Instant Pots try to be a multi-function device. Most have a heating element in the bottom which supposedly replaces a pan/skillet on the stovetop. But it is underpowered and poor at that task. It can also be used as a slow cooker, but honestly I have never used one for this so can’t comment on how well it does this compared to a conventional crockpot.
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nope. Not for me.
I’d say not a whole lot of difference. It’s got multi-function stuff that I just don’t use (after a few tries).
My IP is an older model that I got as a freebie corporate anniversary gift, and my first foray into using any kind of pressure cooker. If I’d had a stovetop prior, I’m not sure I would have gotten the IP.
But still the biggest help features to me are the timer and auto-warm settings. For example, when cooking bones for stock, many times I won’t be done with dinner cleanup and guests gone until late. I can just pop the bones in there at midnight, tell it to run for 6 hours (whatever time), and then to go to the keep warm feature. That way I don’t have to deal with it until 8 or 9 am the next morning. Or making a stew I can tell it to run on high for an hour then coast down to warming mode on its own without needing attention from me.
As mentioned, mine is older. So where @ipsedixit mentions higher with IP than stovetop, this isn’t the case for mine. It maxes out at 12 psi whereas pretty much any stovetop I’ve heard of or looked at can get to 15 psi. Newer electrics can hit 15 psi, matching stovetops, but I haven’t found one that exceeds 15 psi (but didn’t spend but a couple of minutes looking, and may have missed them).
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An IP can do many things a crock pot can’t like pressure cooking and making yoghurt. As I stated earlier, on any of its functions, it may not braise as well as a pot in a well calibrated oven or pressure cook as well as a stovetop like a Fissler, but it will do a fairly good job.
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Thanks for the explanation.
I also down’t own a rice cooker - I prefer to make my rice from scratch since I find regular (rice cooker) made rice (wheter it’s Jasmine, basmati og brown rice) a bit bland and boring.
I’m a cookware enthusiats, but also a traditionalist in the sense that I’d rather own 4-5 different copper and PLY pots, which I can use for cooking rice, than just 1 or 2 copper or ply pots and then a number of machines that will do the work for me.
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I bought a stovetop pressure cooker a dozen years ago when we lived in France. Carrefour was running a promo that was basically Green Stamps so I got the thing foe something like 20 Euros. I figured if I didn’t like it Id give it away becauae everyone I knew owned and used a pressure cooker all the time.
I loved it. And still own it. This is a long way from the wheezing and whistling (and occasionally dangerous) beast your mother used.
So when I got the chance to pick up Aldis version for $49 i jumped on it and haven’t looked back.
I can cook beans and make braises on a weeknight without heating up the kitchen…i make quick stock in it…i love love love the keep warm feature.
I have used it as a slow cooker when I needed an extra…but I have a crock pot so I use that when i think about dinner early enough to use that.
The saute feature is best to me for reducing…crank it up and let the sauce rip (or for cooking noodles when I add them to soup)
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I don’t know - I’m a traditionalyst when it comes to cooking, I guess.
I like to be able to watch the cooking process from start to finish - and adjust with salt & pepper and sweet/sour during the cooking process.
I’m just not a fan of putting things in a pot and close it with a lid and then open it again, when it’s done.
Simply just not for me.
You’ll need to explain “Green Stamps” to the young ‘uns here.
I pasted many a book with my mom. I don’t remember what we got for them …
Im a traditionalist, too.
I kinda like having a roof over my head and electricity to run any of my appliances, so I work during the day and use the IP and crock pot instead of eating takeout every night.
And oh yes…that must mean you dont like smoking…or curing…or anything cooked in a pit…or dishes taken to the boulangerie to be cooked in the heat of the bakers oven…or en papillote…or steamed… or dum/ dum pukht / a luter) or any of the other traditional dishes from around the world that are prepared, sealed, and not touched until they’re done.
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Ummm…loyalty points! 
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I do cure meat, but I didn’t know I needed a pressure cooker or instant pot for meat to cure ?
And yes, you’re right I’m not a big fan of steamed food/vegetables.
Also if I owned a pressure cooker/instant pot, I would never let it cook unattended for a whole day - well I’m just not a fan of these short-way cookers.
I also go to work - so I often cook in large batches and leave it in the fridge for up to 3 days for easy fast reheating.
But I’m lucky since I can buy restaurant made hot dishes at my work and bring them with me home after work.
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Good enough😂!
