Slow Cooker vs. Instant Pot: What’s the Difference? | America's Test Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

Which is better, an Instant Pot or a slow cooker? ›

If you are interested primarily in slow cooking, you should buy a dedicated slow cooker. They're more reliable with a range of slow-cooker recipes than an Instant Pot. We found Instant Pot multicookers specifically could not successfully slow-cook dense, high-volume recipes such as beef stew or pot roast.

Despite its popularity in professional kitchens, a pressure cooker is rarely featured on cooking shows. But that doesn't mean celebrity chefs don't appreciate their value. In fact, many renowned chefs have sung the praises of pressure cookers.

Even though both can produce similar results, there is a main difference between a slow cooker and a pressure cooker. A slow cooker will cook food longer at a lower temperature, whereas a pressure cooker uses hot steam to cook food much quicker.

Generally, if your slow cooker meat, soup, or stew recipe calls for 8 hours on the low setting or about 4 hours on the high setting, it should be fully cooked in about 25 to 30 minutes in the Instant Pot. For chicken or turkey, use the 15-minute poultry button. While volume doesn't matter, density does.

Con– The Instant Pot uses steam under pressure to cook food and not everything is meant to be cooked in the Instant Pot. I attempted a crustless quiche which turned out well but it was too wet and moist to my liking and I prefer to cook it in the oven with dry heat.

First select 'slow cook' mode. Set your cooking time. Within 10 seconds of setting your cooking time, press the 'adjust' key to toggle between 'less' (keep warm mode on a CrockPot), 'regular' (low on a CrockPot), and 'more' (high on a CrockPot.)

What are the disadvantages of a slow cooker? Slow cookers only apply heat to the bottom of the crock, which cuts down on their ability to reduce liquids and brown foods, and develop flavor the same way a Dutch oven or pressure cooker can.

Traditionally cheaper cuts of meat always slow cook better. Slow cooking breaks down the connective collagen in meat, which turns into unctuous gelatine. This creates that soft and tender mouth feel we all crave.

Slow cookers are much better for cooking root vegetables and tough cuts of meat because the long, low-temperature cooking process is great for adding moisture and breaking down fat. Pressure cookers can get hot enough for meats and vegetables to brown in them when cooking, but slow cookers can't.

Touted as the do-it-all appliance for good reason, an Instant Pot is a multi-function pressure cooker that easily doubles as a slow cooker. The difference between pressure cooking and slow cooking is substantial, so we love that one appliance can do both, along with a slew of other cooking methods.

Is pulled pork better in Instant Pot or slow cooker? ›

The Instant Pot cuts down the cooking time significantly. This allows you to enjoy tender pulled pork in a fraction of the time it would take in a traditional slow cooker or oven. The sealed environment of the Instant Pot ensures that the flavors penetrate deep into the meat.

As long as you keep a few basic rules in mind – like how much liquid to use and how to adjust the cooking time – turning your favorite all-day slow cooker recipe into a 30-minute pressure cooker special is straightforward and simple.

“Instant pot recipes are absolutely healthy as long as what you put in the recipe is healthy,” she says. The shorter cooking time may also result in the greater preservation of vitamins and minerals when compared to other longer types of cooking.

Because of the lower temperature, the nutrients in the food remain more stable than other methods of cooking. By virtue of being in sealed unit, whether using an electric slow cooker or in a casserole dish in your oven, any of the nutrients usually lost in the liquid from heat are simply reabsorbed into the meal.

Slow cooking the meat means it never has the chance to toughen up and will be extra silky and tender. Pressure cooking is faster, though you may lose a little bit of the tenderness. If you're going for the pressure cook method, be sure to get a pork shoulder or pork butt, as opposed to a pork loin.

The Instant Pot is a fantastic tool because it cooks even frozen meats to tender perfection. Pressure cooking beef stew is much faster than cooking beef stew in the slow cooker. Also, to get the beef, potatoes and carrots really tender, you have to cook it longer in the slow cooker.