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Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer on a countertop Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

The Best Pressure Cookers of 2024

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Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer on a countertop Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

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Editor's Choice Product image of Ninja Foodi OL701
Best Overall

Ninja Foodi OL701

Check Price at Amazon

The Foodi OL701 features 14 cooking functions, a built-in smart thermometer, and easy-to-clean accessories. Read More

Pros

  • Cooks well
  • Lots of features
  • Built-in thermometer
  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • Manual could be more helpful
2
Editor's Choice Product image of Chef IQ Smart Cooker
Best Value

Chef IQ Smart Cooker

Check Price at Amazon

This pressure cooker is sleek and has highly customizable settings, making it a great option for home cooks and pro chefs alike. Read More

Pros

  • Sleek, attractive design
  • Customizable settings
  • Built-in weighing functionality
  • Hands-free pressure release

Cons

  • None that we could find
3
Editor's Choice Product image of Ninja Foodi OP301

Ninja Foodi OP301

Check Price at Amazon

Combines pressure cooking, steaming, slow cooking, and air frying all in one. Pricier than most, and takes up serious counter space, with multiple lids and accessories that need to go somewhere. Read More

Pros

  • Cooks very well
  • Includes air fryer function
  • Versatile

Cons

  • Oversized
4
Product image of Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid

Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid

Check Price at Amazon

With 13 cooking functions under one lid, this machine promises a lot. Unfortunately it falls short on certain tasks, like air frying and yogurt. Read More

Pros

  • Wide range of functions
  • Dishwasher safe accessories

Cons

  • Air fries unevenly
  • Faulty yogurt function
  • Manual is lacking
5
Editor's Choice Product image of Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 (6 Quart)

Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 (6 Quart)

Check Price at Amazon

While it doesn’t come with a WiFi-connected app, it still earned top spot based on excellent cooking performance, intuitive interface, and updated steam release. Read More

Pros

  • Cooks perfectly
  • Intuitive to use
  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • Not "smart"
  • Best Overall Ninja Foodi OL701
  • Best Value Chef IQ Smart Cooker
  • Other Pressure Cookers We Tested
  • How We Tested Pressure Cookers
  • How to Choose the Best Pressure Cooker For You
  • What Is The Difference Between A Pressure Cooker, A Slow Cooker and A Multicooker?
  • More Articles You Might Enjoy

An electric pressure cooker, like our favorite Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer (available at Amazon) , can transform a weeknight dinner routine. Meals that used to take an hour now take just 20 minutes. And recipes that once dirtied all of your cookware only require you to wash a pot and a cutting board.

Electric pressure cookers—also known as multicookers—are countertop appliances that combine several different functions into one vessel. It works like an old-school stovetop pressure cooker with the functions of a slow cooker, rice cooker, yogurt maker, and more. It allows you to cook almost anything you’d like in a single pot, quickly and without overheating.

Since these devices can do so much, we put major brands like Ninja and Instant Pot against other manufacturers to see who really makes the top appliance. While Ninja has earned the title of our best overall, we also love our best value pick, the Chef's IQ (available at Walmart), for its minimal design and customizable cook functions.

A Ninja Foodi with a prepared meal of salmon and veggies on a countertop
Credit: Reviewed / Tim Renzi

The Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Steam Fryer is the best multicooker we've tested.

Best Overall
Ninja Foodi OL701
  • Dimensions: 15.39 x 14.21 x 14.25 inches
  • Capacity: 8 quarts
  • Weight: 25 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 14
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

The latest model of the Foodi takes all the fantastic functionality of the previous two-lid model and makes it better (all under one lid).

It features 14 different cooking functions—from commonplace pressure cooking and air frying to more advanced bread proofing and sous vide. We especially love the Steam & Crisp function, which can be used to whip up full meals all at the same time. And the results were delicious every time (read: meat and veggies were tender on the inside, crispy on the outside).

This model also features a Smart Thermometer, which can be used to automatically cook protein according to desired doneness. Just insert the probe, decide how well you'd like your meat cooked, and the Foodi does the rest.

The provided booklet does fall short, though. The instructions are lacking, leading to initial confusion upon set-up. And some of the provided recipes were underwhelming: the risotto was overcooked and lacking flavor, while the crusty bread was underbaked.

But with a little trial and error, getting the hang of this Ninja Foodi is worth the wait. It may be a littler pricier than other models, but it delivers. It's easy to navigate, a breeze to wash, and a workhorse at delivering tasty, well-cooked meals. Read the full review here.

