The instant pot is an updated pressure cooker at its core. The idea was to create an appliance that cooks great meals but much faster than the old school pressure cooker ever could. We were skeptical when we tried our first instant pot but today, it’s an essential in our kitchen.
If you’re interested in the history of the Instant Pot read this interesting article: How a laid-off dad built the ‘Instant Pot,’ one of the internet’s favorite cooking tools.
We love the DUO80, let’s get that clear up front, it saves us time, but it also saves us effort and money and that makes it one of the best devices we own.
So, let’s take a look at why we think the Instant Pot DUO80 is one of the best instant pots.
Top Features Of The Instant Pot DUO80
You get a lot of features in an Instant Pot DUO model. It’s quite an amazing appliance when you think about it.
All Instant Pot models in the series can act as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, browning dish, yogurt maker, steamer and warmer.
You’re essentially replacing 7 common kitchen appliances.
There are also 14 preset functions as well as programmable functions to allow you to make simple decisions about how you will cook with your instant pot.
We think that’s probably enough reason to buy one, right now.
But what differentiates the Instant Pot DUO 80?
Design and Build of a Instant Pot
It’s all in the design and build.
This whole series is well built, and the model number is the big differentiator as it refers to the capacity of the pot.
The Instant Pot DUO 80 is huge – it can hold up to 8 quarts of food and has a 1200 watt capacity (compared to 6 quarts and 1,000 wats for the DUO 60, for example).
This is THE instant pot for a healthy family.
You can cook enough for today and a little more for tomorrow or for freezing and that really reduces the workload in the kitchen on the modern mom.
Why Is This One Of Our Favorite Instant Pots?
The Instant Pot DUO brand is one of the strongest in the instant pot market. It’s legend.
That means you can be certain that the company will be around for a long time and that’s important when thinking about warranties, etc.
The best thing about the Instant series, however, is the price.
They’re as good as any product on the market but they come in at a very reasonable price.
If you’re trying to make your budget go as far as possible – then this is a good choice for your family.
Ease Of Use
Thanks to the program controls, this is possibly the easiest instant pot that we’ve ever had to use.
But… the instruction manual is not the greatest and you’ll want to take your time with it until you’re confident about how to use it.
That’s our only real complaint with the DUO80 and it’s a pretty minor one.
We’ve talked to several owners of these devices and they all agree that it is simple to use once you’ve got to grips with it.
Cleaning And Maintenance of your Pot
Cleaning an instant pot is easier than cleaning a pressure cooker used to be.
We’d advice letting it run with some soapy water in the body for 10-15 minutes and then disconnecting the power and just wiping out the interior.
Don’t use any abrasives to clean your pot – you don’t want to scratch or damage it
Final Thoughts On The Instant Pot DUO80
If you don’t have a family to feed – you might want to consider a smaller DUO model but other than that, the Instant Pot DUO80 is the best value model on the market today.
This is what we’d buy for our family.
We highly recommend you get a copy of Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook: Easy Recipes for Fast & Healthy Meals. It’s essential reading.
