Holt Cow, Batman! How Many Instant Pot Versions Exist?

[Mr. Bones]

Bein th schlub I am, I only bought th 6-qt., on Krazy BT markdown, last year, from Amazon...

[cscheib]

I have the 8qt. It generally works "fine"... however, there's one caveat, it's more likely to run into a "scorch" scenario while cooking than the 6qt model is. Most recipes are tuned for the 6qt.

This is something that can be worked around with various techniques, but it's a bit annoying to deal with. Particularly because the scorch detection doesn't let you proceed with your cook without stopping, opening the lid, and stirring. If this happens during the pressure phase, it's quite disruptive to the cook.

I honestly wish I had just gotten the 6qt.

[blakerandy]

We bought the newest Instant Pot with the Sous Vide function and love it. We had the 8 qt before but I wanted the Sous Vide function and waited for Amazon to have a sale. Picked it up for $79.95 and couldn't be happier.

[Huskee]

We have the 6qt, and I think that was the biggest at the time. We have a family of 5 and it does fine for capacity. Sure, an 8 might be nicer, considering, but the 6 does just fine. Handy little buggers. I was resistant for a while but we think the features make it a very worthy kitchen appliance. My favorite thing to make in it is the egg bites, I recommend the accessory kit for those kinda things.

[tenphases]

I made it through 1 paragraph and ended up buying a 10 quart instant pot from Kohl's, smh; I'm weak

🤣

[Polarbear777]

I only use manual settings so all the bells aren’t needed. I got the 6 and the air fryer lid. Air fryer works but since you need space between items, it’s capacity limited. 6 is ok for quick pressure cooked meals.

For real stews and chili I use a 2nd gen stovetop 12-quart pressure cooker.

[fzxdoc]

Forgot to say...

The slow cooker function on the Instant Pot is great because you can sear, saute, or brown ingredients as needed for the slow cook (like browning meat and sauteing onions for chili) in the Instant Pot and then let the chili cook on the Slow Cooker function for the rest of the day, if need be. With a Crock Pot you have to use extra pans/skillets for this. The IP on Slow Cooker mode heats the food up much faster than our 6 quart Crock Pot, scooting it through the 40-140° danger zone in record time.

Kathryn

[SmokingSteve]

Check out this thread: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...stant-pot-help

It has some good info. I bought my wife the Instant Pot - Ultra a couple of years ago. We got the 6 qt, perfect for the two of us. It has been great! Also bought her "The Instant Pot Bible" cookbook. We use the Ultra a lot, for a lot of foods. Everything from Zuppa Tuscana (homemade) to chicken bulgogi to red beans and rice to pulled pork and chicken and she has cooked pork chops in it too. I surprised her with it for that Christmas. She did not think she would like it, but fell in love with it right away. (We no longer own a slow cooker). Be sure to get the accessories too. They get used a lot.

[IowaGirl]

We have a 6 qt IP as well (well, it's hubby's and he lets me use it sometimes). It works well for dishes like eggs or soup or mac-and-cheese or spaghetti for 2-4 people. Another benefit is a smaller IP is going to be lighter and more convenient to store and use and won't take up as much space on the counter.

[Dewesq55]

As Kathryn, fzxdoc said, I have a 10 QT Duo Nova, which I got last year. I really like it. I previously had the 6 QT Duo, which is now in the vacation home. I can't comment on the air fryer lids, since I don't have one. My new range has an air fryer mode, however. To me, pretty much every function of an IP is extraneous other than Pressure Cook. Although, apparently the yogurt function works well, but I haven't used it. When cooking normal recipes for just the 2 of us, ones with not enough liquid (3 cups) for the 10 QT, I just use the pot-in-pot method. For those who don't know what that is, you put a trivet in the bottom of your IP and enough water (you can use hot water which helps out get up to temp faster) to operates the pot in the inner pot of the IP. Then you put the recipe ingredients in another, smaller container (I use a stainless steel bowl) on the trivet and followed the recipe directions for cooking the food. I sometimes add a couple of minutes to the recipe when doing this.

As for rice, by which I mean white rice, I follow Melissa Clark's recipe in her "Dinner In An Instant" cookbook. 1 part rice to 1¼ parts water. High pressure for 10 minutes. Full natural release, remove lid, cover pot with a kitchen towel and set the lid back on loose for 20 minutes. I generally make only small amounts of rice at a time, so I use pot-in-pot for this, too. Supposedly the Rice function on the IP is only good for white rice and only if you like your rice cooked the way it's programmed for. I really never use anything other than manual (pressure cook), and have never used anything other than high pressure. I made about a gallon of turkey stock last night in my 10QT for stuffing, gravy and probably turkey soup. I just left it on Keep Warm all night and then stained it this morning into containers and into the fridge. That's one of my favorite "side effects" of using the IP for stock.

[Thunder77]

Oops, I just noticed that Kathryn already addressed the size and capacity issue. 😬

[Thunder77]

There approximately 75 varieties of Instant Pot. 😜😜
We currently have two: a 3 quart, and an 8 quart. The 3 quart is great for rice and grains, or a very small roast. I also often use it to make hard cooked eggs. The 8 quart is used for everything else. I often wish that I had a 10 quart one, and a 6 quart one.

When considering size, keep in mind that for pressure cooking, you can only fill the pot 2/3 of the way full. So 6 quart size gives you 4 quarts for pressure cooking. For slow cooking, you can fill it up more.

[Willy]

Thanks!

[fzxdoc]

I've used the IP Duo 6 quart for years for the two of us. Works just fine. Most recipes on the interwebs are written for 6 qt IPs.

That said, last year I bought the 10 quart one specifically for stocks and large batches of soup. Dewesq55 has one too, so hopefully he'll chime in here. It requires more liquid to start, which can be a problem when cooking for two.

I remember a post here from someone who bought an IP with the Sous Vide option. He tested it and reported that the Sous Vide temps were significantly inaccurate.

A lot of folks rave about the rice cooker option, but I've not had much luck with rice in my IP. I keep meaning to ask for tips about it here.

Remember that you can only fill an IP 2/3 full, so a 6 quart is really a 4 quart.

Bottom line: for the two of you, 6 quart is probably just right. Don't get the extra bells/whistles unless you research their accuracy/performance.

Kathryn

[bbqLuv]

we have the 8 quart and air fryer. got it to replace a crock pot. we happy with it so far.