topic Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People! in Kitchen

Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 17:36:24 GMT

I got an Instant Pot RIO Mini last week and I am in love with it! I have never ever kept a slow cooker or instant pot on the counter until this one.

The best thing is that it is shallower and wider than the normal Instant pot, smaller and lighter. It holds 4 quarts (enough for 2 to four people for most things), and comes in sea salt (soft white), black, and a pretty rosewater (a soft pink/beige). It was $65 and does pressure cook, slow cook, saute, rice, yogurt, steam and keep warm!

I have pressure cooked, sauted, slow cooked, and steamed in it so far and all worked great. Rice was ok but the rice cooker I have is better and easier. The saute function works great too! I have not tried the yogurt function

It is the first of that kind of appliance that has earned a place on the counter. And I can forsee us using it a lot. The wider pot and smaller size, plus the attractive outside, make it perfect for the way we cook.

Got it at Amazon of course.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

poregirl — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:20:08 GMT

Ive been wanting something like that. I got our 6 quart IP on sale for $49 at Walmart. I'll waiting for a cheaper price on the Rio.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

KailaS — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 18:21:07 GMT

Thanks for your timely review. I have been thinking about ordering it.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:02:49 GMT

@KailaS wrote:
Thanks for your timely review. I have been thinking about ordering it.

@KailaS I didn't know it existed until I saw it on Sept. 30 and ordered immediately. I love the size of it and especially the wider shallower pot. It's like a real pot! If that makes sense! Not that narrow deep one that is traditional. Saute in this one is so much easier! And the pot doesn't twirl.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Tinkrbl44 — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:07:07 GMT

@Sooner

Thanks for the description. I have been wondering what an "instant" pot is.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

tansy — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:37:48 GMT

Have you made a pot roast in it, @Sooner?

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:47:44 GMT

@tansy wrote:
Have you made a pot roast in it, @Sooner?

@tansy No. I'm sure it would be great for a not-huge one. It has done a great job with braised things, frozen chili today I put in frozen with a tiny bit of water of the bottom, let it slow cook for an hour or so, raised the slow cook to warm, and in another short while it was thawed. I then turned it to saute to come to a boil.

It worked out great and will be put to good use thawing and cooking soups and stews. I love the size--a big oval crock pot will not do well with smaller meats and like quart sizes of things. It just drips water back on the poor little things lost in the bottom. I was impressed with the slow cook function today.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

gtx — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 19:48:08 GMT

@Sooner Thank you! I ordered one. I got the white. I have been thinking about making soup and dreaded bringing the Instant Pot in from the garage.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Kachina624 — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 20:24:20 GMT

i have a 6qt Instantpot just for me. I like to make and freeze leftovers for future meals. This thing is just basically a pressure cooker with extra bells and whistles. I fed my family for years using a stove top pressure cooker, as did my mother.

I figurevi can cook less if I don't want a large quantity in a 6qt, but I am limited to just smaller amounts in a 4qt, so it's not as versatile.

Love my Instantpot.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 20:27:37 GMT

@gtx wrote:
@Sooner Thank you! I ordered one. I got the white. I have been thinking about making soup and dreaded bringing the Instant Pot in from the garage.

@gtx I hope you love it! The white is a nice soft white that goes will with most things. It was so tempting to get that rose one! But the white is lovely! Happy cooking!

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 20:30:37 GMT

@Kachina624 wrote:
i have a 6qt Instantpot just for me. I like to make and freeze leftovers for future meals. This thing is just basically a pressure cooker with extra bells and whistles. I fed my family for years using a stove top pressure cooker, as did my mother.

I figurevi can cook less if I don't want a large quantity in a 6qt, but I am limited to just smaller amounts in a 4qt, so it's not as versatile.

Love my Instantpot.

@Kachina624 For me the size is great. I don't like the way the tall deep instant pots cook a lot of things, and the shallower pan is far better suited for braising and sauteing which we do a lot.

It's also smaller and lighter, and the width for cooking is a great plus for what we do mostly. GLad you are happy with yours and don't need to buy another one! Saves you money!

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

wagirl — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 20:50:43 GMT

What a cute little machine! Just looked it up on the google--I have the 3 qt and the 6 qt and use the heck out of them. Enjoy it!!

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Icegoddess — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 21:24:46 GMT

Curiosity questions:

It appears this unit only has one Pressure Cook function rather than Pressure Cook Low and Pressure Cook High. I thought certain things required one or the other. Am I correct?

Have you tried downsizing a 6 qt or 8 qt PC recipe for this one? I was under the impression it wasn't as simple as halving a recipe due to the minimum liquid content I think?

I have one of those Cooks Essentials 2 qt PC's and love it for hard boiled eggs, but really don't use it for anything else. After reading reviews it's nice to know the lids and silicone seals from the 6 qt fit the 4 qt since I ran into the problem of the seal taking on odors of the food being cooked and it took a long time for that odor to dissipate. Can't get extra seals for my 2 qt.

Just a general comment about this type of cooking: I'm intrigued but not sold. It seems all foods cooked together take on the flavors of the foods they're cooked with. So, it all tastes the same. I did see one review where the person cooked a roast, removed the roast, and then cooked the veggies, which I liked the idea of. My mom always cooke the veggies in aluminum foil on top of her pot roast so the flavors didn't meld. I'm not sure that was her reason though; it was probably something else.

I don't eat soup/stew that much. If I cook chili, I'll do that in my WP Versa Cooker so I'll have leftovers to freeze. So, in general, I'm not sold on Pressure Cooking for me. I need something besides the typical pot roast/soups/stews/etc. to convince me.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

LizzieInSRQ — Tue, 07 Oct 2025 22:53:45 GMT

@Sooner what a great price too! You saved like $25 or so during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days.

I love my Instant Pot! Have the ol' Dou 6 quart) My favorite things to cook are oatmeal ( batch for the week ), BBQ PorkRibs, and Thai Beef Red Curry Coconut Soup.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 01:10:01 GMT

@Icegoddess @I don't much use recipes because I have cooked since I was twelve. So I just wing downsizing.

And yes you can do low and high pressure used that function today

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 01:14:15 GMT

@Icegoddess Have you tried ground turkey all white in chili?We really like it!

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

rockygems123 — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 02:41:11 GMT

@Icegoddess

You make some really valid points about pressure cooking.

My experience is as you mentioned the flavors run together as in a pot roast. Vegetables and meat flavors meld, not appetizing at least to me.

And the silicone seal does pick up the flavors and almost impossible to remove.

Not exactly sure of the benefits of pressure cooking and have rarely been so short on time that braising in the oven or slow cooker isn't an option.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Icegoddess — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 03:48:25 GMT

@Sooner wrote:
@Icegoddess Have you tried ground turkey all white in chili?We really like it!

@Sooner No, but I've done partial Bison.

I mostly depend on recipes since I didn't learn how to cook growing up. I also tend to overthink things (fear of failure).

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Sooner — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 04:02:05 GMT

@Icegoddess @Mom went to work so I got a lot of cooking added to horse related chores. I have always studied it as a compadre overthinker DadAnd I loved watching Julia child, and my family loved to eat and people came to our house a lot. I tease my husband he married for love and stayed for the food

I have a huge cookbook collection and have read them all.

Re: Best Instant Pot Ever for 2-4 People!

Razzy 7 — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 04:46:40 GMT

Yes the seal can pick up flavors - the reason I have several seals I use.