sobelri said:
It's been about two years since the instant pot craze hit the market. For those of you who have had one for a while, are they worth it? What do you like? What don't you like? Is it worth the hype?
My crockpot recently bit the dust and I'm looking to replace it.
Still no complaints here. If anything, there's a ton more knowledge and recipes out there.
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The smaller ones cook faster than the big ones - because they come up to temp/pressure quicker, obviously - but on the whole, it's a great tool. As mentioned previously, it's just an automated pressure cooker, so if you know the differences between slow cook and pressure cook, you're already 90% knowledgeable.
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I wouldn't throw down any premium money for the ones with stupid gimmicks. (like Bluetooth - seriously?) But a good manual cooker will cost you just as much as an on-sale IP, so why not?
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My top preferences for IP are perfect hard boiled eggs, and soup broths. It will make pho like a champ. I'm not so enamored with pressure cooked meat, but it works in a pinch. If you want shredded chicken, you've got it in an hour or less. I'd still take the crock pot for roasts or corned beef/pastrami, but you've got a slow cook setting for that. The drawback is the stainless steel vs the crockware. I dunno, a crock for slow cooking is still hard to beat.
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Also, you can make perfect dulce de leche in an instant pot, just by putting a fully sealed can of condensed milk in there. So there's nifty little things like that...