About a week or so ago Betty, (my 82 year old beer drinking, Orange Is The New Black watching mother) called me to ruminate about gum or cats or ISIS or something - I can't really remember. In the same conversation she told me she needed to borrow my Instant Pot. There was a recipe in the newspaper she wanted to try but it required an Instant Pot. The Instant Pot, if you don't know, is the new "miracle " small appliance that has taken the blogging world by storm. I have no idea if it's taken the world of regular home cooks by storm or not, but according to my nephew who works at Canada Post a plethora of them are being shipped to homes across Canada on a daily basis.
The Instant Pot, which looks like a large slow cooker, used to be a 6 in 1 machine, but the new and improved version is a 7 in 1 machine.
MY REVIEW OF THE INSTANT POT.
WHAT 7 GADGETS DOES THE INSTANT POT REPLACE?
- SLOW COOKER
- PRESSURE COOKER
- RICE COOKER
- STEAMER
- YOGURT MAKER
- SAUTE PAN/OVEN
- WARMING POT
This one machine is capable of doing all of these things. Unfortunately for The Instant Pot, I'm capable of doing all of these things as well, usually without the aid of a special machine. As you may have guessed, this review isn't going to bode well for the Instant Pot.
By the way, it's the yogurt maker that they added to the latest edition of the Instant Pot that turned it from a 6 in 1 to a 7 in 1 machine. And it's a good thing they did because without the addition of that, my review of this thing would have gone from underwhelmed to abysmally underwhelmed. And guess what? They now make a 9 in 1 machine!
I'm Karen. And I'm the only blogger to hate The Instant Pot. Or so I thought but in truth ...
Nope. No, I was not the only person to hate The Instant Pot. I am joined by a long line of people who didn't like the Instant Pot but who aren't quite as vocal about their distain for this thing as the people who are obsessed with it. The obsessed people who will herein be referred to as The Cult of Instant Pot Lovers Who Maybe Don't Actually Love Cooking so Therefore Love That The Instant Pot Allows You to Lock Your Dinner Up And Out Of Sight Like a Kidnapped Baby.
Kaitlin from TheKitchn didn't like it.
Lisa from 100DaysofRealfood didn't like it.
And, and ... well I'm sure I could find more detractors out there if I could just figure out how to make it into the small kitchen appliance section of the dark web.
The Cult of the Instant Pot is the group of people who are willing to do or say anything to prove that this very useable, yet kind of unremarkable gadget is going to change your life. After owning the 7 in 1 Instant Pot for a few months my life has not changed any more than it changed after getting a teeth cleaning and WAY less than it changed after buying a Soda Stream.
But I like cooking. I like the process of cooking. I like stirring, and tasting and adding salt. You do not do these things with an Instant Pot. You put the food in, close it up and hope for the best. Which is my biggest beef with it. Cooking for me is something to be enjoyed and experienced and food is to be nurtured and tasted throughout the cooking process. There is none of that with an Instant Pot.
Imagine you're an artist and you have a blank canvas and all your oil paints and brushes in front of you. You take your time building the perfect painting, adding things and blending them and taking your time lovingly creating it. That's cooking.
Now imagine you whip off a kind of shitty paint by number in 13 minutes. That's cooking with an Instant Pot.
I know The Cult is currently looking for ways to poison me with some sort of Instant Pot concoction (that has gooey, rubbery chicken skin in it) but if that's the case I know I have at least 2 hours because even though the Instant Pot Cult claims they can make "Bone Broth" soup in 20 minutes, what they don't mention is you can't.
Why not? Because of reason #1 I didn't like the Instant Pot.
