Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 6-Quart 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker

Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 is a pressure cooker with 6 quart capacity. It’s currently the best selling pressure cooker in North America and Europe but is it the best pressure cooker for the money?

Cooking with Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 6 quart pressure cooker

Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 works wonderfully well. Not only it makes delicious food it also makes cooking simpler and faster. You can make so many different meals by just throwing all the ingredients and letting Instant Pot do the rest. This is what allows terrible cooks to become great chefs.

Versatility is another great. You can cook so many different things with a pressure cooker – tender, juicy, fall of the bone meat, perfectly cooked rice, cheesecake, potatoes, beans, chicken, pot roast, eggs, soup, yogurt, veggies anda lot more!

After pressure cooker has finished cooking it will enter “Keep Warm’’ mode (unless “Keep Warm” feature is turned off) and keep your food warm for up to 10 hours so you can eat it anytime you want and still be warm.

It’s not hard to use but there’s is some learning curve. For example smaller pieces will cook faster than larger ones. There are many small nuances but they don’t take long to get hang of.

One thing to note is that sealing ring does retain some of the flavor of the food you cook. For this reason you might want to order some extra ones to use with different types of meals.

Cooking functions

You can choose cooking settings manually but Instant Pot Duo 6 quart pressure cooker also has smart programs. It has 9 pressure cooking smart programs (Pressure Cook, Soup/Broth, Meat/Stew, Bean/Chili, Poultry, Rice, Multigrain, Porridge and Steam) and 4 regular cooking programs (Slow Cook, Sauté, Yogurt and Keep Warm).

Each smart program also has 3 additional modes: Less, normal and more. For pressure cooking it’s 3 different cooking times whereas for regular cooking it’s 3 different temperature options. Each of these 3 settings provide different results or are used for different types of food.

For example when using “Meat/Stew” cooking programs using “Less” will give soft texture to food, “Normal” very soft texture and “More” fall-of-the-bone texture. When using “Steam” smart program “Less” is used for vegetables, ”Normal” for fish or seafood and “More” for meat. It’s all explained in the manual.

Pressure release

There are two ways to release pressure: natural and quick release. After Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 has finished cooking it will slowly reduce temperature inside allowing the pressure to dissipate slowly. This is the natural pressure release and will generally take 10-20 minutes to complete.

If you don’t want to wait that long or are afraid of overcooking your food (as temperature decreases slowly with natural release method instead of being reduced instantly) you can turn the steam release handle from sealing position to venting position. This will make pressure to dissipate in about 1 minute, just make sure the pressure doesn’t hit you.

Inner cooking pot

Inner cooking pot is made of stainless steel and has 6 quart capacity (large enough to cook for a family of 4). Some other manufacturers have cooking pots with nonstick coating which makes them easier to clean however if that coating starts to flake it renders it useless (Instant Pot Duo 6 quart pressure cooker doesn’t have nonstick coating).

Safety

Some people consider pressure cookers to be dangerous and are afraid to use them. The cause of this fear is not completely unfounded. Many decades ago many pressure cookers were badly designed and made. They also required careful use as small mistakes could have critical consequences. For these reasons it wasn’t that uncommon for accidents to happen.

That has changed however. Because of strict regulations and advancments in technology pressure cookers from reputable companies are very safe. Modern pressure cookers have many safety features that ones from the past didn’t have.

Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 has more than 10 safety features making it one of the safest pressure cookers. It’s also well made and feels like high quality product.

Verdict

Overall Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 is a magnificent pressure cooker. It makes cooking simple and fast with delicious results. Does it deserve to be the best selling pressure cooker? Yes, it does!

Instant Pot Duo IP-DUO60 6 Quart 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker Specifications:

• Power supply: 120V/60Hz
• Power: 1000W
• Inner pot volume: 6 quarts (5.7 liters)
• Dimensions in inches (L x W x H): 13.2’’ × 12.2’’ × 12.5’’
• Dimensions in centimeters (L x W x H): 33.5 x 31 x 31.7
• Weight: 12 lb (5.44 kg)