With autumn in full swing, it’s no surprise that slow cookers will be used to prepare all of your favorite holiday dishes. Instant Pot has added a new smartphone-friendly pressure cooker to its well-known lineup. The Instant Pot Pro Plus includes Wi-Fi connectivity, a recipe app, and a few hardware design updates.
The 10-in-1 cooker’s primary functions remain unchanged. Slow cook, steam vegetables, cook rice, sauté meat, make yogurt, use as a sous vide machine, and even can your own preserves. NutriBoost, which uses bursts of steam to mix things up inside and evenly distribute flavor, is available in rice and soup modes. This appears to increase the nutritional value as well. According to Instant Pot, cooking with this can be up to 70% faster than cooking on the stove, which also saves energy.
With the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity and an app, you now have access to a wide variety of recipes as well as the ability to shunt the settings for them directly to your Instant Pot. There are currently over 800 recipes available, with more being added on a regular basis. You can also start and stop cooking from your Android or iOS device, as well as open and close the release valve, using the remote access.
The handles on the pot are a welcome physical change that allows for easy removal while things are still hot. The inner pot can be used on the stovetop, in the oven, and on induction plates if necessary, which is a nice touch. The lid and inner pot are both machine washable. This model is 6 quarts, which is more than enough for a family of four, but Instant Pots as large as 8 quarts are available.
The front controls have also been updated. The LCD display is touch-sensitive, as opposed to older models, which used a mechanical wheel to navigate.
This isn’t Instant Pot’s first attempt at creating a pressure cooker that can communicate with your smartphone. It took some time for its original “Smart” model from 2014 to be recalled due to a probe defect, and it took some time for it to dip back into phone-friendly territory. According to the manufacturer, the Instant Pot Pro Plus has over 11 proven safety features, including overheat protection and seal locking.
Aside from the flaw, we liked the original model and have high hopes for the new one. The Instant Pot Pro Plus is currently available for $170.