Instant pot vs pressure cooker

Patriot3 · ‎06-07-2010

Does anyone know what the craze is about the instant pot? Isn't it just a fancy name for a pressure cooker? I grew up w/a pressure cooker and still use one.

wagirl · ‎03-09-2010

I have been cooking with a pressure cooker from the age of 11 until now--turned 64 in June. Learned on the old Presto PC on the stove top and got an electric one from the Q about 15 years ago and have used it ever since. I did get the Instant Pot, partly due to Amazon Prime day as I got it for a killer price and I have to say--it is wonderful!! More bells and whistles than my Q one and it is easier to clean too. I like that there is a specific cycle for the things I cook, like chili or soup or poultry etc--It is easy for me to learn to use t as I have a lot of knowlege under my belt. I use it almost every time I cook. Tonight is pork chops with mushroom gravy overtop mashed cauliflower and all of it will be done in the Instant Pot. Will be making soymilk yogurt this week too. Yes it is fancy---sometimes I like fancy!!

meem120 · ‎03-09-2010

Its a pressure cooker and slo cooker. I dont get the big deal either. I like my Ninja better.

riley1 · ‎03-10-2010

From what I've seen, an IP can do more things and some have a yogurt button. More bells and whistles I think.

My pressure cooker can brown, slow cooker and steam. Love it, still use it.

Ainhisg · ‎03-09-2010

An Instant Pot is a brand of pressure cooker. There are many brands out there. I have a Mealthy, which is very similar to the IP Duo Plus.

sidsmom · ‎11-25-2011

The Instant Pot IS categorized as an ‘electric pressure cooker’.

With that distinction alone, it was the first electric pressure cooker

with a stainless steel liner. Not only was it electric, a set-forget

pressure cooker unlike the stovetop many grew up with,

it had the special liner. Many other PCs have non-stick which

peel into the food. And many recognized synthetic Teflon might not

be the healthiest near the food, especially cooking at high pressure...

At the end of the day. it was the liner which set it apart from others.

But of course, the Instant Pot has many other functions but

it will always be referred to as a pressure cooker.

It started off as a very ‘niche-y’ product...something my plant-based community learned about waaaay back in 2011.

With several recipes in the recipe booklet (comes w/ IP),

from notable plant-based chefs/cooks, I feel our large

plant-based community, really Dr. McDougall community,

launched the Instant Pot to where it is today.

So many of the functions coincide w/ what is used in a plant-based diet...beans, rice, soups, yogurt, so it gained a HUGE following quickly.

Sidenote for anyone reading:

The brand is called Instant Pot, not instapot or insta pot.

(those those are not actual products)

chickenbutt · ‎03-09-2010

@wagirl wrote:
I have been cooking with a pressure cooker from the age of 11 until now--turned 64 in June. Learned on the old Presto PC on the stove top and got an electric one from the Q about 15 years ago and have used it ever since. I did get the Instant Pot, partly due to Amazon Prime day as I got it for a killer price and I have to say--it is wonderful!! More bells and whistles than my Q one and it is easier to clean too. I like that there is a specific cycle for the things I cook, like chili or soup or poultry etc--It is easy for me to learn to use t as I have a lot of knowlege under my belt. I use it almost every time I cook. Tonight is pork chops with mushroom gravy overtop mashed cauliflower and all of it will be done in the Instant Pot. Will be making soymilk yogurt this week too. Yes it is fancy---sometimes I like fancy!!

I also had the Presto Pressure Cooker for many years. I believe mine was a 1969 model. Great pressure cooker, but after a while I started having to buy gaskets and it got will to keep doing that at some point. I think I might even still have it somewhere (probably out in the garage).

wagirl · ‎03-09-2010

@chickenbutt--my mom went back to work and she taught me how to use that Presto---I was in 5th grade and I made dinner or got it started after I came home from school and she finished it when she got home from work--that was prob in 1966/67 and she had it before that . Don't remember ever being afraid of it and I cooked most everything in it.

busymom22 · ‎07-26-2017

I have an Instant Pot but also owned a regular electric pressure cooker years ago (it broke in a move). I think the IP became popular because it has a lot of fancy settings like yogurt, but in the end it's no different. I don't like using it as a slower cooker as the lid is not adequate for that. It is handy to have so many recipes designed for the Instant Pot.

Free2be · ‎03-10-2010

Yesterday I happened to watch a video comparison on YouTube for Instant Pot vs Cosori brand (never heard of it). The whole chicken outcomes were the same. The only difference was button pushing. The InstantPot seemed more simple, more automated.

There are a few other InstantPot comparison videos on YouTube.