WHY I DIDN'T LIKE THE INSTANT POT
- The Instant Pot isn't as fast as its cooking time. Even though it works great and really did create the most delicious chili I've ever made in my life, the Instant Pot takes a really long time to come up to pressure before you can start cooking in it. At least 20 minutes. So you spend all your time prepping, doing whatever you need to do to make soup or chili (just like you would if you were doing it on the stove) and then you have to sit and wait for 20 minutes while it comes up to pressure. Once it does you really do have a reduced cooking time for a lot of things. My chili cooked in the Instant Pot in 10 minutes. You heard me. I pressure cooked it for TEN minutes. Normally I'd simmer that sucker for 3 hours. But then after it's insanely quick cooking time you need to let it depressurize. Another 20 minutes in most cases. For chili or other slow simmering dishes the Instant Pot excels. It really and truly does. The pressure cooking blends and melds all the flavours right into the meat (just like any pressure cooker would). But if that's all you want to do with the Instant Pot you'd be better off getting a better, stronger pressure cooker that comes up to pressure faster.
- The Instant Pot doesn't allow you to taste your food as you go. Or even check on it. Want to cook some chicken or duck or other meat that might dry out and get rubbery if it's overdone? You throw it in The Instant Pot and hope for the best. Ditto for seasoning which I always do at the beginning, middle and end of making almost any recipe. The good news is, because the Instant Pot does such a good job of bringing out the flavours of most ingredients, underseasoned food usually isn't an issue.
- The saute function isn't hot enough. I guess hot enough isn't maybe the right choice of words. The pot gets hot enough for sauteing but the second you add any food to it, the Instant Pot isn't strong enough to keep it hot so you have to wait for it to heat back up again before anything can brown. So it takes 3X as long to saute or brown meat in an Instant Pot as it would in a pan on the stove.
- You can't do big batches. I was really excited about making broth in The Instant Pot because everyone who has done so said it's fast and it's great. Sign me up. Then I started thinking ... that's not a lot of broth. When I do chicken or beef broth/stock I do a LOT of it, and then I can it all. I do this maybe 3 times a year. The Instant Pot comes in 3 sizes: 5, 6 or 8 quarts. By the time I got my ingredients into the Instant Pot and accounting for the fact that you can't fill it up completely because it's a pressure cooker, that wasn't going to leave me with very many quarts of broth. So in the end I didn't even try making broth in it.
- There's no temperature gauge. I mentioned the yogurt maker was the saving grace of this thing and as someone who makes homemade yogurt on a regular basis it really is a feature I liked. BUT ... there is not temperature gauge and with yogurt (as with a lot of other things) you need to know what temperature your food is at. To test the yogurt to make sure it's at 180 degrees you need to use a manual thermometer. The first time I made yogurt it didn't turn out at all. The second and third times it turned out perfectly. I attribute this to the fact that the later times I checked the temperature with a thermometer.
- Most things I did with it I could do better and easier without The Instant Pot. The Oatmeal I made with the Instant Pot was fine but using my method for Overnight Oatmeal is easier and faster. Plus there's something in me that thinks an old fashioned dish is better when cooked the old fashioned way. If I'm making a dinner that includes rice it's easier to just put some rice and water in a pot on the stove than to drag out the Instant Pot. If I'm cooking a whole chicken the only reason I'm doing that is so I can either stuff it or get a nice crispy skin. Neither of which is possible with the Instant Pot.
Over the course of my review I made Cherry Cheesecake, Yogurt, Oatmeal, Chili, Chicken and rice, Hard Boiled eggs and a bunch of other things in my Instant Pot. Some turned out great, some turned out terrible. Some cooked quicker than normal and some took longer to cook than my regular way of cooking them.
Believe it or not I do have some good things to say about the Instant Pot. Really I do. Although I still overwhelmingly hate it for my own cooking needs for the most part, I would say ...
WHY I LIKED THE INSTANT POT
- It's easy to clean. If you don't consider you can't get the stink out of the rubber gasket no matter what you do. I know this is going to get the other two Instant Pot haters riled up but I really didn't find cleaning this thing to be difficult at all. It's stainless steel which means it cleans really easily with just a sponge. The only issue is the rubber gasket which takes on the scent of each and every thing you cook in your Instant Pot. Mine currently smells like ground beef cheesecake. I haven't noticed that the smell of the gasket translates into flavour mingling in the dishes. The gasket itself just doesn't smell good and HOLDS the smells. True Instant Pot enthusiasts order extra gaskets online so they have one for sweet and one for savoury cooking.
