Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid review

Air fryers are probably the most talked-about kitchen equipment of the yr. And so they’re additionally, in all probability, probably the most misunderstood.

Put merely, an air fryer is a miniature fan oven with a catchier title. They warmth up fast, and their small dimension means they’ll prepare dinner small quantities of meals sooner than your regular fan oven, saving you money and time.

Not all air fryers are the identical, and the Prompt Pot Duo Crisp with Final Lid is a really completely different beast from a budget air fryers you may discover stacked excessive on sure grocery store aisles.

It combines the favored Prompt Pot – a multicooker that means that you can strain prepare dinner, sluggish prepare dinner, sauté and different wet-cooking capabilities – with an air fryer for dry-cooking capabilities equivalent to grilling, roasting, baking and proofing.

The ‘Final Lid’ half means you need to use the varied capabilities with out swapping between lids as you do with the common Duo Crisp. That is rather more handy as a result of it means you don’t want to search out extra space for storing for various lids.

All of this explains why this cooker prices greater than different air fryers, however as you’ll see, it may be nicely definitely worth the outlay.

Options & design

Measuring 393 × 391 × 340 mm (15.5 x 15.4 x 13.4in, w x d x h), it is a pretty chunky equipment which requires a good quantity of worktop area. It’s unlikely to suit beneath wall cabinets, because it’s a lot taller when the lid is open: you want not less than 600mm (24in) of peak.

As you may see, it’s a lot too massive to open the lid underneath my kitchen cabinets.

Jim Martin / Foundry

It solely is available in black, and has a comparatively brief energy cable – 80cm – so it must be positioned close to a mains socket.

Open the lid, and also you’ll discover a detachable air frying basket that’s additionally used for steaming and has a non-stick coating. That sits inside a 6.2 litre (6.5 quart) chrome steel cooking pot.

Jim Martin / Foundry

Inside the lid is a detachable strain plate. This stays in for many of the moist cooking capabilities, however must be taken out for the dry ones because the heating component and fan sit behind it.

There’s one other heating component within the cooking base, which is used for sluggish cooking, sautéing and different modes.

Speaking of modes, the Duo Crisp with Final Lid is a 13-in-1 machine and there are 13 buttons: six for moist cooking, six for dry plus a Hold Heat operate.

Jim Martin / Foundry

In case you’re accustomed to Prompt Pots, then the moist capabilities gained’t be a shock: strain prepare dinner, sauté, steam, sluggish prepare dinner and sous vide.

On the dry aspect, you’ve obtained air fry, roast, grille, bake, dehydrate and proofing.

In actuality, there isn’t a distinction between steam and strain prepare dinner (the guide even says so), and there’s additionally no distinction between air fry, bake and roast besides that with bake you don’t want to make use of the chrome steel cooking pot or air frying basket: you need to use an oven-safe tray that matches contained in the cooker.

Grilling is once more just about the identical, however removes the flexibility to alter the temperature which is ready to the utmost the Duo Crisp affords for all dry modes: 204°C.

Final, there’s proofing and dehydrating. These differ solely within the instances and temperatures you may choose, with 23-35°C for proofing and 40-73°C for dehydrating.

Cooking with the Duo Crisp with Final lid

One of the vital issues to grasp is that the Prompt Pot’s capability as an air fryer is comparatively restricted, though not in comparison with different air fryers. The basket has a diameter of 215mm / 8.5in, which suggests you’re going to wrestle to feed a couple of or two individuals with out cooking issues one after one other.

For instance, when you wished to make a roast dinner, you’d have to do the hen first (and ensure you purchase one which’ll match), then the potatoes and parsnips, and at last the greens.

You possibly can strain prepare dinner meat in a lot much less time then when you tried to air fry it, and might use the grill mode to brown it off.

Jim Martin / Foundry

There’s room within the air frying basket for 4 medium-size hen breasts and a few thighs, so it could possibly’t be described as tiny in comparison with different air fryers, nevertheless it is tiny in comparison with a standard fan oven.

It’s additionally price understanding that, as talked about, there isn’t actually a steam operate to exchange steaming veg on the hob. The Duo Crisp steams underneath strain, which requires studying a totally new method the place you may can’t see the meals, take a look at it and even open the lid after cooking as strain have to be launched first.

Nevertheless, it’s nearly pointless to even hassle attempting to steam any veg since it could possibly take 10-Quarter-hour to ‘preheat’ earlier than it even begins steaming. So that is one space the place the Prompt Pot isn’t sooner than conventional strategies. The one factor it’s good for steaming is corn on the cob.

