Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Which How to saute in instant pot Pot should you buy? Instant Pots are multifunctional pressure cookers with enhanced features and multiple settings to make an even better meal.
The best Instant Pots not only offer faster cooking times but other handy features like preprogrammed settings, LCDs, smartphone apps, and customizable parameters. The Instant Pot Duo is the most popular Instant Pot family, and it’s one of our favorites. It can do a lot without having too many frills. It’s a good pressure cooker for those who want to try their hand at pressure cooking or those who have experience pressure cooking.
The Duo family includes a wide range of individual models. The Instant Pot Duo has a place to store the lid on the side of the pot. It comes with a steaming rack with handles on the 6-quart and higher sizes. An improved lid design makes the lid easier to open. The steam release valve is easy to secure in place. You can often find the Duo on sale for significantly less than the retail price.
LCD with status icons to indicate the cooker’s status, while the Duo has a more basic display. Outside of the display design, the additional cooking programs, and of course, the price, the Duo and Duo Plus are very similar. This model doesn’t go on sale as often as some of the other IP models. Instant Pot Pro on kitchen countertop. The Instant Pot Pro is approaching the higher end of the lineup.
Its major contribution is a baking function, so you can make cakes of all kinds. It also upgrades the number of cooking programs to 28, the most of any Instant Pot family. The interface has quite a bit going on, giving lots of extra buttons for setting shortcuts, indicators for heating and cooking progress, and everything in between. Expect to enjoy a lot more granular control with the Instant Pot Pro versus other models. The Max controls the amount of air in the pot, releasing as much air as possible for faster and better cooking.
You can even use the Max as a pressure canner. Max is dishwasher safe, which makes cleaning easier. You can control it with your phone via the Instant Pot app. The app also has pre-programmed recipes and alerts to make cooking even easier. The cooker has an LCD and status icons so you can easily check on your meal. The pot connects to Alexa and Google Assistant for voice control too.
Instant Pot Comparison Instant Pot Duo versus Duo Plus There’s a pretty big difference in functions between the Instant Pot Duo and the Duo Plus. The Duo Plus has sous vide and sterilizer functions, and an additional two cooking programs. This alone may be enough to seal the deal for the Duo Plus. A handful of smaller features can also be found on the Duo Plus, such as quiet steam release, an anti-spin cooking pot design, and a cooking status bar on the LED display. Instant Pot Duo Plus versus Pro The Instant Pot Pro is a modest step up from the Duo Plus.
The Pro enjoys a baking mode which gives it an edge, but an optional air fryer add-on is available for the Duo Plus. The Duo Plus is available in a 3-quart version if you need something with a smaller footprint, while the Pro has a whooping 28 one-touch smart cooking programs available, and an interface with lots of control available. It’s a close call between these two. Instant Pot Pro versus Max The biggest claim to fame of the Instant Pot Max is its canning feature. The Instant Pot Pro Plus is the only other model that is able to do canning. The trade-off is that the Max doesn’t do Sous Vide, while the Pro does. You’ll need to weigh your priorities to figure out which feature is more important.
The Instant Pot Pro also comes with 28 one-touch smart cooking programs, which blows the 15 of the Max out of the water. Instant Pot Max versus Pro Plus The major differentiator of the Instant Pot Pro Plus is its access to your home Wi-Fi network. This lets you schedule cooking, remotely control it, and beam recipes directly to the Instant Pot. The two are available in the same capacities and are otherwise highly comparable in their features.