Pros

  • Cooks well

  • Lots of features

  • Built-in thermometer

  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • Manual could be more helpful

Buy now at Amazon

$279.99 from Walmart
The Chef iQ pressure cooker sits on a white tiled counter accompanied by fresh produce on a cutting board.
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Chef iQ is designed for chefs by chefs, and it's our pick for best value pressure cooker.

Best Value
Chef IQ Smart Cooker
  • Dimensions: 13 x 13 x 13 inches
  • Capacity: 6 quarts
  • Weight: 10.4 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 10
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

We love the Chef iQ smart cooker for its gorgeous build and customizable cook functions. You can dictate almost all aspects of each setting. For example, its Ferment function allows you to adjust the fermentation temperature, making it more versatile than the Instant Pot's Yogurt function.

Designed for chefs by chefs, this pressure cooker offers some small but impactful details. It has a built-in tare function, so you can weigh ingredients directly into the pot and minimize dishes from building up in the sink. It also displays exactly how much pressure is building up in the cooker. This way, anxious cooks can more accurately estimate how long it’ll take until dinner is ready.

Plus, you can choose when and how pressure is released after cooking. So if you opt for immediate quick release, the cooker will automatically beep to let you know it’s about to release pressure on its own.

This pressure cooker also connects easily to the Chef iQ app, which is beautifully designed and full of recipes and tips. It’s not required to sync the two before use, so you can add on the app at any point.

Pros

  • Sleek, attractive design

  • Customizable settings

  • Built-in weighing functionality

  • Hands-free pressure release

Cons

  • None that we could find

$173.95 from Amazon

$199.99 from Home Depot

$199.98 from Walmart

Other Pressure Cookers We Tested

Product image of Ninja Foodi OP301
Ninja Foodi OP301
  • Dimensions: 14.25 x 16.75 x 13.1 inches
  • Capacity: 6.5 quarts
  • Weight: 25 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 9
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

The original Ninja Foodi may not be as convenient as its successor, but it performed well in many of our tests.

In addition to a reliable pressure cooking functionality—making flavorful broths, succulent braises, and creamy risotto—it also can offer the dry-heat cooking that other pressure cookers cannot.

By far the biggest added benefit to the Ninja is the air crisper lid. Combined with the pressure cooking function, it can also crisp up the skin of roast chicken, or get that nice golden-brown on a batch of fish and chips.

While it works best to make dinner for one or two people (we tried batch cooking with this function and it worked, but not as well), it’s ideal if you don’t care about leftovers. Within 20 minutes, we were able to make a full meal that didn’t require pressure cooking.

With two different lids, one for pressure cooking and one for air frying and crisping, we were able to complete a variety of tests with ease. Everything from chicken soup and veggie chili to a complete meal of rice with baked tofu and crisped veggies came out delicious.

The only tricky test was the yogurt, as this multicooker does not have a yogurt function. However, after a quick online search, we learned that you can use the dehydrate function to keep the yogurt at the proper temperature. So while a bit less creamy than the batches done with the Instant Pot, the Ninja made tasty yogurt even without a dedicated cooking program.

Pros

  • Cooks very well

  • Includes air fryer function

  • Versatile

Cons

  • Oversized

Buy now at Amazon

$199.99 from Home Depot

$290.99 from Walmart
Product image of Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid
Instant Pot Duo Crisp with Ultimate Lid
  • Dimensions: 17.5 x 17.4 x 15.4 inches
  • Capacity: 6.5 quarts
  • Weight: 27.8 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 13
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

Perhaps a direct response to its competing Ninja Foodi, this Instant Pot Duo Crisp Ultimate Lid promises 13 different cooking functions under a singular lid. It boasts a wide range of tasks, including bread proofing, sous vide, and roasting, along with the staple pressure cooking and slow cooking functions.

Although its functionality and convenience has definitely improved from the previous Duo Crisp model, we still encountered a range of issues with this machine. First, the provided Yogurt function doesn't work. We tried a recipe directly from the Instant app twice, and both times, it resulted in warm, clumpy milk in place of actual yogurt.

The air fryer function also disappointed us during testing. Fried chicken thighs were unevenly browned, with the tops crispy and bottoms slightly mushy. And since there's no air fryer basket included, it would be difficult to get even air flow for crisping large batches of food.

Unfortunately, although this machine boasts a wide range of functions, it only comes with one recipe (for banana bread). You can access several recipes via the Instant app, and a cooking time table on the website, but you'll have to dig for them. And none of those recipes are specific to this model, so you may run into confusing steps along the way.

