The 5 Best Pressure Cookers
Mục Lục
Best Overall Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot Duo Plus V4
$130 at Amazon
OVERALL
SCORE
Capacity: 6 Quart | Saute: Yes
REASONS TO BUY
Excellent overall cooking performance
Quieter, safer steam valve
Versatile 9-in-1
Easy-to-use control panel
REASONS TO AVOID
Pot can be hard to clean
Too large for some shelves
Saute function can be finicky
6 Quart |Yes
This newest version of the Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 offers a sleek new look and updated control panel features. Some great improvements were also made to the cooker’s steam valve, making it safer and quieter. In part, the Duo Plus is our favorite model for one key reason: Its ever-increasing quality. This is the fourth version of the Duo Plus. Each new rendering of this product is continually safer and more user-friendly. We also don’t want to leave out how well the Duo Plus cooks. In addition to being a superb pressure cooker, this 6-quart model has eight additional cooking modes: Slow cooker, rice, steam, saute, yogurt, sous vide, cake, and keep warm. With this 9-in-1, all of your cooking bases are covered. The real game-changer for us is its amazing ability to cook delicious, fall-off-the-bone meats — we were always hungry for more. The Duo Plus can also whip up a decent helping of rice, but it is a little more temperamental when it is time to saute. Eventually, we achieved the best results on low heat instead of high. Finally, we really appreciate the Duo Plus’s interactive control panel that sends text alerts on the status of the cooking process as well as alerts on possible complications.
There is little to complain about with the Duo Plus. However, our testers agree there is some room for improvement. We found its steel pot challenging to clean, particularly after sauteing. Additionally, this product may be a little too large for homes or apartments with limited cupboard space.
Read more: Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 review
The Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 is super user friendly.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Runner Up Pressure Cooker
Breville Fast Slow Pro
$300 at Amazon
OVERALL
SCORE
Capacity: 6 Quart | Saute: Yes
REASONS TO BUY
Automatic steam release
User friendly
Great meat
REASONS TO AVOID
Very expensive
6 Quart |Yes
The Breville Fast Slow Pro is one of our favorite pressure cookers. With a streamlined interface and a boatload of cooking features, it easily separates itself from the pack. It offers the most presets and cooking modes, almost to an overwhelming degree. Luckily the Breville provides an incredibly intuitive, three-dial interface that lets you cycle through all of these settings and fine-tune cook times and pressure levels with ease. We particularly liked the automated steam release valve on this machine. You can either set the valve to open automatically when the cooking is done or just open it with the push of a well-positioned button. It is nice to release the steam without putting your hand anywhere near the valve, although we didn’t feel unsafe using any of the tested models. The Breville was also the only model that slightly stood out from the pack in cooking ability, mainly when it came to meat. The ribs we made with this machine had a somewhat more tender, fall-off-the-bone quality than the rest.
The hefty price tag is the one thing that might stop you in your tracks. The Breville Fast Slow Pro can list for nearly double the cost of most models. While it is a better product than most of our test fleet, it’s still a considerable investment. However, if you’d prefer to keep your hands away from the steam valve or if you love making pressure cooker ribs, you may find this model is well worth the additional cost.
Read more: Breville Fast Slow Pro review
You really can’t beat the streamlined interfaced presented by the Breville’s set of dials.
Best Bang for the Buck
Presto 02141
$93 at Amazon
OVERALL
SCORE
Capacity: 6 Quart | Saute: Yes
REASONS TO BUY
Inexpensive
Good cooking performance
Relatively easy to clean
REASONS TO AVOID
No lid storage
6 Quart |Yes
The Presto 02141 is a capable pressure cooker that offers most of what the top models do, often at a significantly lower price. In our tests, it pressure-cooked, sauteed, and slow cooked quite well, and proved to be relatively easy to clean. It also offers a non-stick pot. While we feel the stainless steel vs. non-stick debate primarily comes down to personal preference, this is a good option for those seeking an alternative to the stainless pots of many of the most popular models on the market.
Our biggest complaint with the Presto 02141 is a minor one — it does not have a good place to store its lid, so you’ll likely end up holding it while you serve or stir. Still, we think it’s an excellent value given its price and performance.
Read more: Presto 02141 review
The Presto made fantastic ribs.