- YOGURT! I know how to make yogurt with my eyes closed, my hands tied behind my back and a gag ball in my mouth. This is the method I have used for years and it's served me well, but the Instant Pot really does make it easier. And as long as you check your temperatures the results are perfect.
- Flavour enhancing qualities. Stews, chilis and other meat or bean based dishes will taste better because of the pressure cooking. Pressure cooking not only cooks meals faster because it raises the temperature inside the pot, but because it pulls liquid into the meats and beans making them softer and full of whatever flavour your sauce/liquid has. It took me years to perfect this chili recipe of mine and with God and all the Instant Pot nerds as witness, I will never cook it on the stove again. Instant Pot all the way.
So what about that newspaper recipe my mom wanted to borrow my Instant Pot for? After explaining the Syrian conflict in a nutshell to her and asking her if she had any white thread, I asked her to read me the recipe over the phone. Turns out the recipe said you needed an Instant Pot but ... you didn't. Not even a little bit. In fact, they were just using it to cook the chicken for a stir fry which would be 10 gazillion times faster to just cook in a pan.
And therein lies my true distain for The Instant Pot and it's gurgling cult of followers. They want you to think you can and should cook EVERYTHING in the Instant Pot. Just because you *can* do something doesn't mean you should.
I'll fully admit that I kind of had my back up about this whole Instant Pot craze right from the beginning but I truly kept an open mind throughout my review.
I do not recommend the Instant Pot to anyone who enjoys the art of cooking.
I don't even recommend it to people who want to be able to make cooking easier. It doesn't really do that.
It's not like The Instant Pot chops and measures out your ingredients for you. If you're looking for something to make cooking easier, I'd recommend Blue Apron or another food delivery service that pre-portions meals and ingredients and delivers them to your door before I recommended an Instant Pot. Yes, I've worked with Blue Apron before on posts and no they aren't paying me to mention them in this post. It just truly makes more sense to me.
But ... I like cooking. I like stirring and tasting and seasoning. I like the smell of something simmering on the stove all day long. I like the take my time with the painting.
If you don't by all means ... buy an Instant Pot this instant.
This post was paid for by Instant Pot.
Just kidding.
Mike
DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE!
Tried making white rice and then brown rice. Follows instructions clearly and got a "BURN" message both time.
Contacted customer support by phone...on hold for 45 minutes...then hung up.
Contacted them by email chat. Their suggestion was;
1) put oil in the bottom of the pot! WHAT? The whole purpose is to make food healthy and they suggest oil?
2) put the steamer rack and then another oven-proof bowl with the rice on top! WHAT? So I should use another pot and then risk burning my hands to get the pot of rice out.
3) then they said "there is a learning curve". To make rice? There are 2 ingredients including water!!! Wash rice. Put rice in pot. Add water. Close lid. Press button. What learning curve?
DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE!
Bought 3 for presents and returning all of them.
Donna
Loved this review. I was having the same thoughts that your review proved to be true. I have a very old pressure cooker and the waiting for the pressure to come up is the worst part. Thank you for saving me money. P.S. my yogurt recipe works just fine. Its similar to yours only I let it cure in a cooler full of hot water. No need to buy another appliance.
SandyToes
Hi Karen,
I'm a first-time poster here, and although plenty of people have chimed in to tell you what's so great about the Instant Pot, I thought it worthwhile to add my perspective. Although I don't LOVE to cook, I do enjoy it, and shamelessly admit I'm not just in it for the quality of the food, but for the praise from my family. Cooking great food is a real ego boost. Still, it seems to me as though you had more than a healthy dose of skepticism when you began testing the IP. I agree, the cultists can be a bit much. But letting them into your mind is a mistake. Clearly,no cooking device, whether it be a skillet, dutch oven or pressure cooker, can do everything and do it well. All cooks know this.
