Instant Pot Duo 60 Review – Can It Make Good Rice?

Instant Pot Duo 60 Review

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Name: Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Cooker

Website: Amazon.com

Price: $79

Inventor: Robert Wang

Manufacturer: Instant Brands

Overall Rank: amazon star reviews

Initially, I was looking for a rice cooker to replace at least a 20-year-old Zojirushi rice cooker. My rice cooker still works but it is getting old and the Teflon is peeling. I did some research and found the Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 to be the best choice since it has 7 different functions in addition to making rice. There were over 66k reviews and many of them were positives. Why not give it a try. Looks pretty interesting.

Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1, Product Overview

Instant Pot is becoming America’s popular go-to cooking appliance because it is convenient, safe, fast, and easy to care for. Instant Pot Duo 60 is one of the best-selling models. It is a smart electric multi-purpose cooker with the latest 3rd generation technology designed by Canadians and made in China.

The Instant Pot Duo is equipped with 7 appliance functions: pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, sauté pan, yogurt maker, and warmer. It speeds up cooking by 2 to 6 times using also cooks up to 70% faster overall. There are 14 one-touch Smart Programs in memory making beans, ribs, soups, rice, poultry, yogurt, and others with one touch of a button.

The pot and the lid with components and accessories are removable and easy to clean or hand wash. I love this feature, especially for the steam parts. They can get dirty quickly when you use them every day. The inner pot is dishwasher safe which is a great feature. With 10+ built-in safety features such as Overheat Protection, Safety Lock, and more for safe pressure-cooking. It passed rigorous safety tests for both the UL and ULC certification.

Safety is a big concern when comes to pressure-cooking on a stovetop. We do not want anything to blow up by our own missed calculation. With the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker, the built-in microprocessor monitors pressure and temperature. It also keeps time and adjusts heating intensity and length to yield the desired outcomes removing any possible user error.

What really sold me to the product was that the inner pot was food grade 304 (18/8) stainless steel with 3-ply bottom for even heating and so is the lid which is fingerprint resistant stainless steel. Most rice cooker inner pots are coated with Teflon considering the nature of the rice is very sticky. Because of the Teflon material and the possible exposure to PFOA, I wanted to shift to stainless steel. I found a nice article by Healthline that explained a little more about Teflon and the PFOA exposure if curious to learn more ==> Is Nonstick Cookware Like Teflon Safe to Use?

Instant Pot Duo comes in 3 different sizes:

  • 3-quart pot which is great for one to two people
  • 6-quart pot is great for a family of four
  • 8-quart pot is for a large family of five or more

The Good & the Bad

The Good:

PRO #1 – Convenient and fast cooking time with 70% energy savings and speed up by 2 to 6 times

PRO #2 – It has the capability to cook 7 different ways using one pot and does not take up space on the counter.

PRO #3 – Once you understand how to use the Instant Pot and the pressure-cooking method, the sky is the limit. There are so many things you can make such as main dishes, appetizers, dessert, fermenting, delay cooking, even baking, and many more.

PRO #4 – There are so many recipes now available for Instant Pot to give you ideas and instructions making your cooking experience more enjoyable and simpler. However, most of the recipes are for the 6-quart pot. The 3-quart pot is not as popular. Because of the difference in size, the proportion for the recipe is not as similar so it may not yield similar successes.

PRO #5 – Instant Pot App is available for your mobile device with over 1000 recipes making it easier for you to learn how to use your Instant Pot.

The Bad:

CON #1 – One common complaint in the reviews was bad customer service.

CON #2 – If you are new to Instant Pot, never put your hand directly over the steam valve release to release the steam. You will burn your hand or fingers. When releasing the steam, the food steam will release and can make a mess. Put a towel over it to prevent splatter.

CON #3 – It requires a little of a learning curve if you are new to the pressure-cooking. There are lots of recipes for Instant Pot online.

CON #4 – This one is my opinion — Not as easy to make rice the way that I like comparing to other instant rice makers. The rice comes out stickier and wetter because of the condensation. If you are not careful, the rice will burn or stick to the pan when you leave it longer than an hour under the warm button. I would have to soak the pot in water for a while before I can clean it.

Who is Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 For?

The Instant Pot Duo is great for someone who loves to speed up the cooking process. The pressure-cooking mode decreases the cooking time dramatically. Instead of 6 to 8 hours of cooking or stewing the soup bones or baking the pot roast, you can finish within an hour or less depending on the weight of the meat.

In addition, it has 7 functions of different appliances built into one (pressure-cook, bake, saute, stew, etc) saving lots of counters and cabinet space in the kitchen. It is also simplified your cooking with one push of a button. The longest process is prepping.

Also, I think it is a great cooking gizmo or techie. For people who love gizmo and cooking, I think they will fall in love with just the aspect that it is a simple and practical gizmo that produces consistent cooking results.

I also like the fact that the inner pot is stainless steel. The lid has different removable components that help for an easy cleaning process.


Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1
Tools & Training

The Instant Pot came with safety, maintenance, and warranty booklet, a getting start guide, and a cooking time tables. If you are new to pressure-cooking and Instant Pot, make sure to review those booklets. They do come in handy to understand how the Instant Pot works. Also, the cooking time table will help with the estimation of how long certain food will take to cook.

Instant Pot also has an app with a thousand plus recipes to assist you with making your meals perfect every time. The number of Instant Pot enthusiastic increased over the years. You will also find different recipes available online especially for Instant Pot Duo 6-quart pot.


Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1
Support

Personally, I have not used Instant Pot support yet. Knock on wood. There is a website available for Q&A and also a contact page using “Open a ticket” online submission. They also included phone numbers: 1800-828-7280 with operating hours of 9 am – 5 pm EST from Monday through Friday.

There is also an instant Pot Facebook community support –> https://www.facebook.com/groups/InstantPotCommunity

My Final Opinion of Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1

I bought the Instant Pot Duo primarily to replace my rice cooker. After a full month of making rice every day, I find it not as effective and as intuitive as my old simple rice cooker. In my opinion, the rice comes out dense, gooey and sticky. I need to use less water than the old rice cooker. One positive aspect, the rice fragrance fills out the house much more than my old rice cooker.

One day I left my rice in the Instant Pot keep-warm function for longer than two hours, the rice burned and stuck to the pot. In my old rice cooker, I often left the rice in the pot with a keep-warm function. The rice kept warm for an entire day without being burned or stuck to the pot. Perhaps, the heat of the keep-warm function in the IP is probably much warmer than the traditional rice cooker? Either way, I do not like that.

Even though I love the fact that the inner pot is stainless steel, I find it is cumbersome to make rice with. The rice is naturally sticky. It seems even stickier with the IP which makes washing the pot a little more challenging. If you have an IP and would like to make rice with it, visit “How To Make Rice With Instant Pot” to learn how.

Nonetheless, I love the fact that I can make pot roasts, pork tenderloin, and stew quick and easy. The meat melts in your mouth at every bite. While I am using the IP to make my main course, I still need another pot to make my rice.

I may have to bite the bullet and buy myself a standalone rice cooker. Finding an appliance that is dedicated to one thing well is probably the way to go. Nonetheless, I will keep the IP around for making my main-dish.


Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1
at a Glance…

Instant Pot Duo 60 Review

Name: Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Cooker

Website: Amazon.com

Price: $79

Inventor: Robert Wang

Manufacturer: Instant Brands

Overall Rank: amazon star reviews

 

VERDICT: WORKS GREAT for pressure cooking but mediocre for making rice.

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