S & H Green Stamps brought back memories. I pored over the catalog and visited the store. That was a loong time ago. For those of you aren’t familiar with GS’s here is a little history. And surprisingly they started in 1896. I remember they were handed out at different businesses and you had to paste (or lick?) the stamps to fill up a book. Then you traded them in for over valued items. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
We got them at Food Fair (grocery chain).
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Where all of those things I listed are foods that are prepare then walked away from until theyre done. But. You. Knew. That.
The instant pot doesnt cook all day (you knew that too)…it means I can have a great meal on the table. Not all of us work in a restaurant.
You do you. I dont judge.
I do me. I ask for the same.
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It’s a strange combo of functionality for me too, but I suppose this and the Instant Pot are great if you are in a tight space with limited storage for cookware. In my area, rents and home prices are still outrageous, so tight kitchen and storage nightmares are real. The founder is Chinese, and if he’s spent any time living and cooking in East Asia, there are ridiculously tight kitchen/cooking areas in many homes in that region. My sister lived in Hong Kong and had 2 burners and no oven. In the apt growing up in the US, my mom’s wok actually make made using an adjacent burner impossible. You could only use the burner that was diagonal from the wok. 
Getting all-in-ones would be ideal for these circumstances.
I have an Instant Pot that I use primarily for its pressure cooking function and it does tht nicely. I already had a slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. and I have no intention of getting rid of those. When cooking a lot of food at once, having this type of pot is like having an extra burner. I see nothing wrong with that!
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I don’t see anything wrong with it either.
I’m not judging people.
I just don’t personally see the benefits of owning these cooking machines in my kitchen.
I had the Zojirushi rice cooker, and it produced excellent cooked rice.
Just so be it that I prefer a rice where I sauter the rice in butter, onions and spices first, then cook the rice.
So a rice cooker was redundant in my case.
I find regular rice, whether it’s basmati, Yasmine or brown rice, rather bland and boring even with the sauce mixed in.
It’s my preference. Millions have other preferences.
I don’t judge them at all.
I’d rather make a stew in my copper pots or Dutch ovens and refrigerate them for 2-3 days than making the stew in a closed sealed instant pot. It’s sole less to me using such machines. Home made food to me is all about sole and character.
But I don’t judge other people.
I’m eating take away veal shish kebab with salad, tzatziki and bulgur tonight. I’m not a sacred home cooking monster. I do short cuts like many others, but in my home kitchen I try to cut down on unnecessary redundant extra short cut cooking machines like air fryers (my oven has convection), rice cookers, instant pots and what not.
I would rather buy a new copper pan to add to my 50+ pan collection than buying yet another short cut do it yourself cooking machine. BUT I do not judge others.
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If this helps, my response wasn’t directed at you or anyone else in particular, although some of the posts in this thread may have shifted to other tangential areas.
I will chime in to say that I sometimes think there is an automatic and too quick assumption that someone who uses these type of gadgets either cannot cook well or is unwilling to use regular equipment. There may be some where this is the “dummy-proof” option, but I love short cuts just as much as any one else. Multi-tasking and budgeting time in our lives is a reality. There are tasks we love to painstakingly do the old fashioned way and some we prefer to go faster with reasonable results. Whatever floats your boats, I say.
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Maybe that. When I make a specific rice dish which takes center stage and I care a lot like Matsutake gohan, then I make it in old fashion clay pot.
However, when rice plays more of a normal and lesser role, then I just make the rice in a electric rice cooker, so that I can focus my attention and energy on other dishes.
Sometime I make Okiwana soba from scratch, but many times, I don’t have time and just cook a prepackage noodle.
By the way, I do recommend Myojo brand over the Sun Noodle brand for Okianwan soba.
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I don’t think I’ve seen the soba. Will have to look for that. Besides from being a salt bomb, those Myojo ones are pretty tasty.
I have my clay pot that I use for rice on rare occasions too. Not so much for matsutake gohan, but when I try to replicate HK style clay pot rice, it’s the only vessel that gives it that specific taste (and crunchy bottom). 99% of the time, it’s the rice cooker. Everyone keeps telling me about cheats on how to make congee with the Instant Pot, the rice cooker, or using a mixer/beater, and that is one thing I like doing the old fashioned way. I simmer the rice in the water/soup/stock for a good 2-2.5 hours in my pot until you get the perfect soft, almost dissolved rice texture, and the liquid becoming thicker and not like soup.
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