Credit: Jason Peters
Best Small Capacity
Instant Pot DUO Mini
$80 at Amazon
OVERALL
SCORE
Capacity: 3 Quart | Saute: Yes
REASONS TO BUY
Great for solo chefs
Budget-friendly
Lightweight
Requires little counter space
Easily stores on the shelf
Perfect for small meals
Relatively easy to clean
REASONS TO AVOID
Too small for family cooking
Stainless steel tends to stain
Not for larger groups
Struggles to cook meat
3 Quart |Yes
The Instant Pot Duo Mini makes cooking for one fun and easy. This 3-quart cooker won’t take up much space in your kitchen, and a smaller size doesn’t translate to lower quality. We feel the Mini can perform as well as larger models, and even better in some cases. This 7-in-1 cooker offers nearly all the same cooking functions as larger versions. It can double as a rice or slow cooker. It also steams, sautees, makes yogurt, sous vides, and much more. During our tests, we found the saute function to be superb. It also steams a decent batch of rice but requires a little more fine-tuning when cooking some types of meat. At just 9-pounds and 11-inches tall, this model is incredibly portable and can be stored in nearly any cupboard or shelf. We also feel it is petite enough to remain a countertop appliance. Cooking for two is certainly an option with the Mini. It’s just large enough for couples.
This Instant Pot DUO Mini is quite small, so if you cook for more than two people, don’t be lured in by its affordable price. It won’t be large enough to accommodate a large family. We weren’t completely happy with how it cooks some meats. Some of our ribs came out just a bit dry. However, we feel over time this will improve as we learn this model’s cooking nuances. Lastly, we think the Mini’s 2-foot power cord is too short. Electrical outlets in dorm rooms or older homes and apartments are few and far between. A longer cord would give this model greater range and functionality.
Read more: Instant Pot Duo Mini review
The Mini is great for tighter spaces.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Best Versatility
Ninja Foodi Smart XL
OVERALL
SCORE
Capacity: 8 Quart | Saute: Yes
REASONS TO BUY
Most versatile
Non-stick pots
Tons of useful accessories
Lots of cook settings
Unique crisping and dehydrating functions
Clear interface
REASONS TO AVOID
Expensive
Requires a lot of counter space
Not easy to store
Pricey
Heavy
8 Quart |Yes
Ninja has a proven track record of creating high-quality and multipurpose kitchen appliances. The Ninja Foodi Smart XL is one of our absolute favorite cookers to use. Its stand-out feature is sheer versatility. The product is a pressure cooker, a steamer, and an air fryer. This cooking trifecta allows the Ninja to broil, bake, roast, slow cook, saute, and much more. It also offers a superb dehydration setting. This newest Ninja model is the most convenient yet. Past models required different lids for each cooking function. However, this version introduces SmartLid technology. This allows users to switch between the three cooking modes with just the push of a finger. Our favorite part of the Ninja is that it can use multiple cook functions to cook three different dishes simultaneously. We also love that it tells us goodbye when we turn it off.
The elephant in the room is this product’s weight and size. It’s nearly 15 inches tall and weighs 25 pounds. Lifting and moving the Ninja may be challenging for some people, and storing it in a cupboard or on a pantry shelf could be challenging. It’s also a little too large to be a permanent countertop fixture. Overall, we feel this is an excellent multi-use cooker, but it’s a little inconsistent when it pressure cooks meat.
Read more: Ninja Foodi Smart XL review
You save yourself time and money purchasing a myriad of other kitchen appliances when you buy the Ninja – the device that does it all.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
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The Duo Plus’s new control panel makes it easier than ever to make good meals fast.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Why You Should Trust Us
We’ve purchased and tested close to 30 pressure cookers over the years. Our testing process puts each cooker through a multi-point performance analysis to rate user-friendliness, cooking ability, and more. We subject cookers to more than a dozen individual tests with various foods to assess their performance. The most important weighted metric is the user-friendliness tests. This metric comprises the user interface (75% of the metric score) and the lid functionality (25% of the metric total). Our cooking performance metric is informed by 4 specific tests, including meat (30% of total) and rice cooking (20% of total), pressure adjustability (25%), and saute results (25%). Our reviews also encompass exhaustive research and observations to compare each cooker’s performance to the other contenders.
Pressure Cooker testing was divided across four rating metrics:
- User Friendliness tests (35% of overall score weighting)
- Cooking Performance tests (30% weighting)
- Ease of Cleaning tests (25% weighting)
- Cooking Features tests (10% weighting)
Pressure Cooker testing was divided across
Senior Research Analyst Michelle Powell has spent the last decade working in the specialty food industry and has managed multiple establishments that serve a wide variety of food. This experience makes her perfect for evaluating the diverse range of foods these versatile pressure cookers can prepare. Senior Review Editor Max Mutter has been testing and writing about kitchen appliances for more than four years. In that time, he has used over 100 pressure cookers, some of the best blenders and top-ranked air fryers as well as the best food dehydrators, toasters, and toaster ovens, lending him a well-rounded understanding of what makes a countertop appliance worth the real estate that it occupies.