As you discovered, some things ARE better when cooked under pressure. But not everything. I can't see a single reason to cook beef and broccoli or any other stir fry in the Instant Pot when I can make it faster and with more control on the stovetop. But the rice to accompany it? Unless you use a fuzzy logic rice cooker, pressure cooked rice is better and it's always faster than a rice cooker or stovetop, including time to build and release pressure. I routinely cook 1 cup of fluffy rice (2 cup yield) in 18 minutes in my Instant Pot. The rice comes out exactly the same every time. The 3 cups of rice I cooked last night took 25 minutes start to finish, and didn't require me to monitor it at all. Beans and other grains are so quick and delicious, some people buy an electric pressure cooker just for those. I'll never make split pea or bean soup any other way. Owning an Instant Pot means no more slow cooker and no more rice cooker. Since it occupies less space than my slow cooker did, that's space gained.
As others have pointed out, for those of who live in hot climates, an Instant Pot really earns it's keep, allowing us to cook carnitas in summer, chili for fall football parties, and Bolognese sauce any time we like. I enjoy making chile colorado and carnitas tacos for Cinco de Mayo, something I could never comfortably do before. Last Thanksgiving, when temps were in the 80's, I cooked the potatoes, turkey broth (best turkey gravy of my life) and cranberry sauce in my IP. Not having to tend multiple steaming pots on my cooktop and only having to clean 1 pot was transformative, and I'll do this every year from now on.
I fear that your insistence on a single large batch means you're missing out on the very best thing pressure cookers do, making stock. Here's the link to prove it: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/10/why-pressure-cookers-are-better-than-slow-cookers.html. Please, try it. You could easily make multiple batches for freezing. For cooks like me who lack a stand-alone freezer, a single batch is plenty. My gravy is really good, but I've never had 3 quarts of it disappear in one meal. The turkey stock in the IP made all the difference.
TL:DR, I think you've given the Instant Pot short shrift, because it doesn't live up to the promises of the cultists. Take some time, get to know it better, and you might find you like it more than than you thought you would. And if it would make you feel more like you're cooking, you could always buy a stovetop pressure cooker.
Cathy
You missed the genius of IP: artichokes in 22 minutes, beets in 20 minutes, steel cut oats in 7 minutes, pasta in 4 minutes. It is so much more than a fancy slow cooker.
Karen
I did did steel cut oats in it Cathy. I did sweet potatoes. I did a lot of stuff. My method for steel cut oats (overnight) is way easier. The sweet potato was nice and fluffy. And dried pasta only takes 11 minutes to cook normally. :/ I"m just not sold. I think it has a lot of attributes I just think that regular cooking (for me) is usually just as easy. ~ karen!
Catherine
Karen, we NEED YOU, we need a fix, a post, something, anything, drop us a crumb. How are the chickies doing?
Danielle
I've been debating getting one for a while but your review has certainly confirmed a lot of my reasons to not get one. I am also a person who enjoys the cooking process and even find that some of my Crock Pot recipes that were supposed to change my life are easier and better tasting in my french oven. I love the idea of an appliance that replaces 7 in my tiny kitchen but was always skeptical that it could do all of those things well. Now I'll forget about the Instant Pot and focus my coveting on a dry fryer.
Didi
I agree that the cooking times aren't far off from regular stove top or oven cooking especially considering the pre-cook / pressure build up time AND the natural pressure release should you be cooking starchy stuff.
I got into the Instant Pot thing because of the new feature of being able to maintain a particular temp ala sous vide. So far I've mainly used it as a counter top pressure cooker and, yes, yogurt and cheese. So much easier with yogurt.
I think that it still is faster to cook rice on the stove top. And I have a stove top pressure cooker as well, but I must say this is less scarier and more convenient.
