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A pressure cooker can save you loads of time laboring over your stove. To find the best options, we bought 5 of the most popular cookers and used them to cook over 200 meals, including meaty pork ribs, vegan rice dishes, and stews. We recruited a panel of hungry folks to rank the quality of those dishes while our product testers graded the prep and cleanup process.
In our tests, the best overall performer was the Instant Pot Duo Plus V4, partially because it is versatile and easy to use but mostly because it produces delicious, quality meals. The Breville Fast Slow Pro was a close runner-up to the Duo Plus and performs especially well with meat dishes.
If you have spare time and prefer not to mess with pressurization, a traditional slow cooker may be more your style. An air fryer is another convenient countertop tool that replaces the messy, labor-intensive, and oil-heavy process of deep frying food. No matter your goal, having the right kitchen appliances will help advance your culinary adventures.
Editor's Note: Our pressure cooker review was updated on November 24, 2024, to provide additional recommendations and comparisons of our award winners.
This newest version of the Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 offers a sleek new look and updated control panel features. Some great improvements were also made to the cooker's steam valve, making it safer and quieter. In part, the Duo Plus is our favorite model for one key reason: Its ever-increasing quality. This is the fourth version of the Duo Plus (we've also previously tested the Duo Plus V3, which performs very similarly). Each new rendering of this product is continually safer and more user-friendly. The Duo Plus is a superb pressure cooker with eight additional cooking modes: Slow cooker, rice, steam, saute, yogurt, sous vide, cake, and keep warm. With this 9-in-1, all of your cooking bases are covered. The real game-changer for us is its amazing ability to cook delicious, fall-off-the-bone meats — we were always hungry for more. The Duo Plus can also whip up a decent helping of rice, but it is a little more temperamental when it is time to saute. Eventually, we achieved the best results on low heat instead of high. Finally, we really appreciate the Duo Plus's interactive control panel that sends text alerts on the status of the cooking process as well as alerts on possible complications.
The Instant Pot Duo Plus is a great product. That said, our testers agree there is some room for improvement. The steel pot could be difficult to scrub clean, particularly after sauteing. Also, this pressure cooker might be a bit too large for homes or apartments with limited cupboard space. If you're searching for a more affordable pressure cooker, we recommend the Presto 02141, which offers most of the features of the top cookers without the steep price point.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro was a tester favorite. With a streamlined interface and a boatload of cooking features, it easily separates itself from the pack. It offers the most presets and cooking modes, almost to an overwhelming degree. Luckily the Breville provides an incredibly intuitive, three-dial interface that lets you cycle through all of these settings and fine-tune cook times and pressure levels with ease. We particularly liked the automated steam release valve on this machine. You can either set the valve to open automatically when the cooking is done or just open it with the push of a well-positioned button. It is nice to release the steam without putting your hand anywhere near the valve, although we didn't feel unsafe using any of the tested models. The Breville was also the only model that slightly stood out from the pack in cooking ability, mainly when it came to meat. The ribs we made with this machine had a somewhat more tender, fall-off-the-bone quality than the rest.
However, the high price might stop you in your tracks. The Breville Fast Slow Pro can retail for nearly double the price point of most pressure cookers. Though it is a better product than most of our test group, it's still a sizable investment. On the other hand, if you'd like to keep your hands away from the steam valve or if you love making pressure cooker ribs, you might find this unit is well worth the additional cost. For a top-performing pressure cooker that won't break the bank, the Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 fits the bill nicely, with admirable scores across all categories yet priced to leave a good deal of extra cash in your pocket to stock up on groceries.
The Presto 02141 is a capable pressure cooker that offers most of what the top models do, often at a significantly lower price. In our tests, it pressure-cooked, sauteed, and slow-cooked quite well, and proved to be relatively easy to clean. It also offers a non-stick pot. While we feel the stainless steel vs. non-stick debate primarily comes down to personal preference, this is a good option for those seeking an alternative to the stainless pots of many of the most popular models on the market.
Our main gripe with the Presto 02141 is a minor one — it does not provide a good place to store its lid, so you'll probably end up holding it while you stir or serve. Small critique aside, we think it's a terrific value considering its price and performance. Comparatively, the most user-friendly pressure cooker of the group is the Duo Plus V4, which you can often find on sale at a similar price to the Presto, even though Instant Pot officially lists it for considerably more.
Ninja is phasing out some of their Foodi pressure cooker models. However, you may still be able to find these models online at a discounted price.