The capability is nice for soups, risottos and different one-pot dishes, although, and might simply make sufficient in a single go for a household of 4 or 5.

Jim Martin / Foundry

When air frying or grilling, pre-heating instances are a lot sooner than a daily oven, and you’ll often knock off a superb jiffy from the cooking directions on most meals. I cooked hen nuggets, fish fingers, sausages and even small pizzas within the air frying basket they usually had been all cooked nicely earlier than the really helpful instances.

Jim Martin / Foundry

I didn’t strive making yoghurt or proofing dough, however did discover the sauté operate to be actually helpful. The power to fry onions and brown issues off earlier than utilizing sluggish or strain cooking modes is useful, as is the very fact the Prompt Pot allows you to decide between six completely different temperatures, which it reaches rapidly and maintains precisely, so that you don’t have to supervise it so intently.

Usability & Security

Because of the show and number of beeps, the Duo Crisp with Final Lid is kind of straightforward to make use of. It clearly reveals progress via the pre-heating and cooking levels, whereas the scrolling textual content means it could possibly present directions to “add meals”, “flip meals”, “shut the lid” or “take away strain plate”, and warn you to not open the lid when steam is underneath strain.

Not that may open it: a lock bodily prevents the slider being moved till the strain has been launched, and there are numerous security mechanisms to make sure the lid can’t be opened when pressurised steam may escape and trigger accidents.

There are three choices for releasing steam: naturally, in pulses or rapidly. If it is advisable to get at your meals rapidly, the Fast Launch possibility makes steam shoot out of the vent quickly, whereas the opposite modes take far longer.

Every mode has default temperatures and cooking instances, and it’s nice that these retain the final settings you used slightly than at all times going again to the defaults. It’s easy to regulate time or temperature by urgent the suitable button and turning the silver dial. You possibly can modify both throughout cooking, too.

Handily, you need to use the delay begin timer, put your meals in and have it prepared for while you get dwelling.

Jim Martin / Foundry

An surprising bonus was the truth that my teenage daughter was in a position to air fry meals each safely and unsupervised as soon as she had been proven easy methods to take away the strain plate. Not like a fan oven, the Duo Crisp with Final lid will cease cooking as soon as the set period of time is up, so it’s a lot tougher to overcook and burn meals, and is a safer possibility for these instances she utterly forgot she was cooking something and left the home.

One niggle was that – every so often – the LED for the mode getting used would flash and make it inconceivable to begin cooking. There’s no guide within the field, and the net one isn’t notably complete or straightforward to observe, and it’s annoying to need to scan the QR core or Google the guide if it is advisable to lookup easy methods to use a particular operate.

Jim Martin / Foundry

Lastly, throughout testing, the small plastic pin that locates the strain plate within the lid snapped off as my spouse was refitting it. The method doesn’t require any strain, however when you’re not used to it and don’t get the pin correctly within the slot, it – seemingly – doesn’t take a lot to snap this significant piece off. And with out it, strain cooking modes gained’t work as a seal can’t be shaped.

I’ve searched on-line and seen precisely the identical occurred to a different reviewer, so I do know this isn’t an remoted failure. Be very cautious with the strain plate when you resolve to purchase a Duo Crisp with Final lid.

Value & availability

Within the UK, the Duo Crisp with Final Lid prices £229.99 from the Prompt web site.

You’ll discover it a bit cheaper in Argos and John Lewis – £220 on the time of assessment – nevertheless it did drop as little as £155 within the few weeks I spent testing the gadget, so it’s price protecting an eye fixed out for reductions and gross sales.

Within the US, it’s $229.99 from Prompt.

Given the value, it’s a bit disappointing it comes with solely a one-year guarantee.

Verdict

In case you don’t have already got a multicooker and can use these capabilities – strain cooking, sluggish cooking and sautéing – frequently, then the Duo Crisp with Final lid is a superb purchase.

Sure, it’s fairly costly, however affords quite a few advantages, together with the comfort of not having to swap lids (or retailer them), and the truth that, not like choosing a separate air fryer and Prompt Pot, it takes up much less area and makes use of just one mains socket.

If , then again you have already got an Prompt Pot or would primarily use the air frying mode, then it can save you cash on a less expensive air fryer which can in all probability take up much less area and may even provide a bit extra inside area for cooking.

To see these options, check out our roundup of the most effective air fryers.