I am one of those people who also enjoy the cooking process (I don't know why some people think that enjoying such makes one a gourmet cook). And the inability to check and taste and smell and, more importantly, adjust what you're cooking makes it a bit of a pain.
M'Liss
I feel the same about most small appliances & kitchen gadgets. Cooking is pretty simple and requires few utensils: a knife, a fork, a spoon, a pot & a pan. I find those who have the best "equipped" kitchens are often those who cook infrequently. Although, I must confess, my tiny kitchen & tiny budget also dictate my simplistic cooking style.
Now ingredients is a different subject...that's where I go crazy.
Helen-Mary
Karen, use it this summer/fall when you are pressure canning! Small batches, two cup jars.
Karen
Hi Helen-Mary! Maybe I'll add it to the repertoire of pressure canners on my stove this fall, lol. There are never enough pressure canners around here. ~ karen!
Pat S.
Interesting - if my crock pot dies, I will probably get an Instant Pot - might be fun to try the rice cooker, yoghurt maker and pressure cooker. Thanks for the honest review.
BTW, I also thought 'distain' was a misspelling of disdain - but I looked it up, and it is a word - who knew?
Janet Goddard
Have you tried soaking the gasket in hot water and baking soda? I have had good luck with this method for plast-icky stuff that smells.
Karen
Not baking soda, but vinegar. The one reader is right when they say if you just leave the lid off, the smell will eventually dissipate, but not for the next night's meal for instance. It really doesn't seem to transfer to the cooking, it just smells. ~ karen!
Mark
Yes, the gasket gets smelly, and I find the instantPot is finicky to clean, unlike a saucepan. I have the devil of a time getting the little cover off the steam regulator thing. I find the instantPot isn't very big (I have the 6 qt model) and slow. On the plus side, I can imagine that it would be good in the summer (wouldn't heat up the kitchen as much as the oven). I have used my instantPot a few times but it's not a regular thing. I do know people with larger families who really love it, though...
FACM
Interesting. I store the gasket from my pressure cooker separately; never ever had smell issues. Also I wash mine in the dishwasher. Not sure if it's something to do with material used in rbe IP?
Stephanie Kilian
Many of us find cooking a chore. I am not a gourmet chef. Get diner on the table. The IP does this, with less thought and time.
Karen
It has nothing to do with gourmet or not gourmet. It has to do with achieving what it's supposed to achieve which is making dinner faster. I didn't find it made or did most things particularly faster or easier than doing it on the stove and/or oven. ~ karen!
Sandra Blackwell
My brother got me an instant pot for christmas, because I couldn't find the weight for my mom's pressure cooker (I found it later). I used it once as a slow cooker, which I already had several of, and tried rice twice. I could make it better and much faster in a pan on the stove. I never used it again.
Jessica
I was gifted an IP, and I just can't get into it for so many of the reasons you stated. Here I thought I was the only one not wowed. I do use it here and there when I just DGAF about dinner ( helllllooooo pulled chicken from various parts!) but over all it's just not my thing. I actually store all my pumping supplies in it so that they are convenient but out of sight 😁
Karen
LOL! Well there's a use the Instant Pot Cult probably haven't blogged about. That could be one of their new tag lines " For Dinners You Don't Give a F About!". Either that, or For All Your Pumping Storage Needs. ~ karen!
Monica
I got an instapot as a gift and I too hate it! I love to cook and have taken a cooking bootcamp so I don’t mind an elaborate meal. I’ve made chicken tinga tacos with it and it tasted so bland compared to the stove top version. I also have had stews come out very dry and burned. It’s hard because I followed a recipe but then couldn’t check it or stir it while it cooked. I’m planning on donating or reselling mine.
Kelly
The main ingredient in all of my food is love and it doesn't seem like you can add any love with Instant Pot. No thank you!
JulieD
Thanks for the thorough review. I've been on the look out for a slow cooker that has a lock down lid so I can transport it for church potlucks - mine is about to bite the dust. I've been wondering if an IP might be a good solution since it is more versatile. Still haven't decided, but this data will make the decision easier.
