Pressure cookers are no longer the scary, screeching hob-top pans that look likely to burst into flames at any moment. Modern appliances are now sleek, do-everything machines that can revolutionise daily cooking and slash prep time for faster, healthier meals even on busy weeknights.
Pressure cookers seal steam in with a secure lid so heat can build up above boiling point inside, retaining vitamins and minerals, making ingredients melt-in-the-mouth tender and saving both energy and money.
Devoted pressure cooker chefs will even insist food tastes better prepared in one of these nifty appliances as less liquid is used so sauces are richer and need very little reducing. They can also be used to cook a huge range of ingredients, including rice, dried pulses and even some homemade cakes.
When you don’t want dinner in a jiffy, most of these appliances now also double up as slow cookers, so you can throw ingredients in before work and return to a home-cooked dinner. Other features to look for include keep-warm settings, sauté functions and even the ability to make yoghurt or produce restaurant-quality sous vide steaks.
Bear in mind all these machines are quite large. Before you buy, check whether you have room to store one or – better still – spare worktop space to leave it within reach to use every day. If you need something a little smaller or prefer a traditional stove-top model instead, we rate the Lakeland 3l pressure cooker (£79.99, Lakeland.co.uk) which can easily be stashed with your usual pans.
Instant Pot pro 5.7L 10-in-1 multi pressure cooker
There are people who own pressure cookers and then there are Instant Pot devotees. This clever range of multicookers is now a staple in many households with official Facebook groups, fan sites and an entire app dedicated to Instant Pot recipes so you’ll never be short of dinner ideas again.
This pro version is the latest model and does almost everything but take the ingredients out of the fridge first. As well as a pressure cooker, the 10-in-1 can be used as (deep breath) a slow cooker, sous vide cooker, sauté pan, rice cooker, steriliser, yoghurt maker, food warmer, cake baker and steamer – phew.
It’s a doddle to use with timed venting reminders, super-fast pre heat and 28 cooking programmes plus an easy-to-follow instruction book. The sauté button is a brilliant addition to save on washing up as there’s no need to brown food on the hob first. We especially liked the five one-touch buttons to save our favourite recipes and the cooking progress bar, which showed exactly when we’d be sitting down to dinner.
It feels very safe to use, with a secure locking lid that plays a jingle for peace of mind, overheat protection and almost-silent steam release. The easy-grip silicone handles on the inner pot made it easy to lift straight from cooker to table, so everyone could help themselves too. An additional air-fryer would have made it nearly perfect, but this multi-tasking machine is still a little kitchen miracle.
Tefal cook4me+
If you’re not quite sure where to start with pressure cooking, this ingenious model makes things simple. It has more than 100 built-in recipes with step-by-step guides for even the most uninspired chef to get dinner on the table in no time. Simply select a dish, choose the number of servings between two and six people and follow the instructions as the cooker adjusts the amount of ingredients and cooking time to suit.
There’s no need to watch over it when cooking and pressure is released automatically at the end for minimum hassle. A separate setting will even brown ingredients first and if you can’t eat straight away, the appliance will keep food warm – ideal if you’re never quite sure when everyone will make it to the dinner table. Our bolognese was particularly delicious and earned major thumbs up from our fussy younger tester, while a squishy carrot cake was wolfed down in no time.
A non-stick coating makes it easy to clean afterwards, and the bowl and steam basket can be slung in the dishwasher too. If you know you’ll never use all the fancier functions on some other pressure cookers, this is ideal for fuss-free cooking that tastes great.
Crockpot express pressure CSC051 5.6l multi cooker
Let’s face it, there’s no need to make cooking dinner any more complicated than it needs to be. This multi-cooker may not have quite as many bells and whistles as some of the other models we tested, but it was the easiest to use straight from the box and we barely had to consult the instructions to get cooking.
Crockpot is best known for its unbeatable slow cookers but this multi-tasking model does the lot, including sautéing, steaming and pressure cooking. It claims to cook food 70 per cent quicker than a traditional oven and we found even pulled pork took only an hour to be dinner-table ready, revolutionising weekday mealtimes.
It has eight one-touch meal settings including risotto, chilli and stew, a non-stick coating for easy cleaning and a useful digital timer that counts down cooking time and counts up once the keep warm function kicks in. There’s a handy recipe book included in the box for dinner inspiration, too.
Ninja Foodi max 9-in-1 multi-cooker 7.5l
We were a little worried about exactly where we were going to store this hefty machine when we first took it out of the box. However, within days, we were using it so much, it never once made it into the cupboard and we started to wonder how we’d ever lived without it.
It was the only pressure cooker we tested that included a built-in air fryer, perfect for rustling up crispy chips, quickly blasting frozen fish fingers for the kids or browning a roast chicken prepared in the pressure cooker. We also loved the dehydrate setting to rustle up homemade vegetable crisps and were wowed by the bake function, which made astonishingly good loaves of bread.
The pressure cook setting couldn’t be simpler to use either. With an easy turn dial control, LED screen and countdown timer, it was a cinch to produce a melt-in-the-mouth beef casserole in half an hour. The larger capacity is brilliant for a family, too, and we used it to batch cook a huge portion of chilli that kept us going all week, throwing everything in the dishwasher afterwards.
In fact, only the size and steep price tag stopped this brilliant do-everything machine winning our best buy so if you can squeeze it in somewhere, you won’t regret it.
Sage the fast slow pro:
Pressure cookers may not be the most attractive appliance in the kitchen, but this brushed-steel model from Sage was easily the best looking out on the worktop. Be warned it is on the tall side, though, so check you have space to store it before buying.
Like all Sage kitchen machines, it’s very intuitive to use, with a clear, easy-to-read display and will adjust the time, temperature and pressure between fast and slow cooking so you don’t need to hover in the kitchen. It’s a real one-pot whizz too, able to sear, sauté, steam and reduce in moments while automatically releasing steam when pressure cooking to keep food tender. Our beef stew was fall-off-the-fork delicious (even if we do say so ourselves) with a fantastically rich sauce, while a Thai green curry was ready in a matter of minutes but tasted like we’d been slaving over it for hours.
Best of all, it was by far the easiest pressure cooker to clean of all the models we tested. With an easy-clean ceramic coating, a removable drip cup and a dishwasher safe pot and lid for zero effort, it’s a real weekday game-changer.
Amazon Basics 23 in 1 multi-purpose electric pressure cooker
Busy families looking for an easy-to-use machine for a reasonable price won’t go wrong with this. The multi-function model has a decent 5.5l capacity, a useful 24-hour delay start – so you can prepare ingredients the night before and forget about them – and an automatic keep warm setting, which is great if you’re late home. It doesn’t take up too much room on the worktop and has a clear control panel and LED display with manual mode, a pressure indicator and 15 pre-set cooking options.
Though it’s simple to work, results were just as tasty as those more expensive pressure cookers and our lamb dhansak was top-notch, with meat melting into the sauce. Our only complaint? The instruction booklet was one of the worst we encountered while testing, with no recipes or much guidance for cooking food beyond the pre-set options.