Ninja has a proven track record of creating high-quality and multipurpose kitchen appliances. The Ninja Foodi Smart XL is one of our absolute favorite cookers to use. Its stand-out feature is sheer versatility. The product is a pressure cooker, a steamer, and an air fryer. This cooking trifecta allows the Ninja to broil, bake, roast, slow cook, saute, and much more. It also offers a superb dehydration setting. This newest Ninja model is the most convenient yet. Past models required different lids for each cooking function. However, this version introduces SmartLid technology. This allows users to switch between the three cooking modes with just the push of a finger. Our favorite part of the Ninja is that it can use multiple cook functions to cook three different dishes simultaneously. We also love that it tells us goodbye when we turn it off.
The elephant in the room is the weight and size of the Ninja. It weighs 25 pounds and measures almost 15 inches tall. Some folks may find lifting and moving this unit difficult, and storing it in a cupboard or on a pantry shelf may be just as challenging. It's also a tad too large to be a permanent fixture on the counter. Overall, we feel this is an excellent multi-use cooker, but it is a bit inconsistent when it comes to pressure cooking meat. If you can compromise on the dehydration and air-fryer features, you will love the smaller size and flawless results Breville's Fast Slow Pro delivers in the kitchen.
You save yourself time and money purchasing a myriad of other kitchen appliances when you buy the Ninja - the device that does it all.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
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The Duo Plus's new control panel makes it easier than ever to make good meals fast.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
How We Test Pressure Cookers
We've purchased and tested close to 30 pressure cookers over the years. Our testing process puts each cooker through a multi-point performance analysis to rate user-friendliness, cooking ability, and more. We subject cookers to more than a dozen individual tests with various foods to assess their performance. The most important weighted metric is the user-friendliness tests. This metric comprises the user interface (75% of the metric score) and the lid functionality (25% of the metric total). Our cooking performance metric is informed by 4 specific tests, including meat (30% of total) and rice cooking (20% of total), pressure adjustability (25%), and saute results (25%). Our reviews also encompass exhaustive research and observations to compare each cooker's performance to the other contenders. See more on our testing process in our How We Test article.
Pressure Cooker testing was divided across four rating metrics:
User Friendliness tests (35% of overall score weighting)
Cooking Performance tests (30% weighting)
Ease of Cleaning tests (25% weighting)
Cooking Features tests (10% weighting)
Why You Should Trust Us
Senior Review Analyst Michelle Powell laid the foundation to her highly analytical review style while obtaining a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology at U.C. Santa Cruz. Since then, she's spent more than a decade working in the specialty food industry and has managed multiple establishments that serve a wide variety of cuisines. This experience makes her perfect for evaluating the diverse range of meals these versatile pressure cookers can prepare.
Senior Review Editor Max Mutter learned a great deal about objective testing while earning a Masters in Biological Sciences at Oxford University in England. He now applies that refined knowledge to examining top-selling home products for GearLab. He has been testing and writing about kitchen appliances for more than four years. In that time, he has used over 100 pressure cookers, some of blenders and top-ranked air fryers as well as the best food dehydrators, toasters, and top toaster ovens, lending him a well-rounded understanding of what makes a countertop appliance worth the real estate that it occupies.
Reviewer Jason Wanlass has been part of the greater GearLab Team for more than six years. An avid adventurist and former journalist, he has tested many products and written numerous reviews on camping gear. He recently combined his love for all things gear with a passion for cooking and now shares his insight on cooking-related products. Jason is no stranger to slow cookers, mixers, and air fryers. He has an eye for detail and likes finding the little things that make a product great to use.
Hayley Thomas, one of our top reviewers, helps round out this team. She lives on the road in her converted sprinter van, but she doesn't let that impede her meal planning. Living in such a small space, Hayley knows a little something about pairing down to the absolute necessities. She is a big fan of the all-in-one pressure cooker and, therefore, offers a unique perspective on this particular category.
Prepping for just a small portion of our cooking tests.
Analysis and Test Results
We scoured spec sheets while researching more than 50 different pressure cookers in our quest for the most convenient weeknight meals possible. Once we found the models most likely to serve our readers well, we purchased them for testing. To identify the absolute best one for your home, we've prepared over 300 meals while meticulously evaluating each pressure cooker's user-friendliness, cooking, and cleaning attributes.
What's the Best Value?
In our experience, most pressure cookers can create a pleasant cooking experience, so paying extra generally means getting easier to clean surfaces, better interfaces, or additional cooking features rather than better cooking performance (with some minor exceptions). The Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 strikes the best balance, offering intuitive controls, convenient functions, and relatively painless cleaning for a middle-of-the-road price. If you want the most cooking functions available, the Breville Fast Slow Pro could cost you nearly twice as much, but it is a great option. On the other hand, the inexpensive Presto 02141 is a great deal if you don't mind dealing with a slightly less user-friendly experience.