Pros

  • Wide range of functions

  • Dishwasher safe accessories

Cons

  • Air fries unevenly

  • Faulty yogurt function

  • Manual is lacking

$168.69 from Amazon

$199.99 from Best Buy

$199.99 from Target

$229.99 from Home Depot
Product image of Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 (6 Quart)
Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 (6 Quart)
  • Dimensions: 13 x 12.5 x 12.5 inches
  • Capacity: 6 quarts
  • Weight: 11.8 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 10
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

Performing extremely consistently with rice cooking, slow cooking, yogurt-making, and more, this Instant Pot can suit all your needs and more.

It also offers some nice aesthetic and exterior updates from its predecessors with its display graph. This displays exactly where it is in the pre-heating, cooking, or keep-warm cycle.

The knob design and “+/-“ keys are sleeker than before. And perhaps best of all, the release valve no longer requires a slightly hazardous manual push from an arm’s distance. There’s a switch you can flip next to the valve to get it started.

In terms of functionality, the Ultra offers some extra settings: Sterilize, Cake Maker, Egg Cooker, and Ultra. You could mimic most of these with the Duo or Smart Wi-Fi, but the Ultra offers a slightly more precise set of criteria for these.

The “Ultra” feature allows maximum customizability, and you’re able to control the temperature for sous vide cooking.

While this version of the Instant Pot doesn’t connect to an app, you can always use the manual Delay Start function to pre-plan your cooking needs and browse the Instant Pot app for recipes and tips.

Pros

  • Cooks perfectly

  • Intuitive to use

  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • Not "smart"

Buy now at Amazon
Product image of Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 (6 Quart)
Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 (6 Quart)
  • Dimensions: 13.4 x 12.2 x 12.5 inches
  • Capacity: 6 quarts
  • Weight: 11.8 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 14
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

The Instant Pot Duo Plus 9-in-1 has 14-plus functions, including Steam, Sterilize, and Cake. But if you start to feel overwhelmed, you can always Google your question and come away with an avalanche of blog posts, Facebook forums, and YouTube videos to guide your way.

The reason there's a large online community around this gadget is that it works like a charm. The soup we cooked tasted like grandma’s, the risotto was delightfully creamy, and the yogurt turned out tangy and bright. The Sterilize function was also a great bonus, helpful for preparing the pot to make yogurt.

While it wasn't as intuitive as I would have liked—and the lid occasionally tripped me up—I have a feeling this Instant Pot could still edge out your current slow cooker or your rice cooker.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive Instant Pot with a longer history and larger user base than the Smart Wi-Fi, this is your best bet.

Pros

  • Cooks well

  • Simple to use

Cons

  • Lacks features in other models

$129.95 from Amazon

$129.99 from Home Depot

$90.99 from Walmart
Product image of Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer (6 Qt)
Instant Pot Duo Crisp + Air Fryer (6 Qt)
  • Dimensions: 14.76 x 13.58 x 15.28 inches
  • Capacity: 8 quarts
  • Weight: 22.2 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 11
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

Likely built as the Instant Pot’s answer to the dual-lid Ninja Foodi, this pressure cooker also boasts an Air Fry function through the use of separate lids. (And you can remove and store the lids when not in use, unlike the Ninja.)

As with the Ninja, the Duo Crisp is a pressure cooker first and air fryer second; if you’re primarily looking for the latter, check out the best air fryers we’ve tested.

The Duo Crisp performed similarly to its Instant Pot counterparts in the standard functions. It does lack the Yogurt function, but offers a Sous Vide function in its stead—which could be more or less useful depending on what you need in the kitchen.

Pros

  • Easy to clean

  • Consistent, reliable results

  • Also offers air fry function

Cons

  • No Yogurt function

  • Large

$169.95 from Amazon

$169.99 from Best Buy

$169.99 from Target

$199.99 from Home Depot
Product image of Instant Pot Duo 60 7-in-1 (6 Quart)
Instant Pot Duo 60 7-in-1 (6 Quart)
  • Dimensions: 13.38 x 12.2 x 12.48 inches
  • Capacity: 6 quarts
  • Weight: 11.8 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 7
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

The Duo remains one of Instant Pot’s top sellers—making it a worthwhile test. But after putting the Duo through its paces, we have to say that it ranks firmly in the middle of the pack.

The Duo made good soup and decent risotto but flubbed on the slow cooker chili. Even after 12 hours of slow cooking, the onions were not cooked and the chili was more soup than a thick stew.

It also struggled with yogurt, unable to bring the milk up to the proper temperature without switching out of the yogurt function and into sauté. It was also the slowest to come up to pressure during cooking, often leaving me to wonder if we had set it correctly at all. With so many other options on the market—including newer Instant Pots—we would personally skip the Instant Pot Duo in favor of a slightly more robust pressure cooker.

