Instapot vs Crockpot

[mccallister84]

My crock pot really needs to be replaced soon and I am contemplating getting an instapot instead.

Any thoughts?

Potentially relevant information: I am home with the girls so I am not in a huge time crunch to get dinner on the table. However they are 2 and 9.5 months so I try to do most dinner prep during naps. Fall and winter I would say we use the crockpot weekly - shredded chicken, stews, pot roast, soups etc.

Thanks in advance!

[cabbagecabbage]

I was ambivalent about the instant pot but got one for Christmas and I love it. The quality of food it produces is so much better than a crockpot. I haven't used my crockpot once since Christmas. I'm a convert.

[circa1978]

I never use my crock pot now that I have an Instapot. Plus, the IP has a slow cook function.

[readyin07]

I am the owner of both...they both have their uses. I just don’t find using the instant pot as a slow cooker has as good a result as a traditional crock pot. the flavors don’t meld as well as they do in a crockpot. But the instant pot and its sauté feature is nice. I haven’t been omg wowed by anything I have made in the instant pot.

[readyin07]

Apr 8, 2019 20:50:45 GMT -5 cabbagecabbage said:

I was ambivalent about the instant pot but got one for Christmas and I love it. The quality of food it produces is so much better than a crockpot. I haven't used my crockpot once since Christmas. I'm a convert.

Favorite recipes please please! I am not loving the food quality of what I have made. It has all been ok and not whoa!

[sunnysally]

I have both and use both. I use the instant pot for dried beans and when I need something cooked quickly. I feel like the crockpot does a better job with a roast with potatoes and carrots because of the oval shape, something about the distribution of seasoning and the flavors melding together. If I were in your situation and could only have one, I would probably opt for the crockpot.

[cabbagecabbage]

Apr 8, 2019 20:54:56 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Apr 8, 2019 20:50:45 GMT -5 cabbagecabbage said:

I was ambivalent about the instant pot but got one for Christmas and I love it. The quality of food it produces is so much better than a crockpot. I haven't used my crockpot once since Christmas. I'm a convert.

Favorite recipes please please! I am not loving the food quality of what I have made. It has all been ok and not whoa!

I'm one of those people who doesn't use recipes I'm afraid. I mostly look up the cooking times in recipes and improvise. I made great tortilla soup by sauteing onion and garlic then added drained black beans, diced raw chicken thighs, cumin, cilantro stems, and chicken stock and pressure cooking that for however long chicken thighs take, maybe 7-8 minutes. Topped with chips and cheese. I feel like the depth of flavor in the broth was fantastic and not overcooked tasting like crockpot foods often are.

I saute chicken pieces to brown them and add diced potatoes, carrots, and onions and a big splash of white wine and that's great.

My pot roast is browned chuck, browned onion chunks, then raw veggies, red wine, and Worcestershire sauce.

If I get a good sear on meat and add flavorful liquid, I feel like everything turns out so beautifully. Crockpot foods often taste so overcooked to me, soggy and yet dry and smelling like a cafeteria. I dont taste that in the instant pot. I stick to soups, stews, and braises.

[verycontrary247]

E and I both work from home and so we haven't made the instapot plunge. There have been a couple times where work got crazy and we forgot to put something into the crock pot, but the instances are few and far enough between to stick with just the CP.

[verycontrary247]

Crockpot365 has a ton of great recipes if you end up going that route

[Deleted]

I own and use both. They serve different purposes in my opinion. If I had to only have one I'd probably say the Instant Pot, but I would really, really miss my crockpot LOL

[msmerymac]

Instant pot is good for rice, dried beans, yogurt, stews and soups. It cooks roasts that take 2+ hours in the oven quickly. It's nice to prep things like salsa chicken. Any kind of meat + marinade does well. I find I used it to make and store components for a lot of other meals more than complete meals themselves. Maybe it's just the types of meals I like to make, but the amount of liquid you need means the dishes WILL turn out saucy, and the sauce will be thin, so you'll likely have to thicken it or just compensate some other way, I guess is what I'm saying. I like it though. Totally useful. I'm eating yogurt right now I made in it and it's SO easy.

[achi]

I really like my instant pot! I have barely used my crock pot since getting it nearly 2 years ago.

The only think I've come across that I prefer to cook in a more "traditional" way is a chicken. I still think that's better roasted in the oven.

[y4m]

The IP is not a good slow cooker by basically all accounts, so if you really like the all-day cook of a crockpot, you'll want to keep that.

That said, IP can make that same stewed/braised all day food in more like an hour vs. 10 hours.

[lolalolalola]

I don't use my instant pot much. The food usually turns out fine, but not great... And its slow cooker function is terrible. I initially bought it when my slow cooker died, but I ended up buying another one anyway because the instant pot just doesn't cut it as a slow cooker.

[dutchgirl678]

I used to have a crockpot and when we moved back from Europe last year I bought an Instant Pot instead. I love it and use it often. The saute function is super nice and I love the flavors.

I made ribs in it just a few days ago. They are so moist, the meat practically falls off the bone. I also love to make butter chicken in it and have made other soups and stews. And I boil eggs. Last weekend I even made yogurt.

[mel]

I hated the instant pot. I wasn't wowed by the food at all and it made me unnecessarily nervous. I also didn't think it was a huge time saver.