The Duo Plus has a removable lid and gasket which helps a bit in the cleaning department.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
User Friendliness
With cooking performance relatively similar amongst the cookers we tested, we found user-friendliness to be the factor that most separated the cream of the crop from the average models. We also found two specific aspects of the user experience to be the most significant: the interface/controls and how the lid stores when it is in use. The latter may seem trivial, but holding the lid or placing it on a crowded counter while stirring is more annoying than you might expect. Therefore, our scores in this metric are mostly based on how intuitive we found each machine's control panel and whether or not there was a convenient place to store the lid while stirring or serving. However, some models also stood out for other reasons.
The Instant Pot Duo Plus V4 is a crowd-pleaser. Its straightforward control panel is a top-notch feature, complimented by a stout lid holder and safe release valve. There is next to no room for improvement.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro and Ninja Foodi Smart XL follow closely behind the Duo Plus. These models share one critical feature: easy to use control panels and menus. They also have intuitive interfaces and large LCD screens. If we had to choose, we'd say we slightly prefer Breville's interface over the rest. However, all are easy to use.
The Instant Pot's new steam release valve design is an easy to use lever that is located on the other side of the lid from where the steam is released.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Instant Pot Duo Plus V4, Breville Fast Slow Pro, and Ninja Foodi Smart XL have excellent, safe release mechanisms for their steam valves. We feel this greatly adds to their overall user-friendly experience.
The Breville's pressure valve can be opened automatically, or by pressing a button on the front of the unit. It is the only model we tested that doesn't' require you to physically touch the pressure valves when releasing steam.
The Breville's dials make scrolling through all the cooking options quick and easy.
The Ninja Foodi Smart XL offers an easily understandable interface and a convenient slider knob to navigate through its three key cooking modes. This newest Ninja model scored huge convenience points by incorporating a single multipurpose lid for all of its cooking modes. Changing lids is a thing of the past.
A slider switch, which sits above the control panel, moves horizontally and internally adapts the lid for “pressure-cooker mode”, "steam-fryer mode", and “air fryer mode”.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Presto 02141 offers a simple and intuitive interface — we had no trouble navigating through its various settings in our testing. However, there is no place to store the lid when the cooker is open, which is slightly inconvenient when stirring or serving from a crowded countertop. Additionally, the LCD screen is relatively small, so those that require reading glasses may find themselves squinting.
The Presto 02141 has a clear interface but a relatively small LCD display.
Credit: Jason Peters
Cooking Performance
Pressure cooking, by definition, requires a very controlled cooking environment. Accordingly, it makes sense that all our cookers produced very similar results in our pressure cooking tests. That's not to say they were identical; some were able to make meat about 5% more tender than other models, while others cooked brown rice about 5% fluffier. However, these minor differences are unlikely to be noticed by most people. Therefore, the results below pertain more to the things these cookers do outside of pressure cooking. These are namely their ability to saute onions or sear meat, the kinds of things you do before you close the lid, and start pressure cooking. The more of these preparatory steps that a cooker can do well, the more meals you'll be able to make in a single pot without ever venturing over to the stovetop.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro sets itself apart from the rest of the field, mainly when cooking meat. Its carnivorous offerings are just a tad more moist and tender than other models (this was particularly true when we made ribs). It also makes rice just a bit fluffier and less sticky than other models. This is no small feat, as we found pressure cookers, in general, to be just slightly inferior to dedicated rice cookers, particularly when it comes to brown rice.
All the Instant Pot Duo Plus checks all the boxes for the things most people want: good sauteing ability, quick rice and beans, and good, tender meats. However, both the rice and meat these machines made were just slightly less moist and tender than those made with the Breville. While the gap in quality is minimal, it's still noticeable. However, the Duo Plus produced a very tender rack of ribs.
The Ninja Foodi Deluxe XL offers great air frying performance on top of its pressure cooking abilities.
Credit: Laura Casner
The Ninja models we tested perform almost identically to the Instant Pot in our cooking tests, producing fairly tasty results across the board. We've tested the best air fryers and top-rated food dehydrators and found the results of the Ninja models to be on par with these specialty appliances. The air frying feature is quite effective, similar to putting the chicken inside a traditional oven on the convection setting for five minutes.
Succulent corned beef made with the Instant Pot Duo Plus.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
The Presto 02141 also does quite well in our cooking tests. The ribs are fall-off-the-bone-tender, and the veggies are thoroughly sauteed using its saute function. Rice comes out very tender but not super fluffy, exhibiting a bit more moisture than our higher-performing models. Overall we doubt anyone will be disappointed in the Presto 02141's cooking abilities.
