It’s a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, yoghurt maker and more. The Instant Pot multi-cooker combines many appliances into one, working hard for that benchtop real estate.
We put the pressure cooker and slow cooker functions to the test, cooking pulled pork, a massaman beef curry, porridge and risotto in the Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker 5.7L.
Here’s how we found it.
Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker (5.7L) review verdict
Good for
A family of four to six wanting an appliance with multiple functions. It’s versatile and saves you time in the kitchen. Less hands-on cooking and less washing up!
What we love
- It’s easy to use, versatile, and the pressure cooker function is a real time saver.
- Pressure cooking can be a nerve wracking experience for a beginner. There are some good safety features here including the handy visual guide to sealing the lid.
- We love the sturdy handles which double as a lid holder. This is helpful for resting the hot dripping lid.
What you need to know
- When using sauté on high, the inner pot gets very hot, so you need to keep an eye on the food to ensure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
- The Instant Pot pressure cooker does take time to pre-heat and pressurise, so factor in additional time for this.
- The lid gets very hot when pressure cooking. Follow the safety instructions and monitor children near the bench.
What’s so special about the Instant Pot Duo Plus Multi-Cooker?
This multi-cooker combines the functions of multiple appliances into one versatile machine. Get dinner on the table fast using the pressure cooker function. Or set a curry to cook low and slow on the weekend for a batch cook up. It’s that versatile – plus all the other functions! Then there’s the clean up, and in the case of the Instant Pot, the stainless steel inner pot and lid can go in the dishwasher, making tidy up a breeze.
- Functions include pressure cooking, slow cooking and yoghurt making. It can also be used as a sous vide machine.
- The sauté function can be used for any browning needed as an initial step for pressure cooker or slow cooker recipes. It can also be used to reduce sauces or crisp up meat at the conclusion of cooking.
- Additional presets, known as “smart programmes” for the pressure cooking function include Soup/Broth, Cake, Egg, Rice, Bean/Grain, Porridge/Oatmeal and Sterilise.
- There’s a strict process that must be followed when pressure cooking for safety reasons, and the instruction manual explains the steps well. The safety features and reminders on the actual device are really helpful.
- The status bar on the control panel make it easy to see what part of the process the Instant Pot is up to when pressure cooking, moving from pre-heating to cooking to warming.
- There’s an Instant Connect app produced by Instant Pot with recipes specifically for the machine.
Instant Pot Duo Plus Multi-Cooker’s materials and size
- The Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker (5.7L) includes an inner pot, spare silicone sealing ring and trivet/steaming rack. The trivet is used to hold food or heat-proof containers housing food off the bottom of the inner pot, keeping them out of the liquid. It has two handles which make it easier to get things into the inner pot.
- The inner pot and trivet are made from stainless steel.
- The inner pot, trivet and lid are dishwasher safe.
- We road tested the 5.7L. There’s also a larger 8L size.
How to use the Instant Pot Multi-Cooker
Many of the Instant Pot Multi-Cooker’s features are devoted to the pressure cooker function. It’s essential to read the instruction booklet that comes with the appliance before using the product and to follow all steps and safety instructions. This covers how to safely release steam at the end of cooking, when to use natural release versus quick release, how you know when it’s safe to open the lid, and the settings required to start pressure cooking.
A few tips from our road test:
- If using the sauté function as an early step in a recipe, keep an eye on the food. The inner pot is deep but not overly wide, so there’s not a lot of surface area. We had to brown the meat for our slow cooked curry in small batches. Plus the temperature can get very hot, so you really need to keep an eye on the food and move it around the pot to ensure it doesn’t stick.
- Some pressure cooking recipes will cook straight in the inner pot. Others will require liquid in the base of the inner pot and the food either on the trivet or in a heat proof bowl sitting on the trivet. When making porridge, we added water to the bottom and used the trivet to lower the heat proof bowl with the oats and milk into the inner pot.
- During depressurisation food continues to cook. There are two ways to steam release: natural release and quick release. Recipes should indicate which produces a better end result for the dish being cooked, for example, Instant Pot recommends a 10-minute natural release when cooking rice for the best end result, then a quick release if needed to completely de-pressurise the pot. Consult the instruction manual for the safest way to release the Instant Pot’s pressure.
- The pre-sets or “smart programmes” are a helpful guide, and a good reminder of all the different things the multi-cooker can do. These set the pressure (low or high) and a default time for each function, which can be adjusted up or down for the specific recipe. You may also need to turn off the Keep Warm function, which is enabled by default.
- The lid retained some cooking odours during testing. Instant Pot recommends keeping the Quick Release Switch in the vent position when not in use.
Results from our test
We used the pressure cooker function of this Instant Pot multi-cooker to make creamy porridge for breakfast and a basic risotto for lunch, with no stirring required. Plus a delicious pulled pork recipe from our Instant Pot cookbook, which we had on the table in just over an hour. The benefit of pressure cooking is that the food, liquid and resulting steam sealed within the pressure cooker during cooking time reach a very high temperature which softens the fibres in the food, resulting in flavoursome, tender meat.
We used the slow cooker function to make our reader favourite massaman beef curry, using the sauté function to brown the gravy beef. We followed this slow cooker recipe’s instructions to the letter and this long and slow cook produced a flavoursome curry with tender meat.
Overall, is the Instant Pot Duo Plus worth it?
A pressure cooker is great tool for a time poor cook. Throw in a few other functions, and this Instant Pot Multi-Cooker really starts working hard for its place on the benchtop. The fact that you can both slow cook and pressure cook, plus all the other functions, makes this a very handy space-saving appliance. A product that can be used for breakfast, lunch and dinner is every cook’s dream! If only it could do the shopping too!
Where to buy the Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker
- Amazon (5.7L), currently on sale for $124.99 (usually $169.95)
Related content
- Recipe: Instant Pot Mexican-style pulled pork
- Recipe: Instant Pot French onion potato bake
- Recipe: Slow cooker massaman beef curry
- 40 pressure cooker recipes
