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HUB 01 · Multicookers

How to Use a Pressure Cooker

Electric pressure cookers are safe and simple once you understand the one thing they do. Here is the mechanism in plain terms, the steps that matter, and the two mistakes that account for almost every first-time failure.

By Stephen V.Updated How we rank
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What pressure cooking actually does

Water boils at 212°F in an open pot, and it will not get hotter than that no matter how high you turn the heat — the extra energy just makes steam. Seal the pot and trap that steam, and the pressure rises, which raises the boiling point to around 250°F. That extra ~40°F is the whole magic: food cooks dramatically faster, and tough collagen in meat breaks down into gelatin in an hour instead of three. Nothing about it is dangerous on a modern electric cooker, which has multiple independent safety mechanisms and will not open under pressure.

The basic steps

  1. Add your food and at least a cup of thin liquid — the cooker needs liquid to make steam. This is the single most common failure point.
  2. Lock the lid and set the steam valve to Sealing (on cookers without an auto-sealing lid, this is the step people forget).
  3. Select a program or set the pressure and time. The cooker first heats until it reaches pressure — that takes several minutes and is not counted in the cook time — then the timer begins.
  4. When the timer ends, release the pressure: natural release (let it drop on its own, best for meat and beans) or quick release (flip the valve, best for vegetables and anything you do not want to overcook).

Natural vs quick release

This is the one technique worth understanding. Natural release lets the pressure fall slowly as the cooker cools, which keeps meat tender and stops starchy or foamy foods (beans, oats, soup) from spitting out of the valve. Quick release vents the steam immediately by flipping the valve, which stops the cooking right away — use it for vegetables, seafood and anything at risk of overcooking. When a recipe says “10 minutes, then natural release for 10”, it means both.

The two mistakes beginners make

One: the valve on Venting. If the cooker never comes up to pressure and just leaks steam, the valve is set to Venting instead of Sealing. This is so common that the Instant Pot Pro added an auto-sealing lid specifically to prevent it. Two: not enough liquid.No liquid means no steam means no pressure — and a “Burn” warning. A cup of thin stock or water is the minimum for most 6-quart cookers.

That is genuinely all of it. Once those two are habit, an electric pressure cooker is the most forgiving appliance in the kitchen. The cookers that do it best are ranked here, and the auto-sealing Instant Pot Pro removes the first mistake entirely.

The hardware

The cookers this page is about

The cookers referred to above, with prices pulled live from Amazon and dated on every card. Full rankings live in the roundups linked from this page.

  • Instant Pot Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart

    1,000 W

    Instant Pot Duo 7-in-1 Electric Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart

    The multicooker that made the category, and still the right default. Instant Brands publishes the wattage, the working pressure range and a stainless (not nonstick) inner pot, which is more than most of the field manages — and it costs less than almost all of them.

    $104.04on Amazon
  • Instant Pot Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart

    1,200 W

    Instant Pot Pro 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker, 6 Quart

    The Duo's mechanicals with the interface fixed: a genuine sous vide program, an auto-sealing lid, grab-and-go pot handles and five programmable buttons. It draws 1,200 W rather than the Duo's 1,000, and Instant Brands does not publish a working-pressure figure for it — the one gap in an otherwise well-documented cooker.

    $169.99on Amazon

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Questions

Frequently asked

Are electric pressure cookers safe?
Yes. Modern electric pressure cookers have multiple independent safety mechanisms — the lid cannot be opened while pressurized, and there are backup pressure-release and thermal cutoffs. The dangerous stovetop pressure cookers of decades past are not what these are.
How much liquid does a pressure cooker need?
At least about one cup of thin liquid (water, stock) for a 6-quart cooker — it needs liquid to generate the steam that creates pressure. Too little liquid is the most common cause of a failure-to-pressurize or a 'Burn' warning.
What is the difference between natural and quick release?
Natural release lets the pressure drop slowly on its own after cooking — best for meat, beans and foamy foods. Quick release vents the steam immediately by flipping the valve — best for vegetables and anything you don't want to overcook. Many recipes use a timed natural release followed by a quick release.

Keep reading

Related

Receipts

Sources

We have not tested these machines in a lab and we do not pretend to have. Specifications come from the manufacturer's own published documents; electricity rates come from the US Energy Information Administration; prices come from the live Amazon API. Where a figure is not published, the page says “not published” rather than guessing. Read the full method.