Reviewer Jason Wanlass has been part of the greater GearLab Team for more than six years. An avid adventurist, he has tested many products and written numerous reviews on camping gear. He recently combined his love for all things gear with a passion for cooking and now shares his insight on cooking-related products. Jason is no stranger to the best slow cookers, top-tier stand mixers, and air fryers. He has an eye for detail and likes finding the little things that make a product great to use.
Hayley Thomas, one of our top reviewers, helps round out this team. She lives on the road in her converted sprinter van, but she doesn’t let that impede her meal planning. Living in such a small space, Hayley knows a little something about pairing down to the absolute necessities. She is a big fan of the all-in-one pressure cooker and, therefore, offers a unique perspective on this particular category.
Analysis and Test Results
We scoured spec sheets while researching more than 50 different pressure cookers in our quest for the most convenient weeknight meals possible. Once we found the models most likely to serve our readers well, we purchased them for testing. To identify the absolute best one for your home, we’ve prepared over 300 meals while meticulously evaluating each pressure cooker’s user-friendliness, cooking, and cleaning attributes.
Value
In our experience, most pressure cookers can create a pleasant cooking experience, so paying extra generally means getting easier to clean surfaces, better interfaces, or additional cooking features rather than better cooking performance (with some minor exceptions). The Instant Pot Duo Plus 6 Quart V4 strikes the best balance, offering intuitive controls, convenient functions, and relatively painless cleaning for a middle-of-the-road price. If you want the most cooking functions available, the Breville Fast Slow Pro could cost you nearly twice as much, but it is a great option. On the other hand, the inexpensive Presto 02141 is a great deal if you don’t mind dealing with a slightly less user-friendly experience.
The Duo Plus has a removable lid and gasket which helps a bit in the cleaning department.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
User Friendliness
With cooking performance relatively similar amongst the cookers we tested, we found user-friendliness to be the factor that most separated the cream of the crop from the average models. We also found two specific aspects of the user experience to be the most significant: the interface/controls and how the lid stores when it is in use. The latter may seem trivial, but holding the lid or placing it on a crowded counter while stirring is more annoying than you might expect. Therefore, our scores in this metric are mostly based on how intuitive we found each machine’s control panel and whether or not there was a convenient place to store the lid while stirring or serving. However, some models also stood out for other reasons.
The Instant Pot Duo Plus 6 Quart V4 is a crowd-pleaser. Its straightforward control panel is a top-notch feature, complimented by a stout lid holder and safe release valve. There is next to no room for improvement.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro, Instant Pot Duo Mini, and Ninja Foodi Smart XL follow closely behind the Duo Plus 6 Quart. All four of these models share one critical feature: Easy to use control panels and menus. All four models also feature intuitive interfaces and large LCD screens. If we had to choose, we’d say we slightly prefer Breville’s interface over the rest. However, all are easy to use.
Release the steam with the simple push of a conveniently located lever. This new design places the lid handle directly between the lever and the steam valve. This is a clever design that helps block hands from hot steam.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Instant Pot Duo Mini is one of our smallest cookers. It is a 3-quart model with a control panel similar to its larger sibling, the Instant Pot Duo Plus V4. These two products, along with the Breville Fast Slow Pro and Ninja Foodi Smart XL, have excellent, safe release mechanisms for their steam valves. We feel this greatly adds to their overall user-friendly experience.
The Breville’s pressure valve can be opened automatically, or by pressing a button on the front of the unit. It is the only model we tested that doesn’t’ require you to physically touch the pressure valves when releasing steam.The Breville’s dials make scrolling through all the cooking options quick and easy.
The Ninja Foodi Smart XL offers an easily understandable interface and a convenient slider knob to navigate through its three key cooking modes. This newest Ninja model scored huge convenience points by incorporating a single multipurpose lid for all of its cooking modes. Changing lids is a thing of the past.
A slider switch, which sits above the control panel, moves horizontally and internally adapts the lid for “pressure-cooker mode”, “steam-fryer mode”, and “air fryer mode”.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Presto 02141 offers a simple and intuitive interface — we had no trouble navigating through its various settings in our testing. However, there is no place to store the lid when the cooker is open, which is slightly inconvenient when stirring or serving from a crowded countertop. Additionally, the LCD screen is relatively small, so those that require reading glasses may find themselves squinting.
The Presto 02141 has a clear interface but a relatively small LCD display.
