This will help keep your hands clear of the superheated steam that escapes when you release the pot’s internal pressure. With revolutionary smart multi-cookers featuring new functions and uses constantly in development, it can be hard to tell Instant Pot products apart — especially the Instant Pot Duo and Duo Nova. An instant pot is a pressure cooker with a bunch of added features, instant pot duo nova making it more versatile than the traditional pressure cooker. Dealing with the pressure release valve manually can be scary and even cause injuries when done wrong. The automatic feature is a much safer option if you’re not sure about the pressure release system. Both units have 13 programmable functions that make them super useful for inexperienced cooks and busy people.
Another feature of the steam release valve is that it has a button you can push to quickly release the pressure. Other Instant Pots you have to turn the valve to venting which can be a little dangerous. This is because your hand is right where the steam releases, and there have been many times I’ve burnt my hand by not placing it properly.
The delay start button allows you to postpone cooking for up to 24 hours, but be sure not to leave anything perishable in the pot if you’re using this function. It comes with a steam rack, but this is only really useful for larger foods, smaller vegetables will fall straight through the rack into the water below which is frustrating. According to the Instant Pot manual you need to use 3 cups of water but I’ve found that using 2 cups of water is adequate. The advantage of using 2 cups is that it takes less time for the Instant Pot to come to pressure. There are a few ways you can release pressure once the Instant Pot Duo Nova has finished pressure cooking.
And between these two models and the occasional promotions, it may be difficult to choose. Let’s take at the Instant Pot Duo Nova vs Duo Evo Plus side by side. It’s pretty simple to figure out the settings and get cooking shortly after removing it from the box and the preset programs are a good starting point for common foods and meals. There’s no recipe book or cooking charts included though, so you’ll have to head to the website or app for these. We found plenty of slow cook and pressure cook recipes but it can be tricky to find exact guidance for more simple tasks like steaming and cooking rice. With different sizes available, this is a useful multi-cooker no matter what size your family or household.
Instant Pot created smart programs to help the home chef be able to cook with the press of a button. The smart programs were created based on extensive testing, control heat intensity, temperature, pressure, and duration. Regardless, between the two models having 2 sealing rings is a great thing because the silicone has a tendency to pick the smell of what you’re cooking.
Doing the water test will pinpoint whether there’s something about the recipe that’s causing your sealing issues. A majority of the recipes that you encounter will use High pressure. If a recipe doesn’t state whether to use high or low pressure, you can probably assume it’s high pressure. Instead, once you program the Instant Pot, it automatically starts after a few seconds. Some other models such as Ultra, Duo Evo Plus, and Max require you to press Start after programming the Instant Pot. If you’ve had experiences, like I, with stovetop pressure cooker mishaps in the past, fear no more.
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. For the most part, we found the differences in cooking abilities to be minor between the models in our instant pot duo nova fleet. That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed the food made by the DUO Nova, with it earning superlatives in most of our cooking tests. It also cooks a little faster than older models of Instant Pot, like the Duo, so be aware that you may need to adjust your recipes accordingly. The Ultra setting gives you the ability to have more control over what you’re cooking.