Crockpot Vs Instant Pot Slow Cooker
Instant Pot vs Crock-Pot: Which kitchen appliance is best for easy weeknight dinners
Updated
2018-09-29T18:04:00Z
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
- For decades the Crock-Pot has been the go-to set-it-and-forget-it countertop cooking appliance. However, in the last decade, the Instant Pot has slowly picked up a strong following.
- We tested both of these appliances to determine which one deserves a spot on your kitchen counter.
- The Instant Pot wins with its seven uses, including slow cooking, and long list of other features, such as a delayed start.
Though slow cookers have been around since at least the early 1950s, the Crock-Pot first came onto the scene in 1971. Back then, women were beginning to work outside of the home. Yet, they were still expected to have dinner on the table in the evening. The Crock-Pot allowed them to start dinner before work so it would be ready when they got home.
The Crock-Pot works by slowly heating your food at a constant temperature well below boiling. Slow cooking is ideal for roasts, ribs, chili, soups, and other meals that require a low simmer.
When it came to having one-pot meals ready within minutes of arriving home from work, the Crock-Pot seemed to have cornered the market, but then the Instant Pot came onto the scene in 2010. An electric pressure cooker, the Instant Pot is celebrated for being a seven-in-one kitchen appliance. It's most popular use is pressure cooking, although it can also be used as a slow cooker.
Both the brand names Crock-Pot and Instant Pot have become synonymous with slow cookers and electric pressure cookers, respectively.
However, there are several other brands that make both of these types of appliances. In fact, Crock-Pot has entered the electric pressure cooker arena, and Instant Pot has given the slow cooker market a shot (with disastrous results.)
For the purposes of this comparison, we are going to compare the best-selling slow cooker on the market right now, the Crock-Pot 6-Quart Programmable Cook & Carry Slow Cooker, to the best-selling electric pressure cooker of all time, the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker.
Each appliance has its weaknesses and its advantages. We compare the Crock-Pot and Instant Pot head to head in a few key categories: price, ease of use, cleanup, variety of uses, as well as the availability of recipes.
Keep scrolling to see which kitchen appliance wins each category and to read our final verdict on which one you should buy.
Buy the Crock-Pot 6-Quart Programmable Cook & Carry Slow Cooker on Amazon for $49.99
Buy the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker on Instant for $79.99
Price
Winner: The Crock-Pot costs about $25 less than the Instant Pot.
We're not going to spend a lot of time on this category, but it's important to touch on. When comparing the most popular brands of electric pressure cookers and slow cookers, it's quickly apparent which one is more expensive. The prices aren't even close: Slow cookers are more affordable than electric pressure cookers. Therefore, if cost is your only consideration when looking for an easy meal-cooking device, we recommend the Crock-Pot.
Ease of use
Winner: Once again, the Crock-Pot wins when it comes to ease of use. There are just four buttons, and the user interface is intuitive.
Most buyers will find that they can use a Crock-Pot right out of the box without reading the instructions, though we recommend perusing and following the safety precautions.
The four buttons on the Crock-Pot are "Select," "Timer" up and down, and "Off." The Select button is simply for choosing the temperature at which you want to cook: high, low, or keep warm. The user manual for the Crock-Pot is eight PDF pages long and half of those are hints, tips, and recipes.
On the other hand, the Instant Pot has a 22-page user manual, which doesn't include any recipes. The device has 18 buttons to choose from. Taking these factors into consideration along with the horror stories of old-time stovetop pressure cookers exploding (this is not a problem with Instant Pots), it's easy to see why many new users are slow to even remove their Instant Pot from the box.
That said, once you get the hang of it, the Instant Pot can be just as easy to use as the Crock-Pot since there are so many one-touch functions.
Cleanup
Winner: The stainless steel cooking pot and steam rack of the Instant Pot are easier to clean than the heavy stoneware of the Crock-Pot.
All of the Crock-Pot and Instant Pot elements that come in contact with food are dishwasher safe. Of course, you will have trouble fitting anything else in your dishwasher since both appliances have six-quart pots. Also, for long-term durability, I recommend handwashing both appliances.
When the elbow-grease hits the pot, the Instant Pot has the upper hand. I've found that cleaning the stainless steel inner pot is easier than getting caked on food debris off the porous stoneware of the slow cooker.
Variety of uses
Winner: With its ability to pressure cook, slow cook, cook rice, sauté, brown, make yogurt, steam, and keep warm, the Instant Pot can do much more than the Crock-Pot.