Credit: Jason Peters
Thanks to some similar shortcomings, the Tayama TMC-60XL doesn’t offer much in the user-friendliness department either. It suffers from the nowhere-to-store-the-lid problem, so we found ourselves awkwardly holding the lid while we served or stirred. Its control panel has plenty of buttons for selecting various settings, but only a single button for adjusting cooking time. This design necessitates lots of button pushing to dial in your desired cook time, and if you miss it, you’ll have to do a lot more pushing to scroll up to the maximum three hours, then back to zero, and then back to your desired setting. This process isn’t a huge deal, but it may become annoying for those of us with clumsy fingers.
Prepping for just a small portion of our cooking tests.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Cooking Performance
Pressure cooking, by definition, requires a very controlled cooking environment. Accordingly, it makes sense that all our cookers produced very similar results in our pressure cooking tests. That’s not to say they were identical; some were able to make meat about 5% more tender than other models, while others cooked brown rice about 5% fluffier. However, these minor differences are unlikely to be noticed by most people. Therefore, the results below pertain more to the things these cookers do outside of pressure cooking. These are namely their ability to saute onions or sear meat, the kinds of things you do before you close the lid, and start pressure cooking. The more of these preparatory steps that a cooker can do well, the more meals you’ll be able to make in a single pot without ever venturing over to the stovetop.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro sets itself apart from the rest of the field, mainly when cooking meat. Its carnivorous offerings are just a tad more moist and tender than other models (this was particularly true when we made ribs). It also makes rice just a bit fluffier and less sticky than other models. This is no small feat, as we found pressure cookers, in general, to be just slightly inferior to dedicated rice cookers, particularly when it comes to brown rice.
It may be pint-size, but the Duo Mini has nearly the same capabilities as larger models.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
All the Instant Pot models we tested are just behind the Breville. These cookers check all the boxes for the things most people want: good sauteing ability, quick rice and beans, and good, tender meats. However, both the rice and meat these machines made were just slightly less moist and tender than those made with the Breville. While the gap in quality is minimal, it’s still noticeable. It is also worth noting that the Duo Plus produced the most tender rack of ribs of the Instant Pot models.
The Ninja Foodi Deluxe XL offers great air frying performance on top of its pressure cooking abilities.
Credit: Laura Casner
The Ninja models we tested perform almost identically to the Instant Pot models in our cooking tests, producing fairly tasty results across the board. We’ve tested the best air fryers and top-tier food dehydrators and found the results of the Ninja models to be on par with these specialty appliances. The air frying feature is quite effective, similar to putting the chicken inside a traditional oven on the convection setting for five minutes.
Succulent corned beef made with the Instant Pot Duo Plus.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The Presto 02141 also does quite well in our cooking tests. The ribs are fall-off-the-bone-tender, and the veggies are thoroughly sauteed using its saute function. Rice comes out very tender but not super fluffy, exhibiting a bit more moisture than our higher-performing models. Overall we doubt anyone will be disappointed in the Presto 02141’s cooking abilities.
The Breville makes the best meat of our test suite.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Bringing up the rear in our cooking performance metric is the Tayama TMC-60XL. This machine certainly isn’t a poor performer. We were pretty pleased with most of the prepared meals. However, it is one of the few models that lack a saute function. This lacking severely limits the number of meals you can prepare in one pot, often necessitating you fire up your stove and pull out a frying pan to make many pressure cooker staples.
We like the stainless steel pots of the Instant Pot models because they can be cleaned in a dishwasher.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Ease of Cleaning
When it comes to cleaning, all of the pressure cookers were relatively similar. However, some finer points made specific models a little less painful to get squeaky clean. Most of these differences centered around condensation issues, lid design, and cooking pot material. Models with detachable lids and easy-to-remove gaskets are typically far easier to clean. Additionally, we prefer cooking pots featuring stainless steel compared to non-stick coatings.
Stainless doesn’t limit cleaning utensil compatibility, and it’s dishwasher safe. Although many folks toss non-stick cookware into the dishwasher, we tend to take the cautionary route and clean them by hand. That said, non-stick material can also require a little pre-soak if you’re cooking with particularly sticky ingredients. Our testing procedure entailed preparing at least five meals in each cooker; therefore, we cleaned each product at least five times. After all that washing, we have a great idea of how difficult each one is to clean.
For our cleaning tests, a slew of models shared the top score. These models, including all of the Instant Pot models, have removable lids with easy to extract gaskets. This makes getting into the nooks and crannies of the lids easy and quick. All have condensation catchers to keep water from dripping onto your counter. The actual pots were also relatively easy to clean in all of these machines.
