The Best Pressure Cookers of 2026

• Dimensions: 15.5 x 15.4 x 15.4 inches
• Capacity: 6.5 quarts
• Weight: 27.8 pounds
• Cooking Presets: 13
• Dishwasher safe: Yes

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Dimensions: 12.4 x 13.3 x 15.2 inches
• Capacity: 6 quarts
• Weight: 12.9 pounds
• Cooking Presets: 4
• **Dishwasher safe:* No

Our Place has made its name with stylish, multifunction kitchen pieces, so a multicooker is a no-brainer addition to the line. Our Place says the Dream Cooker is designed to look good enough to sit on your counter, with a stripped-down control panel to give you maximum flexibility. Instead of a number of presets like yogurt, rice, or other specialized settings, the Dream Cooker has just four functions: Slow Cook, Saute/Sear, Pressure Cook, and Keep Warm.

While we liked the looks of the Dream Cooker, and found the Sear function to be particularly useful, ultimately, the stripped-down controls made it just too basic, with not enough temperature control to be really useful.

Read our full Dream Cooker review.

• Dimensions: 12.52 x 13.82 x 13.82 inches
• Capacity: 4 quarts
• Weight: 10.9 pounds
• Cooking Presets: 7
• **Dishwasher safe:* Yes Cooking for one or two? The Instant Pot Rio Mini is designed for you. Unlike most pressure cookers, which are designed for stews, soups, and roasts in family-sized quantities, the Rio Mini has a 4-quart capacity, just right for two to four serving quantities. It has all the same functionality as most larger pressure cookers: Pressure Cook, Slow Cook, Sauté, Rice, Yogurt, Steam, and Keep Warm. It also has a progress indicator, so you can keep an eye on where your dish stands. Both the lid and the pot are dishwasher safe, too.

For people cooking for a crowd, this model doesn’t have the cooking capacity enough to be your primary model. Even so, the footprint and weight of this smaller model isn’t as much smaller than a 6- or 8-quart model as you might think: It’s only about a pound lighter than the 6-quart model, for example. But if you want smaller portions in a fully functioned package, the Rio Mini is a good option.

How We Test Pressure Cookers

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 rounds of testing 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 features 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.

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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