The Crock-Pot does two things, and it does them well. It cooks your food slowly at a low temperature, and it keeps your food warm. Yet, the Instant Pot can perform both of these actions as well as pressure cook, cook rice, sauté, brown, make yogurt, and steam. Another use for the Instant Pot, which I cannot recommend but have never had a problem doing, is canning. Plus, you can choose to delay the start of your electric pressure cooker up to 24 hours. So, you can put your ingredients in the pot before work, set it, and when you get home, your meal will be ready.
Of course, the feature that makes the Instant Pot special is its pressure cooking. This process uses a combination of heat and high pressure to decrease cooking times. For example, I like to pop some rock-hard frozen chicken thighs with lime juice, chili powder, liquid smoke, and a variety of other spices into my electric pressure cooker, and within half an hour (15 minutes for pressure to build plus 15 minutes of cooking), I have a healthy, delicious chicken dish.
I have also used my electric pressure cooker to brown a roast before pressure cooking it. Gone are the days of heating the house for hours with your oven. The Instant Pot gives you a tender roast in under an hour.
Recipe availability
Winner: The Crock-Pot has been around a lot longer than the Instant Pot, therefore it makes sense that there are many more books and recipes devoted to the elder appliance, but electric pressure cookers are catching up.
What good is an appliance if you don't know how to make delectable dishes in it? The air fryer is suffering from this problem right now as many users are having trouble doing anything other than reheating frozen foods. Yet, there are no shortage of recipes for slow cookers and electric pressure cookers.
In the interest of objectively finding a clear winner in this category, I turned to the internet. First, I searched Amazon's Books department for "crock-pot cookbook." There were over 7,000 results. The search for "instant pot recipe book" produced 2,000+ results. A Google search for "crock-pot recipes" returned 3.4 million results. And, the search for "instant pot recipes" gave me 1.5 million results. The slow cookers have it.
However, the slow cooker has about 40 years of experience on the Instant Pot, which is exploding in popularity and attracting home chefs who are ready to share their tricks. For evidence of this, look no further than the Instant Pot Community Facebook group , which has about 1.4 million members. This is just one of several electric pressure cooker groups full of tips and tricks.
Verdict
Overall winner: Although it has a little bit of a learning curve, the Instant Pot just has so many uses that it is worth the additional cost.
As a member of countless electric pressure cooker Facebook groups, I've heard the stories of people getting Instant Pots and being too afraid to use them because they don't want to blow up their house. Don't be afraid. There are at least 10 fail-safes between you and a catastrophe.
Yet, if you know that you will never use your Instant Pot for pressure cooking, yogurt making, or any of its other unique uses, then save your money and go with the slow cooker. Otherwise, if you want a gadget in your repertoire that can produce falling-off-the-bone ribs in under an hour or cook a quick weeknight meal using meat you forgot to defrost, then an Instant Pot is definitely the way to go.
Buy the Crock-Pot 6-Quart Programmable Cook & Carry Slow Cooker on Amazon for $49.99
Buy the Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker on Amazon for $79.99
James Brains
Home & Kitchen Reporter, Insider Reviews
James is a Home & Kitchen Reporter for Insider Reviews, where he specializes in sleep, HVAC, and kitchen appliances. He has tested more than 30 mattresses from startups like Casper and legacy brands like Tempur-Pedic, using his background in experimental psychology to develop objective tests and evaluate comfort, support, motion transfer, and more. He authors our guide to the best mattresses. In addition to being Insider Reviews' mattress expert, James has extensively covered robot vacuums, air conditioners, air purifiers, and more within the HVAC space. He's tested more than 20 robot vacs from brands like iRobot and Roborock over the years and is no stranger to keeping his house at a chilly 60 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end all in the name of testing air conditioners. He's a multifaceted writer who has covered everything from health and fitness to consumer technology. His mission is to help people get the most value for their money by guiding them in making informed buying decisions. James is currently based in Lansing, Michigan, where he lives in "The Barn Mansion," a three-story Dutch colonial home, with his wife, two sons, two cats, and a rambunctious rat terrier. When James isn't testing products and writing for Insider, he's helping to run a popular local Facebook group, Lansing Foodies. See below for some of his work: The best mattress for every type of sleeper in 2021, according to our rigorous testing The 6 best robot vacuums we tested in 2021 The 6 best air conditioners we tested in 2021 The best Instant Pots and electric pressure cookers we tested in 2021 10 grilling essentials that chefs and pitmasters swear by for making the best BBQ The 5 best mattress toppers we tested in 2021 Contact info: jbrains@insider.com Learn more about how our team of experts tests and reviews products at Insider here. Learn more about how we test kitchen products.
For you
Crockpot Vs Instant Pot Slow Cooker
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/instant-pot-vs-slow-cooker-which-is-best-review-2018-4?op=1
Posted by: lanegrosse.blogspot.com
0 Response to "Crockpot Vs Instant Pot Slow Cooker"
Post a Comment