Pros

  • Simple to use

  • Affordable

  • Cooks fine

Cons

  • Slow to pressure

  • Cooks chili and yogurt poorly

  • Lacks features in other models

$99.95 from Amazon

$99.99 from Home Depot

$119.40 from Walmart
Product image of Breville the Fast Slow Pro BPR700
Breville the Fast Slow Pro BPR700
  • Dimensions: 12.5 x 13.5 x 14 inches
  • Capacity: 6 quarts
  • Weight: 14 pounds
  • Cooking Presets: 12
  • Dishwasher safe: Yes

We were honestly disappointed by the Breville Fast Slow Pro Pressure Cooker. While it was a favorite out of the box due to the beautiful, easy-to-use interface, multitude of smart programs, and attached lid, it ultimately fell toward the bottom of the pack.

We had to consult the manual while making the soup (ultimately ending up with tougher vegetables than the recipe indicated). And despite a seemingly endless array of cooking options, there was no yogurt function at all.

Unlike the Ninja multicooker, we were unable to produce yogurt with the functions that were available. In a similar vein, we loved the idea of an attached lid, but the reality was rather frustrating. It took twisting the lid a very particular way to get it to close, which we could never seem to get right on the first or even third try.

On the positive side, the interface and recipe options were phenomenal. Similar to the Instant Pot Ultra, the scroll-through interface was easy to use and offered a lot of cooking options.

It has an auto-release steam valve, which means that when it’s time to release steam from the pressure cooker, it does so automatically. This makes the Breville a true set-and-forget cooker—but only if you were using one of its smart programs. For its high price point, we were expecting much better.

Pros

  • Attractively designed

  • Intuitive interface

Cons

  • Overpriced

  • Lacks many features

  • Difficult to use

Buy now at Amazon

$299.95 from Abt

$245.00 from Walmart

How We Tested Pressure Cookers

The Testers

Hi, I'm Jenny! I'm a professional chef, writer, founder of a nonprofit community think tank called Studio ATAO, and author of Mastering the Instant Pot. I've been a pressure cooker fan since way before Instant Pots were a thing

Pressure cookers have been a staple in my mother's kitchen for making flavorful stocks, tender braises, and creamy porridge for decades. In fact, it's the first appliance she bought for me when I moved to a new city after college.

And we’re Cassidy, Valerie, and Monica. All of us love to cook but work full-time, so coming home and having to prep dinner and lunch for over an hour gets exhausting, fast. Needless to say, we're pressure cooker fans—and having each contributed to this piece more than once, we know our stuff.

Before selecting our final list of multicookers, we looked at a total of 20 Instant Pots and competitors. We passed over some of the earlier multicooker models, as the newer versions offer features most consumers are looking for.

Otherwise, we chose the ones with the best combination of high reviews, great features, and reasonable pricing. (If a multicooker was twice the price with half the features, it didn’t make the cut.)

We exclusively tested moderately sized 6-quart Instant Pots and other multicookers, although you can find many of these multicookers in 3- to 8-quart models. The 8-quart models are better for large families.

Instant Pot Smart Wifi sits on a wooden countertop.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

We like the Instant Pot Smart Wifi because it's a smart device with tons of features.

The Tests

To ensure each pressure cooker was a good all-rounder, we tried three recipe types in our first round of testing: a classic comfort food (chicken noodle soup), a date night special (saffron risotto), and a finicky breakfast bowl (yogurt from scratch).

We added a slow cooker chili in subsequent updates to see how these appliances measured up to a traditional slow cooking device. We used the same ingredients for each and took detailed notes about how easy or difficult it was to select the cooking functions and times, how the food came out, and how tough the pressure cooker was to clean.

If the multicooker comes with additional functions, like bread making and air frying, we tried those too to see how well they worked.

We also noted any surprises. Did the milk heat up to the right temperature for making yogurt? Did the Instant Pot flash a weird symbol during cooking? Did the steam valve spray hot milk everywhere and startle us so much we accidentally threw a recipe book across the room?

For cleaning, we did everything by hand.

We also took into account how helpful the manual was (and how much we needed to use it while cooking), whether or not it came with a recipe book, manual options available, and whether the cooking functions worked as expected.

One of the nice things about these appliances is that with enough time spent consulting the manual and Googling your questions, you can figure out even the most confounding of tasks. That said, if a product left me wondering whether or not our food would be edible when it was finished, we took that into account.

How to Choose the Best Pressure Cooker For You

Size and Capacity

Most pressure cookers and multicookers come in a variety of sizes, so you can choose the best model for your family and living situation.