The Breville makes the best meat of our test suite.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Ease of Cleaning
When it comes to cleaning, all of the pressure cookers were relatively similar. However, some finer points made specific models a little less painful to get squeaky clean. Most of these differences centered around condensation issues, lid design, and cooking pot material. Models with detachable lids and easy-to-remove gaskets are typically far easier to clean. Additionally, we prefer cooking pots featuring stainless steel compared to non-stick coatings.
Stainless doesn't limit cleaning utensil compatibility, and it's dishwasher safe. Although many folks toss non-stick cookware into the dishwasher, we tend to take the cautionary route and clean them by hand. That said, non-stick material can also require a little pre-soak if you're cooking with particularly sticky ingredients. Our testing procedure entailed preparing at least five meals in each cooker; therefore, we cleaned each product at least five times. After all that washing, we have a great idea of how difficult each one is to clean.
We like the stainless steel pots of the Instant Pot models because they can be cleaned in a dishwasher.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
For our cleaning tests, a slew of models shared the top score. These models have removable lids with easy-to-extract gaskets. This makes getting into the nooks and crannies of the lids easy and quick. All have condensation catchers to keep water from dripping onto your counter. The actual pots were also reasonably easy to clean in all of these machines.
Nonstick pots are generally easier to clean by hand than stainless ones, but are often not dishwasher safe.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
Every model we tested has a narrow groove around the rim where the lid makes its seal. Across the board, that groove loves to gather crumbs and liquid and is skinny enough that it's hard to get even a finger in there to clean. This isn't an issue if you're careful, but one misstep can result in some frustrating clean-up. This is why none of the models in our test suite came close to a perfect score. We understand the groove is integral to most of these pots' designs, but we're still waiting for an enterprising engineer to fix this issue before awarding any higher scores.
The Presto 02141 proves to be reasonably easy to clean in our tests. The non-stick pot sheds grease and grime very easily and is advertised as being dishwasher safe. The two-piece lid and its removable gasket were likewise easy to scrub down and get clean. Like all models, some debris and gunk get stuck in the groove where the lid attaches, but that's just par for the course when it comes to pressure cooking.
The Breville is fairly easy to clean but is not quite a top performer in this category.
Credit: Jenna Ammerman
A slew of models fell just behind the top scorers in our ease of cleaning metric, including the Breville Fast Slow Pro and both Ninja models we tested. These models have non-stick pots that are easy to scrub and don't tend to gather baked-on messes. However, these models lost out on a top score across the board because of their lid designs. The Breville's lid must be unscrewed to remove it for cleaning, which is a bit more cumbersome than most models. The pressure cooking lids of the Ninja models are easy to remove and clean, but the air crisping lids are permanently attached and thus present quite a chore come clean-up time.
The Ninja Foodi Smart XL offers one of the most comprehensive control panels on the market.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Cooking Features
Pressure cookers have largely gained popularity due to two characteristics: versatility and convenience. While the former is a de facto result of basic pressure cooker design, the latter can be greatly facilitated by offering specific cooking features. For example, unique pressure cooker tasks like making yogurt require precise settings. Engaging a pre-programmed yogurt-making cooking feature is much more convenient than dialing in those precise cooking settings. Additionally, having a saute function can be hugely helpful, as it allows you to pre-saute ingredients right in the pot instead of having to fire up your stovetop and create more dishes. We graded each model based on the number of cooking features and how well they all performed.
The Breville Fast Slow Pro has, by far, the most presets of all the models we tested. On top of the standard presets for most meats, chilis, grains, and stew, it adds yogurt, porridge, sear, reduce, and sterilize functions, amongst others.
The Breville has the most cooking presets and functions of all the models we tested.
The Ninja Foodi Smart XL and the Ninja Foodi Deluxe XL don't provide as many specific cooking modes as the Breville, but they also include food dehydrating, and air frying functions. All of these things are beyond the realm of the other pressure cookers.
If you're looking for a pressure cooker and air fryer combo, the Ninja Foodi Smart XL has you covered.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Instant Pot Duo Plus has all the standard functions, plus additional yogurt and porridge settings. The Presto 02141 also offers a slew of cooking features, including unique ones for desserts and beans. It's improbable you'll find a dish not covered by the Presto 02141's presets.
We've tested the market's best pressure cookers over the years to suss out the best models.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Conclusion
A pressure cooker might not be on your shortlist of necessary kitchen items, but there is something to be said for having the right tool for the job. They offer a slew of functionality without taking up much counter space. However, it can be hard to tell the functional differences between the many aesthetically similar models on the market. We hope our objective testing results help you find the pressure cooker most likely to take your home meal prep to the next level.
—Genaveve Bradshaw, Max Mutter, Hayley Thomas, Michelle Powell, and Jason Wanlass
