 20ish mins today. Curries, soups and sauces are amazing too.

I use mine a lot but it does depend what kind of food you like to cook. It is brilliant for pulses and beans, so I make a lot of dal etc, and for curries (butter chicken and keema both very easy). I do batches of medium-boiled eggs on a Sunday for salads and sandwiches through the week, and the eggs are very consistent and easier to peel than normal boiled eggs. Risotto is easy and needs no stirring. Really good porridge with steel-cut oats. It makes excellent stock without the need to have the stockpot boiling for hours making the house smell like gravy.

I initially bought mine because I wanted a slow cooker with a sauté feature for browning meat but I have found that the pressure cooking functions have superseded the slow cooker in pretty much every way.

I got rid of my slow cooker and just have the IP. Use it very regularly for stews, chillis, curries, rice (and rice pudding), risottos etc. DH is cooking 4 minute beef in it at the moment.

There is a FB group which has lots of hints and tips and can link you to easy tried and tested recipes.

www.facebook.com/groups/InstantPotUKCommunity/?ref=share

I LOVE our instant pot. I keep it in the under-stairs cupboard (next to my slow cooker, which I kept) as, as you say, it's huge.

What's great about it:

1. You can cook frozen food in it safely, even chicken. That's a game changer if you're scatty like me and sometimes need to make dinner but forgot to get the meat out of the freezer.

2. It makes the loveliest yogurt you've ever had. And that's super easy.

3. It makes EPIC soup. It just gets all the flavour out of the ingredients.

4. We tried rice in it but just managed to make crunchy stodge. 🤷🏻‍♀️

5. See point no.1. I think that's the real bonus.

Oh yes - stock! Stock is amazing in it.

I love mine so much I now have two! Risotto is amazing, so easy as you can just leave it to do its thing. Cheesecake is unbelievably good, and I don’t usually like baked cheesecake. Great for pulses and for all sorts of Indian food.

I’ve never used the slow cook function, but hear it is pants - but I bought it to use as a pressure cooker, not a slow cooker.

This recipe is reason for keeping it...

www.halfbakedharvest.com/weeknight-saucy-pineapple-bbq-chicken-bowls/

Nope.

Over hyped crap. If you want food that tastes of nothing then they’re fabulous

Mines been dumped in the garage.