Jan in Waterdown
Hi Julied, I have a Hamilton Beach "Stay or Go" slow cooker which has clamps that when engaged, hold the lid firmly on the entire pot allowing for relatively safe transportation. I don't know where you live, but I bought mine at Canadian Tire for about $35 when it was on 1/2 price. Cheers!
JulieD
Thanks Jan in Waterdown.
Karen
Hi JulieD! If you're in need of a slow cooker then I'd say the Instant Pot would be good for you. A regular slow cooker is much cheaper but this will do things a slow cooker won't. ~ karen!
JulieD
Thanks Karen,
Yeah, I bought a rice cooker years ago when remodeling my kitchen, and then never used it again once I got my stove back. So I got rid of it, then 2 weeks later realized it would have been perfect to take along that week-so the rice cooking and the yogurt capability are making me lean toward the IP.
Jan in Waterdown
And btw KB, you maaaay be many things (generous, talented and hot come immediately to mind) but "basic" sure as hell ain't one of them! lol
Karen
omg I *loved* that comment. Loved it. THIS is the kind of insanity the Instant Pot brings out in people. I wasn't kidding when I referred to it as The Cult, lol. ~ karen!
Rob
Sounds like the clash of the IP cult vs the traditional cooking cult, one no better than the other. I sense a certain smugness and superiority complex among traditional cooks. I don't see it as insanity that people love an appliance that makes their life easier no more than that others love the traditional way of cooking.
No need for name calling or insulting to get your point across. Each cult has its merits.
Marie Platts
I think k you missed the entire point of what an instant pot is used for. Your review could be said for a slow cooker, except food in a slow cooker always tastes mushy. The pony is that you dump everything g in and hit a button, which is perfect for busy mom's that have to run multiple kids to multiple activities. Do you ever do freezer cooking or forget to thaw your meat? That's what you use an instant pot for. I'd never use an instant pot to make a fancy meal, that's not it's design.
Kittyninja
I certainly don't hate my pot and not sad I own it but agree it isn't a true miracle pot .
Similar to your chilli , are usually cook a pot of spaghetti sauce for at least four hours and on days I don't have time I can make the sauce get it hot drop in the meatballs walk away and it's done in under an hour . Yogurt feature is nice but I've done it in a crockpot as well I've used it for some vegetables in the broth came out all right but you're right the actual size of the pot isn't that big , and some of the joy is taken out of it but you do sometimes gain time or more importantly make up for lost time that it wasn't your fault you didn't get home at noon to start dinner you just couldn't
Elena
Wow, it must be nice to live in world were you don't have a real job and have all the time to sit there and keep checking on shit. I feel dumber for having read this blog post. The instant pot is amazing and you are a basic bitch.
Jan in Waterdown
So if you feel dumber after reading this blog, I can't imagine how you must feel after sharing your insightful opinion. Please consider taking your reading and thoughts elsewhere. We'll all feel better.
Martina
Wow...you really seem to have some anger issues...maybe some time in the woodpile with an axe will calm you down...just a thought.
Karen
That *might* just be the funniest comment I've read. On this blog or any other. Ever. ~ karen!
Jan in Waterdown
Oh crap, did I just get punked?? So glad I did the polite version of what I was thinking!
Pam'a
I was briefly catapulted out into the ugly world of trolls... And just knew that post was going to elicit 26 versions of "That sh*t don't fly in here."
Your minions will kill for you-- but in civil fashion, without leaving a mess. ;)
Karen
LOL. True, Pam'a. Honestly the comment made me laugh out loud. I mean, I got called a bitch because I didn't recommend the Instant Pot?!?! That's all kinds of funny. ~ karen!
GL
I smell an IP vendor. Maybe pull
over until those meds kick-in. That was supernaturally tacky and a smidgen of sad. It's a pot and an opinion. You're life must be swell if this is the target of your anger.