If you're typically only cooking for one or two, models that come in a 3 or 6-quart size should suit you fine. But if you're used to cooking for larger crowds, you'll likely need an 8-quart pot.

And be mindful that most of these cookers will take up lots of space on your countertop, and are likely too heavy to lift in and out of a cabinet after each use. Be sure your kitchen space allows for a mainstay like this before purchasing one.

Cooking Functions

Some of the latest multicookers offer as many as 14 different cooking functions—from sous vide to air frying to yogurt making. But is that something you'll really take advantage of as a home cook?

Consider how many cooking functions you'll want to use in your multicooker, and whether it's worth upgrading to the latest model. Similarly, if you're someone who loves making your own yogurt or bread in a multicooker, be sure to make sure the model you're eyeing has that capacity—not all of them do.

What Is The Difference Between A Pressure Cooker, A Slow Cooker and A Multicooker?

Given how many different types of kitchen gadgets are on the market these days, it’s helpful to know the difference between a pressure cooker, a slow cooker, and a multicooker.

In brief, a slow cooker—often referred to as a Crock-Pot—cooks or simmers food at a relatively low temperature for a long time. It’s frequently used to make stews, briskets, or anything that you might want to prep before heading out for the day.

A pressure cooker speeds up this process by sealing food and liquid in a pot and using the trapped steam from cooking to quickly raise both the temperature and pressure. That makes them great for quickly making a meal that would otherwise take an hour or two.

Older pressure cookers used to be mostly stovetop models, but these days they’re largely electric and live on your counter.

Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker and Instant Pot Ultra
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser

The Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker are Instant Pot Ultra are both multi-cookers that can do a lot more than slow cook—the Ninja can ever air fry.

A multicooker is simply an electric cooking device that combines multiple functions—such as slow cooking, pressure cooking, and yogurt making—into one device.

In our experience, most electric pressure cookers—including the Instant Pot—are actually multicookers. But before you buy one, make sure it has the functions that you’re most likely to use.

These gadgets are extremely versatile, and ideal for quick cooking when you don’t want to dirty all of your pots and pans—or don’t want to turn on your oven. They're also great for large families who need to cook for a lot of people at once.

(Looking for more tips? Here’s everything you need to know to use a pressure cooker).

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  • The Best Air Fryers

Meet the testers

Bethany Kwoka

Bethany Kwoka

Contributor

Bethany is a freelance contributor for Reviewed. An avid home baker and aspiring home cook, she reviews and writes mostly about kitchen gadgets (with the occasional fitness review thrown in). Her specialty might be fancy desserts, but she's never met a batch-cooked dinner recipe she didn't like.

Outside of her work for Reviewed, Bethany is a content creator working on clean energy and climate change at a regional non-profit and runs a tabletop game at her local comic book shop.

See all of Bethany Kwoka's reviews
Cassidy Olsen

Cassidy Olsen

Contributor

@olsencassidy

Cassidy covered all things cooking as the kitchen editor for Reviewed from 2018 to 2020. An experimental home chef with a healthy distrust of recipes, Cassidy lives by the "Ratatouille" philosophy that, with a few techniques and key tools, anyone can cook. She's produced in-depth reviews and guides on everything from meal kits to stand mixers and the right way to cook an egg.

See all of Cassidy Olsen's reviews
Jenny Dorsey

Jenny Dorsey

Contributor

Jenny is a professional chef, author, and speaker specializing in interdisciplinary storytelling fusing food with social good. She leads a nonprofit named Studio ATAO and runs her own culinary consulting business. Her food and work has been featured in outlets such as Food Network, Oxygen TV, Eater, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, among others. Her full biography, food portfolio, and bylines can be found here.

See all of Jenny Dorsey's reviews
Valerie Li Stack

Valerie Li Stack

Senior Staff Writer

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Valerie Li Stack is a senior staff writer for Kitchen & Cooking. She is an experienced home cook with a passion for experimenting with the cuisines of countries she's visited. Driven by an interest in food science, Valerie approaches the culinary scene with a firm grasp of cooking processes and extensive knowledge of ingredients. She believes food speaks to all people regardless of language and cultural background.

See all of Valerie Li Stack's reviews
Monica Petrucci

Monica Petrucci

Editor, Kitchen & Cooking

@monicatpetrucci

Monica is Reviewed's Kitchen & Cooking editor and an avid home cook; she's been testing a wide range of kitchen products at Reviewed for two years. Previously the Digital Editor at Culture Cheese Magazine (and a former barista), she's also had her work published in The Boston Globe, Modern Luxury, Boston Magazine, and more.

See all of Monica Petrucci's reviews

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