The third and fourth pressure cookers above are Instant Pots. The others are other brands of electric pressure cookers. My in-depth Instant Pot Duo Plus Whisper Quiet Review will be posted next week. As a quick preview, the Whisper Quiet is a great mid-range option. My favorite feature is the combination dot-matrix and LCD display, which provides text that indicates what’s going on in the pot. The redesigned lid is quieter , and it has a lot of the high-demand buttons.
This was the first pressure cooker Instant Pot released. It does not have a Low Pressure setting or a yogurt button. Other than that, it can do everything the Instant Pot Duo can do.
It has an LED screen and the basic lid that you turn to release the pressure. In most other respects is very similar to the Duo Plus. The large display and multitude of buttons makes navigating the DUO Nova’s settings easy. For the most part, we found the differences in cooking abilities to be minor between the models in our fleet.
In what we’ve found to be the most differentiating of our cooking tests, the saute test; the DUO Nova performed wonderfully. It got hot enough to easily brown eve hearty veggies like carrots and made quick work of diced onions. We believe this ability is crucial; to effectively saute right in the pot vastly increases the number of meals you can make with only one dish to clean at the end.
However, the DUO Nova is undoubtedly still in the minority, offering a pressure release button. The pressure release button is our absolute favorite thing about the DUO Nova’s user experience. This button sits about two inches from the pressure valve and allows you to open that valve without actually touching it. Thus, having a button that makes instant pot duo nova this process quicker, easier, and safer is a welcome addition. The number of Instant Pot models has grown over the years to the point that there’s almost a confusing number of these devices available. Some are more straightforward than others, like the Duo Crisp, which includes an air-fry mode and comes with the appropriate lid for it.
The Ultra line can offer as many as 10-in-1 multi-use capabilities. The Duo line provides 7- or 9-in-1 multi-use functions, and the Lux line offers 6-in-1 functionality. I agree with Barbara on her recommendation of the Duo Evo Plus. My first IP was an IP Duo and wasn’t even tempted to upgrade until the Duo Evo Plus.
The Duo Nova has the button layout of the Duo mixed with the auto-seal lid of the Duo Ultra and the blue LCD display from the Duo Plus. It works similarly to any other pressure cooker, and all of my pressure cooker recipes are designed to work in your Instant Pot. However, if you typically cook a main dish and a side dish, you may be happier simply buying two 6-quart Instant Pots so you can cook both at the same time. Depending on what you’re cooking, the 6-quart will fit a double or triple batch.
This makes it a bit harder to scrub clean than many of its non-stick counterparts but also means it can unequivocally go in a dishwasher. The control panel makes navigating its multiple cooking features and settings quite easy. A dedicated button for each cooking instant pot duo nova presets make it easy to quickly dial in rice or soup settings. A large LCD clearly displays feedback if you want to cycle through some advanced features, such as adjusting the pressure level, programming in a delayed start, or adjusting the cooking time.