Nonstick pots are generally easier to clean by hand than stainless ones, but are often not dishwasher safe.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Every model we tested has a narrow groove around the rim where the lid makes its seal. Across the board, that groove loves to gather crumbs and liquid and is skinny enough that it’s hard to get even a finger in there to clean. This isn’t an issue if you’re careful, but one misstep can result in some frustrating clean-up. This is why none of the models in our test suite came close to a perfect score. We understand the groove is integral to most of these pots’ designs, but we’re still waiting for an enterprising engineer to fix this issue before awarding any higher scores.
Many models, like the Cuisinart pictured here, have small containers to catch condensation.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The Presto 02141 proves to be reasonably easy to clean in our tests. The non-stick pot sheds grease and grime very easily and is advertised as being dishwasher safe. The two-piece lid and its removable gasket were likewise easy to scrub down and get clean. Like all models, some debris and gunk get stuck in the groove where the lid attaches, but that’s just par for the course when it comes to pressure cooking.
A slew of models fell just behind the top scorers in our ease of cleaning metric, including the Breville Fast Slow Proand both Ninja models we tested. These models have non-stick pots that are easy to scrub and don’t tend to gather baked-on messes. However, these models lost out on a top score across the board because of their lid designs. The Breville’s lid must be unscrewed to remove it for cleaning, which is a bit more cumbersome than most models. The pressure cooking lids of the Ninja models are easy to remove and clean, but the air crisping lids are permanently attached and thus present quite a chore come clean-up.
The Breville is fairly easy to clean but is not quite a top performer in this category.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The Tayama TMC-60XL brings up the rear in this metric. It is not particularly difficult to clean but presents more challenges than the other models. This is primarily due to its non-stick cooking pot that is not dishwasher safe and slightly stickier than its competitors. It also has a two-piece lid that is hard to dry completely.
The Ninja Foodi Smart XL offers one of the most comprehensive control panels on the market.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Cooking Features
Pressure cookers have largely gained their popularity due to two characteristics: versatility and convenience. While the former is a de facto result of basic pressure cooker design, the latter can be greatly facilitated by offering specific cooking features. For example, unique pressure cooker tasks like making yogurt require precise settings. Engaging a pre-programmed yogurt-making cooking feature is much more convenient than dialing in those precise cooking settings. Additionally, having a saute function can be hugely helpful, as it allows you to pre-saute ingredients right in the pot instead of having to fire up your stovetop and create more dishes. We graded each model based on the number of cooking features and how well they all performed.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro has, by far, the most presets of all the models we tested. On top of the standard presets for most meats, chilis, grains, and stew, it adds yogurt, porridge, sear, reduce, and sterilize functions, amongst others.
The Breville has the most cooking presets and functions of all the models we tested.
The Ninja Foodi Smart XL and the Ninja Foodi Deluxe XL don’t provide as many specific cooking modes as the Breville, but they also include food dehydrating, and air frying functions. All of these things are beyond the realm of the other pressure cookers.
If you’re looking for a pressure cooker and air fryer combo, the Ninja Foodi Smart XL has you covered.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Just behind the Breville were the Instant Pot models. They have all the standard functions, plus additional yogurt and porridge settings. Although not selected for an award, we were very impressed with the overall function of the Mealthy MultiPot 2.0. Its control panel is excellent, and its cooking selections are on par with many of the top brands we’ve tested.
We were highly impressed at the Mealthy’s cooking functions and control panel. It also cooks very well and cleans up easily.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Presto 02141 also offers a slew of cooking features, including unique ones for desserts and beans. It’s improbable you’ll find a dish not covered by the Presto 02141’s presets. The Cuisinart CPC-600N1 has a similarly spartan set of cooking functions. Essentially, you manually set the pressure, temperature, and time. Outside of the saute function, there are no specific cooking modes. At the bottom of the cooking features scoreboard was the Tayama TMC-60XL. It offers some basic grain and meat presets but notably does not provide a saute function. It is the only model we tested that lacks a saute feature, forcing you to do some prep on a traditional stovetop for many meals.
We’ve tested tens of pressure cookers over the years to bring you the best models of today’s market.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Conclusion
Pressure cookers offer a slew of functionality without taking up much counter space. However, it can be hard to tell the functional differences between the many aesthetically similar models on the market. We hope our objective testing results
Pressure cookers offer a slew of functionality without taking up much counter space. However, it can be hard to tell the functional differences between the many aesthetically similar models on the market. We hope our objective testing results help you find the pressure cooker most likely to take your home meal prep to the next level.
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