Instant pot vs. pressure cooker: Meals are essential to every one of us. However, tasty meals require the best appliances to prepare. I would thus like to compare some of the two most trending and used kitchen appliances in the market today. An instant pot can do multiple things or tasks within the touch of a button. Whereas, the pressure cooker is usually a stove-top model and requires manual regulation and intervention during the cooking process. In a nutshell, Instant pots are multipurpose electric cooking pots which sometimes include the pressure cooking functionality for the user. Some Instant pots are programmable for kitchen tasks. The following are some of the notable differences between instant pots and pressure cookers:
So What is the Differences between Instant Pot and Pressure Cooker?
Safety: An instant pot has a safety mechanism while a pressure cooker lacks it:
An Instant Pot is an enhanced electric pressure cooker. However, its cooking is more precise, dependable and has built-in safety mechanisms and therefore has reduced chances of risks while in use in the kitchen. The pressure cooker, on the contrary, has little known safety mechanisms which makes the instant pot a more user-friendly cooker.
cooking-modes: instant pot contains more cooking modes than the pressure cooker:
The instant pot has more exceptional cooking capabilities, which include; slow and fast cooking, browning as well as rice cooking functionality. Some instant pots have the ability to steam food and prepare yogurt, and this gives an edge over any standard pressure cooker.
Temperature reach: A pressure cooker can reach more temperature while cooking than the temperature on instant pot can reach:
A conventional pressure cooker has the ability to attain higher cooking temperatures as compared to an Instant Pot hence ideal for food preservation including meat, poultry, fish as well as fruits and vegetables and dry foods such as nuts and grains. An instant pot on the other hand cannot reach high levels of cooking temperatures needed for preserving meat but can preserve plant-based foods quite well such as jams, jellies, pickles and the like.
Operation: The cooking method is different in both the cookers:
For most pressure cookers, the source of heat is usually from an external source like combustion of gas. However, instant pots may use coils or heating filaments that use electricity. Passing electricity through the filaments leads to conversion of electric energy to heat. The mode of operation between the two is thus different.
Design: The exterior of most instant pots is eye-catching compared to pressure cookers:
Most kitchen appliance manufacturers put great emphasis on the general appearance of instant pots. Instant pots are thus designed to bring out the beautiful décor to one’s kitchen which is not always the case when it comes to the design of pressure cookers.
Efficiency: Instant Pot is a more energy-efficient cooker than the pressure cooker:
An instant pot is similar to a standard pressure cooker, with the only difference being the source of heat. Very little energy is thus wasted when compared to a pressure cooker which uses gas as its source of fuel.
Programmable: Instant Pot is programmable while the pressure cooker is not programmable:
An Instant pot consists of a vast number of computer-automated options. Some instant pots are digital and can be controlled by the use of timers which brings some high level of efficiency when cooking food. The pressure, on the other hand, does not enjoy these computerized options which limits its operability.
Economical: Pressure cooker is more expensive than the instant pot:
Besides saving you a lot of needed space when it comes to kitchen appliances, the Instant pot is also very economical in very many ways. You will only need one appliance for a variety of functions in the kitchen. When it comes to costs, the Instant pot is also very affordable in comparison to a pressure cooker.
Time: Instant Pot will save a lot of your time than the pressure cooker:
High pressure builds up in pressure cookers or instant pot means water takes less time to reach the boiling point. This also yields a slight increase in boiling points, which means more heat accumulates to heat the food faster. Automatic regulation of Pressure in instant pots will, therefore, ensure that your meals cook efficiently and are on the table on time.
Stainless-steel: Instant Pots have a long-lasting and well embedded stainless steel interior and exterior which is not much enhanced in the pressure cooker:
No one wants to spend ages cleaning any kitchen appliance especially after eating. Well fitted and polished stainless steel makes a kitchen appliances easy to clean.
In our case, the exterior of the normal pressure cooker is, in most cases built of plastic. Moreover, it lacks Teflon or any other non-stick material in its surfaces. Most Instant pots have a stainless steel surface that makes it relatively easy to clean when compared to pressure cookers.