I use my crockpot 2-3 times a week most weeks. I love coming home and having dinner almost or all the way cooked!

[linz]

I bought an IP and love it, however I won't get rid of my crockpot. If I needed to take a hot dish somewhere or had a birthday party where I wanted food to stay warm I'd use the CP. Most stuff in the IP is good but a couple recipes I found were fails. I also still do the CP if I have something I want to just cook slow all day.

[carmenere]

Instant pot is a glorified pressure cooker that also has a crockpot function. Honestly I don’t love it or use it as much as Pinterest convinced me I would. But it is super nice to be able to throw in frozen chicken breasts and have fully cooked shredded chicken in 30 minutes.

[tacokick]

I still prefer my actual slow cookers but I’ve used the slow cooker function on the Instant Pot and it works fine. I think slow cookers are easier to clean.

If you are interested in pressure cooking at all and only have room for one machine, the Instant Pot is a good idea since it does both.

Pressure cooking is faster but you still have to be home to make the food/depressurize it so if you want food ready when you walk in the door, slow cooking is a much better option.

[mortomo]

I have both and use them for different things. Actually, I have a Ninja 4 in 1 instead of a traditional crockpot/slow cooker ( www.ninjakitchen.com/products/0/all/54/ninja-4-in-1-cooking-system/ ). I use it weekly and love it. It can be used for more than just slow cooking and has a stovetop/browning feature which is nice when you want to brown meat or saute something prior to slow cooking. It's also rectangular, so it's easier, IMO, to make roasts and larger cuts of meat.

My Instant Pot is used more for when I need to make something quick or to make yogurt.

[isabel]

Apr 8, 2019 20:52:39 GMT -5 circa1978 said:

I never use my crock pot now that I have an Instapot. Plus, the IP has a slow cook function.

Basically this. I don't have an Instapot. I got an electric pressure cooker years ago, long before the Instapot came out. However, since the rise of the Instapot, I am finding that am using the pressure cooker quite a bit and almost never use the slow cooker.

My pressure cooker doesn't have a slow cooker feature, but I am finding that most things that can be done in a slow cooker can be done in a pressure cooker for far less time. It also seems like the flavors are better coming out of the pressure cooker. I feel like slow cooker meals tend to have that sort of slow cooker taste, no matter the ingredients. I don't get that with the pressure cooker.

[rebneen]

The Instant Pot and other electric pressure cookers have a "set and forget" mode which works with natural pressure release. I can almost always find a recipe that works with npr.

I do find it to make much more diverse options easily vs a crock pot. I'm not that good at planning ahead and I need short cuts and the Instant Pot wins at both of those as well. I don't cook red meat or pork, so those may be better in a Crock-Pot, but the ability to brown/saute vs just dumping everything in produces better flavor in most dishes.

Recipes that my family love are:

15 bean soup (sautee onion carrots and celery, reduce liquid by 1/2, but otherwise follow any recipe on Pinterest)
Black beans
Any frozen chicken+any sauce/seasoning/salsa + stock
Homemade stock
Hard boiled eggs
Rice/grains
Oatmeal (pot in pot is my preferred method)

I gave away my Crock pot years ago and don't miss it at all.

[rubytue]

We’ve found that soups work better in the instant pot than other things we’ve tried. IMHO, the pressure kills so much of the spice that everything (even butter chicken) came out bland.

Soups and boiled eggs. That’s what get all the use. I love how easy eggs are and how easy they are to peel!

99% of our crock pot use is dog food. Because our girl get homemade chicken and sweet potatoes with her kibble.

[peachy]

I have not even used my crockpot since I got my IP

It takes some trial and error, but to me the food tastes much better and it’s more versatile

[cuadrado]

I have both. I prefer the shape of the crock pot since I mostly use it to cook larger pieces of meat or bigger meals. I also like that I can plug it in and turn it on vs the settings on the instant pot. The instant post also has to take a few minutes to warm up. I feel like when you're done with the entire process, it would have just been easier to cook the same meal on the stove top or oven.

[peachy]

Apr 8, 2019 21:06:04 GMT -5 cabbagecabbage said:

Apr 8, 2019 20:54:56 GMT -5 readyin07 said:

Favorite recipes please please! I am not loving the food quality of what I have made. It has all been ok and not whoa!

I'm one of those people who doesn't use recipes I'm afraid. I mostly look up the cooking times in recipes and improvise. I made great tortilla soup by sauteing onion and garlic then added drained black beans, diced raw chicken thighs, cumin, cilantro stems, and chicken stock and pressure cooking that for however long chicken thighs take, maybe 7-8 minutes. Topped with chips and cheese. I feel like the depth of flavor in the broth was fantastic and not overcooked tasting like crockpot foods often are.

I saute chicken pieces to brown them and add diced potatoes, carrots, and onions and a big splash of white wine and that's great.

My pot roast is browned chuck, browned onion chunks, then raw veggies, red wine, and Worcestershire sauce.

If I get a good sear on meat and add flavorful liquid, I feel like everything turns out so beautifully. Crockpot foods often taste so overcooked to me, soggy and yet dry and smelling like a cafeteria. I dont taste that in the instant pot. I stick to soups, stews, and braises.

I totally agree about crockpot foods. I remember 05heel saying everything tastes the same out of a crock pot 😆