If my house was on fire, this is the one kitchen appliance I’d save

I review a lot of kitchen appliances. Everything from specialty coffee kettles, to air fryers, to espresso machines — I’ve done it. But I don’t love anything like I love my Instant Pot.

I also consider myself a pretty busy person and I’m often reluctant to spend my hard-earned cash on buying lunch out, or getting takeout after a long day at work. This is where my Instant Pot comes in. Thanks to the huge 5-quart capacity, I can prepare up to 10 servings of pasta, curry, soup, or stew at a time.

I have the Wi-Fi-enabled Instant Pot Pro Plus ($199), and it’s the best Instant Pot in my opinion. The fact that I can start dinner from the office aside, it’s got a huge range of cooking modes and can do almost anything. Here’s why my Instant Pot is my favorite kitchen gadget.

Instant Pot Pro Plus: was $199 now $189 at Amazon

The Pro Plus is my personal Instant Pot, and I love it so much. I only need to throw in my ingredients, start the Pro Plus using the display (or the app on my phone), and let it do its thing. I've made 10 servings of chili in 30 minutes before.

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One pot magic

One thing I’ve learned from having an Instant Pot for 7 months now is that you have to layer ingredients liquids first. Otherwise, you risk the dreaded ‘Burn’ notice, which means you have to take all the ingredients out, clean the pot, and restart.

For example, if you’re preparing a one-pot pasta, I recommend sauteing your sofrito before pressure-cooking the rest of the ingredients. After sauteing, you must deglaze with stock or water (or red wine if you’re feeling fancy) to prevent the burn notice. Then, add all your stock, canned tomatoes, and pasta in that order. If you follow these steps, you’ll be making delicious and easy one-pot meals in no time.

Older Instant Pots don’t have this feature, but I always turn on the ‘NutriBoost’ mode. This cooking feature effectively jostles veggies instead of boiling them to retain nutrients. It’s only an option on the pressure-cook and rice cooking modes, though.

A meal prepper’s dream

I’m way too busy and tired to cook dinner every single night. Although I do enjoy cooking, there’s just too much for me to do to justify prepping fresh meals daily.

That’s where my Instant Pot comes in. Every Sunday, I prepare as many servings as I can physically fit in the pot. While this is usually around 8, I’ve squeezed 10 servings of spaghetti sauce out of this thing before.

Thanks to the 15 PSI pressure, the Instant Pot Pro Plus can turn dried pasta and tomato sauce into a thick, delicious one-pot pasta in just 10 minutes. It’s also high enough pressure for canning! Some people say that natural venting is the best way, but it takes a while, so I always use quick venting, which takes under a minute.

As I mentioned earlier, I just have to layer my ingredients (liquids first) in the pot, then press go. Ta-da! I’ve prepared a week’s worth of meals. It may as well be magic; it sure as heck acts like it.

Not just a one-trick pony

Given that Instant Pots are quite bulky, it’s a relief that these aren’t just one-trick ponies. Instant Pots can seriously do it all. Even if there’s not a cooking setting for certain cooking styles, trust me — it can probably do it.

Last December, I made a Christmas pudding in my Instant Pot and it was a huge success. Not only did I cheat and use only one pot for mixing and cooking, it was deliciously moist and juicy thanks to the pressure-steam cooking, too.

Besides being able to make cakes, there’s a huge range of cooking settings on the Instant Pot. The one I personally use — the Instant Pot Pro Plus — has a rice setting, sous vide, yogurt, on top of the standard slow-cook, pressure-cook fare.

Although making yogurt is a tedious, time-consuming process, the Instant Pot tries to make it a little more bearable. Instead of having to boil milk in a stovetop pot, the Instant Pot heats milk to 180°F automatically and cools it back down to around 105°F as required for the yogurt cultures.

While, yes, I normally use my Instant Pot for batch cooking, it can do so much more. That’s why, if my house was on fire, I’d save my Instant Pot over my air fryer. As much as I love my air fryer, it can’t make yogurt, rice, and 10 servings of one-pot pasta in under 20 minutes, can it?

These are just a few of the reasons why I'd save my Instant Pot from a burning building.

But the bottom line? It saves me so much time, and that's something I can't get back. For that reason, the Instant Pot is my must-have kitchen appliance and I can't recommend it enough.

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