A meal cooked low and slow often means better-developed flavors and more tender morsels. It can also mean scraping the bottom of a giant pot until your arms threaten to leave your body. Multi-cookers can save the hassle of prep and clean-up. They can turn cooking rice into a 2-minute process and turn red lentils into dal in 15 minutes.
Thanks in large part to the sudden popularity of the Instant Pot, there are a variety of multi-cooker offerings. Below, a selection of our favorites.
The classic: Instant Pot Duo Nova Pressure Cooker 7 in 1
Time to level up from slow cooking? The Instant Pot works by increasing the pressure of the cauldron and raising the boiling point of the liquid inside. That means your food can get hotter than it can in a traditional pot, cooking its contents faster. Meanwhile, the trapped steam means food will stay moist and delicious. This Instant Pot has 14 cooking programs, is fully automated, and comes with a lot of fail-safe measures. You can make a perfect poached egg in two minutes. Chicken stock in half an hour. Barbecued meats in all of 20 minutes.
Versatility is key: Zavor LUX LCD 8 Quart Programmable Electric Multi-Cooker
What Can’t You Make In This Thing?
Perhaps most importantly, this machine is safe. The lid will never open accidentally. Amazon
This machine will revolutionize your kitchen. It functions as a slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice and grains cooker, yogurt maker, steamer, and much more with its nifty “flex” function. Flex makes it work as either a pressure cooker or regular stockpot, and you can set the temperature to whatever you like. You also won’t need to sautee anything in a separate pan before putting it in the Zavor cooker, as the brown function allows you to do so in the cooker itself. 33 convenient presets include everything from soup or beans to cheesecake.
Budget pick: Aroma Housewares 2-8-Cups Rice Grain Cooker and Food Steamer
If you mainly plan on cooking rice, grains, or oatmeal in the morning, this multi-cooker is an excellent choice. There’s a setting for white rice, brown rice, and quinoa, as well as slow-cook and saute-then-simmer features. It comes with a separate steam tray you can use for vegetables (probably best suited for one person).
Space-saver: Cuckoo CMC-QSB501S Premium 8 in 1 Multi-Cooker
This slick appliance can prepare food in so many ways, it may be one of the only helpers you’ll need in your kitchen. It comes with eight different cooking modes: pressure, slow, rice cooker, browning fry, steamer, warmer, yogurt, and soup maker. If you primarily cook for one or two people and saving space as well as versatility are top priorities, it’s a reliable choice.
Most portable: Crock-Pot Lunch Crock Food Warmer
The Crock-Pot Food Warmer is a perfect solution to warm lunches without a microwave. It takes an hour or two to heat your food, preserving the taste of your home-cooked meal.