Kitchen

[bonnielu]

Wondering if anyone could give me advice on which on to buy. Wanted to perhaps some sort of cake or not.  What I am trying to say is I would like one that has lots of features.  Cookling is not my thing   I just would like something that would allow me to serve visiting family. 

[spumoni99]

Instant pot is a brand of instant cookers.  I have the instant pot brand, mostly i use it for beans, hard boiled eggs, and chicken for tacos.  I use my air fryer more but I wouldn't want to be without either one of them.

[rockygems123]

@bonnielu   We use a Ninja Foodi, it is an air fryer, slow cooker & pressure cooker.

I cooked a steak in it yesterday using both air fry and broil function, it is just pushing a button to change the method.  The steak was cooked on a rack, below frozen french fries cooked at the same time.

I was very reluctant to cook a steak in it as I can cook and thought it would be terrible.  It's not as good as searing in a cast iron pan but it was very good.  I wanted to avoid heat in the kitchen and it works well for that.

The pressure cooker works well too I mostly use it for pot roasts.

[wagirl]

I bought the 6 qt which is just the right size for most recipes. I also have the 3 qt which is ok but very small. There are alot of bells and whistles that you have to deal with. I use a few of them alot-- I also tried the air crisper lid a few years ago as air fryers were just getting to be the thing--I sent it back and in my opinion, is pretty worthless--if you want to airfry--get an airfryer. I have the Instant Pot brand in an airfryer that is fantastic and I use my tiny p/c , also an Instant Pot, which I use alot mostly for veggies--it does great steaming corn and green beans. I have made yogurt in them too--another great thing. Also steam eggs and potatoes together for a spud salad--- I'd start with the 6 qt. AMZ had/has good prices for the various cookers. And there a ton of accessories available too. As with most things--there is a learning curve but this is easy to figure out.  

[Icegoddess]

Ninja uses the name Foodi for more than one product.  There is the pressure Cooker/air fryer and there's the grill/air fryer.  I wish they would use a different name for the different prodicts.  It's confusing.  And now they have an outdoor grill/smoker/air fryer although I can't remember if that one is also a foodi.  

[On It]

I have the 6 qt. Instant Pot. I would not be without it. We use it for dried pinto beans, pot roast, stew, pulled pork, and recipes that require a longer cooking time. It is used more in the colder months since our food choices in summer are lighter and more quickly prepared.

[Kachina624]

@bonnielu. An Instant Pot is a pressure cooker.  You cannot take it out of the box and immediate cook a gourmet meal.  There is a learning curve to using it since it's a different method of cooking.  Takes practice, trial and error.  Be prepared for experimentation.

[JeanLouiseFinch]

I have the Instant Pot brand (6 quart), which has several cooking features.  Honestly, I purchased it for the sole reason of doing easy to peel hard cooked eggs.  And for that, I'm using it every week.  I finally tried a roast in it not too long ago and it was very good.  I need to get more adventurous.  My daughter uses hers for taco meat and crack chicken.  I grill more often so I have my Ninja Foodie Grill for that.  

[meem120]

I thought they went out of business or filed for bankrupcy.  I didnt like mine.  I threw it away and got the Ninja that is a pressure cooker/ air fryer. You just change the lid that is included.  Love it.

[Sooner]

I have had several electric pressure cookers, and the only reliable and easy to use is the Instant Pot.  We have a 3qt and a 6 qt but for two people use the 3 qt. almost always.

We cook sweet potatoes, un-stuffed cabbage or bell peppers, chicken breasts from frozen, steamed veggies, etc in it.  

The six quart we have has handles on the inner pot and that is a huge improvement over trying to get a pot out while it is hot.